apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

>>Enter Slideshow

Consisting of two living rooms, a dining room, a kitchen and a bathroom, it's a great apartment for parties and it's been used in many commercial shoots (currently, it serves as the background for Lara Kazan Designs Fall 08 Collection) but the lack of real bedrooms was definitely a challenge growing up. You can see a tour of my mom's kitchen over at the Kitchn; here's the rest of the apartment. (These pictures were all taken at different moments snatched from a busy weekend attending ICFF so please excuse the grainier images taken at night.) You can decide for yourself if I have my parent's style.

AT Survey:

Style: Eclectic

Inspiration: French Country

Favorite Element: The architectural elements, the location, the light, especially in the dining room

Biggest Challenge: No bedrooms and one very old bathroom.

What Friends Say: It's very you.

Biggest Embarrassment: A paint job and some work in the bathroom and it's time to have some things reupholstered.

Proudest DIY: We refinished most of the furniture ourselves including stripping the built-in in the dining room.

Biggest Indulgence: The dining room table, bought at auction, and the tuxedo couch, from Guild, in the living room, which has been reupholstered twice since it was purchased many many years ago. Fully down and very comfortable.

Best advice: Just buy it. It'll all fit together. The most interesting places are the ones that mix and match and reflect the people that live there and that have a sense of humour.

Dream source:1st Dibs, Sotheby's -- high end auction houses.

Actual source: Much of the furniture was bought at Schoolhouse Antiques, an auction house that was up near Brewster. There are also pieces from other dealers, the street (for the coffee table in the living room), things picked up on travels. And luck.

>>Enter Slideshow

Resources:

Hardware: The doorknobs to the bathroom are originally from PS 41.

Furniture: Mostly bought at auctions upstate. The coffee table was a street find. Originally a bench, the caning was swapped out for slate.

Accessories: Collected over the years.

Lighting: The weakest element in the apartment. Still meaning to get around to it.

Rugs and Carpets: The carpet in the living room's a recent purchase from Pottery Barn to replace an antique carpet that had been eaten by moths. Looking for a runner to go with it. The carpet in the front room was needle-pointed by my Aunt. The rug in the dining room was a recent purchase from a Housing Works auction and replaces a rug that had seen better days.

Window Treatments: Boussac fabric for the curtains at the windows, the curtains in the hutch. Boussac fabric also covers the high-backed sofa

Beds: Murphy Bed installed in an antique armoire.

Artwork: Friends and family, especially my uncle (the two large paintings in the living room). The architectural prints in the front room were from an old book.

Paint: The ochre colour in the front room is Benjamin Moore but no one remembers the name of the colour. Maybe 4300?. Sand was added to the white paint in the dining room to give the walls texture. The whites are all Atrium White by Benjamin Moore.

Flooring: Original to the house, it's waxed.

(Thanks, Mom)

>>Enter Slideshow