Apartment Therapy Los Angeles

Open Thread #74 Los Angeles

2009-01-05T21:10:00+00:00

The start of 2009 and a new week. Here's to making both your home and the year a beautiful one! Check out the weekend's most popular AT:Los Angeles post: LA Times Home & Garden Roundup 12.03.09

Starting Anew in the New Year... What to Keep and What to Shred

2009-01-05T20:40:24+00:00

With the long list of imagined home improvement projects we had dreamt up finishing while on vacation, we only completed one major project: emptying and organizing the closet. Hidden in the back of our walk-in closet were shoe boxes filled with financial documents accumulated over years of working as a freelance graphic designer; every receipt, invoice and a miscellaneous amount of "why the heck did I keep this?!" paperwork stored haphazardly and with the obsessive quality of a squirrel storing away nuts for the winter. Above is the greater portion of what was shredded over the span of two days (an additional 2 1/2 bags were thrown into recycling the first day)...

Okay, so you admit you're like us and have a secret cache of papers and documents that is threatening to take over your storage/office but you're unsure what you can shred and what you should keep? Here's some tips from Jenny C. McCune of Bankrate of when to shred and when to store away:

Taxes

Returns
Canceled checks/receipts (alimony, charitable contributions, mortgage interest and retirement plan contributions)
Records for tax deductions taken

Length of time to keep: Seven years

IRA contribution records

If you made a nondeductible contribution to an IRA, keep the records indefinitely to prove that you already paid tax on this money when the time comes to withdraw.

Length of time to keep: Permanently

Retirement/savings plan statements

Length of time to keep: From one year to permanently

Bank records

Go through your checks each year and keep those related to your taxes, business expenses, home improvements and mortgage payments.
Shred those that have no long-term importance.

Length of time to keep: From one year to permanently

Brokerage statements

Length of time to keep: Until you sell the securities

Bills

Go through your bills once a year. In most cases, when the canceled check from a paid bill has been returned, you can shred the bill.
However, bills for big purchases -- such as jewelry, rugs, appliances, antiques, cars, collectibles, furniture, computers, etc. -- should be kept in an insurance file for proof of their value in the event of loss or damage.
Length of time to keep: From one year to permanently

Credit card receipts and statements

Keep your original receipts until you get your monthly statement; shred the receipts if the two match up.
Keep the statements for seven years if tax-related expenses are documented.
Length of time to keep: From 45 days to seven years

Paycheck stubs

When you receive your annual W-2 form from your employer, make sure the information on your stubs matches.
If it does, shred the stubs. If it doesn't, demand a corrected form, known as a W-2c.
Length of time to keep: One year

House/condominium records

Keep all records documenting the purchase price and the cost of all permanent improvements -- such as remodeling, additions and installations.
Keep records of expenses incurred in selling and buying the property, such as legal fees and your real estate agent's commission, for six years after you sell your home.

Length of time to keep: From six years to permanently

Affordable Resources For Organic Bedding

2009-01-05T20:10:18+00:00

We've already made the switch to nontoxic cleansers and laundry soap to keep our home free from weird chemicals and things that are harmful to our sensitive skin and environment. Now we're looking at our sheets and pillows to see if we can make some small changes in the name of health and well being. The good news is that there are a lot more affordable options for organic bedding these days:

A lot of high end places have been turning out some incredibly luxurious organic linens for a while. We'd love to invest in some of those, but are glad to know that more and more places like Overstock and Target offer affordable bed linens, pillows and blankets that are free from toxins and dyes that are harmful to us and to the planet. Our top picks: Overstock Organic 300 thread count sheets $39.99 Green and Greener Organic White Sheet Set $40 Amenity Home Organic Shams (Made in LA) $65 Pottery Barn Natural Pillow $69-99 West Elm Organic Matellase duvet and shams in stone white $24-$169 Pottery Barn Grid Print Organic Sheet Set on sale for $59 Gaiam Organic Sateen Bedding $41-$62 Target Nurture Organic Bedding Collection $79-$109 Do you have a great affordable resource for organic mattress pads, sheets or blankets? Related: How TO Make Homemade Laundry Detergent How To Make Fabric Softening Sheets

Good Questions: Identify This Headboard? Los Angeles

2009-01-05T19:10:00+00:00

Hi LA Apartment Therapy, I was hoping you would be able to help me. I found this Velvet Tufted Border Queen Headboard in the beautiful chocolate velvet...it was love at first site. I went to purchase the headboard and that week, the company warehouse was flooded, causing all merchandise to be lost. The other websites I found it on soon disappeared only to later reappear not carrying the headboard anymore. Can anyone help in my search for my dream headboard?!?! Thanks, Rachel

Got a good question you'd like answered? Send your queries and a photo or two illustrating your question, and we'll see if the ATLA team or our readers can help you out.

