apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

It's adorable and charming - love that your bicycle matches the decor!

This is a lovely place. Love the color scheme.....but I am an adult with no pets or kids and there is no way I could keep my whites looking that fresh.

The colors are great and all the patterns in the living room work great together, but um.. Ikea catalog much? I mean, I love Ikea as much as the next person, if not more, but it feels a bit too catalog for my tastes. Thanks for sharing though!

Laura
http://www.grafxnerd.net

i love your happy, sunny feel good space!only a month... wow, i'm impressed!

Love the color choices! And your doggie is adorable.

A gentle suggestion (since you indicated that you're still working on it): there's a lot of Ikea going on. I'm by no means pooh-poohing Ikea, just suggesting that you might wanna diversify the pieces a little bit so it feels less like an Ikea showroom. But that's just me - feel free to disregard, after all, one of the great things about Ikea is that you can get a very cohesive look without breaking the bank... it's just a little "too" cohesive for my tastes but your mileage may vary.

Absolutely love it! (And if only my spaces looked like Ikea catalog spreads...I should be so lucky!)

I agree with grafxnerd - though I have seen much worse of places about this on this site. Ikea should have to pay this site for all the advertisement it gets.

I also agree with copelli21 -- two adults here and there's no way that much white would go unstained by something.

Love the bright citron color on the walls. It really makes all the black and white pop.

However, while this is a cheery, attractive space, it does look like a page from an IKEA catalog. I think it's best to mix it up to avoid that look. If you have a lot of IKEA furniture, try not to buy accessories (lamps, frames, rugs, etc.) from there. And vise versa.

Gee, ChrisGal — Nothing in the post ever mentioned the giant Swedish retailer....that only happened in the comments.

I'm really not a color person, but I love the yellow walls. It goes great with all the black and white. Great use of IKEA wares :)

The place looks fabulous. Let her be.

I don't mind the all-IKEA living room furniture. The white slipcovers give the room a relaxing, beach house vibe. The green wall color is really vibrant, and I love the contrast with the black and white decor.

You might consider removing the right set of curtains from the left window, and the left set of curtains from the right window. They crowd the mirror and make the room a little bit claustrophic. It's a pretty short wall, so I think you could get away with one set of draperies on each window. You might also consider extending the rod on the left window further to the left, and the rod on the right window further to the right, so the drapes don't block the light when they're open.

Thank you for sharing! 3 months! That's impressive.

I feel a little disoriented though, where do you sleep? Is this not a sleeping apt? Just a-fun-place-to-hang-out-sometimes apartment? And the bathroom? Is there a bathroom? No bathroom? I'm so confused...

Cute and gutsy! Love her wheels.

I love it, especially the fact that even though it's tiny you haven't crammed it too much stuff.

disclaimer: I *may* have an ikea problem myself

Really nicely done! Fresh, clean, bright, fun and well designed. But hey, 400 sq ft isn't mini in NYC, don't sell yourself short!

ooh, the colour makes me smile! what is it? Whatever it is, it's bold and bright and gutsy....and grand!

As for the furniture, who the heck cares where she got her furniture?She says she's been there for a month and will still be looking for stuff, and even if she wasn't, does it matter? There's a lot of stuff on this site that I wouldn't ever consider for myself, but if it makes the owners happy, shouldn't we just let them enjoy it?

That bike rocks!

Great room, no matter where you got your furniture. the walls are excellent and the black and white color scheme does the walls proud. Most of us, left alone with an unlimited Ikea budget, could not use the furniture as well. Deciding not to like furniture based on its brand seems anti-creative and limiting, which is the antitheses of what this site is about.

I like this place a lot and don't mind the Ikea factor. In fact, I'm quite fond of those throw pillows. Also the little dog in the bicycle basket. Oh, the little dog in the bicycle basket.

OMG JRT in the basket Love, I have one too and they could be siblings, mine is 18 yrs. old.

Very happy apartment!

I like your kitchen with the cute mini oven/stove!

It's a nice place - but as the others have stated, it's waaaay too IKEA.

I hope that Katherine rediscovers Craigslist and the local flea markets.

I think this apartment's great and don't care how many IKEA furnishings are there. :)

Cut the girl some slack. She just planted her feet a little over a month ago. She still needs to put her own personal touches on the space. Nothing that can't be done in time.

