apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I like the idea of the silver metallic paint on the fireplace wall. Make sure the wall is utterly smooth, like glass, before applying the silver paint. And have it lightly sanded (or steel-wooled) between coats (apply about three coats). It would be beautiful if the paint tarnished a bit, like metal or silver leaf. Though with the dark fireplace, I'd use the lightest shade of silver possible, not only to reflect light but also to keep that wall from overweighting the apartment..

Maybe a very light gray wall, with white mouldings? Or cream-colored walls (that aren't too yellowish). I'd definitely go with fairly light walls, but not as starkly white as they are now.

That's quite a radiator.

As far as I'm concerned, there is no other color than pink. A light pink would look beautiful on your walls, especially with that beautiful sofa you have. You may even want to add a pale pink pillow. You'd be surprised how lovely pink and red look together. Almost all of your walls can be pale pink, and you can use a darker pink on maybe one wall. Maybe the wall around your mantel? Silver should only be done in small touches, perhaps a couple of silver vases on your mantel top. CB2 has some really cute ones. I know the purists would hate this, but I would paint that mantel white. You'd probably want to leave the mouldings and ceiling white. Good luck and have fun!

where do i get a lamp like that?

i agree with marm. I think light gray would be nice but not metallic for my taste.

i think they have those lamps at ikea, marti, though i'm pretty sure there is a designer version as well.

Donna,
What a lovely place; such a tragedy that you must live abroad for a year or two :)

As one who lives in San Diego but spent 12 years in Oregon, my advice would be to steer clear of gray. Far too cool for such a northerly clime like Switzerland. Your best bet would be to warm it up per Maxwell's suggestion. I would love to see a large colorful pattern on window coverings and I would leave the fireplace but paint the radiator silver. Perhaps an orange, silver, and aqua palette?

Use as many colorful pillows as you want and forget about the paint

The curtains' advice is spot on.


I would agree with Maxwell on 2 shades of white so as to add texture and accentuate beautiful moldings - if there were more furniture/objects/specks of color in the room to highlight. As is, I'd go with palest from olive colorway on the walls, with warm off-white on trim.
I would also lower the pendant and regroup the seating, bringing pieces closer for easy conversation. Maybe turn the rug 90deg. Add sculptural low table (light tone stone, minimal wood with transparent glass insert or black metal frame/matte green glass) in front of the red sofa. Relocate torchiere to the armchair. Hang selection of aquarelles in thin black frames to the left of the fireplace. Put a large plant in whimsical glazed ceramic pot in front of the window, to balance the verticality of radiator.

Oh well. Such a beauty of the room...

i think an extremely pale (close to white), warm, orangey-pink would be lovely. almost no color, but just enough for warmth. white glossy trim.

i don't like curtains at the window, and i think yours are too nice to hide behind them, but i would keep the curtain at the "door" to the bedroom. however, i would get a vivid orangey-pink here, billowing and dramatic. silk or velvet. plain. i think a pattern would work only if you kept the place immaculate and devoid of knick-knacks.

beautiful room!

how about bright clear lemon yellow for the whole room (please include ceiling) or with the fireplace wall silver.

Hmmm....so many good suggestions. I would like to see the wals done in an ever so pale celery color - ever, every so pale - crisp white woodwork and a huge glorious plant in the one corner to match the scale of the wall heater. Then perhaps on the winddow two barely there crisp white linen panels to allow the light to come through but avoid the feeling of a naked window.

Pump up the pillows and maybe change the lampshade color - taking it from the pillows.

Quite a beautiful room as is.

...typos.....sorry...excitement took control.

Donna,

Don't they carry Dulux paint in Geneva? I was counting on it, as we are moving to Geneva in January for a 3 year posting. Dulux has gazillions of colours, and from what I can see, is readily available in France and Germany (not to mention England), and so I thought should be there too (if not, they probably have it over the border in France). Check out their website for some colour ideas.

