apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

i think i might be the first one!!

sadly, my question isn't that interesting...

i had a sample of these sort of penny tiles, and i can't find them anymore and don't remember where they came from. they are white, without the metal rim, and the interesting this is that they are not totally round. they have a sort of organic pebble-y shape. any ideas?

this=thing. i was in a rush. sorry.

I have a question regarding adding color and texture. I am in the process of moving from the post-college phase of my life to the "adult" phase -- buying REAL furniture and attempting to design an inviting, while still minimalistic modern place. My idea is to have an accent wall that makes the area pop -- either a red or orange. Most of the furniture is being upgraded to the espresso color finish. I would like to add fabrics for color and texture, but am at a loss at where to start or what to look for. Any ideas for the colorphobe (my ex-gf complained frequently that everything in my apartment was brown)? Thanks.

BC--
Ain't nothing wrong with brown.
With brown/espresso as a reference/base, I like any of the following colors as accent: lime/chartreuse, orange, ochre yellow, robin's egg blue, sky blue, turquoise, a grayed lavender, a coral red, and hot pink, with or without orange.

Lots of white (natural or bright) will keep it looking fresh.

Mostly brown-on-brown with an accent of any of these colors will keep it modern, masculine and dramatic.

Yes, even the hot pink. :)

I also think West Elm's Spring catalogue offers lots of color inspiration.

And for even more color "braverism," check out the "I've Got Color" archives. It will either convince you or change your mind about orange.

My favorite pillow, which is mostly brown, is accented with dark blue, gold, cream, and... wait for it! MAGENTA. The color scheme must be masculine, as it's made of woven neckties.

seema-
first i love your name.
secondly.... long shot, but were they from home depot? i thunk they sell something like that.

Everyone likes the old thread so much, they don't want to come over to the new thread.

I have brown furniture in my new apartment (brown leather couch, that caramel furniture from West Elm for my entertainment unit and a brown wooden coffee table. My accent colors are red, gold and light blue. I think it looks great. You definitely need something to lift the color when you have a lot of brown. I painted the walls on either side of my living room window red (it was tough to work with the red paint, but totally worth it - it looks great). In addition to the wall, my accent colors are in the rug (yellow-gold), yellow-gold cushions on the sofa, and a window seat with lots of colorful, patterned cushions (mostly red, gold, blue, and some light green). I also have art on the walls that complements the color scheme. I started out by picking one cushion that had colors in it that I liked and building the color scheme from there (matching the red on the walls to the red in the cushion, and then buying more cushions for the window seat that had similar colors in different patterns). I already had the rug, but in my old place it was in the bedroom. I moved it to the living room for my new place and bought cushions for the brown sofa that complemented the golds in the rug. I was nervous because I was a color neophyte as well, but it's been fun. The great thing is you can always repaint if you hate the color. You can return cushions if you don't like them. The important thing is to get the big pieces right first and then add to that. I spent a lot of time looking a design mags, catelogues, going to stores and surfing the net for ideas. I also watch a lot of those design shows. I've been thinking about my new apartment ever since I signed the lease in June (just moved in at the end of November) -sometimes you have to let things ruminate for a while before you figure out what works best.

oops - forgot to close one of my parentheticals and break up my post into paragraphs. Hard to read. sorry.

I'm up for brown. I recently purchased brown sheets. Love them. Waiting for a turquoise and brown area rug I ordered. When that arrives, I'll decide on paint color. I'm going to be using a green (same tonal quality of the blue)as the second color and I have my own artwork up that has those colors with hints of light purple and pink.

Frankly, P(too) apt on SSBS was the incentive for my brown. One of my living room walls is now brown - all else a butter yellow - and I have blues/greens in silk pillows and tons of stainless and glass. My l/r furniture is mostly expresso except for my chinese chest which is nearly as dark as expresso with some red behind the color.

I like P(too) suggestion of color combos. Very much. He knows this stuff.

Question:

I have two photos that I recently got blown up to 20X30. I am having them matted and framed with identical black wooden frames. I want to put at least one of them above my sofa in my living room.

