M. Good's Profile

Display Name: M. Good
Member Since: 8/19/08

Latest Comments...

In the either plan, you'd have to walk through one door, into your bathroom, to get to your closet to get dressed every time, and either do it there or bring the clothes back to where you do get dressed. Moisture issues, bathroom smells - those things I don't want that near my clothing. Unless you're one to get dressed in the bathroom, I'd find this daily annoyance reason enough to want to seriously reconfigure either plan. In the one, if a single sink could go where the linen closet is (the pipes and drains are there already) (why does anyone need two sinks in a place that small?! Why would they plumb a short wall in the middle of a unit?!), you could move the door to the actual bathroom, not your entry hall. The sink area then could become a smaller closet, but it directly faces into your room and use a sliding door to access the bathroom from your roon, And then whatever closet space is left isn't part of the bathroom, and you can access it from the hall, which isn't so weird, and then you could also lose the teensy clostet by the entry for a less door-cluttery entry.

Think about your daily life as it is now, and imagine yours in either space. Imagine your morning routine. Imagine how you walk in the door. Where you eat. How you put your laundry away. Where do you set your groceries down before you put them away. Things like that. When I look at those plans, and think about all the doors that open and bang into each other in either of them, it makes me irritable.

In the design where the bathroom and utility spaces flank the front door, there's a better flow when you enter - the desk to your left can be a landing strip and you can hang up clothing or store things right away. And if you're cooking or washing dishes, you're better able to interact with your guests. A pantry is probably more useful than an island. I'm not sure which is larger or smaller by the images, but the traffic flow and design in one would suit my way of moving about a home more than the other. You know yourself, really.


Go For a Small or Large Loft? Good Questions
7/15/12 12:11 PM

I'm trying not to be a grumbly gus about this most recent change - after all, I withstood the former re-names to "Ohdeedoh" and "Unplggd" etc., though I never stopped wondering where the e went in names like "The Kitchn". I checked AT nearly every day, and sometimes several times a day; and caught up on anything I'd missed on weekends. I'm just an average person who likes to boost my energy with a look at something pretty between tasks, though I'm old enough to wonder why we're calling things "channels" now.

And, as shiny and very very bright as your redesign is, well - it just doesn't fit on my (14") laptop screen. I poked around the site today, and well, many of the images are just so huge I can't look at them in their entirelty, let alone along with reading the post. They're not sized for across-the board visibility, I'm guessing - just what y'all are working on - and we're not all working on huge desktop screens. I'm scrolling and scrolling and scrolling... and clicking around. Oy, how I'm clicking around. As marska said it above - might as well have the separate sites, as I'm not sure I've seen everything there is to see any more, primarily because of how I now have to jump around to figure out if I've caught up on every category. And then, scroll and scroll and scroll.

Your re-design - it's very...um...designy. It's like how a designer makes a really really good-looking room, but without comfortable chairs and the windows don't face the best view. And it's been done while you were out, and while not an unpleasant surprise, it's not necessarily welcome. It's like a designer putting a really large photograph in a really small hallway. It's like a home that looks good in a magazine, and was a great concept - but the execution makes for a space that doesn't suit the family that lives there.

So, I'll ask: When you were doing this, did you consider usability and get any feedback from readers? I don't need fashion - I need style, and I think I just realized I don't even need this time-waster. It's the "bump-factor". I just disengaged because it's no longer intuitive and comfortable. Look, I'll probably poke around from time to time - but just like when my favourite restaurant took my favourite schnitzel off the menu, I just found another place that had it when I wanted it.


Welcome to Apartment Therapy 3.0!
1/10/12 6:02 PM

More DIY than using an ottoman, but if you feel like going for it, here's what I'd do:

You could use a cardboard sonotube for the base (from Home Depot, Lowes, etc.?) http://www.sonotube.com/products/sonotubeconcreteforms.aspx

Wrap it in batting and upholster it in a white waxed canvas or vinyl - something wipeable.

For the base, you could use one of those plant stands on wheels, sometimes they come with discs attached, or you can add one to a base:
http://www.nextag.com/14430-Down-Under-Plant-621641483/prices-html (The Ikea one came to mind, but they're not the sturdiest if it's going to be crawled on: http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/10155666/)

For removable lid, you can cut a plywood circle or see if there's something the right size and ready-made in the hardware store. The lid can then be upholstered in a red and white polka-dot fabric. Or, better, check out some place for a round table top, remove the legs or base, and use that. Better even if you can get one with a lip or frame underneath that will keep the lid from sliding off the sonotube.


Seeking Large Mushroom Shaped Container
Good Questions
11/19/11 12:07 PM

vssnyc - You might try using a bit of paper towel to wick the moisture out. Twist it so it's stiff enough to push all the way to the bottom, where it will draw all the water up to the top. It's how we used to dry vintage decanters, perfume bottles and other containers at the antique store I used to work in. To remove smells, do the baking soda and vinegar fizzing trick once in a while.


On The Go: Kid-Size Water Bottle Sets For The Fridge
6/18/11 1:43 PM

I love the tile, like the white just fine (either mantle colour is great) - and think it's the (greenish?) hue on the hearthstones that's throwing things off, with all those lovely warm and bright colours that are happening in there. I think that's what needs to be changed. And I might as well throw it in - the screen looks neater and cleaner when it's folded up smaller, like in B,C, and D. Do that maybe.


Apartment Therapy Los Angeles | Good Questions: Refacing the FireplaceLos Angeles
8/28/08 1:30 PM

But her cat liked him!

This NPR story is is intended to provoke public interest and excitement, and likely it's greatly abridged, at the expense of accuracy and sentiment. As Lisa Hunter said in the comment above, an accredited independent professional appraiser would not have behaved in the way she described - and I'm sorry she didn't pursue him in court, as she would have had a better story with a happier ending, and done a public service besides.

But what I take issue with is this inflammatory statement:
"So if you're planning to hold your own estate or garage sale, be warned of the shady tactics of appraisers and dealers!" and the request for stories of bad experiences. How about, if you're planning to hold your own estate or garage sale, educate and protect yourself - but realize too that the value of anything is what someone will pay for it. I'm sure there are a lot of bad experiences in the world of buying and selling - I've had them myself. but they mostly have to do with rudeness and bad manners - not criminal intent.

If you're not reaching the best market for your items, which you're not doing at an estate or yard sale, you're not going to make the highest market prices. Learning, having and using this knowledge, expertise, skill and effort is how dealers and antique sellers earn their money. They don't always just luck into it by duping rubes. Further, they invest in their businesses and have expenses to cover - and they always have the option not to buy your items if they can't make a profit. At your sale, you are the seller; you are choosing to sell your items - they're not being wrested from you; you set the price; and it's often only when comparing your take with that of a professional that discontent emerges. Fair market value is what you get - what a willing buyer pays a willing seller in an open market with all conditions known and no duress. Retail value is what the dealer offers it for beyond that. One item can have many different values, only the dealer divorces the item from sentimental value - no matter how charming chips on tea cups are to sweet old ladies.

When your mom picked up the Nancy Drew set from another yard sale, didn't she give them way too little for the set too?


Apartment Therapy New York | Beware of Antique Appraisers NPR, 8.16.08
8/19/08 6:49 AM