apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I just wanted to put a shout out to Tobermory and a thanks for directing me to Office Designs in a previous open thread. I just ordered the Eames management chair from them--they're doing it in custom fabric (they can order it in any fabric Herman Miller offers), free shipping, they pick up the sales tax AND another 10% off for the Herman Miller sale. This is saving me probably a couple hundred off of what I would be paying to order from DWR, and I'm getting the fabric I want. Of course I won't know for another couple of months (when I get the chair) if all truly goes smoothly, but so far I'm very happy.

I just bought a brown chair to match my brownish couch and am planning on putting electric blue/brown pillows on it. That said, I'm still unsure what color to paint the walls. It is a narrow space 20x10, so I don't want the color to over power the space... ideas?

ErieIndiana... I would make it a little less brown/blue/brown/blue and try to find some pillows with these colors in it, but with other colors in there as well... that way you can pull in some other color from the pillow and paint the wall that color. What is your style? I have been on the search for throw pillows as well. I can make some recommendations for places where you may find some that will work, but not sure what your style/price range is.
Without seeing the browns or blues though, kind of hard to just guess what color would work best if you only stay with those colors - I wouldn't paint the walls brown or blue or it will look like an Ikea catalog picture. I think you need one other color to make it more interesting.

Mabaker... My pillows are a bit like these: http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-19/qid=1181147708/ref=sr_1_19/601-8250247-7729754?ie=UTF8&asin=B000MWWY28

I was thinking of pulling some green in with pillow/lamp something and then painting my walls an earthy kind of green? This is my first apartment by myself so I'm on bit of a tight budget.

The ceilings in my studio are fairly high (10') but the majority of my furniture (excepting a 6' tall bookcase) is low to the ground. The walls seem utterly barren. How high do I have to run the art up the walls to get an effect? How tall should my floor lamp (which has to sit right next to the bookcase) be?

ErieIndiana, when I have a base color that I have to work with and need instant ideas for combos, I go to http://kuler.adobe.com/ . You can type in your main color and it'll spit out combos that go with it.

EI
I would stay within the pallet you have of brown/taupes, and an accent of blue- too many colors can make your tiny space feel cluttered- take your chocolate color and find a medium to light tone of it ( ie if your d brown is like Benjamin Moore 2095-20 Antler Brown, try 2095-50 Just Beige on the walls) this will give some flow yet subtle contrast between the sofa and walls!!
BB

Hey Anne - I'm glad I rememebered the mini-catalog when you mentioned the Eames chair you were looking to buy! Keep us posted on the service and timeliness of this company because they do have some awesome prices on classic pieces. In a few months I need to start looking for dining room chairs and I'd love to get the Eames DCW with metal bases and they seem to have the best price around.

holy crap that kuler color chooser is awesome!

I need to take some cool old furniture up to Chicagoand sell it to a second hand dealer or a consignment shop. Who has a trustworthy reputatation for that up in that area? I have to get it up there next Thursday, the 14th. Setting it up ahead via email pics etc... seems advisable. Any suggestions? I will only get a half their value downstate and could use the full value right now. One piece is an old barbershop or beauty shop varation of a hoosier that is five feet long.

Sadly, no I am not a saint. It is part of a joke from a very long time ago.

Oops. I forgot I am not using the saintcate from ebay on this sight!

I am not a seller on ebay. I was not encouraging anyone to buy from me. I just want to know who to trust in "the big city". Please?

Yvette, I read somewhere that artwork should be at eye level.

Look around for pictures of crown molding installations.

I've seen some nice rooms with high ceilings where crown molding painted a different color.

Of course if you don't like crown molding...

Cate - email the Chicago Antiques Guide. He should be able to help you. He's really nice and has done free estimates of some antiques I have. He has a really good grasp of the Chicago area, it seems. I live on the West coast though...but it's worth a shot.

http://www.chicagoantiquesguide.com/

Yvette - my comment got garbled somehow. What I meant to say was you put the crown molding lower than the actual ceiling. Say 8 feet for sake of discussion. Then above the molding, ou paint the walls and ceiling a darker color. That creates (in theory) an illusion of a lower ceiling and then the big walls won't be so overpowering. You can try it with just paint at first to see if it'll work. Maybe you can even do a creative paint technique instead of the hassle of installing crown molding.

Boomer, thanks so much for the suggestion. I was worried that art hung at eye level (especially my eye level) might seem too low. And I do love crown molding, but I'm not sure if I want to make the investment.

I have a major dilemma. I need to redesign a room on a budget to match the rest of my modern town home. The room is painted in bright green and it has a fire place. However, the leftover from the previous owner are cherry and wood shelves and cabinets that surround the fireplace totally don't belong to the rest of my leather, glass and stainless steel contemporary aesthetic.

On top of that, the fire place is surrounded by gray granite that, in my mind, clashes even more with the rest of the room.

Is there any way to update this room without spending a fortune? I primarily interested in updating the cabinets that are concervative plain cherry wood and the mathing shelves.

Thank you

Get rid of the bright green ASAP.

Bring in a more soothing color.

A rich chocolate brown (Devine "Cocoa") won't clash with your grey ganite.

Don't touch those cherry built-ins. That's major resale value.

The Cocoa color will help those blend in.

Thank you very much Boomer!