apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

you know, i completely disagree with Laurie Ward's comment that neutral colors will make a space seem larger. my bathroom actually seems bigger now that it's dark red than it did when it was white. putting in a black shower curtain (old one was a pastel design on a translucent white/clear background) didn't shrink it any, either.

i think that's a complete old wives' tale.

i would also question her advice to install 150 watt bulbs in most rooms. major fire hazard, especially in small apartments with bad wiring.

I agree with opoponax on both points. My front room/entry way is more defined now that I have red walls and using 150 watt bults in my 1922 apartment building would be a dangerous design decision to make.

Yes to both of you, Opop and Leslie! I chose color all over my new apt. (walls, carpet, accents, furniture) but wondered if I'd done it 'wrong' after reading the advice about neutrals. Since I love my space, can it be 'wrong'?

Nice article. Since I am somewhat new to the this site I didn't realize you were such a celebrity, Maxwell! Very cool.

Lately, I put lower wattages in my lamps. No one looks good with 150 wattage. I also tend to gravitate toward darker colors. WIth enough accent lighting any room can look amazing. Lighting is everything, I have such a problem when I go to friends houses and all the lights are on, very glaring.

I painted a bathroom a dark chocolate brown. No windows and it looks amazing.
ciao

150 watts would generate more heat that new fixtures can handle. Old ceramic fixtures can handle the heat. The wattage is not concern but I would not trust old wires either.

Lauri Ward's talent is arranging furniture. Before taking her advice on color or lighting, visit her site and see what you think of the before-and-after shots. My response is that I see why the rearrangements work, but her clientele's taste is somehow just *not* where I am or want to be in life (and I'm not one of the MCM purists or spending $5k on a dining table or anything really exciting).
http://www.redecorate.com/

The mirror quote is definitely my fave.

I am in agreement about not using 150 wattage, not only because of wiring issues but also because of wall issues. if you are in an old building the walls may be pretty cruddy from layers and layers of paint & plastering. if you rent you won't have many options to fix that. a big, bright light will magnify any uneven areas. Also I am not convinced that a big blast of light necessarily makes a room seem larger. I know that in my place the rooms seem larger when I have low wattage, ambient lights on. Probably depends upon the space.

I cannot remember how I learned what I am about to share with you. I can't remember a time when I didn't believe it to be true, so it may go back to college.

The Renaissance (1650) was a very, very colorful time. Fabrics, wall, frescos, paintings, everything was colorful.

200 years later, most of these beautiful things had faded to a dull beige. There were many shades of beige depending on the original color, but the colors were mostly gone. This coincided with the rise of the middle class during the Industrial Revolution. What did the new consumers do?They looked to the rich for their cues, and saw the rich were living in faded splendor.

And this is how the beige or BUTTER rooms and decor came to be. I personally hate it. I am sitting now in a room with Monticello Rose walls. This is the color Thomas Jefferson invented and used in his own formal rooms. It was found under 22 counts of paint, and is now B. Moore HC63. Beware of paint colors invented before electricity. My home (it's in all the rooms) looks best lit by candlelight.

By the way, in college I double majored in French and Medieval History. I wanted to study in France and that was my ticket.

MY POINT IF I HAVE ONE Don't be afraid of color. LIfe is so short. And if you don't want to pay $130 for color continuity, find your color or colors in a painting you can carry when shopping, to match your color hues.

I'm applying color by knee-jerk reaction. Hot pink and bright orange bedding. A little white, lavendar and lime green here and there. Some deep blue. Teak colored woods (mostly), brownish rust wrought irons.
Bright aqua baskets.

It's a small studio for all this, but the sight of these colors makes me so happy.

If you want to check out the expanded version of the article (with more of Maxwell's quotes), you can do so here at amNewYork's site:

http://www.amny.com/features/am-space0914,0,4672369.story

Team Decor --

I've heard the same story regarding bright colors, but at colonial Williamsburg. Restorationists tested the paints and wallpapers there (with better, current technology than in the past) and were surprised to find that the colors had once been much stronger.

Picked that up in graduate historic preservation lectures, believe it to be true.

For the lamps I tend to use 100 watts, but I use the less energy-expensibe "swirly" looking bulbs. This way I can get 100watts of light while only putting out say 20 watts of heat.

And even my white-painted apt. looks better in candlelight, and is *so* much more relaxing that way.

The thing about those "swirly" energy efficient bulbs is since they are florescent you can't use them with a dimmer.

I don't believe the neutral colors thing, but I do believe that colors with a lot of clarity and gloss will help. When I first moved in, I had dingy walls and ceiling paint because a smoker lived there before I did. When I painted everything white-white, suddenly the room popped and felt much larger.

When I was looking at apartments, I saw a studio that had a small kitchen in the hallway across from a set of closets. Someone had told the previous owners that mirrors make a small space larger and she'd taken it overboard. The backsplash, the closet doors and one long wall of the studio were all mirrored. Walking in there with all the people who wanted to see it was like walking into a funhouse. A month later, I got a call from the broker saying that she'd dropped the price by 30k, and all I could think about was the mirrors...

Hey you guys, don't take Laura ward's advice on decorating, though she is a genius in rearranging. When we first bought our apartment in Weehawken, which is a few minutes outside Manhattan, we had one of her "Use What You Have," people come to help us rearrange. it was great. I can pick out furniture, decorate but can't arrange furniture at all. And this woman who we eventually paid to help rearrange our whole apartment was great. However, she didn't have a lick of taste when it came to decorating. She was trained by Ward