#27 - Natasha and Alfred's Unexpected Solutions

Name: Natasha and Alfred
Location: Jackson Heights, NY
Type: 2 bedroom apartment, owned

Why I use color:

Using color is our way to make the place our own. When we moved in 2 years ago, the apartment was white, dingy and had absolutely no flair notwithstanding some interesting architectural details (chair rails, sunken living room, original built-in in the entrance hall)...

By adding color, we made our home cheerful, happy and yet elegant and sophisticated. To reflect our personalities, we wanted the apartment to be different and a little whimsical. Bold colors and unexpected solutions (the "landing strip", a single blue stripe on the wall in the living room, saturated yellow kitchen cabinets) helped us achieve this goal. In addition, bright colors are capable of compensating for the lack of natural light in certain areas.

2 Good color tips:

- There is no way around painting swatches of color on a wall and living with them for a few days before finally landing on one.

- Sometimes using white next to the areas with bold saturated colors is necessary to avoid a feeling of color hodge podge.

Favorite type and brand of paint:

Benjamin Moore

Comments (18)

That yellow chair is open defiance of the LR wall, which is pretty cool. Love those dining chairs and that Anthropologie mirror. And I desperately want to run my hand over that couch.

where did you get the couch? Love it!

I like the living room - it's modern, but it doesn't feel cold. Love the Escher-esque pillow and the blue rug. And the landing is great!

i like the yellow kitchen and the subway tile

love the smoky grey sofa

Wow, the velvet sofa if fab!

What material is your countertop? It looks like glass.

Also, neato landing strip. Where did you get your mail holder?

pleaseeeeeeeee tell me where did you get the beautiful sofa!!

Apparently the best entries are coming out at the end. This is one of the ones that makes me go "wow." Totally fun.

I love your use of yellow and the use of silver with your pale blue. You have some sophisticated layering going on here. And great art.

I am struggling a bit with the entry way, I would prefer to see the graphic a little more restrained and simple. I am also struggling with the stencils on the wall, they seem to belie the sophisticated edgy softness you are trying to achieve. Sometimes it's hard to know when to stop when you are painting a canvas.

I love the acrylic table, but I would lose those stencils.

Great job. Hope we see you in the finals.

again with the rust and blue combo! i am missing something. and sorry, the yellow kitchen makes me uncomfortable. not for me.

Overall, way cool. I agree about the dining room, a bit too much. Would love to see more artwork on the wall with the mirror. Overall, pretty awesome.

only missing a cat.

Really nice, but not quite cohesive enough for me. Some of the color combinations seem a bit odd to me (and not in a good way). Though, I really, really love the entryway.

I adore your velvet sofa too, but please lower the 3 pieces of art a bit...they're too high for my taste and look a bit disconnected.

LOVELY!

where did you get you sofa?

Nice work with the entryway, and the first photo is really well done. The rest kind of fall apart for me - I'm wary of too many wall graphics - although you did do good with the artwork above the couch. The yellow, however, brings me back to the Yellow Wallpaper - a story about a woman who's locked in a yellow room and goes crazy, it jjust seems like that color of yellow.

Love the burnt orange color of the LR walls! Care to share the color name and brand?

Fabulous countertop! What material is it?

I would love to know where you got your sofa or the fabric for your sofa.