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#36 - Michelle & Brian Are Tired of White

Name: Michelle & Brian
Location: Jersey City, NJ
Type: 2 bedroom apartment, 900 square feet, owned, lived in for one year

Why I use color:

We are both homebodies, so it's important to us that our home be fun, relaxing and inviting. We also want to make the most of our 900 square feet and define different spaces with different feels and moods, and we want the whole space to reflect both our personalities and tastes.

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Sometimes, we use it to disguise strange architectural details, like using horizontal stripes to deflect attention from our oddly pointy living room and draw the angle into the room. Also, after years of renting, we're tired of white!

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2 Good color tips:

1. Test patches are your friend; you never know exactly how that little swatch will look on your wall. We love our home, but there are still rooms we want to re-paint because they turned out not-quite-right.

2. Walls are re-paintable. Bold colors, stripes, murals, whatever - if you want to try it, go for it.

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Favorite type and brand of paint:

We spent all our money buying this place, so whatever's cheapest at Lowes. Eventually, we want to re-do most of the rooms with YOLO and Fine Paints of Europe.

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Comments (37)

Tetris above the toilet! Love it.

posted by Alana in Canada on 2007-10-25 12:12:39
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I think that's Space Invaders. :)

posted by Lifeinvector on 2007-10-25 12:14:17
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that is *Space Invaders* which I love even more!!!!!!!

posted by FromTheFuture on 2007-10-25 12:14:50
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There are entries where I think, "yeah, pretty," and there are entries where I think "it'd be interesting to be the person who designed that, for about a week"... and then there are ones like this, where I think "damn, you'd be fun to hang out with." (You can decide if that's praise, though I certainly mean it as such.)

posted by wende in phoenix on 2007-10-25 12:22:43
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Love the painted headboard idea!

posted by Clairepetrol on 2007-10-25 12:30:03
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the second pic with the green, the books and the doggie are my fave

posted by LaDonnaNichole on 2007-10-25 12:30:06
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I agree with Wende! Also the Occasional Dog looks like a sweetie, I love the Space Invaders, and the silver chandelier.

posted by kuroneko on 2007-10-25 12:36:24
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There are some lovely elements in this home, and the Space Invaders bathroom is fun and creative. I would, however, have liked a broader photo of the livingroom to get a little better sense of how all of the colors integrated. That said, well done!

posted by J on 2007-10-25 12:39:11
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I like the floating bookshelves from Umbra - I am thinking about getting a few as well.

posted by Tyson Williams on 2007-10-25 12:44:24
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love love love

posted by JSR on 2007-10-25 12:46:59
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Very original... I love how you were able to use one of those commercial magazine racks/stands in your living room. Ingenious! You definitely decorated without fear.

posted by hejiranyc on 2007-10-25 13:18:13
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love the green room!

posted by filles on 2007-10-25 13:21:04
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your first and second photos almost made me like green rooms. and thats saying a lot...

nice job :)

posted by goodnightdean on 2007-10-25 13:27:10
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Great! Seems like a real house - a fun one at that - compared to a showpiece. Love how unexpected various elements are. I tend to prefer decor with some humor. More relaxing. Your dog clearly feels the same way -- after reading a nice book with a tree on it, I see. Ha!

One thing I keep feeling challenged by in some entries like this one is seeing 70's furniture and fixtures. I'm doing my best to see the attraction, but I still associate those pieces with my childhood. I guess that's why my mom was amazed that I wore 50's and 60's thrift store clothes in the 80's. And why my grandma can't believe collectors would ever want her old silver Christmas tree with blue spotlights!

posted by TracyM on 2007-10-25 13:59:13
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Excellent canine placement! Adorable home...I would love to hang out with you guys and snorgle with your adorable furbaby.

posted by Monica on 2007-10-25 14:01:33
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I am IN LOVE. Beautiful, colorful, sexy, homey - I adore it! The windows above the bed are divine.

posted by surplusj on 2007-10-25 14:28:32
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Question: How did you hang the windows above the bed? (They must be heavy)

Many cute ideas!

posted by .angela on 2007-10-25 14:36:20
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The atari above the toilet is genius.

