apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

that stuff's not too bad. not as uncleanlined as i thought it would be.
get some nice modern pillows, rug and art.

Haha, I had the same dining room table/chair set (Value City Furniture). The furniture really isn't all that bad. Working with a different style is defiantly better than working with...none at all. I moved in with a roommate who had a futon, a wicker chair, a horrible fake wood tv cabinet, a dresser painted previously for a child's room...I'm all about finding stuff for cheap, but it was pretty bad. You just have to work with what you have, buying what you love (and can) for now and take advantage of being able to spend money on other things than a couch (or saving money for a really great couch) until you get your own place. The room still needs decor and perhaps a book shelf? Work with the existing colors, or use slip covers/get things reupholstered and run with it. Good luck! It would be great to see an after!

These aren't that bad. Embrace this non-forever non-perfection. It could be SO much worse. Sometimes you can be surprised at how a collaboration is stronger than one person's vision when all is said and done.

Have a talk with your roommate. The common spaces shouldn't be dominated by one person - they are areas you have to share and you have just as much right to decorate. Either that or she should kick in more rent.

Hey, the furniture could be worse. At least it's all in good repair and none of it is overly offensive, even if it's not your style. And since it was free, now you've got plenty of money to really make the place look nice!

I'd suggest buying a slip cover for the couch, a big round area rug to open up the space, complimentary pillows for the sofa, a pair of contemporary table lamps for the end tables, and some nice artwork for the walls. That big empty space at the bottom left of the photo can be filled with a nice Danish modern recliner or rocker, and the floor lamp can go in the space behind it to balance everything out and provide even lighting. Also, if you can take down the vertical blinds without your landlord throwing a fit, get curtains. Something with some texture.

As for colors, I'd suggest going for light blues and rusty red-oranges to pick up and compliment the colors on that chair. Then, even if you don't like the chair, at least it'll look right in the space.

Good luck!

You know, it's really not as bad as I was expecting... I love Danish Modern and midcentury too, but when my parents gifted me their old Leather Center sofa in a jewel-tone blue-green (so much nicer than my ORANGE ikea Karlanda that was stained when I bought it used off craigslist...) I just decided to make it work.

I went minimal with the decor, (small groups of white pottery) and stuck to a specific color scheme (no rogue shots of random color to clutter up the space).

That green couch is totally save-able. Can you change the legs on the couch? a blonde tapered leg would be more Danish... What about light fixtures? And a reupholster on that chair would do wonders too.

And the TV... um.. huh. Tough one. Maybe you could make a faux mantle to surround that monster and make it look like architecture, rather than the TV that ate 40 sq feet of your new place.

I would check out the photos of furniture by Thomas O'Brien and people like that, to see how a "transitional" space might work. In fact, and I know this probably sounds really lame, I just checked out an issue of Kentucky Home and Gardens magazine and, while it wasn't my style at all, some of the spaces pictured were really nice about combining Modern elements with traditional architecture and/or furniture and/or art. It can be done.

For all you know, your home may become more interesting because you have to compromise. Be inspired!

I've been pretty lucky in college so far with having roommates who have the same or similar style as I like. In fact, this past year I really have gotten into this website and use it for inspiration all the time. I showed it to my roommate at the time and she also caught on just like myself. Get your roommate involved in AT, show her posts that you like and dislike. Maybe she will get a little bit more respect for designing and making things work in a space.

But, if theres no way you can get her to realize this then I agree with sarahc123. Work with the colors, art, throw pillows. Hope it all works out for you!!

Having lived in many apartments with many roommates over the years my advice is to be happy you saved money furnishing the common space and put that money into buying things you really love for your private space in the apartment. Make that your sanctuary that is exactly what you want out of a space. Besides, there is nothing worse that spending money on something you really love for the public space only to have roommates (and their guests!) disrespect it by putting leaky beer cans on it or spilling things etc. --who me, no I'm not bitter!

Start introducing your roommate into design styles that you like with magazines, pictures, blogs, going to furniture stores, etc. Maybe she'll warm up to the style and get excited - especially if you're going to purchase the stuff. But yeah, the furniture is ugly for sure. Talk to her. Often.