I would hesitate to do metallics, especially in a rental. I used silver on the ceiling of our bedroom, and it is EXTREMELY difficult to do properly -- it could wind up looking quite awful.

Geneva being grey foggy and rainy all winter, I would hesitate to use grey too.

I think that the fireplace wall would be good for dramatic colour, but am not sure that blood orange is the right colour. I don't think it would look right with your red sofa (but then I may have a different shade of blood orange in mind -- and the inside of my oranges this year has been purple, so...). I think that a large part of the problem is that you are looking for your choice of colour to pull the room together, and what you need is impact through your accessories: for example, the pictures on the wall are far too small, as are the pendant lights (especially the red one) and the plants and boxes on the mantle. Have you considered using decals on the walls? There were some stunning ones recenlty on AT from France, that could be really gorgeous (does anyone remember these? Can't find them...). Also try checking out www.whatisblik.com their paisley ones might be fun in your space. Good luck!

I'm with the "warm-white" camp for the walls.
A subtle hue of white that has a tinge of sunny yellow.

(I'd also suggest moving your grey-futon to face your red sofa, and move the chair into the corner by the window)

BTW, your windows are PRIME candidates for the mirror-ed window treatment everyone was raving about:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/closeup/closeup-more-window-bang-for-your-buck-013111

Sigh... your living room is making me so nostalgic for my apartment in Paris. PS- blood orange is "orange sanguine".

Coop Bau +Hobby mixes paints

Bau+Hobby Genève Onex B+L

Av. Gros-Chêne 14
1213 Onex
Tel.: 022-879 05 70


You can check Interio for curtains.

Luzern

Alpenstrasse 10
6004 Luzern

Tel: 041 419 33 80
Fax: 041 419 33 88

Blood orange is orange sanguine.


Cheers from Switzerland,

Edwin

Btw, check your rental contract. You might have to repaint everything back to the original color or risk not ever seeing your deposit again. Labor costs in Switzerland is extremely high. It's not uncommon for normal people here to take out a second mortgage just to have their exterior walls repainted.

Cheers,

Edwin

If we ever have an ATGeneva or ATSwitzerland, I'd like to nominate Edwin to be the editor.

I just painted my living room dark metallic grey (pewter like) and it is gorgeous. The metallic paint is easy if you roll it on straight from top to bottom. It was a little time consuming, but so worth it. One wall wouldn't be too difficult I don't think and I know you will love it.

The problem I have with painting that wall silver is that you have that huge radiator against the window wall which will seem to wonder aloud why it didn't get the silver paint, instead. Especially since it's so geographically near that wall. I think I'd be tempted to do a striped white-and-grey paint treatment that matches the height of the radiator and begins on its own wall and wraps to about 2 feet to the right of the fireplace, and let that kind of make that hug that part of the room and make it a tad more intimate.

Wow! Thanks for all the great ideas! Unfortunately, I was into the third coat of the Benetton Mercurio Silverwall paint when the comments started coming in.

I guess you can't tell in the photo, but the walls originally are a soft white and the molding is a kinda sandy/tan color. This just wasn't doing it for me as I really like strong intense colors. Also, as I won't be moving any of this stuff back to the states, I don't want to invest too much money on framing and art. Hence the lack of accessories and art.

I originally thought of the decals that are ever so popular in Paris, but quickly eliminated this option since the walls are heavily textured.

I did take the suggestion to switch out the red pendant light fixture in the nook to a larger pendant lamp.

For the person who is moving to Geneva, they do carry some Dulux paints but I only found premixed colors in oil-based paint and not dispersion (i.e. latex). However, there are some smaller paint stores around that may custom mix Dulux.

Thanks again for all your great ideas.

Donna

Flash of genius: a really light mint green.

"If we ever have an ATGeneva or ATSwitzerland, I'd like to nominate Edwin to be the editor.

Posted by gekko at 10/06/06 8:34 AM"

That might have to be ATSwitzerland since the country is so small. Hehehehe.

But then it might be superfluous since the others are doing such a great job.

Cheers,

Edwin