Rachel, this looks a lot like the Concierge Collection Tufted Headboard form Home Shoppign Network, but we're unable to hunt down the chocolate option. Anyone out there know where to find a brown version or similar style to end Rachel's quest for the perfect headboard? Other tufted headboard questions and posts:

Inspiration: Bed In Front of Window

2009-01-05T18:40:00+00:00

We decided to rearrange our bedroom over the holidays and our bed ended up in front of the window (no pics yet because we need new drapes). We always heard that it was bad feng shui and basically not the best idea to put your bed in front of/underneath a window--but we kinda like it. We found a few pictures of this idea working quite well in a bedroom space after the jump. And we'd love to know if you have experience with your bed placed in front of a window in the comments.

We've had this image saved in our inspiration file for a while now. We love this floating bed (more than a few feet away from the window) with a storage headboard piece sectioning off the room which creates a cozy, private bedroom space.

House Tour: Dave's New Place

In this AT House Tour, Dave took his bed (headboard and all) and floated it a few feet in front of his window. The sheer curtains work nicely with the headboard here (a darker color might make the bed frame blend in too much). We found this image on Stephanie's flickr page and again, love the use of light colored curtains that opens up the small space. Most of the time, if a bedroom is small, the bed has no other option but going in front of the window. A functional, swing-arm lamp and colorful pillows make this space one to admire.

Look!: Using A Curtain As A Headboard

In this bedroom, the bed is placed in front of darker curtains, acting more like a headboard than window covering. Placing your bed in front of a window is a great idea when you don't have a headboard (the curtains become the focal point and function as the headboard). Related Inspirational Posts

[Image on first page from Domino Magazine]

Screwing Around: Identifying Different Screw Heads

2009-01-05T18:10:00+00:00

This past weekend we spent some time at our local hardware store in search for some special screws and drill bits for installing a security motion detecting light at the base of our apartment stairway into a concrete wall (strangely, a very popular spot for midnight trysts according to the regular appearance of various prophylactic wrappers). We had never drilled into concrete, so we asked the folks at the hardware store for a primer on drilling attachments and different screws, which we found surprisingly interesting with the variety of different screw heads we had seen at one time or another, but had never learned their names (sort of like some of our relatives). Now you can have a cheat sheet of your own, thanks to Instructables contributor, arcticpenguin, who classified/identified a multitude of cross-head, cross-point, cruciform, and square drive screws and drivers...

These screw types have a "+" shaped recess on the head and are driven by a cross-head screwdriver, designed originally for use with mass-production mechanical screwing machines. There are a few other recessed drive screws presented that you also want to be aware. So, why all the confusion? Why all the damaged screw heads and drivers? Why is this screw and driver thing so awkward? Read on and be amazed while I unravel the mystery of screw drives and present some you may have never seen.

Read all about it at When a Phillips is not a Phillips. FYI: though several online sites recommend using a special hammer drill, we discovered using a concrete/masonry drill bit with our regular cordless drill worked fine. Next time we'd consider using a Tapcon concrete fasteners, which was recommended by a friend after installation.

How To: Take Your Time In A New Space

2009-01-05T17:10:00+00:00

In the past, we've been known to pre-buy everything for an upcoming move. Pre-pick out and get the paint, pre-order a new piece of furniture, pre-purchase a new rug for our new space, you name it! Since we usually ended up returning half of the stuff when we finally get in the space, we've decided to change our ways when we recently moved in December. Check out how we did it after the jump.

After years of this pre-planning behavior and with help from our polar opposite boyfriend/roommate (he can wait months to pick out a paint color), we've learned a thing or two about how to take our time in our new space.

We asked ourselves...what really is the rush? It's definitely an emotional reaction to want to feel settled in right away. The way we felt settled in without rushing to pre-fix up our home was to simply make our bed right when we moved in. We felt good, settled and at home in our new home even though boxes and stuff filled the other rooms.
We looked for the light. We waited a few weeks to pick out paint in order to really see how the natural light filled the rooms. Happily the particular gray color we decided on creates hints of pink, yellow and plum as the sun moves through our space.
We lived in our home for a few weeks to see how we felt in our space. Comfort + function are key for us and didn't want to waste any space. Had we prematurely bought two chairs for a new alcove area we now have, we almost certainly would not have really used them since our design layout ended up changing once we got into the space.
We made a commitment to use all of our existing furniture. In the past we may have changed our design style when we moved, taking the opportunity to buy a new furniture piece or two. We were able to use all of our 1 bedroom furniture in our entire new 2 bedroom space.
We kept it in check with a priority list. Since we now can enjoy hardwood floors, we needed a large rug but that sofa bed for the office/guest room can wait. (the only additional furniture piece we need). We feel better about waiting on this item and now we can save for this piece.

