This is just a quick note to let you know that the nice people at Chronicle Books have given me another copy of Apartment Therapy Presents to give away! If you'd like to enter your name to win one please leave a comment in the post from April 28th. Good luck! May the Random Number Generator chose you.

The new Apartment Therapy book is out and I'm happy to say that Chronicle Books would like to give one away to Not Martha readers. See below if you'd like to enter to receive it.

There is an upcoming event for this book at the Brooklyn Designs show, here is the information:

Potluck Picnic at Brooklyn Designs May 10, 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. with a signing immediately after in the Tobacco Warehouse, Brooklyn Designs in the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park

Please feel free to invite friends. RSVPs to justine@apartmenttherapy.com by May 6.

Lucky New York dwellers, etc, etc...



Apartment Therapy Presents: Real Homes, Real People, Hundreds of Design Solutions is a collection of 40 fabulous apartments, many of which you might recognize from the Apartment Therapy site, information on how the owners designed and furnished the space and resources for where they found furniture and accessories.



The pictures are lovely, yes, but these are not uber-expensive spaces of perfection and as such provide a lot more inspiration for what I might be trying to do with my own home. Each profile has a survey including things like Biggest Challenge, Proudest DIY and Biggest Embarrassment that are equal parts helpful and reassuring.



Each profile also includes a floor plan and the spaces range from normal house sized to the very small 325 square feet, including AT founders Sara Kate and Maxwell's Gourmet Shoe Box at 265 square feet.



Each picture gives me a glimpse of a good idea or way of displaying something that I know I'll want to refer to as I continue to settle more deeply into my own home.



The winners have been contacted, thanks for entering! If you'd like to win the book please leave a comment with this entry before 8 a.m. PST on May 1st. On the morning of Thursday, May 1st I'll let the Random Number Generator choose the winner. I'll then contact you to get a mailing address.

update: The kind people at Chronicle Books have decided to give away TWO copies in stead of one. Everybody's chances of winning just doubled, yay!

fine print:

- You don't need to leave your real name, but do leave a valid email address. I'll be the only one who can see your email address (just don't put it in the actual comment box as well). I'll write to get a shipping address when you've won.

- If you have never left a comment here before I'll need to approve it before it publishes so don't worry if your comment doesn't show up right away. That said, you might not end up being the comment number you see so know that if you want to say "lucky number 351!" you might not be comment number 351. I don't know why it works that way, and I'm sorry, there is very little certainty left in this world and this isn't helping any.

- If I have not heard from an initial winner by May 7th I will choose another winner.

- The winner will be picked by the cold, unfeeling random number generator.

Rebecca Blood points us to Dave's Garden and the huge database Plantfiles.

Fantastic guest bedroom makeover at Happy Mundane. I'm normally not a fan of dark paint, but this works really well.

My husband's dogs have done vile things to our furniture. What dog-proof materials should we look for in replacement furniture? at Ask Metafilter

Help me find this shelf! at Ask Metafilter

pot lid storage at The Kitchen. I have to break down an buy one of these, fishing for my lids on the bottom shelf isn't working out.

Ferm Living sells acryic coated tablecloths which are just asking to be turned into bags. At Charles & Marie.

Flat Flowers, flower window decals, brilliant. At Swiss Miss.

Wired Wiki: How To Soundproof A Room

Note to self: ESP Lighting sells those wide spiral daylight CFL bulb you are looking to replace.

How can I replicate the hotel-bed experience at home? at Ask Metafilter

vegetable gardening in containers is on the rise at Chow -- "tennis ball–size heads of iceberg lettuce—which could make an awfully cute little iceberg wedge salad."

how to make a fabric wall hangingat the Marimekko blog, via Craftzine

'The Night is Young' Wall Mural, using a photograph from a Seattle photographer, at Better Living Through Design

I'd like to grow bamboo in a container indoors. at Ask Metafilter

steal this idea: extra-long conduit curtain rod at Shelterrific

I love these curtains made from Marimekko fabric at Making It Lovely.

How should I build temporary, attractive walls/dividers on the cheap in my basement? at Ask Metafilter

door purse organizer at Shelterrific

Grobal, a cool plant container designed by Karim Rashid at Anh-Minh.

Weiman Stainless Steel Cleaner & Polish at SundryBuzz

at Apartment Therapy:

Losethelawn.com, we have been scheming to do something like this.

