apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

And flowers to warm up walls or empty areas - natural or even artificial ones.
Some plants too can be quite winning...

And sculpture pieces, and how about also freeing up some floor space?

Your furniture have matching wood colors, all in pretty congenious style.

If I decorate with what you have now, I would go with kind of "Armani Casa" style.

Why don't you try
1. wall paint - warm gray-ish metalic color, would go with your dark lether couch.
2. light - modern glass sconces, preferably in retangular shape, 2 on the TV wall, 2 above couch, 2 smaller on the window wall.
3. window dressing - wood blind, maybe?

The golden yellow in your art looks very similar in tone to the dominant wood on your sill and kitchen cabinets. There's your main paint color. Don't worry about its being too intense -- reducing the contrast between the wood and the walls will make the room look bigger.

Find floor-hitting curtains that contain the same yellow, and you get to hide the radiator and AC part of the time. Even sheers would make the utilities less of an interruption.

If you're worried about the overall effect being too YELLOW, I see two natural accent colors in your environment. One is the gray that shows up in the counter and other places. If it's just yellowish enough to get along with your wood, you have potential for a chic intense-neutral scheme with a hippo gray accent wall. The other is the blue in the art, which looks warmer than what's on the walls and could be repeated effectively in small details.

This sort of happened to us...we realized the focus in our living/dining room was on the TV although that is not what we wanted. We actually sold our TV, and use our computer now with an HDTV Tuner card. Then we reconfigured the room based on how we would like to have conversations, not based on where the TV was. Now we have a dual function computer/TV where we can watch a movie if we want but the majority of the time, we have our furniture based conversationally. It looks like perhaps you could place the couch under the windows or on an angle?? Just ideas...

i would do the following:

1. edit at much as possible. there's A LOT going on in this small space. you could start by organizing the wires and clearing the surface of the coffee table. i'd also try to create a central landing strip area for jackets, shoes, umbrellas, bags, etc.

2. texture. everything in your apartment is smooth. specifically, i'd add a window treatment (that window ledge area is BEGGING to be a focal point) and either a bigger or more visually interesting rug. a snuggly throw on the couch and some baskets under the coffee table (they make great organizers for remotes, magazines, etc.) would be an affordable start.

3. color. somewhere. anywhere. the ice blue is nice, but it's not strong enough to hold up the entire room on its own. i'd pick a deeper or brighter blue in the same basic spectrum and do an accent wall either behind the couch or on the windowed one.

4. your entertainment center is kind of a dead area. i don't think the furniture configuration is wrong necessarily, but it needs something. art? plants? books? something.

Four things I noticed right away
1) the walls need color
2) the place is cluttered, looks like you need more storage
3) the ceiling lamp in the living area could be replaced with something much more attractive
4) the unsightly A/C and heating units under the window should be covered, possibly by simply placing the couch, a reading chair, or even plants in front of the window (allowing for adequate ventilation of course).

Just a few suggestions. Some of the things I would do: I would paint the window wall a deep chocolate brown, deviating from the light wood floors but staying in the same color family and keeping the warmth. Then I would hang floor to ceiling panels in a bronze like color (not gold) leaving the window area open to allow natural light to filter in. I would move the sofa to the window wall - creating a natural flow between kitchen breakfast bar area to the living room, (also hiding the radiator etc.)especially useful when since the blue in the art would complement the chocolate brown walls and the wood floors woud be stunning with the bronze panels. I would get rid of the rug, it seems to big in the space and I would change the light fixture something like what you might have seen in a 1930's train station can't quite get the image on paper. Also, if you are going to go with a hanging light it either needs to be more elaborate or more interesting in that room or it needs to be flush to the ceiling. The way the light looks now it is just swallowed up in the room. Now that you have moved the sofa there is a long expanse of wall, which will give the place a much more open feeling. You should paint that wall a warm cream. The art that you have on that wall is just too small. You should probably either get some larger framed black and white photos and hang them gallery style or you should get a very large framed mirror and prop it against the wall, while the gallery style black and whites will add interest, the large floor mirror will create the illusion of more space. If you could do without the sofa, I would invest in another color sofa, I would suggest a cream or beige smaller sectional with clean lines. This will give you more seating and make the room flow better with the cream, brown palette.

Some suggestions:

1. Art above/around the sofa. Re-frame so they are the same size, same frame, same matte (even if the actual pieces are different dimensions).

2. Nix the coffee table. Replace with upholsterered ottoman/stools that can also work as sidetables. There's some extra seating and adds softness to the room.

