Diary of a Doorway

Last weekend we finally installed the ACs in our apartment.

It was odd to go all of June and almost all of July without needing them! And indeed at one point we thought, maybe we won't need them at all. Wouldn't that be neat? Lord knows our electricity bill would greatly benefit. But alas a late Saturday in June we awoke uncomfortably in a steamy room and saw by the thermostat in the hallway that our apartment was 88 degrees INSIDE.

No way jose!

So we picked up two of the AC's we store at my parents' house and installed one in the bedroom and one in the living room.

Ah sweet cool relief.

Keeping the bedroom cool is no problem, just turn on the unit, close the doors and close and lock the windows. For added comfort catch a re-run of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman on GMC.

The living room is another story, given that there is no door between the living room and the hallway. And without fashioning some kind of door to close the room does not get very cool at all. Not to mention Dr. Quinn doesn't come in HD!

You have seen what I did the first year we lived here, right? The old' flannel sheet routine.


Ooooooh!


Aaaaah!

Those would be LL BEAN flannel sheets, might I add? The height of sophistication. Especially when tacked in a doorway or held aside with a Crate and Barrel linen napkin, no?

But I grew tired of this look and so the following year I purchased a "thermal curtain" and a tension rod and things got so chic, it was hard to handle.

And now for this, our last summer in this apartment we hope, I decided to go out with a bang. Well, the catalysyt was when I remembered that I I am pretty sure I threw out the tension rod last Fall and was all "F it, I will buy a new one next year" (when you have next to no storage, even the idea of finding enough space for a TENSION ROD causes the mind to reel). Then I thought, oh I will just tack the curtain up for now and go out and get a tension rod when I have time later in the week because it is hotter than am m-er f-er up in here."

Then inspiration struck.

I have this collection of table runners, since I buy them on whims as others may buy chewing gum at the checkout counter. And I was suddenly struck by how much an old table runner can look like a fabulous valance.


Ooooooh!


Ahhhhh!

So there we have it, it keeps the cool air in, the hot air out and is none too shabby to look at either.

Look for my coffee table book this fall, "Entryway Fashions for the Decadent but Doorless "