apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

So my boyfriend and I having a few issues with picking out paint for the new apartment. It is our first paint job together, considering the fact that our last 2 apartments didn't let us paint. We are allowed to only paint accent walls, and I want bright and cheery colors (but not gouge your eyes out neon). We have narrowed it down to about 3 paints per room. What does anyone think of these colors for accent walls (the walls are small, the apartment is small, there is a lot of fresh natural light):

Kitchen - BM Orange Sky, BM Mandarin Orange, or Behr Mango Madness

Living Room - Behr Grape Green, Glidden Fresh Lime, or BM Margarita (*note: any paint we like we will get matched through BM)

Entry Hall - Ralph Lauren Aegean Blue, BM poolside blue, or Behr Teal Zeal


These are the only rooms we are tackling now. The bedroom and bathroom will have to wait! :)

*are having* oops

Go for the orange!

Good Luck & Have Fun!

hi everyone,

can you help me ID this dresser?

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh205/skohng/IMG_0912.jpg

I picked it up at an estate sale last week. At first I thought Broyhill Brasilia (similar lines), and the Kent-Coffey Perspecta (similar lines and pulls). But it's not an exact match of either, I think.

Any ideas? thanks!

My comment is basically just a little whining. I have a chair I picked up at the Salvation Army 14 years ago and had reupholstered at a school where I worked at the time: excellent work and only cost $30 for labor and $75 for the Waverly fabric. But between an incontinent pug and sitting in a garage for several years, now a stinky dirty mess even steam-cleaning couldn't conquer. I took it to a laundromat Friday and stuck it in their biggest machine (HUGE, $9 for a wash). It came out clean as a whistle, but the fabric has separated at several points and the foam is misshapen. (Yes, I should have taken the material off the foam, but I did that with another chair and could never get it back over the foam -- plus the foam was stinky too.) I'm probably going to take it to another upholsterer and see if it can be fixed, but if not will get new fabric and see if non-tufted pillows can be made.

Anyway, enough of my rant. Just a bit bummed. Thanks for listening.

I'm looking for tips on window ac unit security. I recently had a break-in via my bedroom window unit. The window is over 7 feet off the ground and the intruder was able to reach it via lumber stacked by a contractor working on the house next door. The lumber has since been removed. In the four years I've lived in the apartment, I've never had an issue with having a window unit in that window, but am now a bit skittish.

While I genuinely believe the break-in wouldn't have occurred if not for the stacked lumber, I am mindful of a little extra security for the replacement ac unit. I already plan to place some extra screws to secure the unit to the window frame on the inside. However, I was wondering if there were any products available in the Chicago area that attach to the outside-facing half of the unit to prevent someone from pushing it in? Perhaps something that bolts to the exterior of the building? I've tried some web searches, but didn't find anything.

Janel and Sarahrae:

This was posted on the tile chair awhile back:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/Build-a-Tile-Chair-to-Withstand-the-Elements-ReadyMade-Magazine-053805

Thought you might like to see this table, that has printed squares on it, it's not tile, and the table is about $6,000:
http://www.panik-design.com/acatalog/Zanotta_-_Superstudio_-_Large_Quaderna_Table.html

It might be nice to bump the old post to show the table, to give people an idea of what they could do with the mini-tiles. For a lot less than $6,000!!!

Selena:

Read this post and check out some of the links:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/good-questions/good-questions-choosing-a-dining-table-026233

Like this link has some good pictures:
http://www.sharonh.com/construction/2006/07/morning-new-shop-back.htm

There's a good chance that the pulls were replaced. These folks would probably know if it's Brasilia:
http://www.brasiliaconnection.com/index.html

Hope that helps a bit!

Daisy - no tips for you but I'm wondering about the very same thing. I hope AT has some good tips!

thanks true blue! off to check out those links.

I'm looking for Wendell Phillips High School year books from the 1930s for a project. School doesn't have any that old--anyone know any book or antique dealers who might have these?

Daisy11,
If you want a serious solution, you can purchase security bars with a box for the AC like this:
http://kaufmaniron.com/products.cfm?catID=23&prodID=70

You might check locally at security companies (such as www.familysecuritydoor.com) or for iron works.