Name: Tyler Marcum
Location: Astoria, NY
Type: 1bedroom, rented monthly
Why I use color:
My main reason for using color has to do a lot with my personality. The same terms used to describe my apartment can be used to describe me: funky, fun, energetic, extroverted, modern, eccentric. My colors FUEL my energy and put me in a happy place (which is a great place to be when living in the cold city of New York)...
I keep a lot of my furniture similar (I like the modern and sleek white pieces...bed, dresser, etc) so that I can go bold with the walls! Not only do the bold colors lend an artistic hand to the walls, but they also give my wall decorations a bright and fun background. Pictures hung on the
wall POP out at you. I have open shelves above my couch that you can see the avacado green color through - making my funky shelves all the more visible.
2 Good color tips:
1. Don't be afraid to use bold colors on different walls. While I wouldn't go too crazy with bold colors side by side, I think it can be great to have a room that has lighter color tones and then one BRIGHT wall.
2. Don't be afraid to use different shades of the same color. Lighter shades can look amazing against a darker shade (and vica versa). It's all about finding balance with your colors.
2 good color resources:
1. Nature can be the most AMAZING resource...or even looking at pictures of nature. I used a photograph of a sunset for inspiration in my bedroom.
2. Eye-popping store windows can be a great place to browse for your favorite colors and inspiration (I love the Diesel windows!).
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My God this is gorgeous. High five on everything, I really like it. :)
Holly
Hey Tyler: If you're anywhere near as cute as your apartment, call me...
I chose a blue/green palette similar to the one in your living room for my house, which has just been painted. I'm a little freaked out about it because it looks like an aquarium without my furniture. It's so great to see your place with all the furniture and accoutrements in place. So important to remember that color gets toned down once everything's in place. So thanks.
Also, what is that great white lamp on the dresser by the bed?
oh my! and so it begins, my addiction to AT grows stronger with each entry posted.
You know, I'd like it better if BOTH sofas were blue.
The blue suede couch is absolutely fantastic!
In-fraking-credible, and very LA (which normally wouldn't be a compliment coming from me, but well done!). Great use of inexpensive Ikea pieces, including - from the look of things - that wonderful bed and the beautiful Pax Lomen doors on the wardrobe.
only two pics?! more, please!
oops, just read the rules. 2 pics only. gotcha
I second squixan. I want to see more!
Great use of color, Tyler.
Love the red art in the living room, where'd you find it?
Hi Anne-
the artwork looks like Urban outfitters. I have the same one in green.
i like the fact that the bright color here is contrasted with stark gallery white, rather than with more traditional beigey taupey neutrals. it keeps up the energy of the colors and brings a very fresh and modern look to the space. especially the bright white furniture, which is getting to be one of those looks i think is fantastic in other people's apartments but could never do myself...
which isn't to say i don't like beigey taupey neutrals. the white is just really lovely.
i do have to say, though, that i don't think the blue couch and rug relate very well to the rest of the space, which for all its stark whites reads very warm, not icy like that blue. all in all though, a really fun start to a really fun contest!
I painted my living room that same EXACT color, and have been hating it lately. It feels so dark. I realize from this photo that it is the rest of the furniture in the room (hevy, dark wood), which makes it dark. I'm now converting to white!
Where did you get that coffee table?
Aww, thank Candace, looks like they don't have it anymore. Still love it though.
Yay! The first entry is here! I started going through withdrawals after the Smallest Coolest Apartment Contest.
Great job, Tyler! Your place conjures up Jonathan Adler's "maximalism" credo. And the blue couch rocks.
sorry, i voted no way. while this a nice apartment, it doesn't show an interesting mix of colors and layering. However, nice use of the apartment therapy new york, colors blue and green.
Love it.
Can you share where the couch is from? It looks like one I've seen at Macy's that is no longer there...and the great couch hunt continues...
The couch looks like one of the modern pieces from Jennifer Convertible
Like that pop of red on the wall in the living room. Mixes things up, among the otherwise cool colors there.
wow amazing love the colors as a matter of fact I want the same one!I mean that living room look so energetic
Anne, the stores probably still have that artwork. I would check the UO in Union Square and the one near Bloomingdales (on 3rd?)
i hate the use of the red painting in the living room - it reflects how ugly that green color looks against the orange wood floor.
i like the red in the bedroom, but how boring a use of it!
sorry i think this is an uninspired use of good colors....
so cute! great use of ikea!
i want to see more pictures!
kitchen + bathroom?