3. Bench with shoe-storage cubbies. Place to the left of the aquarium. Could put shoes and purses and stuff in there. Also provides more seating!

4. Rug. Another place where you could add color/texture/pattern. Current rug is a little stark and cool.

5. Lighting. These are daytime shots - but I don't see much lighting other than your overhead and the spotlights by the sofa. Some modern lamps with dimmers (maybe on the stereo speaker) might provide more night-time ambience.

6. TV/stereo area. Add a book-case btw the speakers that matches the height/finish of your two-speakers - to make the area look more cohesive instead of component-ed.

Maybe you can enter and win the AT/CB2 COLOR contest!

I'm telling you this because I think it's what you secretly want to hear: you must start over. Sell the furniture, lose the fish, rip out that breakfast bar.

This is your dream apt and I'm sure you paid a pretty penny for it. Now, call an architect who will help you establish an entry wall to give you a nice hall with storage and then reconfigure the kitchen so you can have an eating area where your tennis shoes are now. You also have a small sitting area that makes sense (not a giant sofa facing a tv please).

It's hard to look at this without a floorplan but I think you're 20k from loving your home. Which is what? A tiny % of what you paid for it, right? Don't live in a dream apt with a LR and kitchen that don't work. Life is too short.

Could you move two of the chairs around the table/counter to be infront of the heater?

That would give you more walk thru space and they could be turned toward the couch when company is over.

Could the big coffee table go away and be replaced with the smaller side table near the couch as you enter?

Could the third chair around the counter/table now go where the small side table was?

The chairs around the counter seem very cluttery looking, even thought are nice looking chairs.

I'm not sure what is happening under the TV, but I think a shelving unit built around the configuration would draw attention away from the TV and speakers.

Could the fish tank go on the TV wall so it can be more of a focal point?

Thanks for sharing your apt. I love this site. It is always easier to advice others then to figure out your own space.

I would start by editing out a lot of the small items and go for some bolder statements.

Those 4 pictures in a line above the sofa do nothing visually, but reframed all the same size and group in a square they would be more interesting and take advantage of the height of the room.

I would replace the current stools with something that has a large base instead of legs to avoid that jumbled look.

Add dramatic curtains in a very textural fabric-raw silk, velvet, brocade-that would pick up the colors in new pillows.

I would ditch the rug and don't replace it until you have reworked the space. Right now it looks like a road to nowhere, dead ending under the TV.

Lastly I would replace the small bookshelf with a much larger unit that can accommodate both books and objets d'arts and cover the big what spot on the wall.

I don't think they bought the place, just bein. I think its a 'dream rental' .
It could still work some...If you feel up to it, maybe ask the landlord, because maybe you could talk to them about paying for a renovation (of smaller scale than the 20k) for the kitchen area yourself? Like removing the island and putting in tall cabinetry next to the stove and replacing a few planks of the floors? (I estimate $2k)

A tall, thin, long table ala ikea parallel to the cabinets could serve as a nice space to eat and open the space more. Besides, then you could actually enjoy your view of brooklyn!

I also think warmer colors and textures are missing. Good luck, I can't wait to see what you do!!

I'm pretty sure I would first, generally edit. For instance, maybe the fish tank might go. THEN...

Make a clean cornice board (maybe MDF) above the window stretching across from the pipe chase on the right to the wall behind the couch. Paint the window wall, the pipe chase, the cornice and the radiator the putty color that the airconditioner is. Behind the cornice put floor-to-ceiling curtain panels (maybe velvet ones from Pottery Barn? I think they have a color that's a darker putty-ish color like mushroom or something). I would probably have the curtains bank to the left of the window, right next to the sofa, most of the time. It will still be a "window treatment" and will make the whole window seem larger, but not necessarily cover the a/c or the radiator, and yet they would be fairly camouflaged by the wall color. The window sill should be painted out that dark brown bronze window frame color.

Then I think I'd paint the TV wall and the little piece of wall to the right of the pipe chase a dark grey (about the color of the mat around the picture that currently hangs on the window wall).

All the pictures that are behind the couch (and the one that's on the window wall) would go above the TV, and their mid-to-light-toned mats would pop out from the dard grey wall, while the TV would recede into the dark grey wall until you actually turn it on to watch it.

The couch wall would also get that putty color that the window wall gets, but the art above the couch might be some kind of bold thing that has some real punches of color, like red or something. Since the sofa looks vaguely Deco-ish, perhaps an antique travel poster or something at that Chisholm gallery on 8th Avenue and 16th (?) St. or that place on Columbus Avenue and 73rd (?) St.

