apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

oooh, I made my weird telephone niche into a CD rack. I just had some shelves cut to the right size, painted them white, and attached them with metal brackets. I love that it keeps the CDs out of the way, and the hidden plus is that it keeps me from pack-ratting too many of them.

The weirdest thing in my apartment (built 1950)is that the linen closet is in the shower. It's super convenient if say, you run out of shampoo or soap. It's very inconvenient, however, for putting things away and keeping it neat. I have to stand on the side of the bathtub to reach the top shelf. So weird.

My only phone jack is right by the front door and there is no outlet next to it so I have to look at wires running through the apartment to the office space. I hate that, but I love my apartment otherwise.

I have the same problems with phone jack's/outlet's in my apartment. They are in weird places and not enough of them. Right now I have the phone wires going across the mantel on my fireplace to reach the phone which is plugged in on the other side!!! Terrible eye soar called for some creative hiding.

How about the low sloping ceilings of attic apartments? I have several rooms where you can only stand up on one side. How can one optimize that sort of space?

At work we have a main phone unit with answering machine at the desk and several "satelite" charger units placed around the studio. The cordless phone (2.5ghz) will recieve the signal anywhere and the remote charder stations keep the thing alive. This may be a solution for those with odd phone jack/power outlet placing...

Maybe there's a wireless device like a wi-fi unit...

What about the gas heaters that stick out from now non-functioning fireplaces. I *hate* mine.

But I really am looking forward to some ideas for the bay window.

we had the same lack-of-phone-jacks problem as spacecase. although we decided on the solution that julian described -- additional handsets for our cordless answering machine unit (all working off of one phone jack) -- you can also buy a converter that turns any electrical outlet into a phone jack. i think we decided to get the extra handset because it was actually cheaper than the converter (i remember them costing ~$50).

Outlets - we have very few electric outlets. The kitchen is the only room with grounded outlets and a phone jack. We use the method described by Julian to have phones in another room.

Hallway - hallway isn't the right word, it's just a completely unusable circle where many doors meet. We refer to it as the "dance floor" when we have guests.

I have a storage closet in my shower too! The shelves are an odd height so nothing seems to fit in there and there aren't many things that can be can be stored in a shower. Currently it is empty which drives me crazy.

Those who were around when I posted my bedroom dilemmas (now resolved, thanks to a good deal of help from AT-ers) on the LA site will recall that we have the Apartment of Doors. Counting French doors as one door and not counting the doorway that's missing its door, in a one-bedroom apartment we have... wait for it!... 11 doors!

None are ones I want to remove (actually, I wouldn't mind having the missing one back and may take the manager down to the basement to find it someday), but it does make for kind of a door theme.

Julian, that is what my parents have at their house and they suggested the same to me when we moved into our apartment, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I am a very picky phone buyer, it takes me ages to pick one out. Which is probably why I haven't done it yet. May go out and start looking around again.

Thanks for inadvertantly reminding me about it:)

It might not work for some, especially if you don't get a good cell phone signal, but I gave up my land line and only use my cell phone now. No cords, no wires. Verizon transferred by home number to my cell and I save on the costs of caller I.D., voicemail, etc. since all of those features come on your cell phone. I'm also not a big phone talker so it's been really economical for me. Just a thought...

victoria - we hardly ever use our home phone line as well, but i think it's a requirement in order to have dsl. (maybe i'm wrong?) so that could be why many folks haven't completely given up on them.

Here's one: surround sound speaker cable in lofts.

what do you do if you've got a lounge area w/ TV/audio away from walls, you need to arrange speakers around it, and you don't want a bunch of trip-wire speaker cable effin up the aesthetic?? how best to conceal? (don't say wireless speakers, they're sound sucks)

I have a corner fireplace, it cuts off one area of the living room, do you face the sofa toward it (which means you walk into the back of the sofa as you open the front door, awkward for inviting guests inside but great for keeping door-to-door religious folks out!) - or - do you pretend the room isn't missing a corner? It's just not possible to have a really symmetrical arrangement in the room and the assymetry is driving me nuts.

Aquarabbit: What a great idea! Can you send in a picture?

OnTea: Can you take a picture or send in a quick floorplan sketch?

A-M, you are so right - I forgot about the darn DSL. My building, which we jokingly refer to as Buchanan Manor, has a computer wiz among us so he has set up a WI-FI system within our two buildings. We all chip in and it's $15 every three months.

Well, at the very least, you could get a phone line without all the frills and extras like voicemail etc., and just use it for the DSL. I think you'd still save some cash - and buy something pretty instead.

i have most of the same problems you've all mentioned:
phone niche by front door with no power
phone/power/speaker cords all over the place
not enough power outlets
20 doors in less than 1,000 sq ft

i'm too paranoid to give up my landline phone, even though i hardly ever use it. i remember when the power was out for 4 days after the '89 earthquake!

Our phone niche is in a hallway, rather far from the living room, bedroom or office - very inconvienent for actual phone usage. But it's right by the back door, so we put a pretty silver bowl there and use it for keys and such.

My SF apartement problem is plaster walls and irregularly spaced studs (probobly due problem #2: weird subdivisions). We can't hang anything heavy - hardly any good framed pictures or mirrors - without ripping a chunk from our walls.

The real reason to keep a landline - calling 911. If you call from a cell phone it routes you to the nearest CHP headquarters (which is Vacaville for most of the Bay Area) who then have to re-route you to your local police. Apparently this process can take up to 20 minutes. Not so good when you've just fallen off a ladder and broken both legs or hear someone breaking in through a window. Not to freak anyone out, or anything. We got the most basic landline plan we could - only local, no frills, and it's about $7 a month. Good for peace of mind.