If I had that light fixture in your living room...that is not the room I would design around it.

posted by st@cy on 2007-10-25 14:47:08
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The bathroom is the best, then the reading nook with the dog.

posted by Joan A. on 2007-10-25 15:05:36
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Another blik space invaders fan here! This looks like the type of home I would want to live in (if I didn't already have my own home).

posted by amanda jane on 2007-10-25 15:38:15
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the windows above the bed frighten me. I don't like anything hanging above teh bed, but glass that can crack is especially terrifying.

posted by sammie2 on 2007-10-25 16:26:22
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This is one of my favorites so far. I feel like I could live here and be very happy, well done!

posted by universal mod on 2007-10-25 16:48:05
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hey, my downstairs neighbors! I only wish we could get as much color in our place as they have in theirs. actually the pics of the yellow/blue rooms don't do them justice, the rooms seem to me a little richer/warmer looking than the pix.

and i didn't know about the space invaders in the bathroom! xlnt!

posted by edgertor on 2007-10-25 16:53:09
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Your dog has the ultimate reading nook. He must be smart!

posted by GHB on 2007-10-25 17:22:33
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"snorgle with your adorable furbaby"...aha, I'm gonna start saying that.

The first pic is my favorite - the windows are a little risky, but what's a bedroom without a little danger, right?

posted by mmadden on 2007-10-25 17:29:26
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As the owner of the home, thanks for all the great comments so far. I just wanted to jump in and calm everyone down about the windows over the bed. They are pretty heavy, but VERY well anchored to the walls. I hung each one with several L-brackets all around the frames so they're solidly hung, but the brackets aren't clearly visible from the room. I wouldn't worry too much about them falling on our heads. And I'm overly-cautious about everything.

Additionally, we also love to snorgle our two furbabies (one of whom did not end up in the photos).

posted by fizziwink on 2007-10-25 18:37:29
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i like your apartment and i like your dog. you should keep an eye on him, as i may steal him...

posted by rando on 2007-10-25 18:38:07
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I love the gold chair in the living room. I love the dog, too!

posted by Maureen on 2007-10-25 20:55:30
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#1 - I heart your dog. I would love to bury my face in his/her fur and plant kisses all over his/her face.

#2 - Love that cozy "reading" nook. That's what I'm calling it.

#3 - I see just a part of that bookcase and it looks pretty cool. Where did you find it? Style name?

Good luck!

posted by BloggingMama on 2007-10-25 21:56:05
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One more thing...

#4 - I'm inspired by the above the toilet artwork. I may actually have to do Tetris above mine...Tetris helps me concentrate...perfect place to do that...in the bathroom. :)

posted by BloggingMama on 2007-10-25 21:57:01
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love it!!

posted by sanriofreak on 2007-10-25 23:10:23
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The geek in me loves the tetris toilet.

I also give you points for not "faking out" your home to look like a magazine spread: your house looks like people actually live in it.

posted by Kuri on 2007-10-26 09:18:49
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I love your book displays! Is the rack (third pic) from a library?

posted by JenDC on 2007-10-26 12:40:52
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Love the originality!!!! GREAT WORK! The Space invaders wall is priceless!!!

posted by melanieyellow on 2007-10-26 14:03:50
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Thanks for the great comments, everyone!

Answers to questions:

The bookshelf in the puppy reading nook is from West Elm, but I don't know if they make it anymore.

The revolving book rack in the living room was found on the street a few years ago on garbage night, rescued and cleaned up.

The lighting fixture in the living room (which we put in after doing most of the rest of the room) makes sense in context (I hope); unfortunately it's an oddly shaped room that's hard to photograph as a whole. It also gets so much light through our giant windows that a lot of the color is actually washed out in the photo.

Also, hi Robin!

posted by fizziwink on 2007-10-26 23:13:03
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Love the golden on the chaise longue- seriously, he adds color and texture and light! Someone should write something on decorating with pets. I always thought my little tortoiseshell looked great as a cat-pillow on the couch.

posted by Miriam on 2007-10-28 18:17:22
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OK - this is what I call "super-sweet, post-millenium, urban funkeclectic!" This is a place!!

You know, the best looking living spaces are the ones that you NEVER get tired of looking at...where you eyes can just flow back and forth over the room, as if they were your hands, touching the objects.....this is what its all about!

posted by c16621 on 2007-11-01 15:18:45
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