{"product_id":"apartment-therapy-isbn-9780553383126","title":"Apartment Therapy","description":"From not enough space and too many things to not knowing what color to paint the  living room walls, many of us struggle with our homes. Now Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan,  frequent makeover expert on HGTV’s Mission: Organization and Small Spaces, Big Style,  shares the do-it-yourself strategies that have enabled his clients and fans to transform  their apartments into well-organized, beautiful places that suit their style and  budget. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Week by week, \u003ci\u003eApartment Therapy\u003c\/i\u003e will guide you to treat common problems,  eliminate clutter, and revamp even the tiniest space. Here is an eight-step process  that includes:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e• A therapeutic questionnaire to help you get in touch with your personal  taste and diagnose your home’s physical, emotional, and energy flow issues\u003cbr\u003e• A prescription  with recommendations for each room based on your needs and lifestyle–including tips  on how to use color, lighting, and accessories \u003cbr\u003e• A treatment plan, including regular  maintenance schedules to ensure the ongoing health of your space\u003cbr\u003e• Illustrations of  floor plans and decorative examples that allow you to visualize concepts before you  begin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e With surprising ease and without elaborate professional help, \u003ci\u003eApartment Therapy\u003c\/i\u003e will help you clear a path through disorder and indecision–to reveal a home you’ll  love.“New York-based interior designer Gillingham-Ryan is out to prove that even the dreariest,  no-view walk-up can be transformed into a cozy urban oasis using his eight-step  home cure. . . . Ebullient!”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “What a refreshing decorating book!   \u003ci\u003eApartment Therapy\u003c\/i\u003e is a must-read for creating your perfect nest.  Fire your shrink  and follow Maxwell's eight-step therapeutic cure!”\u003cb\u003e—Jonathan Adler, potter, designer,  and author of \u003ci\u003eMy Prescription for Anti-Depressive Living\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Decorating a home is just  plain stressful! Maxwell's book offers a way out; it's like hiring a pro (without  the attitude or expense). He takes us by the hand and gently guides us through the  entire process, from coming up with a plan to executing it without going broke. Whether  you're just dipping in for a quick hit of inspiration, or committing to the whole  eight week cure, your home—and life—will be better because of it.”\u003cb\u003e—Angela  Matusik, Editor-in-Chief, \u003ci\u003eBudget Living \u003c\/i\u003eMagazine\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan's \u003ci\u003eApartment  Therapy \u003c\/i\u003eis refreshing in its point of view—your house has to work for you from the  inside out. Gillingham-Ryan encourages readers to really take a good look at where  they are at home and how they can improve the quality of their lives.”\u003cb\u003e—Wendy Goodman,  interior design editor, \u003ci\u003eNew York \u003c\/i\u003eMagazine\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"One part interior designer, one part life coach,\" Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan is the founder of Apartment Therapy, a unique interior design practice in the New York metropolitan area. In April 2004, Maxwell, with his brother Oliver, launched apartmenttherapy.com, now one of the most popular and influential design weblogs in the country. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMaxwell is a regular  commentator on the new House \u0026amp; Garden Television show, Small Space, Big Style. Previously, Maxwell appeared on HGTV's Mission Organization. He has been interviewed in various publications including \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times, The New York Post, The New York Observer, \u003c\/i\u003eand the \u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal.  \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA former elementary school teacher, he holds a B.A. from Oberlin College, an M.A. from Columbia University, and a M. Ed. from Antioch.  He lives in a 250-square foot apartment in New York's West Village with his wife, Sara-Kate, a food writer.Chapter One\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Is Your  Home Healthy?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    In the first few years that I took on clients, I was surprised by the  number of people who were miserable in their homes. I wondered what was  going on to cause so much distress. As I visited more houses and  apartments, and began to read books on shelter style and home improvement,  I soon realized that most\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    American home dwellers tuning in to home improvement are not simply  lacking in style or needing to declutter; they are dealing with sick homes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Despite good intentions, Americans have not only lost touch with how to  create and maintain a healthy home, they have created new diseases such as  clutter, disposophobia (the fear of letting go of things), and what I call  movie theater syndrome and bowling alley syndrome. Like another national  health issue, obesity, most of our household issues stem from the fact  that we consume too much and work off too little.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    As you read this book, I want you to broaden the concept of home and apply  to it the same principles we apply to our own bodies. Like the body, the  home should be thought of as a living organism. For starters, healthy  homes are homes that consume carefully and get regular exercise. After  health is established, style and decora-  tion come much more easily and can be seen as natural finishing touches.  In fact, style and decoration are extensions of a healthy home. You can’t  have one without the other.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Hypernesting\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Today, Americans spend more money on home improvement than ever before. A  whopping twenty-five million Americans took on a home improvement project  in 2005, spending $150 billion (2 percent of our GNP). Judging from  television shows such as Trading Spaces, Design on a Dime, and This Old  House, Americans can’t seem to get enough. And the demand crosses gender  lines: shows such as the tremendously popular Queer Eye for the Straight  Guy attract male and female viewers alike, while Debbie Travis’s Facelift  on both Oxygen and HGTV attracts a growing number of female homeowners  wanting to DIY (do it yourself).