The apt. still has "new car smell". I think it just feels impersonal -the way catalogs looks (don't be hating Ikea for making stuff look pristine and perfect...it's the nature of the catalog beast in general)- because she recently moved in. The layout of furniture is great, and she has a good sense of proportion. It looks comfy and inviting.

The yellow isn't my style but you've done a great job here pulling everything together and it looks well-proportioned for the size of the apartment (not too much stuff and not too little). I honestly didn't even think of Ikea until I started reading the comments, though I do now recognize some of the pieces as Ikea finds (or I think I do).

Very cute and pulled together for 3 months in. I wouldn't have thought black cabinets and white appliances would work but I actually like it. It's a nice chance from so many white painted cabinets that are everywhere.

It's always surprising how people seem to think that white slip covers are forever dirty. They are actually much easier to keep clean that most colors and patterns which cannot be treated and or bleached.

Excellent job Katherine, especially considering the tight time frame. Your home is cheery and welcoming. It reminds me a lot of the interiors of the Viceroy in Palm Springs. Simply beautiful!

I love your place! I wouldn't know if it looked like Ikea or not since I don't shop there. Your bike looks great, too, and is that your adorable dog? Does he really ride in the basket?

Excellent wall color. Name/brand please?

I've lived in places for years that never looked as good as you've made yours look in a month!

In the real world (i.e. outside the AT community), nobody memorizes the Ikea catalog. I think the place looks cute and comfortable.

P.S. If everything came from DWR instead of Ikea, I suspect there'd be more drooling than jeers.

Oh my....this is lovely.

the last pic...the one with dog and the euro basket on the bike....my heart melted. thank you for that moment.

RE: all the Ikea knocks to this nice UES girl's adorable and well coordinated apt:

She's paying in rent what most are paying in mortgage for their 4 bedroom homes.

Just keeping it real.

Ikea Rocks, You go Girl!

it's true that it is very ikea catalog-ish ... lol ... but so what?
for the amount of space you have, i don't think you necessarily need a coffee table.
but if you do need a coffee table for a cup of coffee or extra storage, i'd probably move the two chairs next the windows, one on each side of that chest. then you have tv seating, and reading seating.
and instead of wall art, you probably need more pictures and frames to personalize your space a bit. with the black and white furniture, yellow walls and green plants, i would think around the color wheel and probably something purple would look good, perhaps some pillows, or flowers, or painting.

I, at least, wasn't attacking her; just offering some constructive criticism (which is to be expected if one offers up one's home to internet strangers).

I'm an ardent IKEA defender (just check out my other comments), but the place lacks individuality and that's because nearly everything was bought in one store. So it looks great but also seems impersonal. I could go out tomorrow and buy that apartment. Same criticism would apply to a place bursting with DWR goodies. The criticisms weren't solely due to snobbery.

Contrary to whoever suggested you remove 1 curtain from each window- I think you need them both because of the shade.

I think the place is fabulous. Citron walls scream individuality to me as not many would be able to pull off such a bold color. Not everyone can afford to furnish their places from dwr or pottery barn.

Ignore the Ikea nay sayers, at least you have a cohesive look which a lot of people aren't able to achieve.

I love the black cabinets, did you paint them? The shape of the doors make them look like the builder's grade cabinets in mine. I wonder if he would let me have them painted, they would look infinitely better.

Wait- where is all of your stuff?!

Yes, extreme Ikea. However, all your pieces are great basic building blocks, and if you just changed out the cushions it would make a world of difference.

The reason for replacing cushions is that you want to introduce a color that is not black/white/yellow. Cushions are relatively inexpensive and can be easily bought from a non Ikea source. (No need to rent a truck or put your furniture on sale on craigslist to make $$)

Maybe add apple green and cream cushions?
Trim the white curtain with green grosgrain ribbons?
(Or whatever color you may choose)

If you look at the second and third picture in this post, they added other colors (gold and beige in this case) to tie everything together.

http://alkemie.blogspot.com/2009/06/sunshine-yellow-inspiration-for-your.html

Not bashing your place, btw :) Just suggesting.

Where is your bed?!

Aaron - Nothing really wrong with Ikea...it just starts to look a bit silly when you're entire living space only has furnishings from there. For someone wanting to have a nice first place, it would have been much better to spent more time searching for great furniture than picking up a catalog and ordering one of everything.

Hey nice home .....love the color combination ... dont be discouraged by the comments by other about the home being too ikeaish ..........

I think it too cuuute.

