apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

It's a mess

Did they just move in or is joint slob-dom their M.O.?

It looks like they are moving in AND messy. Artsy-goofy messy. It is Selby, right? My favorite part of the shoot was when they asked Michael to describe what it was like hanging on Sesame Street.

so much bottled water

Is the selby site crashed?

Not much interest beside that they are famous working artists.
I should post my mess, it's a much prettier background and better furniture for my mess to sit on!
Seems they were afraid to revel their kitchen or Bathroom!

Yikes!

I hope they are moving and not just a mess.

Like always very creative of the commentors here-

1) this place and the way they live I envy as a fellow New Yorker
2) since I am aware that the ^ are female commentors, please cover your eyes when viewing something cool and artistic. Or just quickly open a west elm catalogue if you require balance.

That's all!

I agree with recon1. It might be messy (read "well lived in") but as another NYer, I am totally jealous of that space!

I find this quite interesting. Because it's Michael Stipe and his boyfriend. Because the photography, the bones of the space, the furniture, the objects are beautiful and interesting. It does look like they are packing. It's also interesting because it's not a typical photo shoot of the perfect home of a star, although that can be good too. Because maybe we're getting a genuine look.

lol, i'm not sure why but i luv this place perhaps because it lks so lived in and untidy. and best of all they seem so happy together... i agree w/above comments i'm jealous! of both their place which they might be moving from and how happy they both appear!

btw... i'm a female. lol!

It's a nice space, but doesn't look like its being used to it's full potential. Just because it's Michael Stipe doesn't warrant a tour of the place...it looks like a disaster.

Hey, there's Gwyneth Paltrow.

redhook1, I noticed that too -- jesus, guys, get some reusable bottles! Or maybe they have reusable bottles but can't find them under all the piles of stuff . . .

maybe they dont spend all their time "staging" the apartment?

my apartment is trashed. id rather not spend my free time organizing for organization's sake.
..i get bills. they are on the table.

That's definitely not Gwynnie... but oh, it must be nice to be Michael Stipe's kept boy. He can spend all day working on his "art" (aka, taking polaroids of people in the bathroom) while the hubby is out bringing home the (veggie) bacon.

Oooh. hejiranyc, retract kitty claws and cut Thomas a break! He's talented in his own right. No, really. And anyway, I'd love to be Stipe's kept boy... or unkempt boy... or just his boy, period, seeing as how I'm a girl who's harbored a Platonic soul boner for le Stipe since I don't know when. And what I love about his apartment? He doesn't have to be tidy. He doesn't have to prove anything. He's Michael Stipe. And we're all gonna be singing "Everybody Hurts" forevah.

I find it's refreshing to look at a celebrity home that showcases their normalness. most creative/artistic types I know do not keep a tickity-poo tidy house. Unfortunately a lot of the celebrities showcased nowadays are not actually "artist" of any medium, just pretty faces. They obviously live and work in this apartment, it's not just somewhere to show off their success. If you look beneath the clutter, their are some really nice pieces, that dresser certainly sings to me.

He allowed a photographer in his home and did not pick up his dirty laundry or put away his clothes or tidy up.
That is not refreshing that is LAZY and disdainful.

Stop drooling and move to Newburgh New York if you're not a famous rich musician and you want a spectacular space and only have a normal salary (look at Door 16 delightful delicious home) she has the right idea. A home like hers in NYC would be for only the rich / famous celebrity.

Am I the last person on earth to know that Michael Stipe is gay? I've had a crush on him since I was like 15! I love his apartment, it looks like the perfect party place. Love it!
http://www.notyourgoddess.blogspot.com/

^ huh

I'm glad he's messy. So many people's homes are such un-livable hotel-like spaces. Yeah, for messiness.

hejiranyc - was it really necessary? I don't think it's any of our business how their relationship works! It's insulting to call one of them "kept boy". I didn't know it were another gossip site. WTF? Leave them alone.

As to the point of this entry- their apartment - I find it refreshing, real and beautiful. It's alive, great interior. As others said - it doesn't look like they are trying to prove something or make another magazine entry. I feel much more comfortable around places like theirs than some of the tidy, rigid and "perfect" spaces that are shown around here.

