apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Beautiful use of color, I love the orange in the living room and the blue in the kitchen. It's a wonderful retro feel, without feeling old or stuffy.

Very nice. I really liked your kitchen.

Great colors! I think I'm in love with your kitchen! Very nice!

Just last night I was painting my kitchen/dining room teal, inspired by my vintage 50's table, a twin to yours! Now if only I could find awesome stools like yours, I'd be set! Looks awesome!

Really like the kitchen, still cant warm to the light green/orange color combination that I have seen in a lot of posts.

On a side note: Is it just me or do half of the posts seem to have the same light blue or bright green in them???

Love your place and the use of color. Retro, but not in a dated way... such a happy feel in there. Where is your coffee table from--I love it!

What a bright, happy, fun home! Nice job. Very inspirational for improving my own home too.

I looove the kitchen! The blue with the red accents looks great.

That yellow is incredible - yummy, warm and squooshy like a squash. Great job.

Love the use of color in your home - very cheerful and happy.
tabitha @ http://www.fromsingletomarried.com

cute

Love how the colors move from rooms to room--a rug in one becomes a wall in another becomes accents in a third...

Logical and lively at the same time!

Very happy-looking home.

I love the coffee table. Do you mind telling me where you got it? Also love the barkcloth print.

LOVE the kitchen!

Ditto. The kitchen is awesome!

you really pulled off the retro look.

Thanks for all the positive feedback everyone! I bought this house in sad condition about 2 years ago and have been doing most of the renovations myself! I just finished the kitchen about a month ago...it took all summer!

The coffee table is from Rubin's furniture in Milwaukee (though they have a branch in Chicago and Madison as well I believe) I got most of the rest of my furniture from yard sales and craigslist. (retro kitchen stools were $20 for BOTH!)

Also the "barkcloth" print in the living room is not barkcloth, I painted it myself with acrylic on canvas but based it on old barkcloth patterns. :)

When I was in high school my bedroom was painted that same orange as the living room and it had green accents. Love it!

It's maybe a touch too matchy-matchy, which makes some of the cute, eclectic accessories and wall groupings feel a bit forced. By and large, though, this is a really fun space.

You have done a terrific job tranforming an old, tired house into a vibrant and happy place. And you have used the space well and efficiently. I love your kitchen redo!! The clear and bold colors throughout do give a summer feel which must be great during the cold Wisconsin winters. The dining room colors and furniture are terrific, even with the matching dog dish holder for that cute dog in the picture. And you even have a retro plant in the planter. Great attention to detail. The living room is so welcoming and the coffee table does a great job mimicking the shape in the painting you mentioned in a comment that you did. Overall your house is very together and very inviting. Kudos to Kate!

Wow! No dull beige and off-white here! I wish I had the encourage to color up my walls! Love the vintage furniture, especially the kitchen set. Shows what anyone can do on a budget with a lot of color and creativty. the miixture of the Jetsons future-age and 50s retro furniture and decorative accents really works. Where did you find the Eiffel tower lamp? Your rooms looks like someone really does live there --not just sets in a "decorators showhouse".

LyndaD- I got the Eiffel tower lamp at Target about 4 years ago. I believe they still sell them there. :)

You can do color too! Just pick a shade that you love from anywhere (flower, dishes, fall leaves) and put it on your wall! If you really love the color, you will love it on your wall! (and if you don't, you pick a new one!)

WOW!!! No Fear with color. Bright, cheery and fun. Very artsy...I would guess the last owners would not reconize the place. You certainly have the eye and the courage to make each room pop. The extras are great down to the last detail.
You rock.

Love the boldness. It all works for me. Can't imagine what the renovation took to accomplish, before the colors and final touches could even be considered. Nice job. One question ... I've been told that for older houses, because of the imperfections in the walls, it's better to use a flat paint rather than a semi-gloss or high-gloss because it'll hide them better. What type of paint did you use, and did it work the way you hoped?

artcritic101- Thanks! it has been a HUGE work in progress. When I bought the place, ALL walls were gloss white, trim was peach and the floors were covered in press and stick vinyl tile (layers and layers) It took a long time to get all that off and refinish the floors and all while I was living there! (I had glue and wood sanding dust on everything!)

As far as the paint, yes I used a flat finish on all the walls. Some of the walls are drywall, but the walls in the living room are a very high relief textured plaster. When I first bought the house and they were gloss white, I thought I couldn't live with the texture, but now that I have them painted a flat, more adobe like color, I actually love them! All the paint I used is from Sherwin Williams. I am very happy with the way the flat painted walls turned out!

Very artistic. I really like the use of retro furniture and modern appliances.

Exceptional mingling of color and style. Can't get over all the work you've done in two short years!!! Kudos.

I like the use of color retro done right.

Forgot to ask before .... where did you get that cool yellow print sofa in the dining room .... you even have matching seat covers on the dining room table. And, what kind of carpeting is that?????

PennsylvaniaChris- The cool yellow print sofa is from my Nana's house (she LOVES yellow), that is the original fabric that she specially ordered (I think it is designer fabric, not sure by who though) and she ordered an extra yard or two way back when she had the sofa done just in case. When she gave me the sofa, she also gave me the extra fabric, which I decided was PERFECT for my newly acquired retro tulip chairs that needed to be recovered! That sofa actually survived hurricane Katrina! (sadly the matching arm chair did not) A lot of the other furniture that was in Nana's house was ruined by water, but luckily the couch survived! So it made the long trip up to Wisconsin from Mississippi to come live at my house!

The all of the rugs in my house are FLOR (modular floor tiles) It is the only floor covering that I have found that is bright enough for my taste and can be made into whatever size you need for a particular room. Hope that helps!

after reviewing the midwest entries, this made my top 4.

I agree with mariegael .... this place was very clever and inviting. I sure disagree with some of those picked for the brackets by the judges.

Am I little confused by the picks the judges made, some very good, others not so much. I for sure thought you would be in the running for first. Your place is great and I can't wait till I have my own so I can do what ever I want. We have very similar taste. The brighter the better!
It is a Fall COLOR contest and some of the picks are just plain and boring.

Don't be discouraged, keep on painting!