apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Amazing! So rich and bold and elegant. This is seriously my dream house. When can I move in? :)

WOW! You've done an amazing job. Love how the depth of these colors. They're so rich, sophisiticated and yet modern. Absolutely beautiful.

Of course you house is gorgeous. Those tall windows and amazing ceiling height. Wow.

Great use of color Lorie. I know I've seen the first photo of the dining room elsewhere before. I remember the turquoise candelabras!

Honeybee, I think you saw the dining room on Domino Magazine's decorating contest...

I love the brown color in your dining room. Do you mind telling me what it is called? Thank you!

this is really fantastic!
best of luck, voting finalist...

I'm so glad that the AT:LA crew got you to enter! I've said it before and I'll say it again - this space is amazing.

I like that there are unexpected touches in each room - the bright blue candelabras in the dining room which keep the space from being predictable or stuffy; the peachy lamps in the bedroom; the blue clock in the hallway (at least I think it's a clock...); and so on.

Plus, the wall colors are rich and complex without being overwhelming. Insta-finalist for me.

Beautiful colors! Love, love, love the candelabras. Beautiful home! Even more pleasing, this is in Wilmington, my ol' home town! [Shudders at the thought of the typical Wilmington home in the 80s (and 90s): Dorothy Ruffle, curtains, country crafts and/or fishing/hunting displays.] My how things have changed!

A girl after my own heart. :)

Thank you, thank you for reminding people that you can see from one room to the next, and that each room should not be painted a jarringly-different color. I find that lining up paint chips and squinting at them to make sure there isn't one that jumps out is another useful way to ensure good flow...

nice clock

Who made the clock?

LOVE your house. Unlike some others, its not a showplace, but actually looks and feels like a home.

That bedroom, although not at all my style, looks divinely welcoming and comfortable.

Is that a Missoni rug in your bedroom??? Droool

Do not discount great lighting. The tall windows allow for all those colors to blend well together.

Good eye!

Hey Lorie09,

I am so excited that you entered this contest! Everyone should see what a great job you did with this fabulous house. Too bad they can't see a before and after, then you most definitely would have this contest in the bag. Good luck!!

Perfect.

must.get.those.candelabras.

now.

Definitely bold use of color & space & light. Definitely a worthy contestant.

Very Martha and Restoration Hardware but nicely implemented. The historic colors are tasteful but not experimental.

The dining room is fabulous but the sitting room is pedestrian and the kitchen color makes the space seem cold. The bedside lamps were a very savvy addition!

One thing noone's commented on is the continuity from room to room of the painted white furniture. I think I like it but the house as a whole loses by being one strong wall color one medium tone floor and then the white. It's almost formulaic and a bit of a turn off.

I actually like the "formulaic" white theme that runs through all the rooms. This thread of continuity serves to tie all the other elements in the home into a cohesive whole- something that ties nicely into the designer's philosophy of harmonious progression.

awesome... this is the best ...this one should win!

Hi Everyone, thanks for being so kind. It's nerve racking to put your house out for criticism. A lot of my stuff is old or my husband's and sort of "made to work." Like I hate my master bedroom bed, it's my husband's bed, but have you ever tried to convince a guy that you need to replace a perfectly good iron bed with another iron bed (I do love iron beds) because it's ugly. So I sprayed the disgustingly bronzey thing black to hide it. But the colors are all mine and adored so I thought I'd enter. Some answers to questions:

The dining room is painted BM Fresh Brew (1232).

The "Kuckuck" clock was a Christmas gift from my mom and stepdad about 15 years ago or so. All 3 of us kids got one after a trip my parents took to Miami, I think. I can't find anything about it online. It was designed by Zetsche & Heckhausen.

Yes NYS, the gigantic windows help with light a lot, even more so all the trim. I think you need a lot of white trim to pull off darker colors and not having a room feel dark, though I've seem some amazing dark powder rooms. I have 12.5 foot ceilings downstairs, I think my windows are 9 feet tall. And there's the white from the fireplaces. It helps break up the color.

The rug in my bedroom is a hand me down from my Mom. I think it's from Garnet Hill. I don't think it's a Missoni rug. It's one of those things that went from room to room until I realized, duh, it should probably go in the purple room.

The candelabras are from Two's Company. They are just kooky and fun, which is my taste in accessories, and they were super cheap.

Your bedroom is purple???
I see gray. Wonder if it's just my monitor...

I adore your nightstands and your dresser!

Also, the little blue touches in the dining room really help bring a bit of the bright kitchen into that room!

Really like your tip that " all rooms that are seen from other rooms must not clash with each other but be harmonious."

Good use of the repeating white accents (in molding, furniture, etc.) from room to room.

Well played Lorie09! This looks stylish and unpretentious and the dining room is great. I'd be happy to have a dinner party there. I love the historic homes in Wilmington. Candlelight tour in your past or future?

I'm so glad you entered. I love your place. I have two of the same clocks as you have, one orange with blue weight and one clear with gold weight.

Someone asked who made the clock, I can answer that. The company is called Brain Box (Germany). I purchased mine through a company called HAO design in Denver but they have since closed their retail store but I believe they still operate an interior design business. I've searched for another distributer in the US but haven't found one. Maybe Lorie09 has another source. They are great functional pieces of art.

i voted 4 u b4 i even scrolled down to see the rest of the pics. u had me at the dinning room. what did u use for the bedroom paint? u said it's purple in a previous post.