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Each year brings new magazines as well. The old-school Architectural  Digest has been pushed aside by flashier offerings such as Metropolitan  Home and Elle Décor, and they are now being challenged by newcomers with a  focus on shopping and affordability, such as Domino, Budget Living, and  Bargain Style. All in all, more Americans than ever are fixing up their  homes—and doing the work themselves. In all of this they are trying to  retrieve the feeling of home they have lost. But despite the amount of  activity and money spent, most of these efforts end in dissatisfaction,  because they only treat the symptoms—they don’t provide a cure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    In place of creating a healthy home, we are trying to buy solutions and  cram too much into our homes. What was modestly termed “cocooning” in the  1970s by trend-spotters who saw us spending more recreational time at home  has become Hypernesting. Instead of asking ourselves what would really  make our home work better, we usually jump to the conclusion that there  must be something we can buy to solve our home’s challenges—a flatter  television screen, a closet organizing system, or color-coded photo albums.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    But when we take something new into our home, we rarely let go of  something else. This is how our home gains weight, grows unhealthy, and  begins to nag at us. Not only have we created some new diseases, we’ve  even created new doctors to treat our problem. Professional organizers and  home disaster specialists have sprung up only recently, and their job is  to help us sort and manage our extra weight.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Most of us aren’t in need of more organizing; we need to manage our  consumption, let go of our stuff, and learn how to restore life to our  homes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    I often ask my clients what they imagine their apartment would say to them  if it could speak. Samantha, a stockbroker, told me that her home would  say, “Can’t she see that I am dying? Why doesn’t she do anything to save  me?” As she said this, we were sitting in a badly lit, cluttered,  unfinished room. Embarrassed, Samantha said that she didn’t know where to  begin. It was one of the best things I had ever heard a client say.  Besides being completely honest, I told her, in using the word begin she’d  hit upon the main issue. The solution was not about eliminating clutter or  lightening a room; it was about beginning to work with her home. I told  her that I could show her where to begin. It might feel challenging at  first, but her home would love her for it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    No two beginnings are the same. We have different homes and our problems  are personal. Even so, I have found that there are two general starting  points that correspond to two general types of people. As you think about  getting started on your house project, give some thought to which of the  two types—cool or warm—best describes your approach to your living  environment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Warm and Cool People\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    As many cool people as there are in the world, there are just as many warm  people. One is not better or worse, more desirable or less desirable. They  are simply different.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    You typically hear about warm people. These are the ones who worry about  clutter and organizing and who tend to obsess much more about their homes.  They are often gregarious, friendly, and generous. Warm people are good  hosts but are bad with cleaning and clutter. They are challenged by  excessiveness and attachment to people and things.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Is this you?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Cool people use their homes less and often find them an inconvenience.  They want them to be comfortable but keep them as low-maintenance as  possible. Efficient by nature, cool people are often sharp, smart, and  independent. Cool people are good guests, but they are not great at making  things comfortable. Cool people are great at avoiding clutter. At home,  they are not do-it-yourselfers, and they feel clumsy. They are challenged  by not feeling attached enough to people and things.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Is this you?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Cool People: Diana\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    During a preliminary interview on the phone, Diana said, “My apartment  makes me sad.” She also said her apartment felt cold and that she wished  it was warm and inviting, especially after a long day’s work. She said  that she wasn’t sure whether she needed therapy or her apartment needed  work, so Apartment Therapy seemed like the perfect solution to her.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Two days after our conversation, I met Diana at her apartment for our  first appointment. An attractive professional in her late twenties, she  lived in a beautiful one-bedroom apartment in the West Village. Upon  opening her door to me, Diana immediately apologized for her apartment’s  messiness. Was it messy? Not really. Was it cold? A bit. Was she insecure  about her home? Yes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    She began rattling off a long list of things she thought I should know  about her apartment. The furniture all came from her mother’s house and  had sentimental value. She knew that she needed to paint. She never  cooked. Should the large print be hung in the living room? she asked,  looking at me with a worried expression. I couldn’t get a word in edgewise.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “How do we do this?” she finally exclaimed, looking around her apartment  with her hands up in the air.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    I was standing in an apartment three times the size of my own  250-square-foot apartment. It was prewar with low ceilings, original  molding, and wood floors. There were large windows on two sides with views  south and west. She even had a view of the Hudson River. To me, it had all  the hallmarks of a stunning apartment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    I told her that I usually begin with a tour. I asked her to take me  through the apartment, telling me everything that she liked and disliked  about it, one room at a time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Well, that won’t take long. It is very small,” she replied.