That sofa is gorgeous. It's the Sullivan sofa in the color Lucky Turquoise.

LOVE! So calming and beautiful! Great job!

Great taste. I also love that sofa! It adds a nice pop to the room.

I love your place looks great. Neat and tidy.

For some reason I really, really like this. The blue and grey so perfectly compliment the tone of the mantel and floors (gorgeous btw). Truely successful version of rustic meets modern. It's like what I wish scandanavian design looked like.

@stationeryfiend This is a comment section for those who are encouraged to provide their input on the various topics. Your comment was everything you suggested mine was. Anyone who knows anything about interior design including Ikea and vintage items would know what they were looking at. I love this room and its various elements including the color, furniture and architecture. I also feel there are a few negative aspects that are hard to overlook, in this case it is the various elements from Ikea. I hope I explained that clearly enough for you...

That couch is awesome. Really makes the room.

I love this!!!!!

Well done. Makes me miss Chicago!

Absolutely lovely, and yes, I do see the lake/woods/stormy sky in this room, thanks to the colors. LOVE!

I wouldn't say that it's all "Skittles and sunshine," but there's a difference between constructive criticism and "x thing makes me want to vomit." These are people's homes, and chances are, they are sharing them because their homes are important to them. There are ways to suggest improvement without belittling whatever effort that person has already put into the space. Homes are always evolving, so the owner may very well be aware that some elements aren't perfect. The point of this site isn't to highlight "high design" (there are plenty of other publications that do that) but to promote spaces that are comfortable, personal, and well-suited to people's lives.

Yes, by posting their homes, the owners have made themselves open both to positive and negative feedback, but at the same time, you have to remember that everyone's needs, budget, resources, and styles are different. Comments that critique a space are fine (and, to be honest, I didn't see Garimi's first comment, so I can't speak to its content in particular), but comments that berate others' homes really aren't helpful for anyone, and I'm not sure of their general purpose.

Well done, Amit. I love the colors you've chosen, and that sofa is to die for.

love this room and i don't readily say that! does capture a lake vibe at that.

Love your brick wall and sofa and fire place...I wish I could see more!

Garimi, your comment about the fan was downright mean.

I don't see what the problem is with Ikea furniture. Taste is subjective and I think they make some quality pieces at an affordable price. Budget is a big factor - it's not like the person who posted this room is some high paid attorney or something.

I don't even know income matters, actually. There are plenty of people who, you can tell from their tours, are very, very well off and they still opt for Ikea because it suits them.

You rock!

@Cpurnell you Rock!!

Love it!! What is the other wall color?

Thanks, everyone! I knew I had to have the sofa from the second I saw the color. eric.lindgren.75, the rest of the walls are actually plain ol' white (maybe off-white?), so its appearance changes a lot depending on how the light is in the room.

my favorite Favorite!

I happen to love ceiling fans and have them in my house. It's better than having floor fans all over the place.

it has been said many times but: this really is a dream couch!!

I don't know what was said about the chandelier, nor do I care because at the end of the day a comment is a comment is a comment. Some people can handle it and some can't.

I like Amit's space! I like the simplicity of it and the clean lines. I do with there was a touch more blue to really anchore the other side of the room but such is life.

As for those who always have something negative to say about Ikea: lay off it already. Obviously Ikea is doing something right, people like Ikea. Some people love it, I am one of them. Even IF Amit is a highly paid lawyer or whatever if he wants Ikea, he wants ikea. Just because one can afford a masserati doens't mean they should get one. They may just want a cadillac because they like the way it looks.

Fabulous!

It feels so relaxing! Can I come hang out?? lol

looks good

Gorgeous - and that colour on the fireplace? So beautiful!

LOL!

beautiful!

this is very very good room, but it doesn't belong to this particular contest - sorry

Very cool. Got my vote. Any idea about the designer/make of the lovely Danish mod side chair by the fireplace? Have a sofa I'm trying to identify that has very similar lines/details.

Thanks, quo! I wish I knew about the chair's history, but sadly, I don't. It started out as a $25 beaten up frame at a Vintage Garage and turned into a little DIY restoration project. There weren't labels or any other markings on it. I think the originals of this style were by Selig (I'd be surprised if mine is, though), so you might want to try looking through pictures of those until you find a match for your sofa!

And to everyone else, thanks very much for your support and feedback, both positive and critical! For the record, the IKEA items are as follows: the coffee table (purchased used off of Craigslist), the print behind the sofa, and the dining table. I apologize if they offended anyone (tongue planted firmly in cheek)!

My living room was entered in the International Division so I have followed the contest closely this year. Is it always so controversial?

First of all, congratualtions to all the finalists. I voted for a couple, but not all of them and, while they are beautiful rooms, none were my first choice in their category. I did not personally expect to win and was thrilled just to be included in the competition. I felt that there were rooms superior to mine but it was still fun to watch the votes and read the comments.

AT's motives for allowing voting are obvious and I happen to agree with them. It's fun and encourages many people (who are mainly observers) to become engaged and post comments and generally interact with this community. It is also a brilliant way to draw in more readers.

Obviously the Bloggers have an edge but they were well within the rules to advertise on their blogs and wouldn't we all do that if we could? Perhaps if this is a really issue for many readers (and it seems to have hurt some feelings and ruffled some feathers) AT will consider a panel of designer or "expert" judges in the future, while still allowing reader voting and prizes for "Reader's Picks"... Win-win?

