Last evening I visited Ellen and her boyfriend, Dan, at her home on the edge of Chelsea. Ellen works in publishing and has lived in her apartment for a year and a half.
Her apartment is a very straight ahead modern apartment in a tall building that was probably built in the last twenty years. It is a one bedroom with an open bar style kitchen to your left as you enter, followed by the living room and the bedroom through a door on the right. The views are terrific – south facing – with lots of glass from floor to ceiling.
The reason I had been called was because despite that fact that Ellen had been there a year and a half, absolutely nothing had happened in most of the apartment and the living room was the worst...
She had a couch facing a television with a number of wood veneer bookcases against the wall and a cat box in the corner. There was no rug, no coffee table, and no other chairs. She had never finished moving in.
“My apartment has no energy.” She said, when I asked her what the problem was, “It just makes me feel drained when I come home.”
When I asked her how she would like it to be, she said, “I just want it to have some pizzazz, you know, some life.” I couldn’t agree more, and was glad that she felt strongly enough to do something about it.
The problems were clear:
1. her living room was incomplete
2. all of her furniture was shoved up against the wall
3. the lighting was poor
4. there was no texture in the room
5. there was no color in the room – all was brown and off white
Here was the solution:
1. Don’t build a movie theater in your living room!
- Most living rooms have televisions in them, which is fine, but they shouldn’t look like movie theaters with all the furniture facing the television screen. Living rooms are social centers. They should include at least three seating positions around a coffee table and the television should sit outside of this circle. In this case, Ellen only had a couch, so I recommended a small armchair, ottoman and coffee table.
2. Get off the wall!
- When furniture is pushed up against the wall if forms a corridor effect down the middle of a room, where energy can flow too quickly, while it stagnates among furniture along the wall. To balance the energy in your space, pull chairs and tables off of the walls so that you can imagine the energy that is now able to flow around your furniture and along your walls. The new chair, ottoman and coffee table would face the couch and float off the wall in this instance.
3. Pay attention to lighting!
- Lighting is perhaps the single most important element in terms of adding drama and pizzazz, and my basic rule of thumb is
a. have at least three points of light in each room
b. have as many different kinds as you can: floorlamp, table lamp, uplight…
c. don’t use overhead light
d. use indirect, low lights – never see a light bulb!
Ellen simply needed more light. A table lamp, reading lamp, task light and two uplights were recommended.
4. More texture, always!
- In our mineral heavy, cement and plaster apartments, it is extremely important to add a heavy dose of organic material to balance the hardness and dryness of the shell. Ellen had no rug, curtains or other chairs, so these were recommended. Every room should at least have a nice, soft rug, fabric for upholstery, and curtains. These were all recommended here.
5. Add color in dashes, like salt to a dish.
- With no color in the living room, it had the blahs. Adding it should come sparingly, however. Good, rich palette’s of color are 80% neutral – as in off whites, browns and earth tones – and 20% strong color – as in reds, blues, yellows, or black.
I always recommend painting a room a neutral color and then putting splashes of color in via a rug, couch, chair, table lamp or sometimes through painting one wall with color. Remember, color is like a seasoning, a little will go a long way. A rich red rug, bright table lamp and richer fabric on the new chair and ottoman were recommended.
When I left Ellen and her boyfriend, I could sense that they were relieved and a little overwhelmed. Thinking about all of these things in this way for the first time is tiring. Luckily, they would have time to think everything over and I would type up my prescription in detail to send them within the week.
Learning something new always takes energy, but this is the sort of lesson that gives back a great deal of energy and which you can use for the rest of your life. By February, Ellen’s apartment would look and feel brand new and it would be adding real pizzazz to her own step. (Photo inside Perry Street Towers) MGR
I read about "uplight" often, but I am not sure what it really is. I know you're supposed to buy those inexpensive can lights and shoot the light up, but how do you do that? Should I put the cans behind the couch? There's something to "uplighting" that I don't understand.
Also, do you knoe Living Etc. magazine from the UK? The December issue isn't their best work, but they have great photos of how to finish a room with dashes of color and texture.
and move the cat box!
(chris, living etc. is the best. i have to run all over to find it every month, but it's always worth it. . .)
moving furniture off the wall also makes cleaning (a little) easier...
leslie, seriously, where do you keep your cat box? i never find a good space for it. kind of a gross nyc apt pet owner problem.
i have the same problem. i have to scoure the west village magazine shops every month to get Living Etc. And then it's about $9. Worth it tho. My favourite little treat.
Litter box in the tub - covered by the shower curtain, easy to control the litter trail - and right in the bathroom when time to flush - have done this for 25 years -
i've always kept the cat box in the bathroom, in every single apartment (and there have been many). that's bad enough, but at least it's not that public. have never thought of putting it in the bathtub (i don't always have a tub, often just glass-doored showers, like now) but that's a good idea.
Er, um... where do you folks with litter boxes in your tubs bathe?!?
I am sick of the cold, ugly bathrooms in New York, I don't need to create absolute misery with a cat box in my sanctuary. Bathrooms should be a place to relax, to take care of yourself and pay attention to yourself. Not an extra room to leave shit out in the open.
I think the litterbox question is a very tough one. In my last place I had an eat in kitchen but didn't unse the eat in part, so the cat had his own space, apart from the rest of the apartment and not in the bathroom (which is too small anyway!). No one makes covers to make a private space for the cat, like a little room, which I think would be best. My litterbox itself is enclosed with a lid (I use the "catty corner" from PetCo which is great) but the cat is still entering and exiting and doing his business in plain view. So, I have resolved to buy some wood and make a 20"deep, 20" tall and 40" long platform to place over my cat box. I'll put his food dishes on top so he's not eating directly on the floor either, since that bothers me as well.
That's the best solution I've come up with. Modern homes (rooms and furniture) are just not built for life with pets.
Sara A., Your cat probably would be disgusted at eating above where it did its business. The old adage don't eat where you poop. There are some company's that make birch or maple cabinets that hold only the cat tray (with a discrete flap on the side for entance) and look like normal furniture. Look in Cat Fancy magazine.
There are also robo-cat boxes that sweep the messy litter into a container 10 min after a sensor detects the cats finished. about 100$ plus.
Give your beastie a pat for me. Regards, Jonathan D.
Patrick - so disappointed in you! I bathe in the bathtub, just like everyone else. I simply lift the litterbox and put it outside the bathroom door for the, what, 15 minutes? it takes to shower or bathe. Not a big deal. Sure beats having a litter box in view, in any size apartment!
That's why I have a dog-- no poop in the apartment, and taking her out to go gives me some excercise too!
I'm not sure why, but I've never liked the little box in the bathtub idea. I can't put my finger on it, but when you really can't find anywhere else to put it, it really is a good spot.
Right now I have her box in the closet. So far, so good. I just have to remember to tape over the hole in the door jam for the door to close tight. This way, it can only get pulled together and she can always pull the door open.