We honestly feel better in our space. By simply slowing down and taking time, we've created a comfy space we feel good in without breaking the bank, reusing all of our existing pieces and picking up items we needed vs. wanted right away. Plus no items needed to be returned this time - worth it!

Look! Bneato Organizing BootCamp

2009-01-05T16:40:00+00:00

AT Los Angeles' own organizing expert Beth Zeigler recently headed up a clutter busting bootcamp with participants bringing their own boxes of paperwork to learn how to properly and efficiently organize it all like a pro organizer, something we did ourselves this holiday break (more about that later today). If you've ever been interested in participating in one of Beth's LA events, here's your chance to take a peek at what happens at an organizing bootcamp. And also be sure to take a peek at Beth's appearance on the CW Network where her organizing super powers were used to help a client battle "post holiday" house clutter, a most appropriate topic as we venture off into 2009. Videos below...

Best Bedroom Habits To Start In The New Year

2009-01-05T16:10:56+00:00

January is a great time to start building habits that will carry you through the year. And if your vacation was anything like ours (no alarm clocks, no deadlines, lots of time with family and friends and plenty of time for reflecting on 2008 and looking ahead to the new year) you're ready to conquer 2009. Here are some of the simplest but most important habits you can start to keep your bedroom healthy and restful so you can stay on track with your other goals:

According to experts it only takes 3 weeks to build a habit, so jump in today and see if these make a difference in how much rest you get or how you feel when you wake up. If you have other habits that make a big difference, share them in the comments. Change the sheets on Sunday: There's just nothing like slipping into a clean bed, give yourself that luxury every week. This might mean that you need to invest in a second set of high thread count sheets or that you commit to doing laundry on sundays. When we're feeling lazy, we at least change the pillowcases. Make the Bed Everyday: We've made this easy on ourselves by only having a duvet and pillows to fluff, no fussy sheets to tuck in or bedskirts to deal with. Our bedroom is small so when the bed is made the room looks tidy. Abstain from the Internet/TV Before Bed: It's easy for us to end up taking the computer to bed with us, catching up on blogs, thinking about what we want to write for the coming week, but this can often set us up for fitful sleep while our brain keeps working and our body is trying to rest. If we put the computer down an hour before bed it lets us wind down. This gives you space to reflect on the day and might even allow for more quality time with a partner, if time is often at a minimum. Put Things Away Every Day: We start our before-bed ritual by putting things away. We don't sleep as well when there are clothes strewn about or piles of paperwork sitting around. We try to spend 5-10 minutes keeping this stuff under control in the evening. This means that in the morning, we have a clean bedroom to wake up to. Read: Find a book you're really into and keep it by the bed. Put time aside to read before bedtime or in the morning before leaping to your feet. Need some help finding a good book? Check out some recommendations from other readers. Image from Design Public

Look! Apartment Therapy in Elle Girl Korea

2009-01-05T15:10:00+00:00

Two weeks of rest and relaxation, that's what I prescribed to myself during the holidays and I proudly stuck to keeping the trusty laptop off except for a little Facebook, Flickr, Twitter updates (my attempt to keep completely off the computer failed in the first 24 hours). But during this sabbatical I did receive a pleasant reminder from the world I put on pause when I received a special issue air mailed from Korea. A few weeks back I participated in a short interview with the features editor of Elle Girl Korea, Choi Eun Young, joining the likes of a variety of bloggers including The Sartorialist, TravelPod, Inhabitat and Gizmodo in a feature amusingly titled, "www.powerbloger.com" (yes, missing one "g" in konglish fashion)...

For those of you who happen to read Korean, here's a direct link to a larger image to translate. I ended up asking my mom for a word by word translation, which I of course forgot to write down. But from what I remember it mostly describes Apartment Therapy's role, including our house tours, and also mentions we're looking to expand into Asia. The article was especially welcome because although my own mom is proud of what I do, I don't think she necessarily understood completely what I did (this, despite her being active online via emails and now IM), so I was grateful she now had a printed version describing the site and my role at AT. Hopefully we find ourselves with a few more readers (and house tours!) from Korea and Asia thanks to this article. Thanks, Elle Girl Korea!

Good Question: Window Coverings for Small Narrow Windows

2009-01-05T13:40:00+00:00

Dear AT, we need help finding a good solution for the windows in the house we rent. We want something that will allow the light to come in from the two smaller side windows and that gives us privacy from the street at night. We have a flexible landlord and in the event that we move there's a good chance she will buy any window treatments we have from us...

