The Cure

Our apartment has been "cured"!

For those of you unfamiliar (which is many, I'm sure), over at Apartment Therapy (one of my favorite sites to visit daily), they do this thing called The Cure every Fall and Spring. It's a way to really look at your home and how you use it; deep cleaning, editing your belongings, purging (see: outbox) and making changes to necessitate healthy, happy living within your sanctuary.

This is something that really spoke to me, when I learned of it, because our apartment was in dire need of some organizing and editing. But also, as an aspiring designer, our place was an embarrassment! I've always been able to pride myself on having a nice, welcoming home, even without a lot of money for the things I "really" wanted (I've never had money, so things I want come from thrift stores and garage sales). I didn't want anyone to come and visit us in our new place, which was sad, because it's such a cool place. Hardwood floors, french doors from the living room to the kitchen, steam radiators, lots of windows, a built in cupboard. I fell in love the moment I walked in to see it, and it was a shame I didn't want anyone to come and see it once we moved in.

I'd been checking into AT since last Spring, and came in just as the Spring Cure was in full force. It intrigued me, and I was determined to be a part of it come Fall. It worked out well, too, that we had moved into our new apartment back in April, and by Fall, we had settled in. Albeit, settled into some horrible routines, and not quite "getting" how to use our space to suit all of our needs. I was determined to make this Cure, even though I'd be coming into it two weeks late, due to the fact that I was getting married the first week and honeymooning the second!

The Cure works like this: 1)Pick up the book by AT's founder Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, poignantly called Apartment Therapy (I bought mine, used, for like 8 bucks); 2)Become a member of the Flickr pool and start uploading "before" pictures (if you dare), and, more pictures as you go, to show/share your progress 3)Follow the tasks in the book for each week, for a total of 8 weeks. There's a start date, so that everyone can follow along at relatively the same pace in the same time frame. The final week is getting the place ready for a party.

AT, online, is a good source for inspiration, but the Flickr group is even better, with everyone chiming in to motivate one another through group discussions and picture comments. It's nice to see that other people (yes, even cool people) are messy and disorganized, and often times lose their way in creating a lovely home for themselves. And, it's fun to see the progress everyone is making, as well as your own. I found it very inspiring and motivating to see my own home in pictures, posted up there for all to see. It helped me to really evaluate what I was seeing, since I can so often dismiss things I see everyday. It's usually the things that get dismissed - you know, the stuff that just sits there in the background - that we don't even use or like. So they should go away! (Stop cluttering up your space, your energy, your mind!)

It's funny, I don't think I learned anything new from the book. He talks in a very "feng shui" manner, which has always made sense to me. And to really be a part of your home - well, that's a given in my book. It was just helpful to have "someone" helping me stick to the things I've learned and actually put them into practice. I've always believed in the old adage "A place for everything, and everything in its place". And, I agree with William Morris when he said, "Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful". All of these ideas I believe in were just confirmed in the book, and the step-by-step process helped me get the job done!

I've pulled a lot of my "before" pictures from Flickr (they only allow you so much storage before they ask that you pay for it, understandably, and I have a lot of wedding pictures up right now), if not all of them. So, I'm posting some before and after shots here.

Our office is in the living room, so it's absolutely essential that it be "contained" and not an eyesore. Unfortunately, we didn't have any systems in place for a long time, and it got out of hand very quickly. Hence the need for The Cure. Now we have a "landing strip" that works, and the space is edited and organized. A work in progress, it's much better than it was. Out with the chaos, in with the peace:) Finally!

A minor rearrangement and the addition of mirrors make for huge improvements in the kitchen. This tiny space is truly a joy to be in now. Really.

And, hey, my pic's got noticed on Flickr, and ended up on AT's main page the other day! How cool is that?

The linen closet was just ridiculously out of hand. Now it's organized and everything is accessible. So simple, so wonderful:)

I'm so proud of myself, even if what you see isn't outstanding or as stylish as a designer's home "should be". I made progress, and my home feels good to be in. AND, it functions! That is so very important. I'm looking forward to the Spring Cure, where I'll be focusing more on the design-end of things, specifically our bedroom. Come join us this Spring! You'll be glad you did:)

Happy Christmas!

Michael and I decided that this past Sunday was to be the day to make our little apartment festive for the holiday season. Our decorating - and any other holiday activities - will be done with sustainability in mind. Leaving as small an ecological footprint as possible is really important to us, and the holiday season is no exception. In fact, it's the perfect time of year to make that a priority.

We set out to the farmers market on Saturday, and picked up the cutest little tree. It really is tiny, about 3 feet high. Before getting a real tree, we went back and forth on whether or not that was a good idea, and finally found a ton of information online that confirmed for us that real is okay. In fact, it's better than artificial. Of course, we don't have to have a tree at all, and we may not always get one.

Contrary to what most folks have on their tree (myself in years past, included), we have committed to only having ornaments that mean something. Whether they were given as gifts to one or both of us, or were handed down..whatever. They're all personal.

I'm amazed at how little I'm affected by the pull to head out to Target for the latest decorations, only to want a different "theme" throughout the house every year, which was certainly not the case in years past. Only in the last year have we limited our shopping at big box stores, and kept our money in our community. Before that, I was like a crack addict for Target, and Michael didn't buy any of his clothes anywhere except Express. Don't get me started on the weekly trips to IKEA!

Simplifying our life means simplifying all holiday "stuff" around the house, as well as the tree. Michael made paper rings out of some papers we had sitting around, and I made some snow flakes to hang in the window (sounds juvenile, but it really is fun and satisfying). We already had a few strings of lights, and of course, they wouldn't all fit on our tiny tree. We strung one around the front windows and one is lighting the perimeter of our bedroom. Having picked up our tree at the St. Paul Farmers Market, I also eyed some dogwood being sold there, so I bought a bundle to spread around the house.

Michael has blogged about "greening" your holidays, over at his blog, Uptown Green. For more ideas and inspiration, take a peek.

Happy (green) holidays!!