Blog Love: the Coveteur

(all images courtesy of thecoveteur.com)

A client turned me onto an new amazing blog, theCOVETEUR. It's like The Selby but with fashion insider's closets. Some shots of the closets, but mostly detailed shots of the clothes themselves.

Children's Artwork: Keep or Toss?

(Darren Higgins for The New York Times)

I get asked this question over and over. This article in The New York Times had some good ideas on the subject (mostly toss!).

Reminder: Electronics Recycling in NYC: UPDATED

The Lower East Side Ecology Center is having their 8th annual "After the Holidays"

recycling events coming in January.

Electronics from residential and small businesses (call ahead), as well as not-for-profit.

Accepted items:

• Computers (laptops, desktops, servers, mainframes)
• Monitors
• Printers, scanners, fax-machines, copiers
• Network devices (routers, hubs, modems, etc)
• Components (hard drives, CD-ROMs, circuit boards, etc)
• TVs, VCRs, + DVD Players
• Audio-visual equipment
• Cell phones, pagers, PDAs
• Telecommunication (phones, answering machines, etc)
• NO: Microwaves, refrigerators, or A/Cs
• NO: Media (floppies, CDs, DVDs, zips, VHS), instead contact Green Disk

MANHATTAN

January 22nd

10:00am - 4:00pm

RING Garden

Riverside Drive

between Dyckman St + Seaman Ave

January 23rd

10:00am - 4:00pm

Lenox Hill Neighborhood House

331 E 70th St

between First + Second Ave

January 23rd: NEW LOCATION

10:00am - 4:00pm

W63rd St between CPW + Bdway

BROOKLYN

January 22nd

10:00am - 4:00pm

Habana Outpost

Fulton St between S Portland Ave + S Oxford St

Blog Love: Freunde von Freunden

(all images courtesy of freunde von freunden)

If you haven't checked out Freunde von Freunden, a German site showcasing apt and work space tours of creative people.

Some of my favorite tours have a cool black kitchen, a great little balcony, one of best uses of chalkboard paint in a kitchen, a minimal yet perfect living room, and who doesn't love an almost all white space?

Click on 'Interviews' for all tours.

Organized Medicine Cabinets

(his)

(hers)

(hers: vanity drawer)

These medicine cabinets are from the apt with the chinese cabinet I showed you. Sorry I don't have before pictures but I can tell you there was minimal use of any kind of containers or risers so things were just 'in' there, with no real order.

For her cabinet, using stackable acrylic drawer organizers and acrylic risers creates almost 1 additional shelf. The organizers keep small items together and makes it easier to get things in and out without knocking everything over. Group things by category; cleansing, facial moisturizers, hand and body moisturizers, oral care, medicinal...

The top drawer of the vanity, you can see the center opening that fits around the pipe. The large shallow trays in the back help things from getting lost in the back (it goes back really far), and small trays she already had plus a few small jewelry boxes (the ones you get with purchase) help group everything else.

Click on the pics to make larger and check out my flickr for more detailed info. Happy friday! Though for me, it's really a tuesday...

Getting a New Camera

(my old camera)

(brother's loaner camera)

My camera hasn't been working so I asked my brother if he had an extra camera I could borrow until I get a new one. I wanted to show you the difference taking a pic in the same spot; the first pics taken with my old camera, the later with his. This will undoubtedly help me bring better shots to show you.

The last shot is just a cute pic of my cats and my new sconce. The white one I've had since my first apt finally broke and I tried having it fixed to no avail. This new one is from Aero Studios.

The Accessories Closet: Update

Wanted to show you a few updated photos from the accessories closet. We moved the full length mirror from the main closet so she could have her everyday shoes close at hand in her main closet, added more hooks to both sides of the wall, and got plastic drawers for scarves and belts that can't be hung.

My flickr has all the pics...

Walk-In Closet: (Almost) Before and After

(in-progress)

(after)

I don't have a before pic, the first shot is a progress shot taken after I cleaned the shelves (with the magic eraser) and put in the beautiful rug that was rolled up in the coat closet with no foreseen use in this apt. We were so happy it fits nearly perfectly in here.

We used every inch of the closet. Her everyday shoes are on the back of the door, and her boots lined up on the floor (the rest of her shoes and a full length mirror are in the accessories closet). Her jewelry, formerly spread out on her dresser, is now in a hanging organizer and a pegboard. Clear plastic drawers hold very delicate pieces that shouldn't be hung, but want close at hand (she's fabulously tall so reaching this isn't a problem). The closed canvas boxes hold off-season clothing.

There are more pics and more details on my flickr.

Chinese Cabinet: Before and After

(before)

(after)

(left drawer after)

(right drawer after)

When I first saw this cabinet, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Sitting at the head of the dining table, I thought it would be great as a serving station or bar. Since they also have two dressers in the dining area, we decided to put the serving pieces in the drawers and have this cabinet as the bar (the husband is a professor and gets a lot of nice bottles of wine and alcohol as gifts).

We cleared everything out, edited and sorted what was left, and redistributed to other areas of the apartment. A stemware rack makes the most use of the top shelf. The middle shelf in the after pic was actually a cover to the bottom 'pit'. This is supposed to be for hidden or long term storage below. I thought it would be better used as a floating shelf below the drawers. My installer used small metal braces to connect the shelf to the cabinet since it's about 2" short of sitting in the existing sides which you can see in the first pic; there's a small green box sitting on the left side brace under the drawers.

The bottom 'pit' holds excess wine bottles and alcohol. Middle shelf is for wine and has placers to keep the bottles from moving. The client is very happy not only with how it looks but how we organized it by reusing so many of her beautiful little dishes and bowls that she thought she had too many of without any real use for.

Note: I know these pics aren't great. I'm getting a new camera and when we're done with the apt, will take pics of the whole place as an apt tour to show you everything we did here. It's a great space, can't wait to show you!