Curing the dining room

I'm still working on the Apartment Therapy 8-Week Cure. Right now I've kind of gone down a rabbit hole with what I call the dining room area. The old round glass-top pedestal table and folding chairs just weren't working out for me:

• The glass top slipped all over the place
• The floor under the table is uneven, so that made the glass top slip even more
• I do beadwork, which doesn't really work on a glass top table
• Folding chairs are a big sack full of uncomfortable

I sold the table and chairs last week on Criagslist. I'm glad some other people are getting a good use out of them now.

I turned around and bought a cool drop-leaf table on Craigslist. It was terribly scratched up and faded in places, so I decided to paint it. I thought I might paint it a cool aqua color, or red, but decided to just go with off white. I'm using Mythic No-VOC Semigloss in Cream Tulip (isn't that a pretty name? I'm not sure I didn't pick the color because of the name; I'm like that).

Also, my parents came to stay with me for the weekend. Among other things, my dad and I took a drive over to Berkeley to see what treasures we could find at Urban Ore. I ended up with these awesome, super-heavy dining chairs with a bentwood back for $15 each. They're very comfortable.

Excuse me, I'm going to go have a Joe Joe or eight.

The Cure: The Interview

I mentioned the Apartment Therapy 8-Week Cure a few days ago; the first task of The Cure is to answer a questionnaire about your personal tastes. Well, it's your lucky day; I'm doing my questionnaire right here!

Favorites

1. Actress: Audrey Hepburn, Julianne Moore, Diane Keaton
   
2. Actor: Colin Firth, Bradley Whitford
   
3. Writer: Richard Russo, Ray Carver, Lorrie Moore
   
4. Artist: Marc Chagall, Natasha Wescoat
   
5. Music: Folk Rock
   
6. Restaurant: Barefoot Cafe, Tower Cafe
   
7. Automobile: Volkswagen New Beetle (but I will never own one again)
   
8. Television Show: Gray's Anatomy
   
9. Clothing (designer or store): Anthropologie
   

How would you describe your style? (3 words)

1. Creative
2. Unique
3. Bohemian

Personal History

Where have you lived?

1. Where you were born: Mountain View, CA
   
2. Where you grew up: Citrus Heights, CA
   
3. As an adult: Marin County, CA
   

Whom would you consider a role model? My aunt

What three qualities describe the qualities that you admire in this person?

1. Creative
2. Hospitable
3. Resourceful

Apartment

What is the problem with your apartment (3 words)?

1. Cluttered
2. Non-cohesive style
3. Furniture doesn't work for the space

If your apartment could speak, what would it say is the problem?

I'm very old, but I can have a new life.

What one thing would you like to do or do more of in your apartment?

Write, paint, and bead - I have a good writing desk, but not really a good place to spread out with paints and my bead kit. The kitchen table is unstable because the floor is uneven, and besides, it's always covered with a tablecloth and junk.

Eight weeks from now, when this project is done, if friends and family came to visit, how would you like them to describe your home (3 words)?

1. Fun
2. Comfortable
3. Warm

_____

Well, that took a while, but let's see where it takes me. The remaining part of the chapter explains what these answers mean to me, and how I should proceed.

I'm going to try to do this on weekdays, after work, so that I can enjoy my apartment on weekends.

I have a fever, and the only prescription is....

Not more cowbell.

Actually, I've been working hard at getting the cabin to be the sanctuary I know it can be. It's small, but actually very cozy. And not that craigslist-is-full-of-liars-this-place-is-a-hole-why-is-my-shower-door-butting-into-my-oven kind of cozy, but actually very comfortable with good energy and woah, who let Deepak Chopra and Oprah into my blog?

Apartment Therapy, one of my very favorite blogs, does an 8 week cure a couple of times a year. The cure breaks up getting your apartment or house in order in small, easy-to-swallow steps. It lets you focus on really turning where you live into your home. I didn't do it right after Christmas because really, I was beyond hope with the old apartment. But now I'm in and settled and ready and I've gone out to buy the book, and I'm in it to win it, baby!

I'll try to monitor my progress here in addition to on Apartment Therapy.