Congratulations in making it into the final. In the spirit of fairness I'd like to let you know that at least one of you (the final contestants) is publicly asking people to vote three times for their room (telling people to use email, facebook and twitter). You know who you are. I have asked Apartment Therapy a number of times whether you can vote for a room more than once. They never answered my question and just referred me to the contest page. On the contest page it states:

Contest Schedule
9/24 — Submission Forms open.
10/1 — Selected entries will begin to be posted. Readers may respond by choosing their favorite entries. Readers may mark as many entries as they like as favorites during this period. Readers may mark each entry as a favorite only once.....

I don't know whether this is an official rule or how they would enforce it. Anyway just wanted to let everyone know that this is going on. Can't tell you if it's against the rules to vote 3 times, or even tell you if it's against the rules to tell anyone to vote 3 times. It's a mystery.

FYI to everyone following the contest: There's no mystery! The contest rules are being followed and we have been watching the voting carefully. Thanks very much for your entries, votes and feedback in the comments - we appreciate it and will keep it in mind as we plan future contests.

Just wanted to chime in and say that I find it disappointing that people feel the need to post comments regarding the supposed unfairness of the competition on contestant's walls. I applaud all of the those that entered the competition, it is not easy to open your home up to criticism. How about being constructive & actually emailing Apartment Therapy directly instead of posting on contestant's walls?

ariel300 I did email Apartment Therapy repeated about this and I didn't get a straight answer. I'm sorry if it's coming across as sour grapes because yes I did lose, but I just wanted everyone to have the same playing field in the finals. I personally didn't tell anyone to vote for me 3 times because I thought it was against the rules, but now I'm not so sure because Janel will not give me a straight answer.

Janel, I agree with other people who have posted about the confusion. You STILL have not provided a straight answer to a very simple simple question: Are people allowed to vote three times?

Your rules specifically state, "Readers may mark each entry as a favorite only once," yet you leave it up to us to decide if that means once in each of three venues, or ONLY ONCE?

Due to this lack of clarity, I'm not voting for any of the finalists. I don't think the competition was fair.

Hi all,
Just back online this morning and checked back here. "Only once" means just that - once. If you are interested in more detailed info on voting, the best source is the rules section, linked from the contest page.

I agree that these always end up turning into popularity contests. I will say, though, that my entry ended up in the top 3 or so of the category on its own, without me doing anything, so hopefully that (along with the number of pins) is a measure of what people actually think and not of my popularity (I don't even have a Pinterest account). I admit that I've been begging people shamelessly to vote for me after realizing that the other leaders in my category had blog and twitter followers. I have neither, and I felt that I had a real shot at winning if I rounded up enough votes. That is not to say that anyone with a blog or popular twitter account is doing anything unfair. It seems like it is well within the rules of the contest. In the end, I probably just begged harder than the others at the top of the "Cool" division. I will continue to beg friends/family/strangers until the end of this competition. However, if one of the finalists is encouraging people to create multiple accounts for themselves, that crosses a line in my opinion. I liken that to voter fraud in elections for public office (as opposed to "getting out the vote" in such elections). One human being, one vote, I say. But maybe the person doing that has a different interpretation of the rules. I don't know. Hopefully whoever discovered this alerted AT of it and AT will do the right thing with that information.

To those of you who used the most negative words they could think of to describe my room, I welcome your criticism and comments. I'd actually be happier if the posts didn't get flagged and removed. The wonderful thing about everyone being able to speak freely is that, if there is one group of people who speak negatively about an entry for whatever reason, there is nothing stopping another group of people from voicing their disagreement with the first group. Speech doesn't need policing; it can police itself (with exceptions for the universally bad stuff, and that doesn't even include "this makes me want to vomit").

Well said, Amit. This is a mature response and I will say that your room was one of my favourites. :)

Amit, I love your response to the controversy surrounding the competition. It was both honest and gracious. Yours wasn't the room that was committing the voter fraud. Apartment Therapy was notified a week ago that this was going on.. Unfortunately, despite their assurances to the contrary, they didn't do anything about it til today. You can't really tell from the final result who committed the fraud, but if you were following the results you would have seen the votes being taken off one of the entries. This comment will probably be removed so I hope you have a chance to read it.

By the way, yours was definitely the best room out of the final four and I voted for you. So sorry you didn't win.

I've noticed that no one has bothered to make any comments on any of the entries for over 6 hours. Even after the finalist was announced. Maybe AT will get the hints and actually do something about changing the competition to be more merit based.

@britabroad - I've been reading the comments on the winning entries and I notice a lot of them are now missing! Hmmm.

Amit - congratulations on winning your division. And don't sweat it - I begged for Facebook votes too! Man...I unfriended all my Republican friends too soon!

Amit, you're the man. Plain and simple, you're classy, and it is reflected in your home.

Taylor de Sa, britabroad, S. Rohde Hill, and bejeweled, thank you for your kind words and support!

Ah, too bad. My sofa is also unlabeled and unmarked. Your suggestion of looking back at the Selig catalog is a good one, but I also don't think mine is by Selig. Still a nice piece (yours and mine). Did you replace the cushions on your chair as part of the restoration? If so, where did you get them? I'm looking for replacement cushions and covers.

And congrats on your division win.

I love the tranquility of your room, and how the blue keeps it from being too melancholy. I also wistfully appreciate how well edited it is, since with 2 kids I will never see that level of restraint in my own home.

quo, yup, the cushions are new. Just bought some fabric from the local fabric store and then took the fabric and the chair to an upholstering guy so he could make them to fit the chair.