Dianne from citydogcountrydoghome's Profile

A big chandelier from the ceiling. And maybe a large, colorful quilt (like I did here http://citydogcountrydoghome.blogspot.com/2013/02/hanging-colorful-quilt-in-my-city-home.html) or tapestry.

First of all, what an adorable apartment! I love the floors and cabinets. You have lots of options. My idea expands on some of the above comments. You could get Ikea butcher block - or Lowes sells similar stuff in smaller pieces - and make a countertop. You would want to hinge it in the middle so that the left side could be folded over to the right side when you use the washer. So that the controls for the W&D aren't showing, and to make it look like an actual countertop, you could use the same wood to do a backsplash of sorts. It would need to be removable so that you could access the W&D controls. You could attach fabric to the edge of the countertop with velcro. To do laundry you would take off the backsplash and lean it against the wall, fold the fabric up onto the counter, and fold the left side of the counter over to the right.

Thank you AT and Janel!! I still have a few things to finish, but I'm really happy with how much I was able to get done in a month, and the Cure changed (for the better!) the way I think about my home and cleaning. Also, it couldn't have been better timing. I just decided to refinance my condo, which will require an appraisal. When I took a look around to see what I need to do before that happens, I came up with a very short list. Although, sadly, I don't think the appraiser will be giving me any extra points for my perfectly organized and alphabetized spice cabinet :(

I have a lot of exposed brick in my condo, which I love, but I hated it in the bedroom. It was the wall facing the bed, and it looked crumbly and dirty and somehow unfit for a bedroom. So I painted it white. It looked even worse. Every day I stared at that wall and thought how horrible it looked, and every day I regretted my decision to paint it. I thought about trying to remove it - I did have luck removing another unfortunate brick-painting situation somewhere else in the condo that was much smaller - but this was too large of an area, and I had filled in some gaps with this caulk type material, which I knew would be stuck there. I ended up drywalling over it a few years later, which I'm very happy with. But I spent several years with a constant reminder of my stupidity.

Genius idea. And I know exactly what I'm going to put in it as the first item, too. A new guy brought a bottle of mead to my condo on our second date. The mead was in a bright blue bottle with a stopper top. I washed out the bottle to keep, because it's really neat. But it reminds me of him, which annoys me (he disappeared off the face of the earth for no apparent reason after the second date). Every day I look at that blue bottle and try to decide what to do with it and whether I should just throw it away and be done with it. It has been traveling around my kitchen for the past two months, sitting in different spots. I actually threw it away in the kitchen trash can earlier this week but took it back out the next morning. This morning it was sitting in front of the iron, and I needed to use the iron, so I again had to ask myself whether I should throw it away or not, and I had to move it to yet another location. Amazing how much mental energy I'm expending thinking about that stupid bottle. And I will soon be free!