The Magnificent Drill, after using Makita's in college I got one when we moved in here, it was expensive but has proved to be worth it.

3 Form Eco Friendly Materials, I love these as room dividers.

The Best Green & Eco Paints We Know Of

Miele Canister Vacuum: Pisces S5280 In the Test Lab

Wireless Outdoor Remote Control Power Outlet

Container Gardening in Mother Earth News, check out the DIY self watering bucket

Outdoor Solar Shoji Lanterns

How Can I Liven Up My Hallway?

Laundry Dropps, I wish I had these during the laundromat days, at Cool Hunting

Soften Sheets with Baking Soda at Re-Nest

What should a homeowner know about electricity in the home? at Ask Metafilter

wall graphics from harmonie interieure at Swiss Miss

Plantorb by Perch at Charles & Marie. Oh how I wish I didn't know I would break this.

I can't stop thinking about fridges and winter. Would it save much energy to freeze gallon containers of water outdoors and put those in the fridge now and then? at Ask Metafilter

What's the secret handshake that gets me access to the interesting/unusual materials that designers and contractors can get ahold of? at Ask Metafilter

a siljan shoe rack for narrow places at Ikea Hacker

Help! Where can I find modern lampshade frames? at Shelterrific

Do you have a household emergency plan? at Shelterrific. I, too, have been watching too much Jericho and it's making me want to stockpile cans of beans.

How can I make my "welcome mats" unwelcoming to cats? at Ask Metafilter. We finally made our front landscaping beds unattractive to the neighborhood cats (layer of chicken wire, landscaping fabric, then lots of big bark chips), but now we hope to discourage them from lounging on our front porch.

What do we ask a contractor and how do we ask it? at Ask Metafilter

Bathroom Renovation Filter: DIY vs. Contractor at Ask Metafilter

Bathtub faucets: Not so complicated! at The Shelter Life

Miraentuinterior, large wall murals. I love the boat. I lost my reference link for this one, sorry.

Putting Together an IKEA Kitchen at AT. I like the wall of wine bottles.

jazz up your bed frame with digital print at Ikea Hacker

Danny Seo's DIY Wood Veneer Table at Re-Nest

Fiction Mirrors by Jean-Marie Massaud at AT. So cool.

Jamie from J-Me wrote to offer a 15% discount on his fabulous stainless steel j-me shoe rack. Just use the coupon code BOOM when you check out. Thank you Jamie!

Yesterday I was carrying a standing lamp up some stairs when my general lack of awareness of the space around me caused me to knock it into the ceiling. The bulb hit at the correct angle and made that strange popping noise before exploding into tiny shards that fell down around me. I shook myself off and vacuumed the glass out of the berber carpet. I was washing my hands when I remembered: oh right, CFL bulbs contain mercury.

I went to the internets to check and, after running off to take a Panic Shower, found some news that made me feel a little better and a little worse.

Apparently, a Hazmat team does not have to get involved in the case of a broken CFL bulb. Most of the resources I found on how to clean up and dispose of a broken CFL bulb repeat these guidelines from the EPA:

Before Clean-up: Ventilate the Room
1. Have people and pets leave the room, and don't let anyone walk through the breakage area on their way out.
2. Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.
3. Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system, if you have one.
4. Carefully scoop up glass fragments and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
5. Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
6. Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes and place them in the glass jar or plastic bag.
7. Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.

Great. But, my bulb broke over my carpet (not to mention myself). What about that? Am I supposed to duct tape all the carpeted areas and hope a mercury contaminated shard of glass doesn't embed itself into the bottom of my foot in a couple of weeks?

Happily a bit later on I tracked down the full EPA guidelines that include:

Clean-up Steps for Carpeting or Rug
4. Carefully pick up glass fragments and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag. 5. Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
6. If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken.
7. Remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister), and put the bag or vacuum debris in a sealed plastic bag.

Disposal of Clean-up Materials
8. Immediately place all cleanup materials outside the building in a trash container or outdoor protected area for the next normal trash.
9. Wash your hands after disposing of the jars or plastic bags containing clean-up materials.
10. Check with your local or state government about disposal requirements in your specific area. Some states prohibit such trash disposal and require that broken and unbroken mercury-containing bulbs be taken to a local recycling center.

