apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I'd love to see pictures of your kitchen, also.

I second that! I'd like to see those great cabinets up close.

Paul Smith!

so cute!

how old is your building, if you don't mind me asking? my apartment building (near the brooklyn navy yards) was built as military issued housing, and it looks a lot like this.

It's becoming more clear when white walls work and when they don't. This being a don't. Something needs to tie everything together cohesively and something needs to show your color personality. The artwork isn't working. The family photos are too much clutter. But I do like the kitchen cabinets.

i think u should enter the kitchen or the hallway - which looks a yellow and blue combination instead! the stripes are just not doing it!

I lived in housing in Germany for a few years (PHV and BFV) and the first time I walked in (after a couple of days travel and major jet lag) I cried - it looked like a prison. I am so impressed with what you have done! My place never looked this good. But - "forget about what is outside (your) apartment"? Are you KIDDING? Mannheim is a somewhat industrial city but oh my goodness there is SO much out there that you should NOT miss!

I love how the rug pulls in both the soft blue from the kitchen cabinets and the bold yellow in the adjoining hallway. I can't believe this is military housing - you've done a great job of making it look so cheerful!

This is a very good way to solve a problem. Your place is cute.

I think this house is off to a good start. I think perhaps pulling one of the colors out of the rug and putting it on the walls would add a lot of drama - since the rug seems to be a focal point. I voted "in contention"

Aside:

I love it when a comment says "get rid of this or that...its just clutter" -in this case being applied to this persons family photos. WTF!?

a) this person lives on a military base in a foreign country. I'm sure keeping family pictures around isnt "clutter" but a reminder of those that are probably far away.

b) items are only 'clutter' when they have no value. A great example of a house filled with items - but no 'clutter' is the Eames Case Study House. It is filled with items like clocks, toys, textiles, photographs, plants, shells, etc. All of the items have a value to the owners of the house - therefore are not clutter.

fantastic shelf hanging from the ceiling! i think the stripes totally pull all the colors together. i look at the photos and see little 'pops' of color throughout. i also love that this looks like a real home, not a showroom.

There are ways to display photos and smaller decorative works so that they don't contribute to a cluttered appearance. For this room, one suggestion might be to group many of the photos on the wall, to function as one larger decorative piece, perhaps in conjunction with some of the other wall art. It all seems a bit scattered at the moment.

Grouping it might also help to more effectively break up the vast expanse of white walls in the living room. Right now the objects hanging on those walls are mere islands. Grouped, they'd function more like continents, bringing greater definition to the space. You might also consider painting the wall directly behind such a grouping a different color, to function as something of a frame.

i love love love your rug. it's fantastic! and the little splashes of color around the room really brings it all together.

did i say i loved the rug? :-)
thank you for sharing your home.

good suggestion sunspot.

You have light, airy cheerful colors but then they are weighed down by the heavy looking. black furniture. Whereas a little black can serve as an interesting contrast to bright color, the amount of black here overwhelms it. My suggestion would be to lighten up those dark pieces by painting or refinishing. Just my opinion.

I'm noticing alot fewer snarky/attitude riddled comments in this post compared to the scorecard. Perhaps some additional respect given the military housing?

I voted no on this one, and here's why.

For me, this space doesn't read as having used color quite skillfully enough. I do think it's off to a good start, however. What would have pushed it through for me would have been if there was MORE of the stripes. The little pillows aren't enough -- in fact, in comparison to the big grey couches, they just look so lonely, and draw attention to the fact that the couches are big. It's unbalanced. Now, if the pillows were larger, and/or if there were more of them, then the stripes would really make a statement.

That said, I love love love your kitchen cabinets! Maybe you should have just taken pics of your kitchen!

I think the black furniture might work better if the walls weren't so white, or if there were larger non-white areas on the walls (groupings of art, larger pieces of colored art, etc.). It might also help if there were a couple of large, dark pillows on the couches.

Someone up above recommended larger pillows, and I agree. The little striped pillows aren't working, at least by themselves. Indeed, that wonderful carpet is so dominant, I don't know if I'd repeat the stripes at all. Maybe go with large solid pillows in 3 colors inspired by the rug – a dark color, a vibrant color and one neutral color. Since the kitchen is visible from that room (and looks fantastic), I'd repeat the blue in a pillow or throw (it's also in the rug). Then I'd probably repeat the chocolate color that's in the rug in a couple of pillows, and maybe the pale golden color in a couple too (it's somewhat neutral).

You might also try playing with texture using pillows or throws. I don't know if I'd add any additional patterns to the mix, though. I'm not any good at matching patterns with stripes – seems to me it can be difficult to do. Always looks a bit cluttered unless done by someone who's skilled or just naturally gifted.

Hope you find some of this helpful!

Thanks for the comments and advice.
To Juliejulie - When I say forget what's outside I just mean the military base, Mannheim is great I absolutely LOVE living here there are so many great thing to do and see, they are just all outside the base. By the way I live in BFV. Hope you had a great time while you lived here as well!
To the opoponax - I am not sure how old the building is, but they just remodeled mine before we moved in about 3 years ago.
To Modfan - Thank you!

Also, technically we not supposed to paint our walls any color but white. So we painted what we thought we could get away with!

Those teeny, tiny pillows on those huge, overstuffed sofas drive me nuts. The walls seem cluttered. I love the rug though.

Loving those stripes!

I'm a former Army-base dweller myself (Wiesbaden!) and I too secretly painted. You've gotta do whatever you can to feel at home in housing that can feel like a boring crackerbox and sees new residents every few years. I think Francesca has done a very nice job of turning this apartment into a home, and that INCLUDES all the family photos, which DUH are not clutter when you are living thousands of miles away from most of the people you hold near and dear.