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July 05, 2010 12:53 PM House & Garden  |   Link
More pantry space

I will someday get a real pantry in my kitchen, but for now I would consider doing something like this. Just not sure where the cabinet would go.



August 13, 2008 04:31 PM House & Garden  |   Link
Beautiful Dessert Plates



July 21, 2008 07:02 PM House & Garden  |   Link
Organize Me

Reisenthel has the most modern styled bags and organizers. I'm dreamingup a wish list now.



May 19, 2008 07:50 PM House & Garden  |   Link
Eco-Friendly Ways to Clean

Clean Things the Eco-Friendly Way

I've been trying to find the best products and recipes to clean our house with non-toxic products. It gets expensive trying all the products out there like Method and Seventhe Generation. So finding this site was really handy. I've opted to start using products like baking soda, vinegar, castille soap, and water. I'm using swiffer sheets to dust our furniture as well as pick up dust on the floor. And I have Murphy's Oil which is vegetable oil based to clean the hardwood floors. I can't wait to try vinegar on the linoleum. If that doesn't work I'll try the baking soda route.



November 16, 2006 01:17 PM House & Garden  |   Link
And I thought 1100sq ft was too small

Great article in NY Times about a couple who renovated their 300sq ft apartment to keep cheap rent when they were expecting their first baby.

And Now a Baby, Too!

ApartmentTherapy has more info as well. I hope I can be as clever in redesigning the use of space in our house. I really can't complain. Perhaps a redesign of the kitchen should be in order soon. I'm aching to rip out never clean vinyl floor. I can't stand having white floors!



October 29, 2006 10:15 PM House & Garden  |   Link
Hunt for Multi-Function Sofas

It's time to give up the Ikea daybed I got last summer. It really doesn't suit the style we like but it definitely comes in handy when people stay overnight. I was purusing Dwell magazine recently and came across some amazing samples of the updated "futon" couch motif.

Apt_NY: Lounge in Lime

Mobelform: cabrio-in (under products/sofabeds) They have an amazing assortment under the sofabeds and wallbeds. The cabrio-in is a bed and desk in one. The desk rises when the bed is unfolded. This would be ideal in a dorm or small office/guest room.

So as you can tell we're trying to make the office more inviting and relaxing when doing writing or emailing but also be useful when we have a guest. If we end up moving to a large metro city it would be great to have this type of furniture for economizing on space.

Design within Reach also a few that were quite interesting.
Pierrot Sofa Sleeper
Case Study Day Bed
Twilight Sleep Sofa

Lino Comfort Sleeper



January 01, 2006 08:02 PM House & Garden  |   Link
Brown Leather Cubes

I remember someone asking me when they visited recently where I had got my brown leather cubes in the living room. I actually got them from Craigslist over the summer. I got them 2 for $80 after negotiating it down from $120. Well I was perusing Ballard Designs catalog I got in the mail the other day and found the same exact ones on there.

Leather Cube $239 each or 2 or more 229 each.

They are alot more than I thought but it would have been nice to get the red ones.



December 16, 2005 11:55 AM Whine  |   Link
Domestic Life and the Challenge of Not Being Martha Stewart

Wow this past week has been chock full of domestic activities. I just finished a light-hearted book on nesting.

It's definitely a fun book full of ideas, tips, vignettes of women living a domesticated type life and feeling a little bit more accomplished. Of course I realize it all goes out the door when you have kids as I have heard from close friends. However the recipes and short-cuts for entertaining or even gardening will prove useful someday.

So this past week I learned how to make cookie-cutter sugar cookies and with the lack of artistic abilities was able to decorate them for a community outreach activity. I was also able to do various baking activities involving recipes not found on the back of the Toll-House Chocolate Chip bag, banana nut bread, chili from scratch, and corn bread from scratch.

In addition, I was able to hem my own pants which has saved me some good money since I'm shorter than most petite sizes on the market. I'm starting to get a bit more familiar with my sewing machine and can claim 2 successful projects, even though they were just 2 aprons from Sewing for Dummies.

