tailfin's Profile

Display Name: tailfin
Member Since: 9/22/08

Latest Comments...

When I was scrolling through AT & saw this photo, I KNEW this was a Nashville house -- even before I read the caption. This house is located maybe 2 miles from where I grew up.

I absolutely love brick houses, but if the brick is drab or downright ugly (which a lot of brick in Nashville is), then I'm a big fan of painted or color-washed brick. I know lots of folks believe that painting brick is a sin, but I look at it as, hey, it's your house -- you're going to live there and enjoy it, so you should do whatever makes you happy and comfortable.

*sigh* I miss brick, stone & stucco houses. Up here in Buffalo, most everything is sided: aluminum, vinyl, asbestos, asphalt or Z-brick.


Apartment Therapy Chicago | Good Questions: Painting or Staining Exterior Brick?
4/30/09 3:21 PM

Does anybody have an effective deterrent for centipedes & millipedes? They're pretty prevalent here in Buffalo during the warmer months.


Apartment Therapy San Francisco | Two Battle-Tested Household Uses for Cinnamon
4/27/09 12:39 PM

My favorite was always the eggroll cart in front of the fountain at UT next to the business school. It's been 9 years since I finished B-school & moved away, so I don't know whether they're still there or not. They did a tremendous business.


Apartment Therapy Los Angeles | Look: Austin's Food Trailer Explosion! Austin
4/27/09 12:31 PM

I had a purple kitchen in a townhouse I owned a few years abck. The previous owners had selected the color, which was darker than a periwinkle but lighter than an eggplant. And when I moved in, my turquoise 1963 Frigidaire refrigerator really popped against the purple walls and bright white cabinets.


Apartment Therapy San Francisco | Look! Two Purple Kitchens
3/12/09 10:40 PM

So many radiators are works of art themselves. I don't think they need covering up.


Apartment Therapy Boston | Custom Radiator Covers by Boston's Sandcastle
3/5/09 1:48 PM

So wrong.


Apartment Therapy Chicago | Hot or Not? Prince Charles Chairs by Peter Shire
3/4/09 2:14 PM

No. Just no.


Apartment Therapy Los Angeles | Look! Polka Dot Fridge
3/2/09 5:13 PM

As a teenager, I spilled bongwater in my Dad's car. The temperature was about 10 degrees F that night & my friends and I spent the entire night driving with all the windows down trying to get the smell to go away. Luckily for me, my father never said a word about the stink that I know lingered in his car for days.


Apartment Therapy Los Angeles | What’s the worst thing you’ve spilled? Melbourne
2/19/09 2:15 PM

Sandwich bread - and plain old white bread in particular - is also great for getting up tiny particles of shattered glass from a floor. Simply mash the bread over the area where the glass has shattered.


Apartment Therapy Los Angeles | How To: Clean Wallpaper of Fingerprints With...Bread?
1/29/09 10:16 PM

My first house (a 1956 ranch) had fake brick in the kitchen and I came up with a plan to paint the entire wall (bricks & fake mortar) a light bluish-grey. Then I planned to randomly paint a few of the bricks in typical mid-century kitchen colors -- pastel pink, aqua, creamy yellow, etc. The wall would not have had any definite pattern and would have complemented my aqua Frigidaire refrigerator.

My plan never came to fruition because my job transferred me and I had to sell the house less than 11 months after I moved in.

But I still think my plan would have worked. You could adapt the scenario to use any base color and any combination of other colors -- primary red, blue & yellow come to mind or warmer colors like golden yellow & deep red, green and orange.


Apartment Therapy DC | Good Questions: Dealing with Faux Brick in the Kitchen?
11/6/08 7:55 AM

I like the contrast of the blues & greens from the demijohn, votive holders & portrait of Jerry Mathers as The Beaver against the stark white walls & radiator.


Apartment Therapy San Francisco | Look! Demijohn as Change Jar
10/31/08 10:54 AM

I live in a house with forced air heat, so I don't have radiators - unfortunately (b/c I think they provide a cleaner, more even heat).

But I think that many radiators are wonderful works of art themselves and should be a focal part of the room.


Apartment Therapy Los Angeles | Round Up: 7 Ideas For Masking The Radiator
10/30/08 9:12 AM

My 1930 bungalow has no linen closet either, plus the bath is tiny with no available space for a wall shelf. But I have just enough room in my hallway between the bedrooms and bath for an old metal pantry unit - the type normally found at estate sales in basements or garages with old cleaners or tools in them.

I found one of these units that hadn't been beaten up too much, cleaned it, spray-painted it with Rustoleum and turned it into a stand-alone linen closet. It's 26 inches wide, 12 inches deep & under 6 feet high, so it does not take up much space at all yet provides great storage.


Apartment Therapy Los Angeles | Where To: Keep Towels Besides the Obvious
10/16/08 9:57 AM

Forgive me my stupid question, but what is meant by "1.5 bedrooms?" What constitutes a half-bedroom?


Apartment Therapy New York | House Tour: Paul's Homage to Indonesian Art and Asian Packaging New York
10/6/08 7:53 AM

Great photos of a fun interior! Thanks for sharing, Paul. I'm right down the road from you in Buffalo and totally share the love of all things mid-century modern. I also love the flat roof on your double. A total change from the typical WNY doubles.


Apartment Therapy New York | House Call: Paul's Niagara Falls Home
9/25/08 6:00 PM

While I am not commenting on the skill of the artist, the idea of felted pets skeeves me out the same way that people who have their dead pets stuffed & mounted bothers me.

I also found the top photo especially creepy.

Again, not a comment on the artist's talent or skill, just the choice of medium.


Apartment Therapy San Francisco | Felted Pet Sculptures by Amelia Santiago
9/22/08 11:25 AM