apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time


East #22: Becky's Careful Color


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fallcolors2.jpgName: Becky
Location: UWS, New York City
Type of Home: prewar apt
What inspired you to use color? We liked the idea of imbuing a fairly traditional prewar apartment with a funkier sensibility, and thought that was best achieved through the careful use of color. We especially love the warm feeling of deep rich colors in rooms that are used for entertaining, like the dining room and kitchen...

 
 

Color Tip: Think carefully about how different colors relate to one another throughout your home or apartment. We chose a few colors that echo throughout the apartment, and tried to be thoughtful about how they would look in combination for a more cohesive and harmonious feeling.
Colors Used: Ann Sacks "jack o lantern' tiles in the kitchen over the banquette. Worth the investment!!

Fall Colors Introduction -------------------------------

fallcolors1.jpgWelcome, 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

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Comments (44)

I love your kitchen!

posted by Emmm on October 8th 2008 at 6:38am
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I love the kitchen and bathroom! Your place looks like it gets lots of light. I like the MCM furnishings but it seems like the dining set is out of place - is it mission-style?
Otherwise I think you've used color really well. When can I move in?

posted by ange_lune on October 8th 2008 at 6:43am
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The kitchen and bathroom are AMAZING. They feel like they are in an entirely different apartment- maybe because the colors seem more restrained and succinct?

posted by thirddegree on October 8th 2008 at 6:53am
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I agree with the other posters about the bathroom and kitchen. They look incredible!

posted by suzy8track on October 8th 2008 at 6:57am
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Beautiful! Love all the great tiles! Could you tell me what kind of tiles you used in your kitchen?

Thanks!!

posted by azure on October 8th 2008 at 7:01am
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I love this apartment! I too want to move in (I'm a fellow NYer)- or maybe is it for sale? A few questions: where are the kitchen cabinets from? In the bathroom, where are the tiles and the ceiling lamp from?
Also, curious to see the bathroom window. Did you make it into a cabinet somehow? It seems to have colored bottle in it lit from behind?

posted by nyc cat on October 8th 2008 at 7:01am
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Oooo, I want that bathroom sink!

posted by Zohreh on October 8th 2008 at 7:05am
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If that is a computer armoire that has the chair in front of it, could you identify it, please?

posted by Jean on October 8th 2008 at 7:07am
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so so great! love the red chairs in the kitchen!!

posted by CaliinFrance on October 8th 2008 at 7:10am
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Thank you all for the positive feedback thus far! You may notice there is a duplicate photo of the kitchen. What I really wanted to upload was a shot of our amazing banquette and the back wall, which has the Ann Sacks tiles in red and orange that I refer to above. AT, if you are reading, is there a way I can substitute this photo in??
Ange_lune, I totally agree with you re our mission dining room table. What can I say -- we spent all all our money renovating the kitchen and bathroom last year! Dining room awaits transformation...:)
Re inquiries on tiles -- kitchen is white subway tiles from NEMO, and the back wall (not pictured) and colored tiles are from Ann Sacks. Can add specifics later. Ceiling lamp is vintage, from Lost City Arts here in NYC.
Yes, there is a cabinet built into the window (outside light from behind shines through the frosted glass). We normally have lots of prosaic bathroom items stored there -- read bathroom tissue and hairdryer, etc.
Looking forward to more feedback!

posted by BeckyT on October 8th 2008 at 7:15am
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Info on the stove and knobs?

posted by KFC1 on October 8th 2008 at 7:19am
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That bathroom! So serene and light. I love it.

posted by universal mod on October 8th 2008 at 7:21am
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Hello,
Wonderful job on the renovation! Did you mention where you bought the cabinets? Are they walnut veneer? What did you do with the floor?

Any chance there is another unit for sale like yours in your building? ;-) My wife and I have been looking on the Upper West Side for a while. Still, we have to sell our apartment first. You can find my listing in the FSBO section. Anyway, if you find a similar listing in your building, could you send it to 407PAS@gmail.com?

Thanks!

Larry

posted by 407PAS on October 8th 2008 at 7:28am
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The kitchen and bathroom are gorgeous! I especially love the wood cabinets and red chairs. I wish the yellow in the living room was a bit less pastel, though. It seems too country casual for the rest of the MCM feel of the apartment. (I also think the furniture could coexist better. They seem like separate pieces and don't meld very well.) The orange wall color is wonderful!!

posted by ooh_food on October 8th 2008 at 7:29am
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eta: the orangy-yellow color, i mean

posted by ooh_food on October 8th 2008 at 7:29am
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yes, info on the stove knobs please! and what color/brand white paint is that in the kitchen?

posted by cherrybomb on October 8th 2008 at 7:31am
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I love the Orange room.

posted by Sleek on October 8th 2008 at 7:32am
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strike that, white paint in the bathroom, is what I meant.

posted by cherrybomb on October 8th 2008 at 7:32am
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I especially like the photo display above the credenza.

posted by HeatherAB on October 8th 2008 at 7:35am
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this is my kind of place, great job!