Yey thanks. Glad some of you like it. Yeah, the photo didnt do it quite justice...the painting in the living room (urban outfitters print) is orange as well as the back wall of the bedroom (like a reddish orange). Yeah, Im an actor so I can honestly say that everything was relatively inexpensive. The couch was on sale at Macy's, West Elm had a refurbished bookcase (the living room). Some IKEA stuff here and there. I usually only buy if its on sale or reasonably priced. Thats why I love cb2!
Tyler I love you and this is awesome. I'm going to be requiring your help painting my room when I get back to NYC. No excuses.
love,
Whit
This apartment should be in Better Homes and Gardens..what a good use of a small space to make it look bigger.
FANTASTIC!!!!!
Really Charming! The kind of place you can hang out and relax in yet be energized by - all at the same time!
I think its awesome !
I would love to have Tyler, design my apartment
The apartment rocks !!!
I had a hard time knowing how to vote on this one -- I needed a halfway kind of option. I love the blue and white of the living room, but as someone else mentioned, the green seems too warm a green for the icy coolness of the other elements. With a suitably icy green, it would be fabulous. Also the red wall, or orangy red wall -- I felt that it was the highlight of the room, and it seemed that the color needed to be picked up somehow elsewhere in the room. Perhaps the cover on the bed? Or if that's too much, a white cover on the bed and orangy red pillows, and perhaps an accent or two here and there? It's just that I loved that red, and needed it tied to something else in the room.
WOW! THIS IS FANTASTIC!
A little too Ikea showroom for my taste. Did we really need the lamp AND spacey wall clock in the same 10 feet of wall space?
Wonder and exciting. How do you come up with your ideas? A place to feel at home.
Your living room is beautiful. I almost did pale blue and chartruese in my place but opted for orange and pink instead. This is still one of my favorite color combinations. I am a big fan of accessories against brightly colored walls. I would love to see the floor painted white, but I no you probably can't do that in a rented space.
LOVE that area rug in the living room - wherever did you find it? I've looked at thousands of rugs and can't seem to match it anywhere?
AMAZING!!!! Omigosh! You have inspired me to redo my apartment!!! You should go into interior design. Definitely.
Nice, but not award-winning. This is the same catalog aesthetic of every mid-2000s shelter catalog, from West Elm (where most of the furnishings seem to have come from, as well as their thematic monochrome palettes) to Crate & Barrel/CB2 to Jonathan Adler, but with no real innovation. Let's see stuff that's really interesting instead of this pop sameness that every single catalog is touting nowadays. It's easy to imitate - let's see some innovations.
Tyler~
Great use of color combo! I Love the green and light blue combo. Looks like a fun place to hang out! Congrats! I bet you'll win!
i like the first pic. the green seems a little overwhelming as the furnitures sets a more subtle tone. i would of loved to see either a mossy/olive green or a blue/grey on the walls and maybe accents of brighter tones throughout the room. i don't like the red wall with the green bedspread but furniture and decor is super cute! nice entry.
Great space! Email me if you're interested in being on HGTV's Small Space, Big Style.
nicole@brainbox.tv
i agree with kim that it would work better if the walls were toned down a bit. don't get me wrong, i love bright colors but in this room with the flooring and furniture i think that something softer would be nice and you could use accents of color. i don't the red dandelion art in the back is throwing me off. i would like to see it in yellow or something. i'm not a big fan of red and green together. otherwise beautiful. good luck!
I have almost the exact color scheme in my living room, but I only painted one wall green. Did you use Behr Rolling Hills?
this is seriously amazing. i love the color choices...very bold. youve inspired me!!!
Love it!! The color combos are perfection. I especially love the second room, you actually make me want a red wall. The living room has a lot of fun patterns going on. Instant finalist.
the west elm shelves blow it for me.
i want "home" not a catalog page, sorry, it's just too rote.
i need more breathing room to enjoy a space.
it's too chunked up. i feel like the furniture is all that can fit in the room, where do the people go? the bedroom in particular feels like it could kind of tumble on top of me as i try to sleep.
less is more as they say, and proportion counts
So close -- I vote in contention. I loved the daring of the watermelon red in the bedroom area, and it works with the surrounding style and adjacent pale blue wall -- congrats on that! I just couldn't agree with the baby blue sofa and the avocado green walls in the LR. That particular blue could have worked in accents, but too much of it seems displacing to the rest of the room -- perhaps since it's cheaper to re-paint, consider a different color on the living room walls. Maybe the larger wall in off-white and keep one green wall (couch-side).
Unique and creative decor. Makes me feel at peace and joyful at the same time.
Great space, you have a winner!!!!!