Trig's Profile

Love the teepee, and the window-pane closet-shelf!

Huh. I've never had this issue. I can't cook unless my counters are clear, so I keep them clear.
The only things permanently on them are the things we use daily: coffee grinder, jar of coffee beans, toaster, cat food (in a plastic container), and the dish drying rack. Everything else is put away, and I try to clear the drying rack out every morning while waiting for the kettle to boil.

If you don't have a lot of cupboard space to store things and want empty counters, I recommend *creating* some horizontal surfaces!
In my kitchen, a butcher block against one wall is home to the (stacked) toaster oven and microwave, and baskets on its shelves contain the food processor, hand mixer, and various other small appliances. We put up a wall shelf for big bowls/pitchers/teapots, the miscellany (beer empties, bread, fruit, whatever needs a home RIGHT NOW) goes on the sink-hookup washing machine next to the butcher block, and the top of the fridge stores liquor bottles, bigger tupperware, and the kettle.

As for keys and purses/backpacks, those don't belong in the kitchen. A little shelf right inside the door keeps keys, phones, and wallets, and backpacks or purses go in (or on the floor in front of) the wardrobe with the jackets.

I think it works because, like another commenter said, we have a non-counter home for everything, and non-kitchen things don't go in the kitchen.

And maybe it's being a renter/getting bills online, but we never have so much mail that it takes more than a minute to sort through and deal with.

DC, it says right in the post why wood: it is beautiful. The poster didn't want to have to stash it away in a closet, she wanted to be able to display it. I think wooden toys are really nice; they are durable and beautiful, and a nice change from the bajillion plastic toys you normally see.

That said, some of those prices are a bit ridiculous. Handcrafted stuff is nice and all, but I think I'd just try to make friends with someone with a few power tools instead. ;)

My mind was blown when I discovered that my thesis advisor used the "Hunt and Peck" typing method. HOW DID HE WRITE PAPERS LIKE THAT?!

I understand that you can 'touch-type', or use the 'home row' without hunting and pecking but needing to glance at the keys every now and again... but yeah, I thought everyone learned to touch-type. We had to do ten minutes of 'All the Right Type', a learn-to-type program, at the beginning of every computer class starting probably in grade two, though it was really the advent of chat in middle school that got my typing properly.

If possible, put up shelves! I just put one up on a big empty wall in our kitchen, and I love it. I couldn't do all open shelving, but a single shelf to display/make accessible some of my nicer kitchen things (Mason Cash mixing bowls, pitchers and jugs) is great.
Granted, it took five trips to the hardware store and a bunch of holes in the wall, but it's awesome. (The kitchen walls consist of many layers of paint, a 3/4" thick layer of horse-hair plaster, 1/2" thick plywood lathes, then some kind of sheet metal. No wonder we had a hard time finding studs, which are spaced 32" apart...)

We've spackled the holes and are going to put on a fresh coat of paint, so the landlord should be appeased.

My list of "would like to do" includes replacing the ceiling lamp and the cupboard hardware, but that will probably have to wait. We're currently focusing on the bathroom, the kitchen shelf was just a side project.

My current landlord is pretty good. Not ideal, but pretty good. Our house (we live on one floor of a three-story-plus-basement place that's probably over 100 years old) is his only property, so he's never too busy to look after it. The only problem is he puts as little money into it as possible. He'd DIY everything if he could. Like the time he wanted to replace a major pipe in the basement when it burst and was backwashing used toilet water into the basement apartment shower. UGH!). Luckily, his wife and the basement tenant talked sense into him and he got a professional plumber to do it.

He does mean well though. He mows the lawn/shovels the driveway punctually. He applies a fresh coat of paint to the porch every year (though he really should replace it). He let us dig up chunks of the front yard and put in gardens, was ok with us getting a cat (having hardwood and linoleum probably helped), didn't complain when we bought a counter-top dishwasher and (used) sink-hookup laundry machine, and I imagine he'll be fine with us painting (we've been living there three years now... I think it's time.)

Plus if something goes wrong, he's there as soon as possible. Last fall when a big leak sprung in the ceiling in our bedroom after he'd already patched the leak once, he came over the next morning, offered to replace anything that had been water damaged, and got the roof replaced that weekend. As an apology for us camping out in the living room for a few rainy nights, he gave us a bunch of krona for our then-upcoming vacation in Iceland.

So, pretty good guy. For the amount of rent we and our fellow tenants pay (which isn't a ton, but we live in a pretty desirable neighbourhood, so the same house elsewhere would fetch a lot less), he could afford to be less cheap about keeping the place in good repair.

Prospective landlords, just make sure you respond quickly to your tenant's needs, don't blame them for things that are pre-existing issues in your 100-year-old house, and try not to be too cheap about upkeep (seriously, replace rotting/cracking wood porches rather than just putting another coat of paint on them. The paint is not actually structural...)

@herzprung, and others complaining about "why is it just the women?", some direct quotes from the post:

"Obviously, moms don’t have a monopoly on good planning."
"Here are 6 smart ideas for anyone — with kids or no..."
"Many reported sharing duties with their partners..."

Yes, the book referenced was written based on feedback from women, but they make it clear that this stuff isn't just for women, or even for people with kids.

Agree with Surfjack, though the cushion might look 'out of proportion', it also looks a heck of a lot more comfortable than the original 80's pattern thing. I can just picture the
particleboard with a bit of padding stapled to it, totally unsitable for more than ten minutes.
If anyone wants to do some actual sitting, I think the thicker cushion was a good idea.

Also, though I'm not a huge fan of parquet, I LOVE the border on the floor!

I don't mind hand-washing, but my boyfriend hates it, and hand drying doubly so. It was hard for me to want to wash up after dinner when I could be relaxing on the couch with him, so a big chunk of counter space was constantly full of un-washed dishes.

So, roughly two years ago, we got a Danby model on sale. I can't remember what we payed, but it was worth every penny. The counter space it takes up is what was previously taken up by gross dishes, so that's no loss. It's energy and water-efficient, though our rent is inclusive, so while I haven't seen the bill, our landlord hasn't complained.

Pots, pans, and other awkward items (wood, tupperware) don't go in, but it gets our plates, cups, bowls, and silverware clean with minimal effort. We run it probably every other day. My sister was inspired by mine, and as she lives alone, she has room for her pots in it.

One warning: if you ever see one with a window, avoid it. It's cool to see the water swooshing around, but ours started leaking about a year in. We removed the gasket and used silicone caulking to seal it. The next year's model ditched the window too, so I imagine this was a common problem.

I'd totally recommend it to anyone who hates washing dishes but doesn't have the space or commitment to a full-sized one. All of our dishwasherless friends are jealous.

The only thing that has had a greater effect on our chore-doing is the sink-hookup apartment-sized laundry machine, but that's another post entirely.

Reminds me of this blog I read a while back about how the concept of ubiquitous flat touch-screen surfaces being the future is uninspiring.
http://worrydream.com/#!/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionDesign

I like the idea of interconnected, instantly synched devices, but of course that'll only work if everything you have is from Apple or Microsoft or an Android.

Also, I spend all day at work staring at a screen. I try to avoid doing so too much at home.