apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

suddle?

Small point: it's "subtle," not "suddle."

Yes. Almost a red ribbon, but 'suddle' kicked her down a notch. What can I say? This contest is all about presentation, no?

Great job for being on a budget. Very creative wall idea. Reminds me a bit of the Austin entry.

Now that I've gotten over the spelling thing (and it took a few minutes), this is a pretty interesting, eclectic entry. I like the bags on the wall as well as the pattern on the bed wall.

Seriously. I was all impressed not only by your apartment, but also with you being someone who's smart enough to stage the photo beautifully, but then you go and do this suddle thing and now my impression of you has gone down quite a few notches.

I like it...though I probably would have hidden the lubriderm bottle for the photo (I think Monday brings out the petty in me). :) Does the purple wall in the last photo face the wall with the blocks? Are both side walls white?

I think it is a great use of color - even if the colors themselves are not my favorite. Does that make any sense?

Christy--that's my take on it, too.

I'm confused - is this a contest about color or spelling? ;^ )

Allison - Points to you for getting colorful and staying on budget!

Makes perfect sense, Christy. You can like how the colors are distributed and their level of contrast with one another and the overall mood created, without being totally into the colors themselves.

That's pretty much the reaction I'm having. I look at the second photo and think: "Wow! That looks great! Cool idea! Nice contrasts!" But the quilt, for instance, would never leap out and grab me in the store.

Hi Everyone,
This is my apartment. I apologize for my spelling mistake. It was a last minute decision to enter the contest and I type everything pretty fast and didn't spell check. My fault.

Now onto the the main reason for this contest, color and design. The purple wall does face the wall with the grid. One of the side walls is my closet, which is white, and on the other side the wall is all windows.

To attempt to redeem myself from my earlier Monday-morning snarkiness, I would like to add that this is a really good way to paint on a budget--it ends up looking intentional and thoughtful, rather than catch-as-catch-can.

And besides, we should always blame editors for spelling errors, not authors ;)

Jesus Christ. All you self-appointed copy editors out there--real-life professional ones and bitchy amateur wannabes--can we all focus on the rooms instead of the typos and incorrect grammar? (It's bad enough that entrants potentially open themselves/ourselves up to negative criticism... There IS a middle ground between milquetoast politeness and full-on snarkiness, you know. Grrr.)

Really nice. You're exactly the kind of entrant that I'd like to see have some $$$ to spend at CB2 - well done!

Hopefully you can ignore all the mean posts about your spelling error, totally unnecessary and catty. Your room looks great, I love that you did it on a budget. It's very original!

I like "suddle", the way it rolls off the tongue. I am going to put it on one of the t-shirts I decorate:)

Classy reply Allison.

I agree with Enrique, and I used to be an editor...I mean, c'mon, this is about design, not grammar (of course, I made the snarky comment about the lotion bottle)! I just wish we could get 360's on all the rooms...but I really like this...esp because the color's punchy without being pushy. I'm really impressed, too, that the blocks came out looking as clean as they did...I would have probably had lots of squiggly lines, despite the use of tape.

Allyson - I had the same thought as Christine.
How did you do it? Just masking tape and an even hand? Did you buy thin making tape, lay out the grid and paint all in one go, or did you take it row by row? I'm in an NY rental too, and I think that you had a great idea. Thanks for any tips!

Hi Tara,
The grid pretty much took some masking tape and an even hand. I had a friend help me and we used masking tape and a 2ft level and just moved across the wall. I think the masking tape was about an inch wide. We then used a Martha Stewart ad that we found to measure the rectangles. It took us about 4hrs to put up the tape. I'm still amazed at how straight it came out.

Tara, another thing that was helpful was sketching the whole thing out before we started. I am a graphic designer so I measured everything out and then designed it in InDesign. Once the wall was taped up I labeled each rectangle with a post-it specifying a color. I then had a few friends come in and help paint.

great job. I agree with guido! Best of luck.

as for the one graphic pillow on the bed: i thought i had bookmarked a site that sold these in the salmon color, blue, and green probally a year ago. I want the green ones and now can't find it!!!! Could you please point me in the right direction? Thanks!

Liddy,
The pillow is from Dwell. I bought it almost two years ago. I think it came in three or four colors. There were also a few other patterns that kinda went with it. I've been on a search for the other patterns so if you find them please let me know!

I think I'm the world's crapiest speller ever, and it has nothing to do with class or education (still paying off student loans from graduate school!!) and more to do with how some people's minds work and the flow from brain to keyboard.

Brava on the econo design. The entries I find the most inspiring are not the ones that look like they came about from reading interior design mags and dropping 5K on a couch, but rather ones like yours, the thoughtful and personal way you designed your living space without breaking the bank.

regards,
trillium

Thumbs up. Applied with precision and restraint, adds so much to a square space. And interestgly played out in other elements of the room.