I'm in a pretty good roommate situation - although they seem to be allergic to mops, they have almost no furniture or anything else other than what's in their bedrooms - and very little interest in interior decor. So I get to make the place look as nice as I want it with mostly my and my BF's stuff and they seem to be fine with it all.
If there is no compromise to be made, just keep in mind that hopefully you won't have to live with roomies forever. At least that's what I tell myself.

As for a suggestion, you could maybe hire one of those firms that sort of re-organizes a room...working with what's there to get the best arrangement possible. You'd be surprised what it's possible to do with some of the ugliest furniture around.
Here is a link to one, for inspiration:
http://www.cloud9or.com/index.html
(not my business...just saw it on AT a number of months ago)

If you slavishly follow every trend (like the current fad for Danish Modernism) you're going to find yourself on an endless carousel of spending and consumption. The trick to good decorating (especially good decorating on a budget) is to develop an eye for aesthetics and style which transcends the fashionable. This perfectly servicable furniture will look fine once its teamed up with a good rug, matching pillows to tie the couch to the armchair, padded slipcovers for those uncomfortable dining chairs, and some inexpensive floating shelves for lifting the eye and displaying framed art and objects.

In addition I concur with Auburn - expensive furniture will only be ruined by your apathetic roommate and her friends. Leave it for your own room or until you have a place of your own.

If this is your first apartment, be grateful for the free furniture and don't be in such a rush to go out and buy new stuff. This will be perfect as you really figure out your style and where you want to spend money (will an amazing rug or a statement couch be more important to you, etc.). This will also force you to not buy things quickly to fill the space that you will soon tire of and regret wasting money on.

Also, how long are you planning on living with this person, anyway? If it might just be for the year, don't sweat it. It will quickly pass. Spend the year slowly accumulating things for your bedroom. That way, when you have your own place or a new roommate with no furniture, your bedroom will be set and you can put your effort and money into the other spaces.

Lastly, consider this a challenge to your design sense. Sure, it's easy to put together a great looking room when you start from scratch and can copy a magazine look, but how much more skill does it take to work with existing (less than perfect) pieces and still turn out a great result? There's plenty of potential here if you can get over it not conforming to your pre-existing ideal. You'll probably have more fun, too.

For the tables, you could try to find or make nice tailored tablecloths, with seamed edges so the corners are sharp and without folds (I'm just pulling this out of the air, no idea if this exists) that would hide the curved metal legs. You could pick fabric to coordinate with the couch or chair covers, or match to slipcovers/reupholster within a color scheme that you both like. Along with that, you could look for a nice wardrobe/armoire with doors to hold the tv, which would help anchor that side of the room. I think that an area rug and large art pieces and shelves would bring the room together, as well.

Life's too short to walk into a room you hate every day after work.

Replace the roommate.

Your problem is that you're arguing your ideas (Danish Modern, clean lines) against her tangible pieces. Pick something specific out of a catalog (as awesome as craiglist is, it's a bit too iffy for this first battle) and tell the roommate you want to buy it and you think the living room should reflect some of your personality as well as hers. (Maybe pick something that would replace an item that is least to your taste or which she is the least attached to.

Even better is if you actually have the furniture in hand. But you don't want to be annoyingly passive-aggressive about it, so this will only work if you don't already have all your bedroom furniture. Buy a piece that would work in the living room or your bedroom (bench, trunk, side table that could also be a nightstand). Bring it home, and then made your case that at least something of yours should be in the living room and suggest that piece.

In general, 'how are we going to decorate the shared spaces' is a conversation you ought to have with someone before you decide to be roommates. I'm currently living with a roommate and we had a long conversation when we started looking for apartments about the general idea of how our stuff would work together. When we found the apartment and applied, we had another specific conversation about whose dinning set to keep, where all five of our bookcases would go, which rug to use in the living room, etc. More of the stuff in our living and dining areas is actually hers, but I feel very comfortable in our home because I had a say in all of it. This type of conversation might seem obvious to people who become roommates and already have furniture (because you have to deal with the logicstics of getting rid of the extra dinning set, for example) but it should be a must for people who don't have furniture, also.