Recon and Jamesdedein :

I am a male and I still think it is messy (if they are not moving). I am also very artistic and know there is a difference in art and clutter/mess.

And although I love NYC, that is not the only place that has cool/awesome/artistic/great artist/great homes and so on.

Nice try though.

Someone sign these two up for the Spring Cure.

I would suspect that there are more AT readers out there that live like this (loft space aside) than live in pristine, photo styled neatness. I love that Stipe and Dozol just invited the photographer in, completely unashamed of the chaos.

Richardin LA and others that think it's ok to have a mess, I say, yes it is if you are running around and can't clean til you get back home. If you just sit in a mess day in and day out, I really hope you do not teach that to your kids (if you have any) of have people come into you house to take pictures. I have a 9-5, I have a ball and chain, clean my house, take my daughter to school, school activities, go to gym and so on but refuse to have the top of my dresser look like a laundry bin.

I don't know how anybody cannot be shameful of their house looking like this.

Mess is not a morality issue.

Come on Michael -- you were in the closet all those years and you couldn't find some time to clean it up a little?
Seriously, this place would be depressing to live in, for me anyway. I couldn't think with all that crap lying around. It's ironic that they started with what has to be a multi-million dollar space and yet it looks awful.
To each his own...

It's a bit 'young' for a near 50 year old rock icon, but hey....it's Michael Stipe!

An 'artsy, messy' millionaires apartment.
Though I would like to see Morrissey's place (ex-Smiths, who Michael had a crush on!)

My messy apartment just can't pull this look off. Help!

I always had this stereotype that gay guys have impeccable taste in design and such, but I am actually delighted to see the exception right here.
And I didn't even know Michael was gay.

I didnt know either

this is the real deal. most people live in a mess. go and see the patti smith movie. she lives the same way. the rock god and goddess share the same interior decorator. genius.

You don't need to read between the lines. One of them references something "for our new apartment."

Also, just noticed the change of address envelope on their desk. Didn't notice this before.

Jeeze, if you look at the pictures on The Selby site it says that they are in their "New Apartment".


To each his own in their own spaces.

I think the apartment has great bones - it just doesn't seem "done" yet. I liked this post. I am a longtime REM fan and a fairly new AT fan. It's always nice when your favorite things combine - like Oreos and milk. Thanks for the guilty pleasure.

Love that the main emphasis seems to be art ~ love, also, the courage not to tidy up for a photo shoot.

well, i'm an artist and pretty messy, but i'm not in love with the cardboard boxes as a permanent (?) feature! mostly i'm bothered that the title for the solo photo show is "I'll be Your Mirror" -- from the Velvet Underground song, of course, but already used as a photo book title by Nan Goldin!!!! the photos even are vaguely like hers. c'mon, push some boundaries here, Thomas!

I think their loft is delightfully disheveled. It's real, lived in, and authentic. Personally, I loath clutter and disorder, but everybody is different. Kudos to AT for highlighting the fabulous photography of The Selby once again, even though it seems to infuriate the AT peanut gallery.

Recon1, your "open up a West Elm catalog" comment was right on the money (and hilarious).

Despite the surface mess the space appears clean, which to me attests to the 'moment in time' quality of the photos; the boys aren't afraid to let you see the living they do in their home. If a photog went back a week later, I bet they'd find very different circumstances, even if it still wasn't acceptable to the superorganized folks mouthing off here. If all this stuff was static, the place would become dusty and dirty quite soon. (I've been suddenly "laid up" by illness on two occassions and was shocked at how soon things go to h#ll.)

i like the dresser a lot. anyone know the source?

completely charmed by that space.
the chaos isn't accidental...theres a big difference between a pile of vintage cameras, and say 3 heaters that dont work taking up a corner of a room!

'life' isnt going to look out of place here which is how it should be!... having said that. i think even beautiful clutter is alot harder to pull off without lovely high ceilings and open spaces...

