Dear AT,
Hello, I am a 19 year old male that would like to create a modern, groovy 10' by 10' bedroom. I have one grey 24" long by 36" wide grey drafting desk, an Arne Jacobsen seven series white chair, and a platform bed with two nightstands in a light opal color. Do you have any suggestions as to what items should I buy, what color should they be, and what color I should paint the walls?
Thanks,
Luis
PS. The pattern and color combo from the new Kleenex line (image above) is inspiring Luis these days. An image of his room is below:
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Dear Luis,
We say focus on the thing that inspires you! The geometric shapes and rich natural colors of such a simple thing as the Kleenex box are a great place to start. With dark browns and black, there will be things you're able to keep to add a bit of punch to the room without going out and spending a lot on all new stuff. We'd love to see your orange clock against a chocolate brown wall, with maybe the majority of the room's patterns and shapes on your bed and in curtains for your window. We also think your room would happily benefit from a great area rug. Since you want to work around your grey desk, white chair, and opal-colored nightstands, dark brown is perfect color choice.
CB2 tends toward the "modern and groovy" that you're going for. Online and catalog browsing may give you some ideas for pulling your room together (furniture, inexpensive light fixtures, bedding and a multitude of accessories). We posted this CB2 parfait pendant lamp last summer, and it seems like it could be the right touch for your taste.
Angela Adams has some fantastic modern rugs (like the black and white Mammy style, pictured left), and Marimekko is a great spot to look for bold shapes and patterns (like this Lokki duvet cover, pictured right). 
Depending on your budget, Target may also be a good starting (or ending) point!
For some inspiration and ideas for color and room layout, check out AT's Color Contest archives.
Anyone else what to chime in for our first Good Question of 2007??
Good luck, Luis!
I am really into the idea of a single chocolate brown wall in a room. Are there spaces that are better/worse for doing this, i.e. smaller vs. bigger, shape, etc?
I like your Kleenex box palette! I think some nice warm shades would work well with your bedding and clock - I agree with the chocolate brown accent wall and would paint the other walls a lighter brown, like a creamy milk chocolate perhaps. As long as it is something warm, I think that blue is too cool. I would also keep an eye out for a warm-toned area rug with brown and some of your orange in it and maybe some green for contrast. Something like this (link in my name) might work with your gray desk, also.
Too bad that CB2 parfait pendant lamp is no longer available on their website.
I know accent walls went out some time ago, but I say screw that. I love the idea of a chocolate brown accent wall with warm tones of cream and tan and maybe add a cool color (robin egg or icy pale blue?) used strictly in accessories, such as linens, pillows, wall art.
Or, Luis you could create a funky curve on the wall behind your bed using chocolate and tan. I did this in my last office and it was so fun and cool looking. I painted two of my walls a rich eggplant color, and I wanted to leave the other two walls cream. So I started in one corner, covered one wall entirely, but instead of going all the way to the corner of the second wall, I stopped about two thirds of the way across the wall. But I didn't just want a weird straight paint line down the middle of the wall, so I got some of that wide kraft paper looking tape that is really wide and I cut the edge of it so it was one long continuous "s" curve (like this ~~~~~). Then I taped it on the wall, floor to ceiling and painted right up to the edge of the tape. Whei I peeled it off I had a really cool curved edge going floor to ceiling.
You could do something similar on that one wall like maybe divide the wall diagonally with a gentle curving line and make the bottom chocolate brown and top a creamy tan or taupe. Just a funky idea that came to my mind. Good luck, whatever you decide!
Luis--I second the idea of a dark brown wall that isn't too dark with black and white accents.
Ebay is the place to go for great op art textiles if you want to spice up your room with those. If you truly want to introduce something like that box into your daily life textiles are one easy way to do that.
You could get a curtain and fabric for your bed on Ebay that is just as groovy as the pattern on the Kleenex box. You can email me for details and I can send you links and search terms and tips--because there is competition for fab fabrics if you are on a budget. For now, try op art fabric and eames fabric. There's a super cool duvet cover on ebay right now if you want to get a new duvet.
You don't have to be able to sew to have reasonably decent curtains in this age of curtain clips but sometimes those type of fabrics are already made into curtains.
You could also try Roman blinds and find some kind of paper in a paper store and paste it on to the blind.
With fabric, it also depends on how op art you want to go--there are some radical vintage fabrics out there. If you are diligent and look for a while you can get something one-of-a-kind.
Luis, I completely agree with the use of Chocolate Brown on maybe two walls. But, I prefer white instead of cream for the other walls. The orange clock would look good on the brown wall. A new bedspead with Chocolate Browns, Black and White would look great! Then you could use some orange accents like in pillows, artwork, lamps, candles etc. You might want to check out a great online furniture store where I recently purchased some great bedroom furniture. They have a little bit of everything in the furniture line at great prices. In fact, you might want to find a nice entertainment piece for your bedroom. They come in all sizes. I personally purchased an entertainment center, headboard and armoire from them. I love them! I would think that you would want something on the modern side if you use the browns and blacks. Good luck to you. Let us know what you end up doing.
I just did my WHOLE bedroom in Benjamin Moore Roasted Espresso Bean and I love it. I had tried almost 15 samples to find it, and I wa scared bnefore it went up, but the rich chocolate rocks, I dont even want to put anyhting up on the walls it is so wonderful. Its a great brown, not too red, not too greyish.. I have BM Atrium white for the trim... Personally I don't care for accent walls. But good for you for going for a design statement at such a young age what a stylish guy.I havea blue oriental rug and other smallblue and red accents in the room, its a really strong bold sophisticated look and I love it.Have fun!
I'd put in long curtains (floor length?) to make the window seem less high and small.
I'm glad someone else has noticed how cool those Kleenex boxes are. We just painted our bedroom a light blue/gray/green color, and I just noticed we have a Kleenex box with a chocolate, chartreuse and yellow pattern in the room, and it looks awesome with the paint color. Now I want bed linens based on the Kleenex box. Anyone have suggestions?
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Love your choice of inspiration. I am going to check if Canadian Kleenex boxes are following the trend.
The pattern reminded me of this fabric from Tonic living http://www.tonicliving.com/detailsfabric.asp?productid=521 and several brown groovy pillows at Absolutte's Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=21988
Please post pictures as you progress.
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