apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Whoa!
From the photo of the post - I would not have expected to see a kitchen/family room like this...

The collections and colors are great - but their collections and personality are so much more interesting than the phony-colonial tract-house and Home Depot cabinetry containing them...
...I can't help but feel that they bought the wrong house.

A little hectic for me.

Wow...lots of fun collections here! Love the display cabinet for the pez collection. I need something like that for my pez dispensers. The only room I wasn't crazy about was the kitchen. Didn't like the kitchen cabinets...didn't seem to really fit in with the fun vibe of the collections.

I'm not into collecting, and this is a bit much for my personal taste, but I actually think this was relatively restrained and well done...and I like how the collections are displayed. I agree w/ bepsf, that you all need a cooler house to better fit all the funky finds! Then again, I need a cooler apartment than I have too...you work with what you've got! This is less collector-y, but I really like the dining room's colors and how they come together.

Yeah, the house seems all wrong for the collections and the dining and bed rooms look like they're from a completely differen't house!
I do like though, that the collections are tailored and not covering every surface or allowed to dominate the theme of the room (other than the kitchen, which is allowed IMO)

The only thing I can think of is: I hate dusting

eye-bleach

cute

This is a pretty tasteful presentation of a collection. I think they did a good job of making it look organized and streamlined.

I absolutely love the colors in every room and the collections are great - they make you look forward to entering the next room to see what treasure you'll find.

it's not my style, but it's very fun. the kitchen makes me think of a diner we have around here. it's a bit themey, but w/ collections, i guess it kind of has to be. really interesting.

my only suggestion would be to work at making the house fit together a little better. the formal dining room & the master bedroom look like they are from a totally different house.

some great colors here, but the beige dining set and bland beige carpet really took away from the whole. this house has an identity crisis: kitschy or suburban?

This house is so much fun! It's obvious she's balancing a family life and still trying to make her home fun and inviting. I love the use of color. The brown in the bedroom is so smart and warm, the dining room is sophisticated and tasteful and the collections really pop in the kitchen and the family room. I wish I could see the rest of the house. How fun!

Love it! Especially the Pez dispensers display... your home looks so cheerful and inviting. The depth of the colors chosen brings continuity to the look while not overwhelming the spaces and the collections give the rooms punch without being "busy". Great job!

I love this house! I think they did a great job displaying
their collections. It is kitschy but classy at the same time.
Terrific job! I really love the PEZ and the smurf picture.

Thank you all for our comments. It's the first time I have ever done anything like this, you feel so exposed. In a good way, I suppose... I've never had anyone I don't know comment on my decorating. It was really an eye-opening experience. I HATE the kitchen cabinets too- my husband has suggested taking up donations for the $25,000 to replace them! :-)

I live in the suburbs as you may have well expected. I understand that the house/design might look a bit disjointed. Because of the 10 picture maximum I was not able to show a lot of the house. We have a 1980's white high gloss bathroom with all of my husband's 80's bands album covers represented (his Valentine's day present last year). A movie theater in red with a collection of 3-D movie posters, etc. It was hard to just chose a few and I know the bedroom and dining room looks like it comes from a different house, I did it more to show the color. I also have a plum and chartreuse living room that's cool.

In 20 years when the kiddies are out of the house we will move to the bungalow in the city and put all of our funky finds there. In the meantime... we will just have to live in our house and do the best we can-- we are slaves to a good school system and victims to a big house with too many collections! :-) but... given that houses on all sides of us are traditional, interior decorated to the extreme and filled with magnolias... I think I get away with quite a bit! Even if the only neighbors that give glowing comments are the high school babysitters and my son's 8 year old friends who want to know why we buy so many bobble heads and ask how much they cost!

Thanks for all of your comments and I look forward to any suggestions you may have!

OK-- one more thing-- my favorite thing in the house is the breakfast bar. We were on a trip to Montreal this summer and I saw a vinyl shower curtain I fell instantly in love with-- I used velcro to adhere it to the back of styrofoam (which looks like aluminum!) and used velcro to adhere that to the back of the breakfast bar (in case my husband hated it and thought I lost my mind! I could take it off with no fuss) I love how it came out and it cost less than $20 to do!

we just loved the look of this house. the kitchen is amazing....such a fun place to cook. the colors are so inviting and compliment the collectiion so well. the bedroom is such a relaxing retreat

loads of personality!

What a great house! I want to take a vacation in their house! The mad scientist lab bedroom would be perfect for any aspiring Einstein! And don't get me started on the sock money room!! These people must be the coolest parents! LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!