apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Mee-oww...this place is gorgeous!

that chandelier looks like the ones at the Met Opera... sooooo gorgeous

Ummm... Something's up with "Christine Chase" - she might want to see a doctor... WHAT is she commenting about??

Am I alone in being turned off by posts like this? I can open any number of hundreds of magazines and look at photos of homes and furniture that I'll never afford. It means nothing to me, doesn't inspire me, and has no context in most people's lives.

Boo.

Excellent observation pxlchk1, I'm with 'ya.

Who can not be dazzled by a place like this? Gorgeous!

I like the dining room, especially the chandelier. But the jewels on the table look cheesy.

The chandelier would be gorgeous in a hotel lobby, ballroom, or fancy restaurant. It seems over the top in a home setting, even one as high-end as this.

I am in complete agreement over the jewels. They take away from the sophistication of the dining room, but not in a whimsical or tongue-in-cheek way.

I love the chandelier, and I can see it in lots of homes, "dressed down" a bit in formality, maybe. (My ceilings are too low for any big lamp, unless it was mounted low over an end table. Hmmm!)

And I think the fake gems are amusing! They would be better in assorted scales, though. All one size looks a little like "I couldn't decide so I got them all" rather than a nice little collection.

I like this....i wouldn't want to recreate it exactly, but I like the look and can use it as inspiration. I won't buy the expensive home magazines, because 90% of the mags are advertising, but I like the opportunity to peek at some featured homes for take-away ideas.

Thanks for sharing!

Nothing cozy or comforting about it, but maybe the point of this particular article was in creating impressive rooms that don't have a particular personality to them? Maybe it's just me... I just don't see much of anything that gives away any individuality here. At least put a dog in the picture or something, it just lacks life.

Visually arresting. Could you read a book in that living room area, though? Would the ceiling lights be enough? I imagine this is just an area to receive guests in, and that reading of the Sunday New York Times must happen elsewhere.

Very cool... love the chandelier!

http://thebluepearlgirl.blogspot.com

Some of you need to deal with your envy problems. You don't need to possess everything in the world to appreciate it. The materialism problem is YOURS, not the owners'.

can anyone tell me more about the dining table centerpiece (those giant jewels)?

I like the decorating, but I love the space. The lesson I take away from this for my every day living: if you have a great space, you don't need a lot of things to make the rooms work. There is a refreshing lack of tchotkes, macrame, turned wood chairs, and mismatched picture frames.

Met Home is one of my favorites because it doesn't get too trendy. It has an editorial clarity that is focused less on what's hot and more on what works. Given that a room's furnishings should last you a decade or more, I think that is a pretty smart approach. I can look at issues 10 years back and still find ideas and rooms that looked great in 1999 and would still look great today.

These kinds of accessories look so wonderful and elegant in expensive loft homes. If I used them in my smaller apartment....they would look silly and out of place. My friends would have no idea what to think about all those gems on the dining table.

Parroting pxlchk1, I had the same initial response. If I could afford fabulous furniture and the best interior designer and have access to sumptuous fabrics and lightning and flooring... but those resources aren't at my disposal. Boo. So I read AT and am inspired by the creativity of people similar to me who value design and want to enjoy and share an appealing asesthetic but aren't going to drop loads of cash to achieve it. Bravo to all the silent design aficionados who make it work without a blank check.

So people living in 200 sq. ft. inspire you? I think it's great that they're dealing with what they have/can afford, but I don't complain about the fact that I don't need to live in a trailer. Why do some of you feel the need to complain about something upscale?

@LBhirise: Yes, people living in tiny spaces do inspire me and a lot of AT readers. In fact, there seems to be some kind of contest this website holds every year for people with small spaces...

I think the annoyance has to do with the fact that people come to AT to get away from pieces featuring the homes of the rich and richer (which are already all over most shelter mags) and see what average folks are able to do with average budgets, schedules and resources.

Those jewels irk me, though. Might be fun in a more kitsch or unexpected setting, but they're kind of tacky in a penthouse.

Almost everything on this site is budget friendly. I don't see why every one is getting all knotted up because there is a feature on a quite beautiful apartment.

I can draw plenty of inspiration from this post. AT features "this for less" products CONSTANTLY that correspond to this post. Buying a couch that is similar, tiling your bathroom that gorgeous red, using 3 (cheap) ikea lack coffee tables, cheap gemstones on my table, and a smaller but just as stellar chandelier.

I have a large living room that I'm struggling to decorate and this post has really helped me. I could easily copy that entire living room for a tenth of the price.

This is about inspiration, not advertising if you ask me. We're not being asked to put out our life savings to recreate this look - we're being asked to view things that are extravagant occassionally, pull from it what we love, and find something similar to make OUR homes beautiful and extravagant.

GET OVER YOURSELVES!

"Why do some of you feel the need to complain about something upscale?"

Eh, it's not that, really. It's that there are so many resources for that demographic and so few for people who are trying to make their real-world homes work well. I value AT as that resource in my life and don't think any more time needs to be devoted to the "other lifestyle" here. They have Elle Decor. I have Apartment Therapy.

I know a lot here bemoan the fact that AT DOES occasionally show high end places but look at it this way, the idea is to GAIN inspiration and to LEARN what you like or don't like if you are in that stage.

You can look at an oppulent high end Reccocco/Moorish style or a high end contemporary, sparse modern space and decide which one you lean towards as a general rule as that has it's place then use mags that cater to the smaller, lower end to fine tune it to your needs and there used to be a show on HGTV a few years back where they take a high end room and show you how you can create that look as much as possible on I think $2K, to show you what you CAN do with a little enginuity and part of what you got from each episode was that while you may not be able to replicate the entire room, you can replicate it's ESSENCE by figuring out which pieces made the room the most and then concentrated on those items first and foremost in relation to the ROOM you are designing it for as they won't be the same, not even close in most instances.

I don't begrudge those who have the moolah to have these showplaces because a lot of the times it's way more than I'd want for my space but I can take away elements of their style into my more modest space where I can.

This space is nice but lacks personality IMO.

So please, relax and try to take something from it and if you can't quit bemoaning, I'd suggest you skip that post and move on for the rest of us, thank you.

OK bloggers, decades are abbreviated with the apostrophe BEFORE the number, not after.

'90s NOT 90's

'60s NOT 60s

Good guideline to learn if you're going to blog about time periods and/of home design. Or at least get paid to blog about such.

lemonpie, the jewels are available in various levels of quality in many stores. Swarovski crystal shops sell the high end ones, jewelry stores sometimes have those or a bit cheaper ones, and I have seen some that are not the finest at Michael's crafts. (Those are about 4 or 5 inches across and I think they cost around $10. I haven't looked for them lately...)

thanks sherry! i will have to keep an eye out for those places.

jewels:
http://www.renaissancesociety.org/site/Editions/Details.John-Torreano-Bookend-2000.164.17.html

ciddyguy,

It's a slippery slope! This oppression will not stand, man!
;)