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    What I saw as I walked through the apartment confirmed what I had  suspected from our initial conversation. Diana was a “cool” person, and  the hallmark of this was that she had a beautiful apartment that was  barely lived in. It was sparsely furnished and badly lit, the windows were  bare, and there was no food in the kitchen aside from mineral water, a  gift box of champagne, and some expired vitamins.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    As I walked around the room, I put my hand on the walls and was surprised  to feel how cold they were. They could only get cold from the air outside.  I asked her if she ever left her windows open. “Oh, yes, I like to keep  the windows open when I smoke and then when I am out, because I hate the  smell that the cigarettes leave.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    With a continual chill in the walls, the apartment would always feel cold  long after the air in each room heated up. Among other things, we needed  to solve Diana’s guilty feelings about smoking at home without freezing  out her apartment. A good air purifier would get rid of the smell and  would relieve her anxiety.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    I asked her to put her own hand on the wall to feel its chill. She too was  surprised by its iciness. “We’re going   to figure out a way to close your windows and warm these walls,” I told  her. “This is where we are going to   begin.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Warm People: Carl and Julia\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Carl and Julia used their apartment a lot. Carl was self-employed and  often worked from home, a place he loved. Julia worked in an office but  liked coming home in the evening. They had filled their home with  beautiful books, artwork, and antiques, each with its own sentimental  story. Friends and family came over often because their home was cheery  and inviting.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    So what was the problem?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Julia wanted it to feel more relaxing; Carl wanted to find a way to  arrange his office. At first, the problems seemed very general. But there  was a nagging feeling that they couldn’t quite pinpoint.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    When pressed, Julia admitted that she didn’t feel in control of their home  and said that Carl’s office had taken over. He acknowledged that the  apartment had gotten a little cluttered, and together they wished it were  calmer and more organized. With good files, he could pack up his office  each night.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    On the tour, I found much more. Next to the bed was a tall pile of  magazines stretching back several months, and days’ worth of water  glasses. There were objects under the couch that had been missing for  months. They admitted that they should hire a cleaning person, but they  just hadn’t gotten around to it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Pulling up their mattress to reveal the floor under their bed, I found a  fleet of dust bunnies that looked like they could crawl. Carl had never  seen these before. Julia had and was embarrassed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Although we had discussed other problems, in every room I could see that  cleanliness—or lack of it—was a key issue. While it wasn’t out of control  and things looked good, the growing dust and clutter of a heavily used  home underlined every concern they had mentioned in the interview. Out of  sight but hardly out of mind, the disarray explained the agitation  expressed in everything they had said.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    As we exited the bedroom, I asked them where their vacuum was. “In the  hall closet, I think,” Carl replied. Regardless of the need for files, I  told them, a deep cleaning was where we would begin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Whichever type you identify with, the cure is balance. Whether warm or  cool, you never want to change your basic temperament. It is who you are  and it contains your strengths. Therefore, warm people achieve balance by  “weeding,” since they have too much growing. Small things like cleaning  out a closet, canceling a magazine subscription, or taking a load of  clothes to the Salvation Army provide balance. Cool people achieve it by  “watering and feeding,” since they don’t have enough growing. Their small  tasks are buying flowers each week for the kitchen table, hanging  curtains, and inviting a few friends over for a drink now and then. Both  types should start slowly—  a little bit goes a long way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    I am a warm person. I learned this more than ten years ago when Marre, my  next-door neighbor, walked into   my first apartment in New York City’s Little Italy and told me I had too  much stuff. Knowing she was a furniture designer, I had invited her over  to show off some new shelves I had built. Instead of being impressed with  my shelves, she said, “Why do you have so many things in your apartment?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    I was embarrassed. In my view, her apartment was minimal and Spartan. I  felt that she just didn’t understand me. I told her that I didn’t have too  much, that I had everything I needed and it was all carefully arranged. My  apartment resembled a ship where everything was tucked into place.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “You have no empty space,” she pointed out. “I can tell that when you do  have an empty space, you fill it. Why?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    This was true. I considered any open space an opportunity for inserting  something useful. I had built shelves in an old doorway, created a pulley  system for my computer screen that lifted it up to the ceiling, and  managed to insert a large drafting table into one corner, which I used as  my second desk. I was very good at finding a use for any space.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Why don’t you take some things out and open up the space? It would look  much better if you did.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    What? Take something out? I thought this would be a death blow. Everything  I owned was a prized possession. I had long considered my use of space an  achievement and liked how everything worked perfectly. But I was forced to  reconsider.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Marre’s apartment, despite its severity, had a calmness and openness to it  that my apartment lacked. Her apartment was smaller and yet it felt  bigger. It was comfortable to sit in Marre’s kitchen, and people naturally  gravitated to her apartment to talk. She was right. My apartment wasn’t  carefully arranged, it was packed. There was no breathing room. It may  have seemed functional, but it was crowded and required a lot of attention.