Matilde's Profile

I love these, although all I can think when looking at (2) is the house fire that is about to happen when a spark jumps from that fireplace.

Where is room 6? I'm moving in.

I keep my PJs under my pillow, hang clothes that have been worn once but are still clean enough to mingle in the closet, and have a tall basket for dog park clothes and casual items that get worn again and again until laundry day.

My clean folded clothes go in my chair. I've never learned to put my laundry away.

Here are my suggestions for the DC version of this list:

1. Ruff & Ready Furnishings. Like combing through 10 grandmother attics at once: separating the wheat from the chafe here can be exhausting, but regular visits can result in some real bargains.
2. Miss Pixies. Best place for flea-market vintage.
3. Millenium. Vintage mid-century furniture without the trendy sticker-shock.
4. Design Within Reach Floor Sample Sale. I've scored some serious bargains at these sample sales, including classics like Cherner chairs and Eames lamps for 1/2 price.

1. Cleaning service. I succumbed this year due to a demanding work schedule and now all I wonder is why I waited so damn long.

2. Luxury bath products Because why stop at nice hand soap?

3. Nespresso machine Oh my god why is this not on anyone else's list? Say goodbye to Starbucks for good.

4. Projector With a projector, my office converts into a home movie theater every night. I don't even remember how I ever watched movies on a TV before I bought a home movie projector.

I've never gone through anyone's medicine cabinet, but I do read the spines on their bookshelves. And I do judge people by what they read and know I'm not the only one who does so. (You might want to rethink the bookshelf full of hardcover James Paterson books, prune the sex manual (TMI) that slipped in, etc. In my book it's okay to have some low-brow books mixed in there - even bookworms are susceptible to a trend or a beach read - "Twilight" surrounded by a collection of Dickens and books on seventeenth century Russian history doesn't convey the same message as when the only books in the house are hardcover versions of the Twilight series.)

To spare toothbrushes I would add spare disposable razors. With bag check fees lots of people aren't checking bags, and you can't put a razor in a carry-on.

We have this problem in our apartment. Actually, it's two problems, really:

(1) How can you incorporate a dining table nicely into a small apartment with no dedicated dining room?
(2) How do you entertain when you have no dedicated dining room?

For (1) the key is a small table that can be integrated with style into another room. Round tables are great - we have a round walnut expandable table and turned an awkwardly long foyer into a very narrow dining area with the table, an antique runner and a pendant lamp. It works.

However, let's be realistic, for (2) it's very hard to entertain formally at a small table. You can do a romantic dinner, or have one or two friends, but anything larger gets horribly cramped at a small table. For entertaining, it's best to have a gathering that is drinks and small plates that can be juggled on tables and laps in the seating area. Learn to cook spanish tapas and other party food. We entertain all the time this way in our dining room-less apartment and it is way more fun than a formal sit-down meal. (However, you do need a conversation and eating friendly seating area - if your seating area is giant plush sofa facing a giant TV, or a $14,000 white vintage linen sofa, this won't work.)

For occassions where formal dining is not an option (Thanksgiving, Christmas) - pull the leaves out for your expandable small dining table and move some furniture to convert at least part of one room into a more formal dining area.

If you do a lot of formal dining entertaining, it really might make sense to dedicate a room in your apartment to a larger table. But most of us apartment dwellers host large formal dining parties only infrequently, and there's no reason to devote an entire room in a small apartment to something you do only once or twice a year.

Ha! I used to have a chinchilla and he wore that pissed off expression all the time! They are quite good jumpers and do look very cute perched on furniture, but they do leave poo everywhere and chew everything in sight when they are loose (which they have to be sometimes unless you have a very large aviary to keep them). They also live up to 20 years, so don't go getting one thinking it will be easier to take care of than a dog.

LOVE it.

I have a Neo Sectional (sold at DWR) in a small room that is largely used to watch movies (I have a projector which shows movies on the opposite wall). I ignored the advice of everyone who told me you needed a big room to make a sectional work. I'm glad I did as it was the perfect small space seating solution.