Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
(and now is not the time to tell him that Jackie and Diana Vreeland
are well, you know.)
  

    
In a way, I think the pictures are _too_ good.

Because they foster the idea that you get everything looking _just so_, and
then that's IT, and you're living in some kind of a museum of your
posessions.  At least one person I showed the book to interpereted it that
way.  I wish there more pictures like the one of the bulletin board with
the red ribbons and pictures and letters and suchlike stuck in haphazardly;
obviously that's an organizing system that gets changed around a lot, and
was meant to be used like that.

I used to give my parents art as presents; lithographs or framed pictures
and so on, until I realized that while they might like them, they
considered the art display "done".  Putting some things away and bringing
others out is just inconcievable.  So they've been looking at the same
Japanese woodcut in the same place for thirty years.

You do emphasize changing things around seasonally in the text, but the
pictures don't:  a couple of side by side illustrations would have gone a
long way: the same room with the "when the air is warm" and "when the air
is cold" treatments.  That probably would have blown your photography
budget sky-high, though.
  

    
i was gonna ask who this clever guy was! 

ok, while we're talking crafts, can you guys share some of your clever 
ideas about displaying children's art...and so as not to send the 
child-free running screaming from this topic, maybe some general ideas 
about displaying photos and collections? 
  

    
slippage. 

i agree, you guys did such a great job making the book look way expensive. 

my personal fave pic: that olive green and red kitchen. mmmmmmm.
  

    
From the book...


Kids are inveterate collectors, but in the organized home, a little
parental curating is necessary. Step one: Confine the great majority of
children's collections to their own rooms. Otherwise, a river of
seashells, rocks, airplane models, dolls, or whatever will run rampant
through the entire house. 
 
Next, establish a rule that when a multitude of new items arrive, some
older ones must leave; but let the child decide what has to go. Don't
try to secretly remove items. Kids always know immediately when
something is missing.

Once the ready-for-departure items have been chosen, their destination
can be a clearly marked box in a storage space, a friend's room
(although this will win you no friendship points with the pal's
parents), a children's ward at a local hospital, or a charity re-sale
shop. As attractive a choice as the trash bin may seem, this disposal
method requires extreme tact  -- or dark of night and isn't really fair
play.

Built-in shelves, freestanding bookcases, and small cabinets are among
the easiest ways to create display space in a child's room. If the
room is small, hang cabinets or individual cubbies from the wall to
keep as much floor space as possible free for playing.
For artwork, posters, postcards, and similar collections, an immense
bulletin board does the job. For children just past toddler stage,
consider using a metal bulletin board with large magnets instead of
cork or other material that would require pushpins or thumbtacks.
Easy-to-hang plastic shadowboxes are another alternative, and, for
older children, clip-glass frames make it simple to change artwork on a
whim. 

Somewhat-battered vintage suitcases often can be can be had for a song
at flea markets and tag sales. Fill them with a childís collectibles
and then stack in a corner, adding storage and a hint of nostalgia to
the room.
  

    
Plus those nets for stuffed animals.

Maggie's Montessori school has each individual lesson in a clear
plastic shoebox and she requested the same thing for her room, so we
have a bunch of clear Rubbermaid boxes for the Lincoln Logs and the
Legos and the horses and so on, and it makes tidying her room a lot
easier.
  

    
(those of reading this, but not already members of The Well: You can still
participate! Send your question or comment to inkwell-hosts@well.com and
we'll post it for you.)
  

    
What's a good target ratio of used vs. open space on places like
coffee tables, end tables, night stands, tops of bookshelves?  I'm sure
it must be somewhat less than my current 100%, three layers deep. And
I don't have the room for one perfect vase artfully arranged on a
console. Help!
  

    
that's a great question, wellelp.  in my house, tops of anything are
instantly filled with crap.
  

    
i love the green and red kitchen, too
  

    
We love that kitchen too. 