We've bounced around the idea of pull down shades but we can't find anyone that makes them small enough for the two outside windows so we would have to do two large shades that cover all four windows. We don't love the curtains we have and we want something that goes better with what we already have in the space. Please help!!!! -Sarah Sarah, I can personally recommend Just Blinds for custom sized roller shades at a reasonable price. We use two of these in our rental and they can be customized anywhere between 8"-191" width. Another simple and fairly affordable ideas is using opaque window film. Static cling window film makes for a non-permanent solution and are available in a wide variety of sizes; there's a variety of other types and styles of window films that should fit your window and sense of style. And if you're feeling crafty, you could also look into using a preexisting IKEA ANNO SANELA window screen as noted in a previous reader question.

Inspiration: DIY Door Desk

2009-01-05T13:10:00+00:00

This new year is the first of many that we've felt quite inspired to tackle projects around the home. We've been scouring the web these past couple of weeks while we've been off looking for ways to enhance our apartment. We stumbled across a blog called Karmalized where the apartment owner was constrained by the smallish desk pictured above. We know first hand how a cramped workspace can hinder any process so we instantly took to Kristen's door desk idea.

Having recently replaced a door to their apartment, Kristen and her beau were left with an extra door. Because she was having spatial issues with her current wood desk, she decided to DIY a desk with the old door. By adding a coat of shiny white paint, the flat surface was well on its way to becoming a desk top.

Kristen decided to add a few bird stencils to make the desk her own and blogged about the process here.

The table legs are from IKEA (for $15) to make the door a desk table. They decided not to cover up the holes left from the dead bolt and knob (Kristen mentions the holes are perfect for dropping wires through to the floor). You could also apply decorative paper to the flat surface and get a piece of custom glass to protect the paper for an alternative look. Related DIY Posts

[Images from Karmalized]

Hot or Not? Urbano Eco Can

2009-01-05T11:40:00+00:00

Urbano Eco Can

[via]

Mix It Up: Dining Chairs

2009-01-05T11:20:31+00:00

Now that 2009 has officially begun, we're already mulling over simple projects to take care of certain things that we never got around to in 2008. For example: Caulking the bathtub. Another example: Figuring out what to do with our dining chairs. While searching for some inspiration, we found three DIY solutions that can reinvigorate matched AND mismatched dining chair sets, thanks to a few coats of bright paint (or wood stains). These solutions are ideal for chairs that are either unfinished wood or need some love after years of wear and tear. Check 'em out after the jump...

Solution 1: For mismatched chairs, paint them all the same color. This will give the dining room a unified look, but each chair retains its personality with its varying shapes and lines.

Solution 2: For matched chairs, paint them all different colors. We like the look of strong primary colors (red, yellow, blue) with black and white for a graphic, Mondrian-inspired look. Or, if you'd prefer to stick to one color but want a little bit of diversity, pick 4-5 different shades to create a subtle, Pantone-esque gradient of chairs around the table.

Solution 3: For mismatched chairs, stick to a tight range of shades. This particular example has a hodge podge of chairs and stools, all in a range of light blonde to a dark walnut wood finish. If you're not a fan of the painted look, this is certainly a more natural-looking solution although it might take a bit more elbow grease with prepping and sealing. We'd suggest narrowing the color selection by using one wood stain for every two chairs to keep the look balanced.
[ Photos from Emmas Blogg and Living Etc ]

Inspiration: Sweet Tempered Austin

2009-01-05T11:15:00+00:00

With the new year well upon us, it's probably safe to assume you've made at least a few resolutions. If one of those resolutions was to eat less sweets, then prepare yourself for a sugar overload with a glimpse of the tasty Austin bakery, Sweet Tempered. You'll definitely find some inspiration to sweeten your own spaces after the jump!

For this South Austin bakery and catering company, it's all in the details, whether we're talking sweets or decorating. Sweet Tempered's store front may have just recently opened, but the talented bakers behind this business have been creating amazingly detailed cakes and sweets for weddings, birthdays and other special occasions for years. Their cakes are gorgeous to look at, often leaving you wondering "how'd they do that?" Using old treasured items and some new finds, this unassuming storefront has been transformed into a sweet and lovely bakery with places to enjoy your sweets or get a little work done. Everything, from the paint colors to the vintage furniture, comes together nicely to create a thoughtful and delicate composition. We loved the details like the free sprinkle station, the lovely tiled tables and the old-fashioned display pieces. An awning sets the order counter apart from the rest of the space, and lovely lights create a nice ambiance. The owners were delightful, and so were the chocolate chip cookies. Sweet Tempered is located in The Shops at Arbor Trails at on William Cannon Road in Austin, Texas. Even if you've given up sweets for awhile, you'll still want to check out this sweet space. Tell us what you think about it!