apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Dear Tia,

This is a tough space to go glam in with strong colors, but we'll try to help.

To separate the spaces we would paint accent walls only (one behind the bed and the other down below against the opposite wall). If you try to draw a line down one wall we're afraid it will seem awkward.

We would keep the ceiling light and airy - just like your lovely sample - and use the ceiling to integrate the whole room and tie everything together.

We would go white on the ceiling and the molding (nice idea) and off-white on the walls that are not accented. Basically you'll have a light, bright room with two really strong, glam accents. This would be beautiful for this small room.

Anyone else??

I agree with Maxwell. I could see all off-white walls with one glossy blue wall behind the bed. Furnish and accessorize the rest of the room and live with it for a while so you can figure out if you want another accent wall. Since the walls are slanted, they should for the most part stay light so they don't look like they're coming down on you.

Some of the other posters will find this a funny comment coming from me, but I think a nice ice-tone neutral overall would be best. I'm not sure I'd even go as far as Maxwell with the accent colors. The space seems to be made up of broken lines and planes: slanted ceilings, dog legs, niches, among other oddities. I might lower the headboard so that it's in line with the niche if that's where you intend to keep the bed.

Does anybody have any information about that chandelier in the first picture. I love it.

One thing you might do is paint inside those frames a very dark blue so that it might seem kind of like a night sky. And then the part that's actually molding, plus the part "on" the joints themselves might seem a little bit like actual support of something like an outdoor trellis, so it might be like sleeping under a night sky.

Here's something that's KIND of like what I'm talking about, except that I really don't think you should do a mural or anything, but it's a similar space to yours, and it might help illustrate what I'm talking about:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/artycurtis/sets/1151134/

You'll really have to think about it, because a very dark blue like I'm suggesting might end up being heavy, but I can KIND of imagining it disappearing into the "night".

By the way, if you do add that molding, I'd suggest that befor you start cutting, or anything, you should put blue painters tape everywhere that you think you'll want the molding, so you can get an idea of how the pattern will be.

That won't tell you, of course, how you'll feel about the molding being white, but it will give you a very good idea about the proportion of the pattern. For instance, whether it's looking too dense in the areas where it's going against something small, or whether you want to have something more complicated in the larger areas, etc.

I think that since you have that cut-off triangular shape behind the bed, I'd try to work that shape in somewhere, and so I'd shoot for something that resonates with the ceiling part of your example photo than with the wall part of it.

The picture rails (molding) can be very limiting, depending on how you want to arrange your furniture. I had them taken out of my bedroom because, with them, I could only put my bed in one particular spot (otherwise everything would look off-center).

That being said, since you're going to add them yourself, they do add a nice effect. In my parents' building's hallways, they put a deep grey green inside the rails, with a lighter color on the outside- makes for a really nice look.

bonline,
It's the Kou Chandelier. Her's a link:

http://design-milk.com/kou-chandelier/

Of course I meant "here's"

alright, at first I could feel the jealousy come on because I thought that first picture was your room...that is gorgeous...I agree with JonathanB on this one...I think there is too much going on architecturally to try to break it up...and I too think that if you lower the headboard, actually I think it would be great to make that entire lower wall your headboard- or at least look like it. This might be a good place for your pop of color...

I'm concerned about where you would stop the moldings if you put them on the slanted walls, since the slants don't end at the same point. i think this might close the space in more. Perhaps this application could be limited to the flat ceiling plane, trimed with a great decorative molding at the top of the slanted walls to for a frame (as in the example picture)

Good luck! I think you could actually do a lot with all the interesting angles and niches, you just need to work with the space...

Remove: the ceiling fan with force, it has no physics intent for existing there.
the space in the bedroom under your television, (its just studs and drywall) remove it and redefine it, this is where the focus of living -vs- living exists. if the pantry/closet extends into this space? find away to organically connect it. that is where you want environmental convection heating and cooling to live (vent appropriately).
you have 16 feet of vertical space, remove the handrail going up the stairs.

put everything else back in a box.

thanks for all the suggestions thus far. for clarification, the molding i am thinking of mimicking in the example picture is the kind on the wall, not the ceiling. just simple boxes.

i agree with max on the color - even though I sometimes think accent walls can get a little cliched because then it's like the stand alone wall. what I thought might be good to tie that wall into the rest of the space is to do some simple half round moulding painted in the same ice blue for the bedroom. the moulding would be the same size rectangles on your slanted walls. the idea being that same size rectangles would detract from mixmatched walls. also, since you like moulding, in your sitting room you could do a chair rail and have that be the natural boundary for color. Paint everything below the rail. Good luck!!

About painting the room, I would be conservative about the colors you use, even on an accent wall. Your room appears to have only one window, in the lower level sitting area. This means that it is likely already a dark space. Therefore I would not paint any wall a color that could make it darker, instead I would stick to bright, light colors that help the little natural light you have bounce around the room. Also, to increase natural light, take the blinds off of your window (can people really see you on the 3rd floor of your house?) and if you can afford it, get a low profile air conditioner. Given the lack of natural light, you should also concentrate your efforts on supplementary lighting. Though I'm sure the ceiling fan helps keep this attic room comfortable, its lighting is inadequate at best. Consider uplight canisters, sconces, floorlamps and other lighting that create as much drama and interest as paint colors.

thanks, john. you bring up a good point about the lighting. there is only one window in the entire space but while natural light is limited other sources are not. the ceiling fan isn't used for light at all, only for circulating the air in the room. there are several pot lights throughout the space that do a good job. bu