Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
oh and I forgot about Casey's *love* of gladiolas, Marjorie....Casey,
I will have to put in my order for your "gladdies". yuk yuk yuk.
  

    
(behaving here, making kevin think the WELL is a friendly place where
people who post about gladioli do not get SLAPPED)
  

    

Welcome to the Well Kevin! To add to what Kevin said in response to
artlife's question: I like a lidded light weight box - like rafia or
some sort - that is oversized and easy to fill, and with a removable
lid. When not in use, while your in bed, it can reside under it. I have
a box like that and I keep pens, paper and a dictionary in and use it
to write in bed in the mornings. I just set the box on my lap and use
the lid as a desk surface.

Cindy, I think a narrow alter or parsons-style table with a small
bench or stool tucked under it could be a good solution. You have the
table top for set items, and the stool for guests to sit on as they
remove their shoes. I would get either a large basket or an old wooden
firewood container (with handle) to put shoes in and I like to have a
basket or box full of simple chinese slippers for the guests to wear in
the house. 
  

    
Thank you Casey and Randall for this beautiful book.  In fact it is
such a beauty that it is sitting on_top of my Alexandra Stoddard's
"Living the Beautiful Life" books.  Move over Alexandra! 

Whenever I hear or read something about the organized home, my first
thought is a room full of rubbermaid and tupperware.  Your book proves
that being organized does not mean living in rooms with white sterile
plastic boxes.  Being organized can also be beautiful!  Your ideas
validate some of my organizational skills I have had in place for a few
years now.   It feels good to hear it from the experts. Thanks!  Old
trunks, interesting and old suitcases stacked on top of each other, hat
boxes, old blue fruit jars, antique tins and old picnic baskets have
been serving a duel purpose for a while now.  They not only decorate
corners of my rooms but also hide my junk.  I am looking forward to
adding many more new ideas from your book.

This is the kind of book that every time I open it I spot something
new.  
  

    
thanks, rosebud.

the retail world *is* starting to get the idea about making better
looking containers. Right now I'm enamoured with the various
fabric-clad boxes available from Hold Everything right.I have the ones
covered in natural color linen in one storage closet and the gorgeous
gray ones--with red linings--in my study. 
But I agree that much of the stuff available is pig ugly, so shopping
in flea markets, antique collectives, estate sales (and even your own
attic) can be a lot more rewarding.
  

    
(uh, ignore that second "right" in the second sentence.)
  

    
i agree, it's so easy to think big plastic boxes, they're just going in the
closet.  but i love opening the closet and seeing the nice baskets, even if
they're not fancy.  looks so much nicer.
  

    
I think one of our favorite container ideas was a red lucite box to
hold remote controls. 
  

    
why not just store them under the sofa cushions, so they're easy to access?
  

    
Hi Randall!

Speaking of remotes...we just got rid of a coffee table with 6
drawers. I wanted one that was open underneath instead of that "casket"
we had. Instead of losing organization with all those drawers, what we
finally figured out is that 95% of the stuff in those drawers wasn't
necessary. Instead of the "final resting place for old remotes", what
we now have is a much more open table with a bottom shelf for art books
and a woven basket, and an oval ceramic box from Italy with only 2
remotes in it sitting on the tabletop. So we went from having 6 drawers
to none, and are much better off for the editing. To me, endless
storage space is exactly that. We are much better served by this
situation.

I also agree with Casey that Hold Everything has the best looking
storage ideas around!
  

    
I just bought a 'boot bench,' which you can sit on, store slippers in,
and put shoes in. I could have spent twice as much and gotten a nice
wood one but I got a plastic one for now.