While we were editing the final galleys for the book, Casey and I were
looking at that picture and commenting on the styling. I was sure they
had put some sort of weird magnet on the hood to cover some logo or
something, and I thought they may have cropped out a photographers
power cord. And the cabinets are total staged with fake food, and on
and on and on. So here we are looking at the picture A LOT and being
all critical - completely missing that the photo number (used by the
design dept.) was still right in the middle of the picture. Our editor
found it later thank god, or else that picture would have a big bold
box with KIT-O9-OH, in it.
  

    
plenty of design and mechanical details in laying out a book

i noticed a lack of cords on appliances in some photo - styling is
greatly facilitated with photoshop!
  

    
Surprisingly, many publishers don't use photoshop's correction tools
to cover up little things like cords and/or interior design bloopers
(to much time and money.) It seems so easy. Yet, still, no. Sunset shot
a before and after I styled and the photographer's assistant left an
empty roll of film on the back of a chair. The photographer laughed,
when he realized what had happened, and said "hello! photoshop!" but it
was never fixed in the final print or in the magazine. And there it
was (hard to see though) right there for all to see, in the October
issue.
  

    
one of my favorite pictures is the great wide hall. Love the
Grandfather clock and the chest. That's a whole room! The bathroom on
page 88 is my goal for my other bathroom.

I've mentioned the sidebar topics. The positive household hints are
excellent. Also the Eight Quick & Easy ways to increase Kitchen
Storage.

Which chapter or topic gave you two the most trouble?
  

    
once we got to the actual writing of each one, we really had no
problems.
but I was always the doomsayer: "There's not that much to say about
mudrooms" or "There are no fucking seasonal changes for bathrooms" but
then we'd start typing aways and e-mailing drafts back and forth--and
suddenly we'd be finished with another chapter.

one other foto incident: our editors--both text and foto--were
great--but there was one bedroom foto they didn't like and they chose
another they wanted us to use intstead. we weren't mad for the shot,
but it was ok--so we're writing the caption and talking about this
headboard/room divider creating space behing the bed for storage--and
then we decided it also created a nice dressing area. 
now, remember, we're looking a fairly small transparencies.
so the book gets printed and we discover that the wall behind this
storage area is all glass--so unless this house stands alone on a
windswept hill or in the middle of a forest--the glassed in section of
the bedroom probably is not the ideal spot to get all naked/
  

    
to answer <wellelp>'s question in post 58: 

<What's a good target ratio of used vs. open space on places like
coffee tables, end tables, night stands, tops of bookshelves?>

About 50/50. Space for what you need and room for what you're going to
need. 
  

    
the kitchen space info was helpful to me too.
i still have kitchen problems (only one cupboard big enough for pots and
pans!) though.  i don't want to hang them or put them on racks because my 
apartment gets so dusty.
  

    
if, as we say in the book, you'll hang just a single pan--the one you
use most often--you'll never stash it away in a cabinet again.
lisa, you can dust ONE pan.
  

    
excellent.

what are your own home-organizational weaknesses? i know, you're perfect.
  

    
when i had a small kitchen, i bought one of those elfa carts with wire
baskets and a butcher block top

it was amazing how much stuff fit into it - it had a slide out flat
tray and i had the breadbox on that!

http://www.creativespacesusa.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=405
  

    
can I just plead the 5th?
  

    
Nope. This is journalism!
  

    
books and the storage thereof is one of mine--but I'm working on it. 
it helps that my local library has an excellent program of donated
book sales, so I'm inspired to take books I no longer want there.

I'm also a monster clipper of magazine articles. I'll never get
complete control of this as long as I think: there may be some
article/book ideas/sources here. the great-looking gray fabric covered
boxes from Hold Everything are helping with this.

also, doing the laundry more often would work wonders for the
organization of my laundry room. I actually gave away one of my hampers
in there withthe thought that I'd have to wash/dry more often if there
was less room for soiled stuff.
wrong.
  

    
one idea that i like very much and will try this weekend with my main
clothes closet is the part about taking EVERYTHING out, cleaning it and then
putting back in sections.  also, in the bathroom the idea of using vintage
pitchers/vases, etc for supplies.  i have some great, small glass and potter
y pieces that will work perfectly and look great.
  

    
I'm off to work with design clients today. Some of you may want to
take advantage of my absence, and ask Casey pointed questions about
what I'm *really* like to work with and what the insides of my closets
look like.