Name: Josh Takano Chambers-Letson
Location: Harlem, NYC
Type of Home: Teeny-tiny pre-war walk up rental apartment
What inspired you to use color? Living in a small Harlem apartment on a PhD student’s dental-floss budget, color helps each room tell a story evoking international adventures and my mixed background. The bedroom is a watery sanctuary with blues based on cushions picked up on a trip to my parent’s home in Seoul, South Korea. Natural and aquatic dressing combines to transform the room into a serene river(bed)...
...The living room is inspired by family’s Japanese heritage, fusing the soothing tans, browns, and blacks of manuscript parchments with ceremonial reds. The office features golds and reds inspired by a print my mom found in Vietnam and peppers photographed in a Thai market, giving a rustic, intellectual feel to the little library. Finally, the kitchen’s silvers and purples are based on a noodle cart I saw in a Bangkok night market, helping the room evoke the colorful and delicious midnight food stalls of Cambodia and Thailand.
Color Tip: Be bold and make unconventional choices. You may be surprised with how happy the results make you. When choosing colors, don’t just go for a color that you like but don’t have a real attachment to. Find a color that inspires deep and wonderful feelings and memories. If home is meant to be your sanctuary, let the color help you to tell a story about your life — both as it has been and as you want it to be. Don’t worry about whether other people will like it because they’re not living in your space, you are. Allowing color to help your living space tell a story can be the difference between a house and YOUR home.
Colors Used: 7 different Behr paint colors are used in my apartment. Bedroom: Island of Capri; Living Room: Desert Camel and Sand Dollar White; Office: Empire Yellow and Poinsettia; and Kitchen: Majestic Violet and Crocus Petal.
Fall Colors Introduction -------------------------------
Welcome, everyone, to our Fourth Annual Fall Colors Sharing & Contest. We're looking for the most beautiful & colorful home in the world and sharing all of the great ideas we get with our readers. This year we're amping things up and hoping to do things better than ever. There are two basic phases, the Sharing Phase and the Voting Phase...
1. Sharing Phase - you comment, judges decide
The 40 best, completed entries will be posted on a daily basis for three weeks. You can view them all at anytime via our new, improved contest pages under ALL ENTRIES. During this time your comments are VERY IMPORTANT as our six judges will be choosing 16 finalists from each region based on comments and their own colorful opinion.
2. Voting Phase - you vote till you drop
Starting October 20th, finalist voting will begin on a daily basis through our new bracketed voting system, which will pit our 16 finalists against one another until only one remains. Sound exciting? We hope so.
Best, Maxwell
I love this place. Its bold and unpredictable but still looks put together and cohesive. I like the ties back to culture and experience done in a modern way.
view ashbadger's profile
LOVE the blue.
view whytephoenix's profile
The mask is all kinds of awsome. Where did you get it?
view m.schwarz's profile
That blue is awesome! Very nice place!
view suzy8track's profile
Gorgeous! I love this rich color palette. It's like a jewel box.
view local's profile
This apartment should be on TOP DESIGN!!! How can I contact this person and have them come over and re-do my apt.?
view KarenJ's profile
What a spectacular apartment! Everything is unusual and eye-catching but works together really beautifully. The colors are divine. I'm in line after KarenJ to have this person come over and re-do my place.
view thecreampuff's profile
The adventurous palette is definitely eye-catching, soothing and vibrant. I love the artwork on the walls and that you split the color scheme in the living room. I love purple and silver in the kitchen, tres sophisticate.
Is that an Ana Mendieta book on the coffee table??
view raquefella's profile
Seeing these colors together makes me think-- personal space is a right, not a privilege, if I like these colors, they're mine to savor in every room from breakfast to bedtime. The space is such a melange, and yet nothing clashes; choosing colors is truly a way to show where you belong.
view noabsolutes's profile
the place looks tiny but the color combo is excellent. i looove the deeply saturated colors that you picked. the john/yoko references are kinda creepy yet cool :) great job
view elinka189's profile
I love the warmth and richness of this apartment between the wall colors and conversational pieces. It shows how you dont have to be afraid of saturated colors in a small space.
view kristaM's profile
As winter sets in, the vibrant colors of this intimate abode send my thoughts back to the sensory indulgences of my tropical childhood. The variety of visual stimuli never seem cluttered, but serve as a neverending vista for the jaded eye.
view Afrofuturist's profile
Josh, I love the bold and vibrant colors you chose! They add a wonderful sense of character and cozy "lived in" feeling without that horrible country kitchen motif! I also love the eclectic decor... it's modern and vintage at once.
view KateArduino's profile
I love the last picture!
view Emmm's profile
it looks a bit too crowded for me to live in, but there is something about it that is very alluring & makes me wanna curl up w/ a cup of tea & watch old movies.
this reminds me of that part of the cure book - how some places feel warm & inviting.
view mariegael's profile
It's lovely and vibrant. The choices for color and decor take you on a little journey with style and elegance. Its nice to see people taking risks with their homes.
view msalern1's profile
This place is gorgeous. It definitely does not feel like it is in Harlem.
view titcha_k's profile
Manhattan apartments being what they are, I've seen a lot of great apartments sectionalize space using color. And if you can get colors this vivid and yet still this inviting, it's really something special.
Comfortable and stylish.
view sammus's profile
Love the apartment. Sooo much character. Colors you have chosen are bright uplifting positive energy but at the same time can be relaxing depending on your mood. Having your cherished art all around you is a plus. Awesome place to enjoy life.
view StacyL's profile
strong colours and yet you make them work so well! excellent job.
view TheoJ's profile
tremendous--i live in a studio apartment and would have been hesitant to use such strong colour in this small a space. you have done a great job here. i, too, like that last photo--kitchen looks inviting. what are you studying? your care for your space is a lesson to many.
view avianmission's profile
p.s. great use of blue, a colour often not seen. but the red, yellow and blue colours together in one of those photos above is a convergence I would not expect in such an apartment. i love it.
view avianmission's profile
YES- This is my favorite entry of all so far.
view kirstin's profile
This is great. Love the super saturated colors and finds from all over the world. Someone interesting lives here. I may be bookmarking this for inspiration for when I paint my own place.
view Trumystique's profile
can i spend the weekend here?
view norah28's profile
This apartment is simply amazing!
Personally, I am not a fan of blue walls but that vibrant shade of blue is beautiful and works really well for that space. And so does the purple, yellow, red...
I am absolutely impressed!
view cimbora's profile
This is my favorite- I wish it was on the daily matchup competition!
view kirstin's profile