The garden is a mess but will definitely weed and mulch in the next week or so. Will be planning to add lighting and a better system for the fountain. It's been neglected for the most part this past year because of the redesign of the interior which as I speak is short of a couple of pieces of furniture and some lighting. Did manage to borrow a Christmas tree this year, with just 5 ornaments it's kind of sad looking right now, but hope to hit up Ikea or Kmart shortly for more. Feel free to send us ornaments if you have no clue what to give us.

While at times I envy Martha Stewart's abilities at making domestic life exciting and fun, I still fall short of the eye for detail, patience and creativity to really fully pull it off. I don't have all the entertainment ware and haven't even pulled out our nice stemware for get togethers. Although wine or champagne in styrofoam is definitely a path I won't go down.

Do you mind if I just serve salad in a bag sometimes? Or just get the pre-mixed cookie dough? And maybe oatmeal is the only thing good right now while the weather is chilly. I'll probably have to solicit the help of domestic experts shortly to help with adding the finishing touches at home, but for now I'm content and happy to serve up all the meals and doing laundry.



October 06, 2005 04:03 PM House & Garden  |   Link
Tactile Experience with Rugs

Amazing rugs at Angela Adams. Will be placing my order shortly of a few. Can't wait to walk on them.



July 19, 2005 11:28 AM House & Garden  |   Link
New Home

I can't believe we've painted our dramatic new living room in new bright bold colors. I'm wondering if we should do the hallway in green and blue just so that we have some fun crayola colors. It's quite exciting. The colors are all from our Peter Max serigraph so I can't wait to put the painting up to see how it brings everything together.

Virtual visit of our new living room



July 13, 2005 10:18 PM House & Garden  |   Link
The Painting Continues

So I finished the office painting today. It turned out really nice! I was totally not sure while I was painting the stripes, but of course I trusted the designer, Re:Modern. How could I break my own values from my IA days of watching implementation of my wireframes into websites...no way. If I could do it I would, but I can't so I hire someone who can. Next project, living room and kitchen. Bedroom furniture comes in next week. I'm getting pretty excited.

Visit Remodel 2005.



June 06, 2005 09:28 AM House & Garden  |   Link
One Room Down...more to go

We just finished painting the master bedroom. I had a bad cold last week so I couldn't finish it as fast as I wish I could have. Luckily Jeff would help after dinner with some of the trim which actually took the longest time.

Photos of the bedroom transformations.

Removed carpet, refinished existing hardwood floors, painted ceiling, walls, trim and closets, will put in repainted baseboards tonight.



May 25, 2005 01:29 PM House & Garden  |   Link
City Vs. Burbs

NY Times article on suburbs vs. city from the perspective of several couples who have done the move or doing the move.

Is It Worth It? by Teri Karush Rogers (Free Reg Required)

Ever since coming back from HK we have had to face some of the same issues these couples/families have had to face. We really miss the convenience and closeness of life un HK. While we have a bigger home and nice yard here, it's still quite lonely to be home alone all day and having to drive everywhere to run errands is quite challenging. So right now I'm trying to cope and find things to do and explore new ways of looking at our neighborhood. I wonder if this longing will change once we have kids?



May 16, 2005 05:09 PM House & Garden  |   Link
Floor Work Started Today

Jeff and I pulled out the carpet and discovered some huge water damage. The Stuart Floors guy mentioned that with sanding they can remove the parts that were messed up. He was right.

Photos of the floor work.



May 15, 2005 05:29 PM House & Garden  |   Link
Single Guy with Pink Carpet

We're redoing the floors in our bedroom. When we first checked out this house a few years ago we were wondering why there was pink carpet. We just couldn't figure out why a single very masculine guy would pick pink carpet. Well today when pulling out the carpet and base board we found pink walls. So maybe he never picked them and it always has been pink. But boy the pink on the walls reminds me of Pepto Bismol. Argh! So the floors will be refinished and hopefully Jeff's allergies will go away. Today is the first day of remodeling for the house. I'll be documenting our efforts shortly. Some of it will be in DIY style but hopefully it will be fun as well.



