apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Very nice job. I love the relaxing colors and the thrifty style.

This doesn't say MCM to me. It's much more traditional/elegant, with a few touches of MCM. That said, it's beautifully done. I like your color choices in particular. And your bed is very inviting. I like the rumpled lightness of it.

What paint colors did you use?

I love it. Especially where you tucked part of the bedskirt up and under the mattress. I do that all the time.

I really like it. I think that the mirror/clock/key rack in the bedroom would look more striking if it was balanced a little bit more- maybe by moving the mirror up 6" and moving the clock over, centered above the key rack and the top flush with the mirror top.

I think it's very nice and cozy, but not at all what I'd consider MCM. The couch is probably the only contributing element, but it's definitely outweighed by all of the traditional, cottage-y furnishings and accessories.

Hey, it doesn't have to be MCM to be good!

Good start!

Very soothing space. Is that an Emmy award on the end table in the living room?

Well done! I think the trick with decorating on the cheap is to stick to a monochrome palette. You did such a lovely job!

Love the first pic of the bedroom. Gorgeous.

I agree that the living room area is not so modern and more traditional.

A suggestion:
the living room is too leggy -- all the pieces have spindly little legs making the space feel more formal-fussy and less cozy-modern.
Really not a fan of the matching coffee/sofa table set. Perhaps change out the coffee table with an upholstered piece to bring softness and change the sofa table to a mid-century modern teak credenza with storage.

Also your rug is not the appropriate scale. Too small.

Still, great work in only 8 months!

i agree with jac: your living room is large enough for less leggy pieces, and you might want to try tightening up the seating arrangement to disguise the small rug

...and the mirror is hung a bit high - if you bring it down a little, it'll relate nicely to the couch and lamps

I've seen that combination of ice blue and stark white a lot lately, and for some reason it bugs the hell out of me. I think it may have something to do with me being male - it's a very dainty colour scheme.

Overall, you did a great job. Love the bedroom lamps and the sofa! Nice colors.

I agree with the others. It needs just a little tweaking. It needs a much bigger area rug in living room(maybe move the current one to the dining area when you can replace it), and as jac7890 said it's a little too leggy. You need a more solid piece or two which could be a table next to the chairs. I would lower that picture over what looks like the bar. It's too disconnected from it.

For the living room comments about leggy furniture... you could do a slipcover on one or two pieces (?). I like the fact that it is not strictly midcentury (which doesn't do a lot for me) and that it looks like the items were accumulated over time. I think you've done a good job of making pieces more modern with the choices of bold fabric accents.

The bedroom is dreamy and comfy-looking -- I like that you worked with furniture "finds" and updated them.

I'm sure with more time, you'll add more of your personal touches -- it does look like a home (not easy to do in a teeny tiny NYC studio). Where (general area) in CT?

Oops... (duh) I see you're in West Hartford. :/

Last comment (really)... maybe you could get a more solid coffee table to contrast with the other living room furniture -- not sure that slipcovers would really work on the sofa (would take away from it's great looks). Do you have room to move the bamboo chairs to another area as a tete a tete seating area with a small table? And then, you could put two small upholstered chairs in the main living area?

Where did u get the lamps on either side of the bed? Love them. Or what style are they called, so I can search on eBay? Thanks, great job BTW!!!

Love it- your bedroom is so nice- really like the bed & end table and your chairs in the Living room also. It's not a model home- it's your home and it's great. Nice job.

I love the framed candelabra pix in your bedroom? Were they DIY or do you have a source you'd care to share/

The lamps are really funky.

Jillian did a beautiful job. And while I agree that a larger rug in the liv. room would look great, the whole place say "Ahhhh, allergin-free" to me. But since when is $8K "on the cheap" for a one-br apt (as advertised in the side links)?

Sorry, I meant $5K. I know it's easy to spend that much, I get that. But still not really on the cheap.

The whole space strikes me as icy cool and feminine with a touch of Liberace. Would be nice in summer...winter? I don't know. Like the sofa and the shabby chic bureau tho.

Two suggestions: lose the cheap full length mirror and the clock. Maybe you can find a nice vintage free standing mirror?

PS. The full length mirror could go on back of the door?

Very nice job. I like the black candelabras. If you made these, kudos. Great idea.

While I see what people are saying about the legginess of the living room, I don't find it at all off-putting. In a few months or years you'll get a bigger rug that will help off-set the legginess (in my mind, I see a large white rug with light colored upholstered side chairs-- a bit more "Hollywood Regency" than MCM). It's not anything that you should really worry about now.

I definitely wouldn't say your space is MCM. This is extremely fine to me since I am kind of over the whole MCM thing (if I was ever into it).

You will HAVE to tell us the story behind the Emmy!!

Overall, great job!

Looks like Restoration Hardware to me.

Liberace on the cheap? I truly respect your efforts, yet it does not say one thing or the other to me. Of course to each his own.

In your defense, I would not alter anything. If you like the "spindly" legs, which, BTW give it a light and airy look --stay with that. After all it's your taste against those obsessive creatures who think that contrast is balance, horse feathers!!

maybe mid-century, but definitely not modern. cute though!! nice work. maybe the bathroom isn't finished yet?

I must say I love the painted brick walls in the BR...

your bedroom looks so cozy!

i think i had that same dresser when i was a kid! it's prolly the sturdiest piece of furniture i've ever owned. well, until all the handles broke off one by one...did you paint it?

i like that bar cart! :)

Lovely, restful rooms, jillian.

I like the leggy furniture in the living room, but I agree with others that a larger carpet would do a lot more: maybe a soft, shaggy finish to warm up that open space under the chairs and coffee table (cozier in winter, too.) And consider replacing the narrow strip of carpet under the console table: that empty area asks for a basket or crate or something with volume in it.

Lovely marriage of elegant lines and shapes with a clean, modern aesthetic and colors. That's right. It has a modern element. And there are some fifties touches in there, but I didn't think they were claiming to be MCM so I don't think its valid to criticise this on the basis that it isn't. There ARE some groupings and shapes, such as the lamps, that suggest it. It doesn't have to be Eames-ish to have elements from different eras and still be modern. Modern means "characteristic of present and recent time." I know it means a lot more because of what we assign to it, but that is what it really means.

Also, you could have a lot more fun with that bedroom full-length mirror. I have a grouping of circle mirrors from Ikea that I use. It works great. Or a couple of interestingly shaped Ikea wall mirrors on top of each other would work just as well and look way cooler.

Good assessment, stapler!

I thank you did a great job!

A very charming apartment. Great job.

The dresser and side table are very elegant :-)

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I love the lamps in your bedroom. Where did you find those?

Love the curvy lines in your dresser and mirror in liv room. Also the way the legs on furniture make the room seem more spacious, airy. It looks comfy, not too formal, just elegant enough. The colors are clean, soothing. Good job!