Future Cleaning of Carpeting or Rug: Ventilate the Room During and After Vacuuming
11. The next several times you vacuum, shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system and open a window prior to vacuuming.
12. Keep the central heating/air conditioning system shut off and the window open for at least 15 minutes after vacuuming is completed.

This thread on this broken compact flourescent bulb question at Ask Metafilter makes me feel a bit better as well. Basically it says that while mercury is never a good thing to have around, the amount in a broken CFL won't be fatal, but careful clean up is probably important.

Still, needing to carefully ventilate my home due to my possibly mercury-contaminated vacuum the next few times I use it, this doesn't sound so (macroscopically) eco-friendly to me.

Then again, I have been hoping for an excuse to buy a nice yellow Miele vacuum with, swoon, automatic cord retraction for a while now.

B&J Fabrics at Apartment Therapy

Floating Shoe Rack made from wire shelving bits, at Instructables

Floating Pipe Shoe Shelf at Instructables

Philip's SpotOn light with motion detector for a fumble-free life at Popgadget

So I'm moving to Finland. It's dark most of the time during the winter. How do I make fake windows? at Ask Metafilter

Beautiful Backsplash for Bargain Budgets at Shelter

yellow and black: good shape design at Happy Mundane, I really like the dishtowel

Making a paper-recycling tote at Home By Sunset

NYT: The Best Energy-Efficient Lightbulbs at Apartment Therapy

Are "counter depth" fridges deep enough? at Ask Metafilter

hanging weighted leather ball clothes rack, at Swiss Miss

Colourful wall panels at Charles & Marie

Best of: Exposed Media Tables at Unplugged

Green Ideas: LED Ambiance at Unplugged

Yet Another Thing Baking Soda Can Do at Pink of Perfection

Fire Table at Cool Hunting

Continuing the theme of home fitness equipment that doesn't suck from yesterday's post about the Schwinn 430 Elliptical Trainer, I'm going to tell you about Scott's chin up bar. I'd call it mine as well if I could manage to do more than one at a time (working on it).

(more...)

Wiremold: Cord Organizing Products at Unplugged

What questions do I NEED to ask during the inspection of the home I just bought? Also, what questions should I ask the seller/seller's agent during the inspection? at Ask Metafilter

Stampede Wall Graphics at Apartment Therapy

make an ivar trellis at Ikea Hacker

In the market for a new mattress: Requesting info on the classic Bergad Isoform Mattress. at Ask Metafilter. I want to know more about the Sonno mattress that Design Within Reach sells. I can only find positive reviews and I'm the type that needs to know the bad stuff as well.

Good Question: Green Fence? at Re-nest

I like the way this Martha Stewart Paints example room shown at Happy Mundane is decorated, and I wonder if it would make our small bedroom feel larger.

What's the best CFL or similar for recessed lighting? at Ask Metafilter

hunt rettig at Swiss Miss, pretty

Vinyl flooring that is either NOT ugly or hideously ugly in a way we like: does it exist? at Ask Metafilter

sliding wall at Apartment Therapy

gray pumpkins! at Happy Mundane

how to revamp a lampshade at Kirin Notebook, via Craft

Bright Blind, a fake window, at Product Dose

Suggestions for good interior design magazines? at Ask Metafilter

5 Ways to Insulate Your Windows for Winter at AT:Chicago

How do you make new bed sheets soft? at Ask Metafilter

How can I make homemade Christmas Tree preservative? at Ask Metafilter

Chilewich Woven Vinyl Rugs at Cool Tools. I've seen these a bunch of places, but the ones I've seen didn't have a solid backing and didn't make much sense in rainy Seattle. Looks like these would work.

What is the single most valuable piece of advice you received when you were in the process of buying your first home? at Ask Metafilter

very interesting stairs and storage at Apartment Therapy

LED rope lights to brighten a room at Craft

99 luftballons Blik wall decals, at Swiss Miss

cute file clips at See Jane Work via Apartment Therapy

urban wall graphics at Swiss Miss, I really like these

moon in my room, a phases of the moon light for kids, at Hearthsong, via Mighty Goods

felt wine rack at Swiss Miss

decorating your toilet tank at Modern Cottage

eco-friendly paint round up at AT:Green

make your own fabric softening sheets at AT:Green

pretty custom cork board at Design*Sponge

Lotta Jansdotter sticky notes via the comments on this post, my thanks!

saving money this winter by winterizing your home, at AT:Green

world map wall sticker at Better Living Through Designs