From the way you write it seems that you have a bubbly personality and I would say that the room matches your personality. The prints give it a graphic edge and the black and white appliance and the cabinetry add to it. The layout and furniture placement works.

Apartments are ever evolving so don't worry about the ikea comments. It got you going and you'll be adding and subtracting evermore just like everyone else.

I'll bet the doggie didn't come from IxxA ... I hope he gets lots of walks and socialising opportunities.

PS: How does everyone KNOW that this apartment is full of IxxA????

I never shop there myself so I'm out of tune, I guess.

Sometimes people get a bit carried away with comments.....

lovely place! So warm and cozy, but also crisp and clean- great job!

just lovely! it's an adorable place. i hesitate to say that you may not even need a coffee table. It looks great as is.

# Love your apartment - the green rocks!
# coffee table:
I don't know wheather you are into d.i.y. but two polished up pieces of a treetrunk would make it look a little bit more...eh....vintage.
Or simply the elliptic e1 coffee table from Peter Boy Design if you totally want to go on with the black&white style.

Delightful, fresh and bright.

Love the yellow walls! Introducing a third color, something contrasting, in a small dose, and tiny bits of other colors will take away the "catalog" feel of the room.

I would also consider removing the curtains and rods entirely, in favor of the bamboo blinds that are there. I think it would make the room lighter. (Privacy in NYC may well be an issue...). The color and texture of the blinds would give some relief to the yellow-white-black trio which dominates.

Just my two cents, congratulations!

Love your apartment! I'll tell you -- my first place certainly wasn't as well put together!
I'm a bit shocked by all of the IKEA comments. "Silly?" Rude.
I don't really care where your furniture came from and I absolutely love the color you've chosen for your walls. I hope your home brings you lots of joy. Thank you for sharing.

What a charming and warm environment you've created. OK, there is a strong IKEA vibe (nothing wrong with IKEA - suits a lot of our budgets and aesthetic preferences) but perhaps as you settle in and live in the space and let the space live in you, so to speak, you can include some items that will break up the superstore furniture look. The addition of some almost out of place elements that actually do work, will add the edge that will counter the IKEA catalog look, creating more of a personal statement.

A designer friend of mine told me to avoid the "matchy-matchy" interior decorative rut. The b/w against the great wall color do make for a bold look, maybe introducing touches of another color will break up the somewhat static energy. I agree that the mirror is too small as it looks too wedged in between the curtain panels. I do like the curtains, perhaps sweeping them to opposite sides will open the space.

All in all it feels like an optimistic space and very impressive for only one month! Great bike.

Where do you keep your stuff? Do you have great closet space? If so, lucky you.

As someone mentioned, living spaces are evolving experiences.

oh, you've been there 3 months - still impressed!

It IS a bit IKEA-d out there...maybe you can try to personalize the IKEA pieces a bit more? (Examples: Painting, adding trim, etc.) I did/am doing that with a few of my cheaply-acquired pieces to add some personality to my space.

Thanks so much for posting! I have a mishmash of furniture that are mostly black, white and offwhite -- I painted a sploch of yellow paint on my walls and was waffling about going forward with it or toning it down (not boring beige, but...). Now that I've ssen your place, I'm going to paint mine yellow, too! (My color is Straw from Benjamin Moore).

The fact that you've taken IKEA furniture (I have some, too!) and done such a wonderful job of putting everything together is to your credit. If I was not an IKEA shopper myself, I would have thought it was high end because your result is very high end looking.

One more thing... I used a banana leaf trunk for a coffee table (extra storage, too) that will tie in with your bamboo shades. It was from Tar-jay -- not sure if they still have it, but I'm sure you can find something similar and affordable.

One month? Yeesh! Great job, hope to see more photos once she's more settled.

is living with a mini fridge difficult?

cutest apartment on apartment therapy :)

Looks great and after one month!!. I would love to see more.

I love the colour of the walls and I think that you living room looks very beautiful. Where is the sleeping area??
For the suggestions about a coffee table what about a glass one? Kartell has some..

i've been thinking of white, black, and yellow color scheme for our home. your apartment really convinced me that it is a good idea ;)

i don't get the 'too much ikea' feel as other posters have. it's clean and modern but still cozy for me ;)

btw, i would most probably do the white, black, and yellow color scheme, but i might make white more dominant (walls), and accentuate it with black(furnitures) and yellow(other accesories).

thanks again for sharing, it's really inspiring :D