Another thing to consider is finances. If one roommate is ready to buy new things and invest a lot of money and time in decorating the place and the other feels as though that imparts an obligation, she might cling to hand-me-downs out of pride or concern about inequity of income making things strained. So any conversation about how to decorate should include a discussion of how much money each person wants to spend.

Danish furniture is not warm and cosy. It is clean and stream lined. The furniture above is not that bad, you can make it work with your 'danish' aesthetic, by accessorizing using rugs, pillows etc.

If you are paying part of the rent you deserve to have some of your personality. Start by introducing a new piece of 'found' furniture', like a credenza add a couple of lamps. Mixing it up is way better than being stuck in a time warp whatever the era.

Not great, but miles better than my first, second, and third apartments.

yeah the furniture is really not as bas as you think. Please just save your money and decorate your own room the way you'd like it. You'll have your own apartment to decorate soon enough, trust me!

Find a large piece of patterned fabric and drape it over the sofa, that's what I did over mine, which is way way uglier....

IMO the problem isn't as much the furniture as the 1990 wall-to-wall carpeting and the vertical blinds.

Hey, not my style, but so much better than it could be.
Agree with Auburn, save the money, use it later to buy your own place / for when you can afford to rent on your own.

That TV destroys any attempt at decorating anyway, nothing you do could replace that as the focal point of the room.

Meanwhile, a pair of floor to ceiling curtains or panels to frame the window, replace the jug on the side table and perhaps get some art?

You and your roommate are living there, so the place should reflect both of you. I usually love the mixture of furniture and style in couples' and roommates' homes. And that furniture is really not so bad! You could reupholster (or put a throw over) either the couch or the seat. Things willl look a lot different with different curtains, an area rug, maybe another seat, art on the wall and some wall solution incorporating the TV (maybe a credenza on one side and a plant or lamp on the other). And as others have said here... there is always your room!

Somewhere on AT (I think in a house tour?) someone said, "Make do with what you have and find and make it beautiful". Do that :-)

LBhirise -- I agree.

I can't believe how many of you are saying deal with it. I am under the assumption they are both renting this place and probably splitting the bills evenly. Neither roommate should be allowed to take over the shared spaces. I do agree you two needed to talk this over WAY before you signed a lease together - especially since it costs a lot to get out of a lease. You two are long overdue for a talk - and if she can't reason, well then let her pay out the lease when you find a new roommate.

My suggestion would be to use the offending furniture in a non-traditional spot.

If it were me, I'd put the coffee table along the wall on the opposite side and put some modern glass bowls and maybe a bamboo table runner on it (or any other wood-toned mat or runner to de-emphasize the cherry wood tone) so it looks less obtrusive. Convince your roommate to use the side table in her room or on the patio. Keep the couch, and buy a coffee table, side tables, and lamps more to your liking. Spruce up the couch with some bone colored cushions, maybe with lemon tones too, something to compliment your new danish modern coffee table and again, take away from the cherry tones.

I can relate. I had a roommate in college, who insisted that a foozball (sp?) table remain the living room, which he used as his studying desk.

I don't think it's fair to ask roommate to spring for furniture. Decorate your own bedroom in your own style; be thankful for the free furniture (use money saved for future downpayment to own your own place), and work with what you have for now. And you can throw wild parties without being concerned that your living room furniture is getting messed up.

And feel free to put your feet up on the hideous coffee table while you're watching tv (damn, that tv's huge!)

Wanted to add that you should also feel free to add whatever pieces you would like to see in the living room, although, granted, the entire look might not very cohesive (Valu-Furniture and Danish modern - huh?) as you would like.

But this would allow you start your collection of danish modern, and not have to pay storage until you're ready to live alone, or with someone who shares the same or simialr design taste as yours.

The couch isn't the problem, it's that chair. What a scream! Slip cover it, so you can live with it now and when you split, the cover can be removed to reveal her the ugly chair again, YIPPY. Agreed with others about the pillows and that ugly flower pot need to be changed out.