I don't have a coffee table because I know I'd just stack shit on it.
For remotes, I have these pockets that hang over the couch arms for
remotes, a box of Kleenex, the cat brushes, etc.
  

    
can you guys list your remote control storage suggestions? they made me 
hyperventilate! that was one thing i loved about the book--once i actually 
started READING i was not filled with dread and hostility (ok, not more 
than my normal daily state), but rather actually felt excited about 
organization! because it was, to massively paraphrase arturner and put 
words in his mouth, not about some chirpy bitch person telling me how to 
whip my life into shape but rather about inspiring oddball things that 
could make my home look niftier. and who does not crave niftiness as well 
as organization? 

also, when there is a LULL, if you could answer arturner's danced-around 
question about solutions for teeny apartments...if l LAFF and LAFF when 
you say words like "mudroom" because i live in a studio or 1-BR, what 
would your most mega best advice for me be? 

my mom lives in a veal pen. it is the smallest apt in nyc, i swear.
  

    
Our refuge for remotes include:

- An old leather jewelry box

- The overturned lid of a covered box (use the basket base to store
program guides)

- A wooden Chinese rice container

- A vintage 1930s sewing basket


I have a tiny apartment in SF, so I can address any and all small
space problems. I thought my apartment was 600 square feet (no size or
spatial sense - hello! and what is my job?) But, no, it's less than 400
(thank you IRS for that reality check and audit.) So I know tiny
spaces. 

Mudrooms can be "mud" spaces. The tips translate from big (or huge) to
small. The traffic and needs are the same. And so are the solutions.
They just need to be scaled to the space.
    
  

    
I discovered a cigar box is exactly the right size and shape to hold
our six remotes.  When not in use, it lives on the bottom shelf of our
coffee table (I, too, could not get by without a bottom shelf for a
coffee table).  It's easy to grab the cigar box and select the right
remotes that are needed at any one time.
  

    
Hurray!
  

    
agreeing on the excellence of the cigar box usage; also want to say
that <arturner's> analysis in the first paragraphs of post #21 is
exactly on target.

I won't be here much today as this is wedding gown shopping day with
my younger daughter. so: carry on--and if I find any gladioli here when
I return, demerits will be given.
  

    
Hello, Casey, Randall, and Marjorie, 

I love this book!!

This book may just be the one to get me over my organizing phobias. My
reactions to "rules" are the same as Casey's and Marjorie's. No one's
going tell me what I _have_ to get rid of. Or get away with implying
I'm somehow deficient if I don't have all my clutter under control.

You don't do that. You come at things sideways by offering suggestions
and showing how things can work. You offer enticing tidbits that make
something as dreary-sounding as "decluttering" become as exciting and
fun as "decorating". I actually think of your book more as a guide to
decor that works in the real world than as an organizational book.

One of the suggestions about the entry way that I love: put a mirror
there. I can't tell you how often I'm almost out the door and suddenly
panic that my hair looks goofy. So I have to go back to the bedroom or
bathroom to check. 

And I already have the perfect hall mirror. Now if I could just find
my hammer so I could put it up....
  

    
there are lots of great ideas in this book

casey and randall - are any of the pictures in the book of either of
your own homes?

how did you select the photos for the book? i see by the credits that
some are from manufacturers, but did you stage any?
  

    
Not that I love the Rubbermaid look, but I must say that when the water
pipe to our outside faucet burst into the basement, raining down onto the
shelves where I store the kids' old school papers and my clip files, I was
=extremely= glad that I had stored that stuff in plastic!

My darling daughter Sara, who is almost 9, likes to do craft projects on 
the dining room table. It seats 10, but god forbid we should have company, 
because the table is completely covered with Great Works in Progress (in 
fimo clay, felt, paper and found materials). Any good ideas for kids and 
adults on how to deal with half-done projects of whatever kind?
  

    
I love that you use your dining table like that! I like to have a rule
that you can use the dining table for projects, but with the
understanding that when it comes time for a dinner party or
celebration, the projects go and the guests arrive. But also with the
understanding that the projects can come back again. Otherwise, you've
turned your dining room into a full time craft room and that's not dual
purpose.