posted by bettyboop on October 8th 2008 at 7:45am
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That may be the widest hallway in the UWS and your bathroom remodel is stunning. You made it very fresh and crisp w/o being fussy or too modern. If any of the editors at Domino or reading this, please feature this bathroom in a future issue.

posted by Seaside on October 8th 2008 at 7:46am
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What a beautiful apartment - the renovations are very tasteful and well worth the efforts!

posted by bepsf on October 8th 2008 at 7:47am
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The kitchen is completely amazing, the bathroom is lovely...but the rest of the apartment is kind of meh. Maybe it's just the lighting and lackluster photographing...

posted by frontiersperson on October 8th 2008 at 8:00am
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wow...i LOVE those red chairs. Where did you find them?

posted by inkstainedwriter on October 8th 2008 at 8:00am
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Wait, scratch that, reverse it. Its a work in progress.. Good work thus far! And I...need more coffee, stat!

posted by frontiersperson on October 8th 2008 at 8:02am
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Love it - you did an incredible job. Just curious, how high are the ceilings (in the kitchen, namely)? I love the cabinets and how they reach all the way up to the ceiling!

posted by chowbaby on October 8th 2008 at 8:05am
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yes, how high are the ceilings? I've got tall ceilings too and am debating about how high to take the tile. Recommendations?

posted by Heather C on October 8th 2008 at 8:15am
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i could be wrong but the stove with the red knobs looks like a wolf range: http://www.wolfappliance.com/

posted by bettyboop on October 8th 2008 at 8:45am
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Disturbingly, punishingly austere. Investing in a textile or two or a hundred *might* help.

This apartment looks painfully bare and emotionless to me without the cachet of the swankiness of an ultramodern abode.

It screams "Ouch" and "Brrrrrr!"

posted by tahitianpearl on October 8th 2008 at 8:48am
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Yikes on that last comment! Oh well, to each his/her own.
Anyway, here's a few more pieces of info to those who inquired:

The cabinets are HenryBuilt, walnut, and I highly recommend the company, both in terms of quality, price and customer service. We bought the chairs through, you guessed it!, AT Scavenger (Craigs List). Stove is indeed Wolf. The floor is a long and involved story which my husband can shed light on later. Will have to get back to you on the ceiling height, but we felt the tile all the way up worked, since it is counterbalanced with the warmer wood. The kitchen and bathroom were a labor of love, and we could not have accomplished it without the wonderful guidance and vision of our friend and architect, Julie Salles Schaffer (www.sallesschafferarchitecture.com).

bathroom sink is Duravit.

The computer armoire was purchased a few years ago at Room and Board, I think they still have similar ones.

posted by BeckyT on October 8th 2008 at 9:33am
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I'm with ange_lune! Lovely!

And yes, it is a Wolf range (I have the same) -- you can actually pick between the classic Wolfe red knobs or more discreet black ones (we chose red).

posted by mschatelaine on October 8th 2008 at 9:36am
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I like the kitchen the best. Perfect use of red in a room.

posted by medenver on October 8th 2008 at 9:40am
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Beautiful, just beautiful! I especially love the bathroom.

posted by Trinh on October 8th 2008 at 9:44am
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Wow! Gorgeous! I must say though-- I just loooove that bathroom!!! You guys did a great job, what a pleasure to view it!

posted by Margiefriend on October 8th 2008 at 9:50am
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Elegant use of deep color, especially red and orange. I don't think it's "careful," rather judiciously risky.

posted by dolor on October 8th 2008 at 12:10pm
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Very sterile even with the use of colour and the colour is very harsh rather than being appealing and striking.

posted by TheoJ on October 8th 2008 at 1:23pm
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while I love the bathroom and kitchen, I don't understand how its owner belongs to the same of the living room and hallway!

posted by alicia on October 8th 2008 at 2:30pm
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Adoring the bathroom and kitchen...

Somewhat off topic question...how long did it take between when you submitted your entry and when it was posted? I sent mine in two days ago and nada! I'm wondering if it wasn't recieved...did yours show up as a post right away?

posted by amiencc on October 8th 2008 at 3:28pm
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There is nothing Ouch or BRRR about this place it is lovely and inviting and the design of the Kitchen and bath are refreshing for a turn-of-the-century classic on the Upper West Side.

posted by czweben on October 8th 2008 at 5:17pm
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Kitchen and bathroom blew me away, but the living room? Nothing careful about it - way too orange...

posted by LuckyMonkey on October 9th 2008 at 8:28am
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I love the bathroom. That part seemed the most carefully planned.

posted by Hope on October 11th 2008 at 8:49am
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this place is HUGE for nyc!
i love the kitchen & bathroom. they are bright & simple. the living room doesn't seem to fit in though. it seems dark & the patterns kind of work against each other.
great place though, seriously.

posted by mariegael on October 11th 2008 at 12:33pm
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love the orange ... what's the brand and color name?

posted by kahmee on October 12th 2008 at 2:56pm
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It is all very cold and austere, although, technically, the composition is solid. I agree that nearly the whole apt. lacks emotion. I think one can design and decorate along modern/urban lines but with much more warmth than what was created here.

posted by sisterwife on October 12th 2008 at 6:07pm
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