You can make it work! Remember, this room is not forever! Your style is going to change whether subtle or drastic over your renting years. Don't buy too many major furniture pieces, it'll set you in stone with that style. You can't afford the time, money, and energy it takes to revamp, relocate, or overhaul everything with each new lease. Be warned: Your roommate and future roommates are are going to be reckless with their style and the care of yours. Your renting years are going to be a circus of the"If They Mated" game, have fun with it, and don't take collaborative design so serious. I like mid-century and I once lived with someone who's like Michelle Master's Old School Loft.http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/house-tours/house-tour-michele-new-york-086302.href> It was fun living with someone with such a bold style.

I just moved in with my boyfriend, which is seeming to be the hardest roommate I've had style wise. Living with someone who doesn't want to own anything but the basics, take style blending REAL slow. It's even the little things, owning 4 little butter knives, but no big ones. I assume he uses his hands to slice bread, vegetables, and the turkey at Thanksgiving dinner.

Wow. I was expecting plaid Barcoloungers and floral sofas. What she brought isn't bad. Add some substantial art or graphic posters (something you'll want to take with you---properly framed and matted---no thumbtacks!), pillows, an area rug, and something to cover the blinds, and this is perfectly servicable. Concentrate on buying things for your room so that when you live on your own, you at least have the bedroom of your dreams.

Maybe you could spend some of your theoretical new furniture budget on a flat screen TV? And a nice sleek credenza to put it on?

My next vote would be to replace the floor lamp - it is dragging you back to the 80s in a harsh way! Then hang some art, and be glad that her idea of furniture is not heaps of molding pizza boxes.

Um, the living room isn't just hers. Period. It sucks to move in with someone and realize they (or you) have an inability to compromise on shared spaces. This the exact reason I've always lived alone... anywhoo, her stuff is great for the interim, but as you find pieces you like, like a great flea market chair or thrift store coffee table, she's just going to have to respect that. You're not going to live with her forever and it would be smart to slowly build up your furniture collection with pieces you really love. That Value City shizz can go back to her mom's basement! As far as recovering the chair, do it, neutral slip covers are not that hard to find. Pillows and art work will definitely personalize the space. And P.S.- take down those vertical blinds!

http://www.tangiedecor.blogspot.com

at the very least, start with a rug and curtains. i'd do a striped area rug to play up a kind of swedish-country vibe, which might be an easier marriage with the roommate's stuff than straight danish modern. just cover that area rug, whatever you do! it's making you depressed, trust.

put those vertical blinds in the back of a closet (leave the track up for the landlord - the verticals themselves just snap out), get a really clean, simple curtain, and start accessorizing. get some bad-ass lamps, some art you love, and just start making it a happy place. if the room is also full of things you like, you'll stop seeing the things you hate as much. maybe your roommate will be inspired once you take some positive action.

I, too, expected to see a plaid Barcalounger from your description. And orangey-colored maple occasional tables from the 50s, and colonial style tole lamps and a camelback sofa.

When I saw the photo, i thought, ok, that's not bad at all, PLUS it's only half furnished! You have no bookcases, no art on the wall, no area rug (yeah, i know it's carpeted but you can still put a rug down), and nothing to make that TV more integrated and to store DVDs, CDs, etc.

You could add a lot of your own personality to the room with those things, especially art.

Oh, and I agree with you that Danish Modern is warm and cozy. The wood furniture is spare and sleek but overall the look has a lot of warm wood tones and fuzzy wools and other textured textiles--and candles, lots and lots of candles, which are lit every evening. The Danes came up with this style after WWII in an effort to focus on making home life cozy after the long occupation by the Nazis. They even had a word for it---hygge.

You want a very specific look MCM. The thing is, with that, it's pretty much all or nothing. This isn't really something you can compromise on.

Since this is a roommate situation you've got to go for eclectic. Working with what you've got and going from there. No need to be spending money on a look when it's not totally yours.

Slipcovers, paint, artwork, a big plant to hide the side of the TV.

Save your $$ for your future furniture when you're on your own, and remember, you only get to do what you want when you're single and alone, the rest is compromise.

Offer to buy it from her then trash it, I've done it many times with roommates.

I wouldn't waste time or effort trying to influence the roommate - This is, after all, just a temporary situation.