The rug would go, and perhaps one that had a solid version of whatever bold color popped out of whatever wonderful thing went behind the sofa.

1. couch under window
2. backless stools/dark wood color
3. some red/reds/oranges somewhere please!
4. agree - upholsered ottoman would warm up room; perhaps add some pattern or heavy texture here
5. paint idea for walls - big, bold horizontal stripe 18" bands around the room ala chair rail (can be light blue with dark brown perhaps?)
6. forgive my tone - beat from work....GOOD LUCK!

Great space. Congrats! Do paint the wall behind the sofa all the way to the front door in a great color. Take all those small framed pictures, ALL of them, and arrange them over the sofa. It will create a focal point for the living room, and make the room look larger. NEVER HANG ANYTHING INSIDE A DOOR FRAME. Especially one the is 6-12 inches deep. Honor your architecture. If you want to spend some money, ditch the sofa and get four stuffed chairs with one ottoman. Let the sale be your guide. If you find a place with four of one chair, make them an offer.

A lot's been said about the painting, and I agree you do need some rich warm tones.

1. Sell the nice mod leather sofa for some good bucks and put towards an L-shaped sectional with a backless chaise extension so you don't completely block the A/C.

2. Add a glass top coffee table to help with the illusion of more space. Sit it on a smaller more colourful and plush rug.

3. If this is not a rental I would take out that breakfast bar/cupboard space all-together. It sticks out like a sore thumb in all your pictures, and intrudes on your preciously small living space. Besides it's hideous, and the stools are ugly and uninspiring.

4. Give the fish tank to a niece or nephew.

5. Invest in a industrial kitchen caddy on castors. It should be roughly the same size as the breakfast bar and have a stainless steel or butcher block countertop. You can position it out of the way against the wall where the fish tank is, and move it when your are entertaining. A couple of nice tall stainless steel stools could work with this unit. IKEA has decent enough units like this I think, or else a good restaurant supply store will have them.

Good luck!

After taking another look I am convinced the breakfast bar is the main culprit here.

My suggestions: A round coffee table (or ottomon) would make the space flow a little better and mimic the rounded counter. Try to make your fish more of a focal point - looking at the side of the fish tank as you enter isn't inviting. Maybe next to the window or at an angle in the corner btwn the tv & window on a table w/ base that's not too cumbersome. Since things are a little crowded on the floor, ideally I'd say replace the bookshelf storage w/ shelving installed on the tv wall that blends with the speakers & other equipment. The pillows are fun, but they're not doing anything for your sophisticated couch - once you've chosen paint, find something to complement (or find pillows that you love & pull a warm paint color from the fabric. I agree with Team Decor about grouping the small art (just not in a row). If the art images don't relate to each other, it's best if the frames have something in common. Enjoy your new home!!!

lose the breakfast bar and the TV. get the HDTV tuner card recommended above. configure for conversation, not TV. that usually means two comfortable chairs facing each other on either side of the sofa. recommendation: make them see through, with no to-the-floor slip cover, to maximize space and minimize furniture bulk.
see through coffee table. make a dining area with a tiny table and chairs, stools or benches where the TV now blocks out the sky.
more color as per max et al advice.
trees.

For the most basic, or rather, underlying, advice: the room doesn't simply lack color, it lacks variation in tone. Some boldness that provides contrast in the room. Other than the (clutter) of the rug and the tv/speakers. i.e. needs to be on the wall - as people have suggested, a whole, bolder accent wall - and in the kitchen, as well as in the window treatment. Bolder, simpler, designed.

actually this is really simple...
take a few days(weekend?)

to: "move into the space again"

by this i mean move everything on the walls and the floor to a ('backstage'ing) place, the backstaging place could be your bedroom, just place everything there and close the door, drink some wine, burn a candle, listen to some music, sleep on the floor, then just wake up and move back in.

'scene 1, take 2' as needed ;)

I agree with everyone that you definitely need to add some color accents to liven the apartment up. You could add some color in throw pillows and pictures. Add some candles and candle holders to make it more homey. The windows are very plain. You don't want to lose the light, but you could add some wood blinds or faux wood blinds which are much easier to clean and look very nice. You can even add a wooden valance padded and covered with a fabric that would enhance the decor. These can be custom made or are fairly easy to make yourself. A nice lamp on a small table would add to the room. I would only use two bar stools so that you will have room to add another chair in the living area. There looks like there may be some space in the corner on the right side of the window if you move the speakers and possibly get a small entertainment center or cabinet to house the TV and speakers. Good luck with the challenge of working with a small space, but it can be done. Just add some color to bring it to life.