Name: Michelle & Brian
Location: Jersey City, NJ
Type: 2 bedroom apartment, 900 square feet, owned, lived in for one year
Why I use color:
We are both homebodies, so it's important to us that our home be fun, relaxing and inviting. We also want to make the most of our 900 square feet and define different spaces with different feels and moods, and we want the whole space to reflect both our personalities and tastes.
Sometimes, we use it to disguise strange architectural details, like using horizontal stripes to deflect attention from our oddly pointy living room and draw the angle into the room. Also, after years of renting, we're tired of white!
2 Good color tips:
1. Test patches are your friend; you never know exactly how that little swatch will look on your wall. We love our home, but there are still rooms we want to re-paint because they turned out not-quite-right.
2. Walls are re-paintable. Bold colors, stripes, murals, whatever - if you want to try it, go for it.
Favorite type and brand of paint:
We spent all our money buying this place, so whatever's cheapest at Lowes. Eventually, we want to re-do most of the rooms with YOLO and Fine Paints of Europe.
Dirty Little Secrets of Tidy Families
Hillary & Michael's Refined Roost
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Nomade Express Slee...
10 Things to Pack That Make Cooking on Vacation Easier
My Staple Summer Cocktail Recipe: Campari & IPA Spritzer
Tetris above the toilet! Love it.
I think that's Space Invaders. :)
that is *Space Invaders* which I love even more!!!!!!!
There are entries where I think, "yeah, pretty," and there are entries where I think "it'd be interesting to be the person who designed that, for about a week"... and then there are ones like this, where I think "damn, you'd be fun to hang out with." (You can decide if that's praise, though I certainly mean it as such.)
Love the painted headboard idea!
the second pic with the green, the books and the doggie are my fave
I agree with Wende! Also the Occasional Dog looks like a sweetie, I love the Space Invaders, and the silver chandelier.
There are some lovely elements in this home, and the Space Invaders bathroom is fun and creative. I would, however, have liked a broader photo of the livingroom to get a little better sense of how all of the colors integrated. That said, well done!
I like the floating bookshelves from Umbra - I am thinking about getting a few as well.
love love love
Very original... I love how you were able to use one of those commercial magazine racks/stands in your living room. Ingenious! You definitely decorated without fear.
love the green room!
your first and second photos almost made me like green rooms. and thats saying a lot...
nice job :)
Great! Seems like a real house - a fun one at that - compared to a showpiece. Love how unexpected various elements are. I tend to prefer decor with some humor. More relaxing. Your dog clearly feels the same way -- after reading a nice book with a tree on it, I see. Ha!
One thing I keep feeling challenged by in some entries like this one is seeing 70's furniture and fixtures. I'm doing my best to see the attraction, but I still associate those pieces with my childhood. I guess that's why my mom was amazed that I wore 50's and 60's thrift store clothes in the 80's. And why my grandma can't believe collectors would ever want her old silver Christmas tree with blue spotlights!
Excellent canine placement! Adorable home...I would love to hang out with you guys and snorgle with your adorable furbaby.
I am IN LOVE. Beautiful, colorful, sexy, homey - I adore it! The windows above the bed are divine.
Question: How did you hang the windows above the bed? (They must be heavy)
Many cute ideas!
The atari above the toilet is genius.
If I had that light fixture in your living room...that is not the room I would design around it.
The bathroom is the best, then the reading nook with the dog.
Another blik space invaders fan here! This looks like the type of home I would want to live in (if I didn't already have my own home).
the windows above the bed frighten me. I don't like anything hanging above teh bed, but glass that can crack is especially terrifying.
This is one of my favorites so far. I feel like I could live here and be very happy, well done!
hey, my downstairs neighbors! I only wish we could get as much color in our place as they have in theirs. actually the pics of the yellow/blue rooms don't do them justice, the rooms seem to me a little richer/warmer looking than the pix.
and i didn't know about the space invaders in the bathroom! xlnt!
Your dog has the ultimate reading nook. He must be smart!
"snorgle with your adorable furbaby"...aha, I'm gonna start saying that.
The first pic is my favorite - the windows are a little risky, but what's a bedroom without a little danger, right?
As the owner of the home, thanks for all the great comments so far. I just wanted to jump in and calm everyone down about the windows over the bed. They are pretty heavy, but VERY well anchored to the walls. I hung each one with several L-brackets all around the frames so they're solidly hung, but the brackets aren't clearly visible from the room. I wouldn't worry too much about them falling on our heads. And I'm overly-cautious about everything.
Additionally, we also love to snorgle our two furbabies (one of whom did not end up in the photos).
i like your apartment and i like your dog. you should keep an eye on him, as i may steal him...
I love the gold chair in the living room. I love the dog, too!
#1 - I heart your dog. I would love to bury my face in his/her fur and plant kisses all over his/her face.
#2 - Love that cozy "reading" nook. That's what I'm calling it.
#3 - I see just a part of that bookcase and it looks pretty cool. Where did you find it? Style name?
Good luck!
One more thing...
#4 - I'm inspired by the above the toilet artwork. I may actually have to do Tetris above mine...Tetris helps me concentrate...perfect place to do that...in the bathroom. :)
love it!!
The geek in me loves the tetris toilet.
I also give you points for not "faking out" your home to look like a magazine spread: your house looks like people actually live in it.
I love your book displays! Is the rack (third pic) from a library?
Love the originality!!!! GREAT WORK! The Space invaders wall is priceless!!!
Thanks for the great comments, everyone!
Answers to questions:
The bookshelf in the puppy reading nook is from West Elm, but I don't know if they make it anymore.
The revolving book rack in the living room was found on the street a few years ago on garbage night, rescued and cleaned up.
The lighting fixture in the living room (which we put in after doing most of the rest of the room) makes sense in context (I hope); unfortunately it's an oddly shaped room that's hard to photograph as a whole. It also gets so much light through our giant windows that a lot of the color is actually washed out in the photo.
Also, hi Robin!
Love the golden on the chaise longue- seriously, he adds color and texture and light! Someone should write something on decorating with pets. I always thought my little tortoiseshell looked great as a cat-pillow on the couch.
OK - this is what I call "super-sweet, post-millenium, urban funkeclectic!" This is a place!!
You know, the best looking living spaces are the ones that you NEVER get tired of looking at...where you eyes can just flow back and forth over the room, as if they were your hands, touching the objects.....this is what its all about!