Experience Life Without Limits

Grace Maldarelli, a medical student in Baltimore, finally has her own apartment and calls herself an “absolute design novice.” She says her 330-square-foot studio unit (kitchen, living space and bedroom, all in one) feels “impersonal” and lacks cohesiveness. Maldarelli wants to decorate but doesn’t know where to begin. Her requests are simple: She loves warm, muted colors and needs plenty of shelving for her schoolbooks. But the space is a challenge: With white walls, white wall-to-wall carpet and a 7-by-6-foot sleeping alcove, it hardly feels like home.

Q

I have an 18th-century French mantel clock. It runs quite well, but its chimes are not properly synchronized with the time, so I hear things like nine chimes at 7:30 and one chime at noon. How do I find a reputable clock repair place?