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Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Feeling Like Sheet

I am home sick today.

Yesterday I had a sore throat all day which is always the dark horseman of the apocalypse of sickness for me. As soon as I get a sore throat I know what's up. And so I was not surprised to wake up early this morning and feel like a truck had hit me in my sleep.

It's fuckin' on.

Now, what you should know about me is I am a couch sick person, not a bed sick person. So while I feel utterly like crap, I want to be in the living room on the couch and not in the bed like a for real invalid.

Up until a few weeks ago however, this would have been impossible. You see, my apartment is a sauna. I know it's summer and everyone is hot, but my apartment brings it to the next level. It's 80 outside? It's at least 90 in here. It's 90 outside? You don't even want to come in here. This is our first summer in the apartment and we knew it would be hot since it's on the top floor. Which is why we got a second air conditioner when we moved here, thinking it would go in the living room.

The only problem is that there is an open doorway from the living room to the rest of the apartment, no door. So we would need a heavy duty AC to have enough power to cool the room without their being a door to trap the cold air. As our luck would have it our living room windows are too small for that kind of machine. But the AC we bought for the living room was too small for a room without a door.

Some may have given up and just hung out in the cool air conditioning of the bedroom all summer. But we here at Chez Sarah-and-Adam love a challenge. So, we improvised.

We initially planned on hanging a lovely velvet curtain and equally lovely wrought iron curtain rod above the doorway but that ended up as most things do that are planned without measuring anything or thinking ahead about whether that would actually work, poorly.

So I now give you plan B: The Flannel Sheet Door

It's all the rage, didn't you hear? I'm surprised Pottery Barn doesn't have them in



I know you probably want one of our own so let me give you the step by step towards creating your own Flannel Sheet Door.

1) Find an old flannel flat sheet (We used LL Bean). If at all possible it should not match your decor (see above).
2) Affix it to a door-less doorway using thumbtacks. I used clear ones but multicolored ones would definitely add some panache for the Flannel Sheet Door admirer with bold tastes.
3) Use a cloth napkin folded lengthwise several times to tie back the door when not in use.



Et Voila!

You heard it here first: Flannel sheets can keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer!

Now if you will excuse me I have some languishing to do.

15 comments:

RED said...

Sorry to hear you are sick Sarah! Hope you feel better soon! Nothing bad daytime TV and extra doses of reading can't fix, right!

Oh and love the flannel sheet - we sometimes do the sheet trick to create 'zones' down the shore - it works!

Greens and Pinks said...

Sweet jesus, great minds DO think alike. We have one of those big ass a/c units in our living room that have to be vented out a window - so we do the same thing.

I got a tension rod at Target and hung a bedsheet onto it and put the whole shebang up in the doorway that leads from the living room into the kitchen. We don't even tie it back, though. I think it just lends that je ne sais quoi to the overall decor.

Meg said...

Feel better, lady! Enjoy your languishing and hurry back soon (or continue to post from your death-couch, but don't make us go without).

Anonymous said...

Oh we totally did that in our Worcester apartment because the living room and dining room were essentially one large room with just a hint of effort to separate them. We totally hung up a couple of sheets (two twin--gold 310 thread count) to keep that cold air in the living room where it belonged.

I now have the pleasure of only having ONE room, so it's much less of an issue.

Anonymous said...

P.S. I hope you feel better soon. I got so caught up in reminiscing about those glorious days in Worcester that I forgot to say that. ;-)

Perfectly Plump Preppy 2.0 said...

I hope you feel better Sarah. I personally think the flannel sheet door is brilliant.

I am jealous of you people with ac. I live in world's oldest house and I'm not set to upgrade electricity until fall so no ac for me. I do have some lovely fans though.

Libby said...

Fantistique!

(I hope you're feeling better soon, soon, soon.)

Kate said...

I would judge you for having flannel sheet decor, but I'm TOO HOT TO JUDGE. Or move, for that matter.

Anonymous said...

Hey - whatever works, right? When it's this damn hot, you've got to be in it for functionality not aesthetics. Since my studio is in the loft, it's officially 800 degrees up there. I even bought a dehumidifier hoping that would help. $120 later, I'm still roasting like a turkey on a spit. Oh well.
Feel better soon, babe! We've got to make a date with you and Adam again soon when you are feeling yourself again.

tulipmom said...

The flannel sheet door is truly brilliant!

Hope you're feeling better soon. Not TOO soon though. Milk it a little ... you have clocked in many a recent hour as nursemaid.

Stacey said...

Hope you feel better soon, Sarah.

I love that you're at home sick and you still came up with a cute post. ;)

Anonymous said...

it is a great idea and very pretty. you should try and sell it to pier 1 :) oh and seriously, i wouldn't mind some heat considering it's july 12th and we've had right around 59 degrees and pouring rain for weeks! this summer sucks.

hope you feel better soon. i could totally use a sick-couch-day. and i'm the same way. when you find me sick in bed in the middle of the day i'm probably near dying. :)

Andy said...

Hope you're feeling better, boo.

There truly is nothing worse than a sore throat. You, Jill, Me, and Alan Cumming are all in the know.

Andy said...

Hope you're feeling better, boo.

There truly is nothing worse than a sore throat. You, Jill, Me, and Alan Cumming are all in the know.

Sarah said...

It's effects ARE exceedingly bleak. Thank god Mr Elton warned us.