Come on (some of you) AT commenters. It's obvious that they are in the middle of moving in and that this photoshoot is a moment in time. There are fantastic objects and art here, and what you get is the feeling for the place, for what they surround themselves with. And the catty, sour grapes comments (Stipe's "kept boy", for crissakes) and the sexism ("I am aware that the ^ are female commentors, please cover your eyes when viewing something cool and artistic") are really beneath the usual tone of this site. If you're so riddled with envy that you can't either appreciate the photographs or refrain from being bitchy, then just move on and go and look at something else, please.

I want that space with nothing in it so a can drool

It's a hot mess posing as cool hip. Not buying it.

I like the space and I like the way their stuff fills it. Even if it wasn't in some form of disarray there would be no Dexter-like fastidiousness here; what a relief.

1 to Juliet. This comment, "... female commentors, please cover your eyes when viewing something cool and artistic," should be removed and the commentor banned for its insulting sexism. Perhaps you've never noticed that 99.9 percent of all home design sites are run by women.

OMG NO MCM!!!!

DFW....ban yourself.....YOUR comment is sexist. Perhaps you haven't noticed, but this home design site is NOT run by women.

Does that mean this blog is in the .001%
Get a grip.

I think it looks like what it is: the comfortably disheveled digs of two creative, busy people. Great apartment, great pics. What's all this fuss about?

I didn't find the place to be messy, beautiful apartment.

Looking at the photos made me happy... then I read the comments and ppppffffffffffffffffftttt, all the air went out of my happy bubble.

Some of the mess I interpreted as "studies" for projects. The collection of logo'ed paper coffee cups, the collection of airline related ads and give-aways. Maybe I'm putting my own view on these things, but rather than being too lazy to throw away their take-out coffee cups, I assumed it was a graphics study for some future project(?)

For someone who could easily afford every designer piece and a showroom apartment, this place feels real and unpretentious. Yes, it's messier than what I can personally live with, but it also has a lot of energy. Looking at the photos was fun.

And I have to say, the comment, "since I am aware that the ^ are female commentors, please cover your eyes when viewing something cool and artistic," is VERY insulting and doesn't add anything to this site. Nor does the "kept boy" comment.

Like I said, except for Alexander Wang, all the Selby people are junk collectors! This is a place I would neither like to visit or live in, but I am sure they are just waiting for all the Italian furniture to arrive. Meanwhile, they do have some lovely art. I love their Bas Jan Ader photograph (I think it's Bas Jan Ader).

Whatever happened to that old saying "If you have nothing nice to say then say nothing at all".

Think before you post "could I say this to their face?

bye

I don't understand why this is here. There's not much sense of the design of this space in these photos. Why not wait until they're unpacked? No criticism of the guys here--but what were the editors thinking?

Geez people! Get a f**King grip!

A lot of you cought the situation at hand and made comments in regards to it and that's good.

When I went through the Selby pictures, I caught onto the fact that things like coffee cups were collected to probably study the graphic art on them. It's more messy than I'd have been able to live in but also know that when one moves, they live ni dissarray for a little bit before things get unpacked and such, what I could not tell was were they moving out or in? Somewhere I missed any reference to which one it was (moving in).

For the record, I'd not been aware of Stipes being gay in any real way for it was never really talked about that I can recall, at least not publically (if so, I'd probably forgotten) and I'm gay and consider myself pretty good at figuring it all out.

What I do love about the entire photo set is that it's not pretentious in any way, uber fastidiously neat and tidy like so many photo shoots and their style is not me but there is an authenticity about all of this and when you catch someone in the moment, you are catching as is, no tidying up at all and it's the what you see is what you get. End of story.

Insults and stereotypes will get some of you no where and BTW, not all gays are neat and tidy, nor have the decorating gene either.

there really are some pretentious wankers that post on this site.

Hola

Quisera felicitar a Michael y a Thomas por las fotografias que han tomado al departamento. Soy fanatico de REM y la verdad que admiro a Michael.

El departamento es muy original y la verdad que los felicito

Is there some sort of accomplishment involved in being unpretentious? How pretentious!