Spend your time, resources and efforts in making your own room a fabulously comfortable and useful space that fits your own sensibilities. If your roommate takes notice and asks your opinion on the common space or asks why you're not lavishing attention to the common area, then say so. If not, then consider if you wish to continue or terminate the relationship at the end of the year's lease.

Her stuff is way ugly, and having dealt with the hell of living with a college roommate with similarly bland/ ugly furniture, it is not worth it to suck up and just deal with it.

The common living area is as much yours as it is hers assuming you are paying the same rent. I can't believe how many people are saying to just deal with it. Save yourself a lot of trouble and just have a big talk with her about this up front.

I do like the idea though that having basics (however unattractive) will allow you to slowly build up a collection of nice stuff in your taste that you can add as you find good pieces/prices. I would suggest buying one nice item for the common area that would serve to replace whichever piece of the current room you find most offensive. Maybe she will even come to her senses!

This is tough... the furniture's really not that bad (and it's free), and you don't want to get off on the wrong foot with your roommate, but at the same time, you're paying rent too and you should have some say in how the common spaces are decorated.

I think if it were me, I'd suggest my roomie move that striped chair and that lamp to her own bedroom and let you pick out some stuff to replace them. And maybe you can both pick out some wall art/window treaments/accessories together. And she can keep the couch and tables in the living room (personally I think the coffee table and side table are way too big for that space, but if you eliminate one than the other should probably go too, and it may be a hard sell to get her to agree to that much change).

Another option... she can keep the upholstered stuff; you can choose the unupholstered stuff.

Well, it's not great looking, but it was free, right? And it's functional.

If you can deal with a less-than-chic living room for a while, you can spend all your decor dollars on investment-quality furniture and art for your bedroom -- things you can take with you as you move.

When you're just starting out and on a budget, it's actually a benefit to have fewer rooms to furnish. There's less temptation to go out and buy a house full of Ikea.

My recommendations, put a slipcover on the chair, drop down an accent rug, and get some things up on the walls. If you can switch out the blinds for curtains, you could do some fun things there and add some accent pillows with fun prints.

I'm another vote for getting rid of the TV- that thing is a monster! If you replace it with a small flat screen on a credenza that you like, I think the difference will amaze you. I would also look for MCM chairs to replace chairs around the table- cool chairs show up a lot on Craigslist. Add in a colorful rug, some art, and some curtains and the whole space will look different.

In the past, I've had good and bad decor situations with roomies. The best solution we came up with was a 50/50 rule for ownership of stuff in the common spaces- since we each chose half of the furniture in the room, we were equally happy/unhappy. That said, free is free so if you aren't planning to live together for a long time, perhaps pick your battles. Or consider that your roommate might not feel she's in a financial position to purchase furniture at the moment and so would prefer to live with the hand-me-downs.

I think you have already received wonderful advice and I don't have much to add beyond what has already been said.

I think the best home decor comes from a carefully selected and edited set of furniture and accessories gathered over time. I think it is especially nice when each piece has a story to go with it - who you bought it from, why you like it, how you had to sacrifice to pay for it, how hard it was to drag it home, etc... So I don't think it is a good idea to run out and buy a bunch of new furniture at once. Save up your money as well as you can - some of the best stuff I have seen is on the secondary market and pops up unexpectedly so you have to move quickly to acquire it. Having a stash of cash ready to buy a beautiful item that you love which pops up out of the blue is a good approach. Over time (many years), you will have several beautiful pieces that you love. And if you buy wisely, if you fall out of love with a piece, you can resell it on the secondary market and get at least some of your money back (if not more). I would suggest that you start looking for pieces such as a nice rug, a well-designed basic chair or two, an armoire (or credenza or small chest for storage), a well designed table (a side table and a table where you can eat, work and do projects) and cool accessories. All of these basic pieces can function in different rooms (bedroom, living room, etc.) as you move from place to place (or rearrange furniture). Whatever you get, make sure you only spend your hard earned money on what you love.

I love midcentory style. The midcentury rooms that I love best are those with a few well-chosen midcentury elements rather than a complete, faithfully reproduced period room. As someone has noted, elements that dominate your space are those you probably can't change as a renter (wall-to-wall beige carpet, off-white walls, vertical blinds). A true period room would have different architecture and different materials for the floor, walls and ceilings. A room with transitional pieces (like those that are there) and with one stunning MCM era chair and one small credenza or chest of drawers and a few period accesories and textiles would be very lovely. I don't think you really need a room full of MCM pieces to get the style.

