apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Umm, Karla? Can I commission you to paint a couple large scale art pieces for my condo? :)

Absolutely gorgeous.

i love the colors of your home. it is so nice to see so many photos of you in the home. great place.

Are you an interior designer? Your space is fabulous, polished, design-magazine worthy, yet personal at the same time. Your living room couch is subtle as to allow its surroundings to be spotlight. Love your use of color, although not "bold," per se, the colors are strong and complement the furniture perfectly! Love all the personal touches and photos that are artfully arranged. I really like the dining area with the "Fun" lamp as well as placement of the mirrors; speaking of mirrors, they really expand your relatively small 780sqft space.

Mind working on my home? :) I live in Wicker Park! :)

I cannot believe that this is under 800sq ft of living space! Just goes to show you what having a plan and a color scheme can do!

Your furniture and paint choices work very well under those heavy (and beautiful) crown moldings. I like the mix. It makes the place seem established but not stuffy.

Karla: you are my new best friend.
PLEASE: tell me the exact paint colors used in your dining and living room.
LOVE!
(Divine Design rocks!)

I am so jealous of your space... all the wonderful personal touches, choice of furniture... I can go on like this...

and the paintings... OMGGG, that makes me wanna go home and create something...

I always wanted to be an interior designer, but didn't quite work out. I am actually a Restaurant Manager. But my dad is an architect and my mom is an interior designer. Unfortunately, I did not inherit their drawing skills. Putting my design on paper was a major frustration for me as I was growing up. So I just gave up on it, and ended up in the hospitality industry.

As for paint colors, I did not paint a room with just one color. The living room consists of 4 paint colors. The accent wall, where the TV is, is Mercer, the other walls are Cairo Brown. The fireplace wall is Toast. And the ceiling is Riesling. For the hallway, it was Library Mahogany. The bedroom is Cobblestone and the accent wall is Duke Red. The Dining Room is Cathedral Gray, it has a touch of green. The bathroom is Palais Royal and so is the kitchen. All paint colors from Ralph Lauren.

Love this! It's personal, swanky and sophisticated! Beautiful color choices throughout and l love the various light fixtures you selected.

Well done!

i love the elegant symmetry of this place! it is grown-up and refined but not stuffy. i also absolutely love the liberal use of personal photos (such a cute couple). thanks for showing that you actually have stuff! (the books closed behind cabinets and office knick knacks hidden on the keyboard tray). so inspiring....

Well put together is an understatement. Wow! Talk about a catalog.

Where did you get the cool table lamp with the shell pieces? We have been searching for those. Do you remember if you paid a lot for them?

Crewtag, it is the Panton Fun Lamp, very mo co.

http://www.dwr.com/productdetail.cfm?id=8753

It is relatively expensive at $750 but worth every penny; you have to see it in person. Pictures do not do it justice.

crewtag:

if you are looking for a less expensive option for the shell lamp, west elm has a version for $99. here's the link:

http://www.westelm.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?partNumber=WE-PRODw014&storeId=17001&langId=-1&catalogId=17002&viewSetCode=E&parentId=WE-SH1WALLAM&retainNav=true&cmsrc=WE-SH1WALLAM

The whole place looks way too much like a furniture catalog/hotel for my taste, but there's no denying it's impressively polished, and hey, not everybody thinks upscale hotel is a bad look.

I definitely love the serene, warm colors! Just looking at the pictures is soothing.

Capiz lamp in the dining room was bought from West Elm.

GORGEOUS!! Please tell where the 2 chairs in the living room came from - I have been looking for exactly that arm design. I cannot believe that I am looking at them right now!!!

THANK YOU

Living Room Chairs came from Intaglia. But I believe the manufacturer is Sitcom Furniture. You can find retailers from their website sitcomfurniture.com

Beautiful place! Can you tell us where the floor mirror and table lamps in the bedroom came from?

Floor mirror in the bedroom was from Ikea and the lamps were from Bombay..

I agree with elvedon, it is very funiture catalog-ish but the colors and textures are luxurious and very inspiring. A few more personal/quirky touches would make it even better in my eyes.

I wish I had the talent to put together something like this - you really outdid yourself in your home. It's got a great upscale spa / hotel thing going on that I find next to impossible to replicate. I'm totally jelous.

I've been looking for a living-room "table"/ottoman like that, would you mind telling me where I can buy it?

& any reasonable (ie. cheaper) alternatives?

Some great ideas & tips on this page, thanks!

Insanely beautiful!
Windwolf

the paint colors are inspiring. Wow. I've been going forth between grays and coffees in trying to decide colors. These browns are great!

Hello i love your apartment and I have the same mirror from ikea in my living room. however I would like to know where you bought your espresso computer desk, my husband and I are searching for one and yours is perfect and multi functional

A beautiful space with an amazing color palette. I appreciate that your paintings coordinate, but they look like "Trading Spaces" in a "Divign Design" space. Hopefully you're keeping an eye out for some real art with which to replace them.

Can you provide details on the bedframe? Did you stain it? Is there a link to it from unfinished furniture?

Love it! You did a great job! :) Especially LOVE those mirrors in the dining room. Where did you purchase those? I have been searching online for something like that but not sure exactly what style / type of mirrors to search for?

Thanks!

You have made a spectacular home. You even made me like colors that I'm usually not enthusiastic about. I love how you treated the living room walls, crown mouldings and ceilings, and the headboard wall in the bedroom, they're spectacular. I hope your home gets profiled in a major publication, it's a real inspiration to know that normal people can create a space so fantastic.

This is spectacular, and done in 1 year! Can you please tell me where the computer desk is from? I saw someone else post the same question. It's perfect and functional for a small space.

Karla,

I love the paint color in your living room? What is the color and brand?

Thanks,

Eileen

P.S. Great job!

Karla, I love how mello and soothing your home feels. Be very pround of yourself it is stunning!

Divadly08: I got dining room mirrors from Z Gallerie..

wrtau23: I purchased bed from unfinishedfurniture.com, and I stained it myself. I used Ebony color stain.

Beautiful job! So sophisticated. Where did you get the nightstand with the mirrors on the front?

Hi, also curious where you purchased the picture frames above the bed from. You did an amazing job. You may not have the certification, but you are an interior designer. And your paintings, I'd commission you to paint for me anytime!

kyoto: Thank you so much! Anyways, the nightstands were purchased from Bombay, which is now closed all over the US. Very sad.. I think you can purchase items online through the bombay site in Canada. The picture frames were bought from Z Gallerie.