February 10, 2005 05:38 AM House & Garden  |   Link
Cataloger's Home Library

I just couldn't pass this one up. A NYPL librarian reveals the secrets of organizing her own private library.

A Bibliophile, 3600 Friends and a System (NY Times, Free Reg Req)

I used to have open bookcases of all my books collected since middle school but after moving from place to place(including the Midwest) I have reduced it to several boxes. Even before we packed everything up before we left my books were in a makeshift closet bookcase. In feng shui, having open book cases represent not resolving the past. Also with the mix of paperbacks falling apart with nice signed IA books I just had to start weeding( of course I kept the signed ones). Just the same the article is kind of interesting and I know my bibliophile friends out there would appreciate it.



October 27, 2004 09:26 PM Food & Wine  |   Link
Minimal Cooking

So you might not remember but our place is really small. I have no oven or dishwasher or even a microwave. Just a 2 burner stove. Here's a photo of the kitchen. After finding CitySuper we bought some groceries(some, since our fridge is just a little bigger than a dorm fridge) I started to really get into cooking. Yesterday I made an omellete and today for lunch I made our favorite lentils with rice. It was ok. I remember back in Napa in May I just had a hot plate, microwave, mini convection/toaster oven in a room the size of a small closet with a little sink. I was able to cook some elaborate dinner. I guess sometimes we get spoiled with all the gadgets that Williams Sonoma and other cookware stores sell you. We also have become dependent on modern appliances. But it comes back down to is what are you trying to make and what tools are really necessary to make it. Also with the dinky fridge I shop more often which means the ingredients are fresher. Which brings me back to kitchens and cooking technique.

Before I left for Napa in May I was really thinking of renovating the kitchen for more space. After Napa and especially after living here in HK, I don't think it's about space. It's about getting rid of junk. I probably have lots of things I only take out once a year and then it's really just for decorative reasons. But I remember watching tv shows about Galley kitchens on boats. Aesthetics are important as well to create a mood, but with simple dishware and stemware I think you can still pull off a nice dining experience.

What I noticed that with minimal space you can really cook up a storm. It's all about efficiency of tools and not wasting. I can imagine in Japan and other places with dense living space that's the case as well. Hopfully with more practice cooking here, I'll probably still remodel the kitchen back home but to modernize the space and increase the dining/socializing area. I'll have to read up on Galley kitchens as well.



June 10, 2003 08:57 AM Information Architecture  |   Comments (0)  |   Link
Gardening & Taxonomies

I've been developing a garden in my backyard these past few months and one of the big challenges is knowing what to plant. The other day I was talking to my friend Lee Cline about how I think many gardening related websites need to implement a taxonomy. Yes I know taxonomies are from the botany world, but what I was thinking was a multi-faceted taxonomy in locating flowers that I don't know about. For example, Lee had shared a technique in tracking information about flowers...color, height, seasonal bloom, and what type of lighting it needs. I got all excited since I had been reading so many books about plants & flowers. I started to track all the flowers in a spreadsheet. But the disconnect was when I didn't know about a particular flower and I just wanted to locate flowers based on attributes. So to the IAs out there who work for a nursery website or gardening publication, would it be possible to provide access through search & taxonomy capabilities that let me select the various attributes of the flowers & plants and not just the botanical or common name?



June 02, 2003 05:09 PM House & Garden  |   Link
Nature is in the air

Been working in the garden over the past 2 months, ever since I was able to start walking. I've chronicled most of my garden adventures through pictures. We also recently purchased patio furniture that is much more comfortable than the Safeway plastic chairs, so we'll hoping to start entertaining in the next few weeks.

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