Artlife - The publisher gave us a photo budget for stock photos , and
to make the budget stretch, we used product shots from companies like
IKEA, Baker, and Laura Ashley were used. Actually, we got a lot of
really great images that way and they were free. As you can imagine,
finding images that illustrated our points was a bit difficult. It
would have been much easier to shoot new photos. But our budget just
didn't allow for it. Not to mention the timeframe (we did the book in 6
months.) However, most of the stock photos we paid for are from some
of my favorite photographers - Tim Street Porter, Tria Giovan, Eric
Roth - so that was fun. We literally went through hundreds of photos,
and then whittled them down to what's in the book. Alas, our homes are
not featured. The only thing from my portfolio is the gilded cradle in
the Celebrations chapter. I really had fun art directing the photos,
and many times Casey and I would find an image that we loved, just for
the way it looked, even if it said nothing about organization. Then
we'd come to our senses and eliminate it. Part of the photo elimination
process was also "and what will the caption be?" If we couldn't say
anything but "I really like this room!" then it was out.
  

    
ok--randall must have been typing his response at the same time as I
was typing mine, but, despite some repetition, I'll let mine stand:


none of the pictures are from our own homes--tho I'd love that
Victorian hatstand in the entry chapter --plus a husband who wears a
tophat and carries a walking stick.

the fun part of the foto selection was that we had wonderful stock
fotos to choose from, thanks to our publisher. so, choosing work from
top design fotogs such at Tim Street-Porter, Eric Roth, and Tria Giovan
was a JOY.

 the not-so-fun part was that we only had the budget for half the
fotos to come from these sources--the rest had to be freebies.
and, in all honesty, I think Randall did an absolutely amazing job of
mmaking the freebies looking as good as the bought ones.

Essentially, R was the foto-editor of the book--and I think it's a
beauty. Rockport's layout designers apparently thought so, too--because
they did some really nice work with background color selection and
overall layout.

staging and specially shooting fotos is extremely expensive. check out
even the priciest design books and you'll see that many of the fotos
come from earlier magazine stories.
  

    
lisa: what about a rolling cart to hold boxes of craft supplies? when
the dining table is needed for dining, the crafty stuff goes into the
boxes, the boxes go onto the cart, and the cart gets rolled to another
room
  

    
The best freebies came from Baker Furniture. Most of their designer
furniture lines - Barbra Barry, William Sofield, Thomas Pleasant - are
shot in actual homes, not studios. So that helped. 

One of my favorite Baker photos from the book is on page 30 in the
Living room chapter. This is Bill Sofield's house in Los Angeles. It's
a very old Frank Lloyd Wright-style house. (Bill designs the interiors
of the Gucci Boutiques, amoung other things.) The problem with the
house when Bill bought it, was that water ran off from the hillside and
into the house. Tom Ford said he should call it "Standing Water." 

(craft cart slippage from casey)
  

    
Two things...
First, as a Graphic Designer, I was very impressed with all of the
design aspects of the book. I love the sidebar topics, and as I've
said, my favorites were the warm weather/cool weather topics. The well
done icons were lightly screened into reverse blocks of color, the
printing is great. Rockport did a fine job on your book kids. Clean
typefaces and colors. 

Second, regarding dining rooms. Ours serves as a library as well as
dining room with built in bookcases and a windowseat on one side. I
always use my dining room for projects as I have no where else to do
it. I use a big rubbermaid box and can clean it up in a jiffy. The box
goes under one of the cabinets under the bookcases.  I have a cookbook
by Marta Squbin, Jackie Onassis' cook and friend. One of the photos in
the book shows where on JO's Russian dining table, John Jr was building
a model of an aircraft carrier. I thought that was cool.  I *DO* clean
it off before we eat. Depending on the type of craft, a large fishing
tackle box will work, I keep my oils in one.
  

    
(aside to other WELL members: the above is my great pal, kevin graves,
who lives in Texas. he is a fine graphic artist, so his high opinion
of the book means a lot. he's also a fabulous cook, generous friend and
funny as hell when his wicked side slips out)