apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I think the stickers are very dorm-like, but the murals are funky, ridiculous and awesome. In my building, one neighbor's door is a kind of rotating gallery of the young son's artwork and, brilliantly enough, the boy puts prices on all his pieces. Even at a young age, he seems to realize that display can lead to a sale. I love it!

Thank god my condo bylaws forbid this kind of thing.

yeah... if i had to walk by that leopard every morning on the way to work i think i might be a little grumpy for the next few minutes.

In college, I painted a copy of a Japanese woodblock print on my dorm room door. I'm not sure it is something I'd do for an apartment door, but it sure was fun way back when.

In my old loft building in Boston many residents did this. The halls are very long and ceilings high so it was nice to break it up. I think doing this in a smaller/darker building might get a little messy looking though.

i don't mind as long as doesn't involve lascivious nudity, extreme profanity, vulgarity or poop. i'm all for artistry but once the door is open you never know what you're gonna get.

in college i decorated my doors in rotating themes.

Our bylaw don't prohibit this. Wish they did.

Well, I dont exactly hang out in my hallway so I don't see the harm...assuming its not graphic or otherwise offensive. I espcially would like something that rotated because otherwise, anything starts to blend in after awhile.

@ sleek: most condo situations find the HOA owning the exterior walls/doors of all units (including the interior hallways) which would (fortunately in many cases) prohibit this. a good test is: who pays for repainting the interior hallways? if it's an HOA line-item and collective expense, then it's common area and governed by common vote whether expressly prohibited in the bylaws or not.

Good fences make good neighbors. What does that mean? Basically, if you keep whatever noise (audible OR visual) within your own walls, you can just "make your own kind of music" as the Mommas and the Poppas song goes.

Common areas have a different mission. Most people just want an attractive-looking neutral place with enough light to be able to provide security and help you find your keys, and if possible. Since taste is such a tricky thing, even deciding what IS neutral is a hard thing to pin down. I was on the decorating committee of my co-op when we were making choices for our common areas. (Since a series of infrastructural emergencies arose, those have yet to be implemented, and it's been about 2 years, so I still can't say how successful our choices were!)

But if, by some strange magic all the neighbors in an entire building have managed to find themselves on the same page about having the artwork of one its own decorate their hallways, because it makes them ALL feel special to live in such a unique space, I say more power to them.

The collection will is a little harder to congeal than one's individual will.

In that last line I meant to say, "the collective will" -- NOT "the collection will".

Hmm. This brings new meaning to "there goes the neighborhood!".

I really do like the leopard door. If every door were as lovely as that I'd say, Go for it! Alas, I think it would soon descend into typical graffiti.

Ha ... that leopard is hilarious but it gives me the creeps at the same time.

I painted my front door deep teal and put an art-piece mural thing (hard to explain) on the short wall next to my door (not the wall the door is on, but the one that you see when you come up the steps) - all with the building owner's permission (actually she loves it.) At the time I did it, though, there was no one living above me (therefore no one that had to walk by and see it) whereas now there is the owner's daughter living in the top apartment, who seems to like it also. If I were on a lower floor where everyone else had to walk by, I don't think I would have done it.

oh no.

Painted doors have a way of looking very dorm-ish. You can practically smell the pot smoke seeping out underneath them.

I was in Western Ukraine last year and found that apartment dwellers all have personalized doors. It's odd at first, but I grew to really like it. They don't just have decorated doors, but entirely different doors, made of different materials. Sometimes wood, sometimes metal, one door or two, painted or stenciled, with lovely handles. It's really an extension of the apartment interior.

I agree with all the dorm comments. I like passing by the house with the mural on Church Street but I would be really bummed if my next-door neighbor in our Edwardian building did something like this. In a more modern building, I don't think I would like it either because of the dorm feeling.

The stickers on the door is too "College Dorm" - It's an eyesore. The painted leopard isn't my cuppa tea either - and the blue garde, while whimsical in a Van Gogh sorta way, is just too OTT.

I'd be fine with folks painting their doors solid colors or in well-executed graphic designs, but these are too much.

ugh!

Tacky. Reminds me of those $5 polyester blankets they sell on Hollywood Blvd. They have tigers, Bob Marley, the Raiders and Lakers, dolphins, yellow happy faces, ganja, and Tweety Bird blankets. Ugh.

The leopard is wearing a bow tie. I might be able to swallow the rest of the painting, but... waaaah?

A bow tie.

Wow.

i didn't like it at first, but the more i look at the leopard door the more i find myself actually liking it.
RAWR!!!

I think it's an awesome idea.

I would never live in a condo where I could not paint my own door. Why should my neighbors get to impose their will on something that isn't theirs and does not affect them in any kind of meaningful way?

Tempted to do this just to get a rise out of my stuffy condo board!

it is tempting!!

leopard: kinda tacky
leopard with bow tie: TOTALLY AWESOME!

Mangabanga, I have driven by those damn blankets all over town for nearly 2 decades now and it is always those same graphics. Hysterical.