apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I love the eclectic style and color especially as shown in the furniture pieces in the living room. I totally love that lived in mustard velvet chair and ottoman. Also loving the island for equipment in the kitchen.This is a beautiful and sophisticated apartment.

I was interested to see you put all those electronic devices (tv, fax, etc.) in the shelves next to your fireplace. We also have some shelves next to ours and now I am wondering if I can reconfigure them to get our tv and stereo in there.

This is a lovely home!

Really lovely light for a first floor apartment. My parents have a gold velvet armchair nearly identical to the one you have, inherited from my grandmother! It's kind of crazy to see such a familiar-looking item in a different context. Kudos on making such a charming home. The colors are really nice.

I am dying a slow death of envy - a great apartment in a great neighborhood with a garden! It's too much! I am so impressed by the built-in cabinets and would love advice on where to go to learn how to do something similar in my apartment.

I also love the red over the fireplace - what color is it?

a slice of heaven. brava alex!

and jill, i love any use of the word "aplomb," but especially when preceded by "power tools." well done.

The garden is beautiful; what a great refuge!

I LOVE the lime green kitchen!

This is very, very lovely and so quitessentially Greenwich Village. the only thing I hate--and it's just an unfortunate part of the layout--is when the living room looks directly in on not only the bedroom but the bed itself. When I was apartment shopping, one of my main criteria was that the bedroom door needed to be around a corner from the living area. It creates a sense of flow that is missing from the more hotel style layouts that put a door to the bedroom directly from the living area.

Can you say a little more about the silver walls in the bathroom? As in how it was done and what paint was used? Thanks!

Wow -- thanks everyone!

@rascal: yes, I hate that arrangement too -- makes having guests a communal affair. But the window in the br is a shaftway and the big doors let in light from the living room. There are double doors that close off the space, and a separate doorway into the hall, so you can get the view facing the bed when you walk in the apartment.

@ Persephone: Can't remember, but I'll try to find the chip when I get home. All I know is I started with BM ruby red (2001-10) and it wasn't deep enough. It may be a Ralph Lauren color I mixed in BM paint.

@ksh68nyc: It's hard to see, but it's a pearlescent paint in a creamy color (an acrylic artist's paint) over BM's Ocean Spray (2047-50) -- it's painted in a pattern the artist uses in his own abstracts: http://sperberart.com/gallery/folder/custom_interiors

@klem: The shelves are custom built, by me, to fit my stuff. It's easy to do, though: http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/knowhow/handbook/article/0,16417,1080823,00.html

I want a garden.

Beautiful home!

This home is truly wonderful. It looks effortless, nothing is forced. That takes talent--and not just with power tools!
If you can manage it, I'd love a complete run-down of all your wall colours, but most especially the living room and wall units (are they the same?).

Thanks so much for sharing.

Alana:

The living room/hallway/bookcases are all plain old Linen White (BM). Not my choice, but I didn't have the energy to do it all when I moved in, so I stuck with the white in there. I'm considering doing a deeper beige/warmer tone soon, but I don't want to take away from the paintings. Anyone? (BTW, all paintings are by Jim Sperber, the bathroom artist.)

I did do the bookcases in alkyd rather than latex, though, so the paint wouldn't come off on my books on hot days.

See above for the bathroom color. Bedroom is a PPG color, I think, kind of a periwinkle blue. (I'll check that and the red above the fireplace when I get home).

Kitchen is grape green on the backsplash (BM 2027-40) and light daffodil on the walls (BM 2027-60)

Thanks so much!

I've been playing with my BM fan deck for weeks trying to come up with a change. I have deep saturated colour (BM decatur buff (HC 38) and raspeberry truffle (2080-10)) and after three or so years, I am tired of them.

Wonderful, gutsy choices for the kitchen! Interesting you chose to go with two different shades of the same yellow-green. It makes that countertop zing!

I have a DIY demolition question: is there a more appropriate forum I can go to to to ask you about it?

Thanks again, Alex!

Everyone should definitely make a stop over at Alex's blog. She got me over my fear of power tools and I still have all 10 fingers!

Now, if only she'd sell me her new lamp...

Sorry ILU, that lamp is MINE!!

Alana: Okay, if you have exhausted your AT reader expertise, then defintely, definitely check out advice.thisoldhouse.com -- This Old House's forums -- ask lots of questions, and the masses will answer!!

We all want your garden. Talk about Green-
Green with envy!

ditto on the garden!

Just to let you know, Alex and Jill, you got me started on my demolition project today! No turning back now.

(At least my husband didn't freak....but he hasn't promised to show me how to use the sander yet!)

Thanks for the inspiration. (I think.)

Okay, here are all the real paint colors:

Living room and hallway (including bookcases): BM Linen white
Bedroom: PPG deja vu (147-2) mixed in Benjamin Moore, with White trim
kitchen backsplash and around window: BM grape green (2027-40)
kitchen walls: BM light daffodil (2027-60)
Red above fireplace: BM Rapture (don't have # here)
Bathroom: BM innocence (5055-70) with Golden Acrylics Iridescent Pearl painted in a pattern over it

This apartment is wonderful! I'm about to paint my kitchen and am going green!
Alex, is the table w/the Paris book on it a flip-top? And if so, where is it from?

Thanks.

What a gorgeous place! You know how you look at house tours and contest entries and you think, well yeah, its lovely and very stylish etc but it doesn't really do that much for you, and then every now and then you see a place and go Wow! This is what I want! This is why home is important! This is one of those places :)

Wavery: The coffee table is actually a farm bench from West Elm—also serves as seating during a party! Unfortunately, I can't find it on their site.

can I be your friend Alex?

Fabulous, fabulous apartment!!! - I LOVE it!

(and that Paris-out of hand book is great isn't it!)

Alex, I love your apartment! I also live in a 1BR in the West Village with a garden and have been trying to make it my home for nearly 2 years now. I got all (okay, most) of the painting done within a few months after moving in, but the garden is an ongoing project. I'm just glad my super didn't complain about where I dumped the compacted dirt that I extracted last month. I've been thinking of building radiator covers for a very long time now, and I think I finally will now that I've seen yours. I rent space at a woodshop for my own amusement, but the space less than ideal. Where do you find a place to do such work in the city?

Oops -- sorry: red is Glidden's Rapture (07YR 10/489), but mixed in Benjamin Moore

so very cute and a magnificant lovely garden too-

That's apartment telepathy ! I wanted to show this amazing bathroom to my entrepreneur but could not find it on the website. Thank you for featuring so much this house tour again. You probably saved my bathroom renovation.

Alex--the apartment is great--we are moving to an east village apt which looks very similar (no backyard though :( )
just wondering what floors you put down when you moved in?
i love the dark color!

oh--it says you have a blog? what is the web address?

What a gorgeous place. I love it!!

I want to know the paint brand/color of the wall over the fireplace, too! Fabulous!

This place is absolutely stunning! It's understated, but in a good way that seems to work for you (Alex). I love the garden. You are so lucky to have such a oasis in the middle of the city. (If you ever move, please let me know!!!) The herbs and flowers look ever-so beautiful.

I love the simpleness of the apartment. Lots of little details, but nothing too overpowering. The white kitchen cabinets must hold so much. I have to keep stuff above mine and wish I didn't. I'm still thinking of other options.

Question: Where did you get the pretty shelf in the bathroom?

Also, how did you ever make that perfect entertainment center? That is exactly what I want for my apartment and of course, I've been looking for months and haven't found anything close. Do you have actual instructions you followed and what is the level of difficulty? Would you be willing to post or provide a link?

Feel free to invite me over anytime to see it in person. : )