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    My life at the time was the same. I was struggling to write a master’s  thesis, feeling no momentum or excitement about it, and my relationship  with my girlfriend was languishing. Working on my apartment seemed, on the  surface, to be a healthy form of procrastination, but after considering  Marre’s comments, I started to see all of this activity as a big, warm  security blanket. My home was my protection, my pacifier, and it was doing  a good job. My life lacked movement and energy. With Marre’s words,  something clicked\/\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    I began to experiment with removing objects from my apartment. I got rid  of a chair. I took out the drafting table. I threw out a pile of old,  mismatched dishes and mugs. What began as a trickle turned into a torrent,  and over the next few months I emptied half of my apartment. As I did this  my work habits changed, and the energy that I had previously put into  creating and maintaining my home redirected itself into my work. I  finished my thesis feeling good about it. Soon after, my relationship came  to an amicable end, and we were both relieved.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Why Therapy?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Most people who are dissatisfied with their homes don’t realize where the  problems really lie. As in my experience with my old apartment in Little  Italy, it is very hard to get perspective on problems that are right un-  der your nose. Homes are tremendously personal spaces that don’t lend  themselves easily to clear vision. This   is why I refer to my work as Apartment Therapy: when you work on your  home, you are working on yourself, and when you change your home, you are  changing yourself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    But be prepared! There is a reason why your apartment is the way it is.  The home you live in contains a lot more than your belongings; it contains  old energy and emotions that will be stirred up, which may surprise you if  you are not prepared. One client, Amelia, delved into a drawer of  photographs that had never been organized and found pictures of her old  boyfriend, with whom she had had a painful breakup. With the tears and  self-doubt that flooded the room for the next two hours, I was sure our  project was over. Opening this box at that particular time in the project  was a mistake. I have since learned not only to prepare clients for bumps  like this, but also how to avoid the worst pitfalls.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    One way to be successful is to know what to expect. Whether you are a warm  or cool person, if you are unhappy with your home it is usually because  the energy inside is blocked. When you go about opening it up, there will  be a period where all of this stuck energy loosens and flows, stirring up  all kinds of emotions. This can be highly unpleasant. You may find  yourself thinking, “I can’t do this—I am making things worse,” or “This is  going to be too expensive, and I don’t deserve it.” Then there is the urge  for flight: “This is too much work; it would be easier just to move.”  Don’t listen to any of it!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    With the right coaching, the lethargy that surrounds this type of home  improvement gives way to excitement and momentum. Big change is not  impossible. It just takes patience.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Story:Letting Go of the Past, Embracing the Future\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Fifteen years ago my aunt Eleanor, at the age of sixty-five, told us she  was preparing for her death. “Hold on!” I thought at the time. “What is  this morbid plan and what is she up to?” Strangely, this announcement did  not have to do with the usual reasons: sickness, old age, or loneliness.  It had to do with too many books.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Eleanor’s library was remarkable. The biggest in the family, it was a  combination of my grandmother’s books and her own, which easily filled a  hundred boxes. However, she had moved a number of times recently and had  come to look on her most prized possession—her library—as her biggest  burden. It was the heaviest thing she owned and the most expensive to  move. After this last move, she decided it was too much. Holding on to all  these books was doing more harm than good. It was time to give away her  library.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Initially pained by the thought, Eleanor had come to see letting go of her  books as an opportunity to come to terms with the first part of her life  and prepare for the rest. She was not morbid about it; she was excited.  She was eager to be free from all the weight and burden that she had  created and carried around for her first sixty-five years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    First, she took out her most essential books, those that formed the DNA of  her library. These she would keep. She   limited herself to one box. Then she gave small selections to every member  of our family before inviting close friends to come over and take a book  for themselves. The rest of the collection was given to her local library.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Giving away the books was just the beginning. Eleanor also decided to  clear away all the emotional clutter that   involved friends and family. Over the next year, she had   a number of intense and gratifying conversations with   her children, ex-husband, and other family members. She also met with  close friends and spoke truthfully with them.   To finish, she straightened out her business affairs and   sold off investments that had been languishing for some time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Having made these changes, Eleanor found that her life entered a new  phase. She was happier and more active than ever. Her discovery and the  powerful act of giving away her possessions made me look at my life  differently at a much younger age.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Today, I love books, but I keep my collection small   and regularly work at editing my shelves. Due to my aunt, I learned that  we don’t need books as much as we need what is in them: their inspiration  for the future.","brand":"Bantam","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46301658317029,"sku":"NP9780553383126","price":21.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780553383126.jpg?v=1767721681","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/apartment-therapy-isbn-9780553383126","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}