Name: Kirsten
Location: new york city, ny
Type of Home: studio, 325 sq feet
What inspired you to use color? Color takes up no space! This was the first place I've ever had a chance to paint the way I want. That was my biggest inspiration - freedom to really make a place my own (even though I still rent at this point). I knew that I could do it too: Because my place is so small, I could splurge on expensive paint without a lot of expense. The whole apartment took four gallons total...
I knew that I could create zones in my apartment with color, as opposed to furniture. I wanted warm for the area where I'd sit and read, watch tv, have friends over, and vivid lime for the kitchen area because I'd seen it in a friend's tiny apartment and love it, and a cool restful blue for the sleeping area. While the apartment now looks great, I did make mistakes--orange is a favorite color and I painted the wall with the desk bright orange. I felt as if the wall was moving towards me and the apartment looked like a day care center center. I repainted white and to create an acceptable zone for putting up images I liked, I painted the area between the desk and the shelves gray. I'm adaptable and figured I'd get tired of strong colors after 3 years, but I must have made good choices, because I still feel comforted by the hunting red walls, energized by the lime green and soothed by the spa blue. People really like coming here--now I just need a larger space to have more people over!
Color Tip: Trust your emotions. I went to the Dahlemdorf Museum in Berlin and was knocked out my the deep rich red walls--I though you were supposed to make walls disappear to highlight the art--instead, the red wall evoked such a strong warm emotion and was perfect for early Renaissance painting. Beyond emotion, always go a little darker and dramatic--I tried lighter versions of blue and green for the bedroom and they looked institutional, not homey. Do not ever believe that a small space will seem larger with toothwhite walls--use color to create zones.
Colors Used: Benjamin Moore spa blue, lime green, Ralph Lauren Hunter's Red
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
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Kirsten -- This space reminds me a bit of the Miles Redd studio apartment (still shown in his design portfolio) that was about the same size. If you're not familiar with it, you'd probably get lots of inspiration from it.
http://www.milesredd.com/portfolio2.shtml
view Lisa Hunter (Montreal)'s profile
One of my pet peeves are visible electrical cords. That cord hanging off your fridge is drawing way too much attention. It is the first thing I saw when I looked at the photo and it is still the first thing I see. Surely those can be tucked behind the fridge.
view peachpie's profile
i love your sofa!
view Linda @ thebargainlife.com's profile
Beautiful red walls!! And I love your first sentence, "Color takes up no space"!
I agree with peachpie about the electrical cords though. It's something I didn't even notice when I saw it every day but it jumps right out in a photo, and when I hid them, it really made a difference in daily life too.
view sagekitten85's profile
Oh no, you are totally right about the cords! I am so used to looking at them and was so fixated on about 10 other things they weren't even on my mind and yes, they look pretty godawful--but please also look at the other shots as well!
I love the Crate and Barrel Petrie sofa, and see it on apartment therapy alot--because it is up on legs it is less of a mass of furniture and creates a really nice sightline, plus you can store boxes under it--not a favorite solution, but the place is so small, I will sparingly tuck an emtpy printer or computer box under there.
view kirstenm's profile
at first, i was like, why are these pictures all of the same area? then i saw that it was a studio! hahaha i live in a place that's about 400 & something. so, a applaud what you did here. when you move into a space this small, the first thing all your friends tell you is to cover it in light neutrals. good for you for having the guts! great couch!
view mariegael's profile
oh, I love those Masaccios :)
view panka's profile
I really like your colors, particularly the blue in the bedroom, but I'm confused - what's going on with the paint by the door? Is it intentional that it doesn't go all the way to the frame? Or am I crazy and just not looking at it right?
view theseboots's profile
Mmm, no you're not crazy. After the attack of the orange wall, and being very influenced by an architect friend who thought that the apartment needed more white, I painted over the orange wall, and then where the orange wall met the green wall and I was supposed to paint over everything to the right of the door. And then I realized, wait, I love this lime green, I don't want to do that. However, not after I had started the white and totally run out of green paint. If I were artistic I'd turn this into something groovy, and I tried, by curving it, but I guess it just looks wrong.
The Massaccios come from a book of Early Renaissance painting I got as a gift. They are pretty amazing.
view kirstenm's profile
For those interested in a better look of how this space reads, go here: http://brightyear.typepad.com/bright_year/2008/06/after-the-cleaners-and-agent-meeting-shoes.htm
view kirstenm's profile