Absolutely gorgeous!! I love the bedside lamps!

The purple I used in our bedroom is BM Shadow. It's this super dark blackish purple.

I don't have a source for the clock. I searched online for something and couldn't find anything.

We haven't been on the candlelight tour, probably because I just finished the last room in the house recently, I think that tour is during Christmastime, and now it's on the market to sell. We did get married in the dining room and have had a few parties (Christmas, Oscars) at out house. It's a great house for entertaining.

This is the best in the contest so far, head and shoulders above the rest. Totally on a different level.

I think it's a little lacking in personality kind of like if Banana Republic were decorating a house. I prefer when colour expresses someones personality rather then just being there for it's own sake - it might just be the lack of contrast with anything but white and the lack of any statement art pieces. I don't get the all the white furniture either surely it wasn't all so bad that you had to throw white paint on it.

Beautiful!

I think that this is absolutely gorgeous. I don't think that you overused the white in any way. You have plenty of dark, natural wood in your home. You've done an amazing job. I would love to live somewhere so beautiful.

Nice blue clock and kitchen aid

Not my style at all, but very elegant.

Love your taste, love your things, love your Home. Classy gemutlichkeit, sophisticated artlessness--which makes me feel like I can move and breath in your space--beautiful without being stiflingly "done".

So in love with the dining room. In the bedroom I'd make sure the curtains cover the window casings, however, those casings look really structural, so I'd probably leave them bare. I'd also lose the flower rug, dust ruffle and wires on the right side. Your baseboards rock my world!

This place definitely appeals on a level of being unconventional, especially for such a classic house, but I can't help finding it a little gloomy. The dark dining room, for example, feels very Miss Havisham to me. Actually, the whitewashed furniture (which I know is a shabby-chic trick to bring cohesiveness to otherwise disjunct furniture elements - and I appreciate that, I do) in this setting is just making it feel, to me, like an abandoned mansion that's had white sheets draped over all its furniture, and someone's come in and selectively uncloaked some of the pieces.

I find myself wanting to color in some of the whitewashed objects, or even just see some more wood tones or something. I do love the accent pieces - the candle holders, the bedside lamps - but they're not doing enough to lighten the mood of this place. And that kitchen - something about the dull blue and overly tall cabinets makes it feel too masculine, almost like an office kitchen, despite the valiant effort by the kettle and kitchenaid to make it feel more like home.

Even the maize color in the hallway feels a little dim, although that could be a photography issue. The only place where color isn't a downer is in the sitting room with that cloying coral - though it could just be that I'm having trouble disassociating it from the saggy chintz couch - maybe with a different couch, say in a gray or slate, the coral might work.

I hate giving criticism without being constructive, but in this case I think our styles are too different for me to offer anything of real value - I would have taken a different route entirely. However, I commend you for color choices that are certainly not timid - and it is clearly a fabulous house that you have made your own, and I congratulate you on that.

tara, you're description of this house like an "abandoned mansion that's had white sheets draped over all its furniture, and someone's come in and selectively uncloaked some of the pieces," (while I know you meant it to be negative)....was beautiful! True, maybe YOU don't want to live in that, but I think that's an amazing quality to have achieved.

Completely agree with you on the kitchen and chintz though.

Also, just noticed in the dining room, I think that's a Picasso print above the mantel. Noooo. I love that print, I had it in my dorm in college...... I would invest in actual art in a room like that. Wish we could see the whole sideboard/floral arrangement!

Hi St@cy, I don't like my sofa either. I bought it in 1994 and I wasn't sure then about it but it was on sale in my favorite store and my mom peer pressured me. It's very hard to replace a sofa or even get new slipcovers made (expensive). Every time I hear someone say always buy a neutral sofa I think yes, always! That's one of the reasons the walls are red, to hide the sofa. Though I do hear, chintz in making a comeback. And it is this substantial linen which is quite nice.

The art in the dining room and 4 other pieces throughout the house are actual art pieces my husband bought before he met me. They are painted by Israeli artist students or something. They copy famous prints but are actual art and do differ from the original. They are not prints. If they were prints I could get rid of them. My husband loves them so I display them with honor.

Picture of sideboard: http://flickr.com/photos/lorie09/1555319061/

Lorie your home is beautiful! What is the wonderful blue paint that you used in your kitchen? Vivienne

In the kitchen I used BM Gossamer Blue

Yes!, I remember recently seeing a piece on chintz staging a comeback in a recent design mag....maybe domino.

That's so cool that it is the night cafe painting, but done by a student. I really like the scale of the artwork there...I think most people would have chosen something a little larger.

thanks for the pic of the sideboard! beautiful.

I have to stand up against even you, Lorie09, in defense of that chintzy sofa. Look at how perfectly that pattern and its colors work in the room! Look at how terrific it is with the rug! Id it's homely at all, it's sweetly so, and I like that quality, too, in its contrast to the other furniture. So there.

Well Aulaire, that's what I was trying to do with it so thanks. And it's super comfy.

I think white is a great balance with color. Nice job