I also agree with others who state that the furniture there really isn't bad - it could be so much worse. I think you have a lot that you can work with today as you build your own collection of beautiful pieces to take you through the rest of your life.

In terms of the roommate situation, I don't have much advice except to do soul searching about whether it is truly the furniture itself that is really bothering you or whether there are deeper, more general issues of space, territoriality and control. The issue of style could be a symptom of something else going on, rather than being the central issue itself. I am a bit older and have lived in many situations with all kinds of people. From my experience, style issues may never completely vanish from your life and may persist as long as you live with others. If you get into a committed romantic relationship with another person and live with him/her, this issue may surface again (unless the other person doesn't care about design).

If you have your own room, concentrate on making it really outstanding. Direct all of that creative energy into a space you actually control. Once you've finished making it incredible, broach the subject of the living room. This will be made much easier if your roommate already loves what you have done with your bedroom.

Is it just me or are those tables huge?

I agree with the advice that you two need to have a discussion and hatch a decorating compromise. Aside from the sentimental aspect of her furniture hoarding--could she be looking ahead to her next situation? One where she'd be sorry to have given up her free furniture just a year ago? Be sensitive to these concerns.

Maybe you can talk her into reupholstering the chair (a roomie project, perhaps?) and covering the couch. Art, lighting change (banish that lamp!), pillows, a rug will all help, as others have said.

Also, see what you can do with arranging the furniture. Right now everything looks pushed up against one wall except for the mondo TV--it's already a monster, this just gives it emphasis.

I'm still in shock from everyone who says deal with it - it's nice to read those who agree with me and have sense enough to realize since you do share the bills, you should get share in the decorations. You have to come home to this place too and may even have guests - you shouldn't have to escort them directly to your room blindfolded so they don't have to see this horrible furniture.

One small idea that might jolt your roommate into reality is re-discuss the rent issue. If she gets to take over all the common spaces, then she should definitely be paying more - tell her if she refuses change, you'll in turn only pay about 25% of the rent since you are being forced to live in your room.

Yes, it is a shared space, but you can't just force someone to throw away their "perfectly good and free" furniture and ask them to be responsible for half of whatever you want to buy just for aesthetic reasons.

It's actually great to live off roommates owning big chunks of furnitures, no matter how ugly they may be. Saves you money, and less work for you, come moving day.

Live with her for a while, see if both of you are planning on staying in the current apt for the next couple years. Focus on buying stuff for your bedroom, and once that's done, start decorating the living room. In the mean time, slipcover or re-upholster, get some curtains and call it a day.

When you are ready to tackle the living room, only buy something that is dirt cheap or something that is easy to move and something that you are willing to keep for the next ten years.

Cushions, rugs, and art are all good things to buy with the money you are saving with all that free furniture. They are easy to transport, and you will always need them. (You can't have an extra couch in a small apt, but you can never have enough cushions)

Face it, you are not going to have your perfect dream livingroom unless you live alone or buy a house.

When you said horrible furniture, I was imagining 80's overly floral patterns with stains. This is clean and new-looking. I agree with posters about doing your own rook first. Additionally, you could also suggest getting a nicer coffee table and end table. The couch and chair are honestly not that bad, and you could probably save up for a really nice designer couch later on.

Thanks everyone for you're suggestions. I didn't mean to come off as bratty as I did. The furniture isn't HORRIBLE. I just think i've had an idea of what I want in my head for so long that I just was at a loss where to start on anything other than that idea.

To the suggestions of rugs, lamps, new tv (!!!), curtains, etc. thanks so much! i'll definitely start finding things that go well with both of our styles. and hopefully once its finished i can send a before and after!

To the suggestions i get a new roomate: she is actually one of my good friends and an amazing roomate. We had a design plan we agreed on at the beginning but since the furniture was given to her free it was too alluring to turn down. I'm not mad at her about it one bit and she gave me free reign to do whatever i want otherwise.

Thanks again for the suggestions!!