My question is what to do with the other one. Would it be too much to put them next to each other over the sofa. Could I put one of them on the opposite wall across from the sofa above my t.v.? Are there rules about putting a picture above the t.v. (e.g. would it be too busy?). I uploaded the photos to flickr so you should be able to see them if you click on the link to my name.

I also have a bunch of smaller photos (5x7) in 8x10 black frames that I want to put up. Would these be dwarfed by the larger photos or is there a good way to make a display with the smaller and larger photos.

kristian - first, thanks! and secondly, thanks!!

new tenant - very nice pics. i think putting the big ones side-by-side sounds really nice. the two photographs really speak to eachother, so it works. the small ones won't be dwarfed if they are hung in a cluster that approximates the size of the larger photographs. i don't love the idea of art over the TV if the TV is in the open. i don't think people end up ever really looking at the art. but, i don't think there is any rule. if you do put the same sized photographs on either wall, just be sure that they are level with eachother. i think that will be key to making in work over the TV.

sounds like you're really settling in nicely!!

Thanks seema

Good thoughts - and good idea about putting the smaller photos in a cluster that is proportionate to the large photo. will try.

The framing will be done by next wednesday and I'm so excited - these will be my first professionally framed photos. expensive! but hopefully worth it.

New Tenant,
Would you be so kind to add a link to your photos.
I am new to this flickr thingee.

Congrats, NT. Let us know when you get 'em back from the framer so we can ask "Don'tcha just love that new frame smell?!?" :)

I think I am literally addicted to getting things framed.

If you anticipate getting more things framed in the future (and if, of course, you are happy with this first batch) I strongly suggest using the same framer. Developing a relationship with a framer is a very good thing.

super
I think if you just click on my name it should bring up the photos. let me know if it doesn't or just go here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30117221@N00/

P2

I agree with you about the relationship thing. The framer I went to is right in my neighborhood and was really nice and helpful in choosing the frame and the mat. He also gave me a big discount because I couldn't afford the frame I really wanted, and said that he hoped I would come back as a result when I had more items to frame. Assuming he does a good job, I will definitely use him again.

I used to sell custom picture framing, so here's a couple of things that you might want to keep in mind: if you're pretty sure that the thing you're having framed is "just a poster" and by that I mean that it's majorly mass-produced on non-archival paper, then do not spring for archival quality matting, unless that's all the framer carries.

The difference is in the color of the bevel. If the bevel (that angular edge that's next to the picture) is a pure white it's archival quality (acid-free), even if the face of the mat board is a color. If the bevel is black, it probably is also archival. If it's an ivory that's that same color as the front it's probably acid-free (what they call) rag, which is also archival.

BUT, if it's kind of a cardboard light grey-beige on the bevel, it's just regular mat-board and there is often a huge difference in the price. Make sure that you're not getting THAT if you're being charged acid-free prices.

Oh, and there are some very interesting textured and printed mat board options available which tend to be archival as well; I think those look best on antique prints, but it really all depends.

I'm VERY good at helping people select this stuff, so if you'd like some help with that, let me know.

"Non-glare" glass is created with an acid-etched process that is VERY non-archival, and really kind of obscures the image. Don't use it. If you get a lot of sun where it's going, you might want to spring for UV protective glass.

That's about all that I think I should put into one post, so I'll shut up now.

That post is archival! I'm definitely saving it!

wow curtis
excellent post!
thx

New Tenant, congrats on your foray into professional framing...it *is* worth the cost. Maybe it's already on your radar, but if not, if your framing images you care about it's worth getting archival mats and uv barrier plexi or glass over the image, especiall if your apartment gets light. Seema had a nice idea about grouping your smaller photographs. They also might look handsome in a row...especially if you have a long linear space ... or less conventionally, in a vertical row or two. You might use them as a visual divider in a multi purpose room for example.

As for the large ones, I agree with seema that over the TV is not the best treatment for artworks...unless maybe the tv is in an enclosed cabinet. I don't think I'd hang them right next to each other though...perhaps on walls at right angles to each other.

P2 made some great color suggestions for BC...I'm particluarly fond of coppery tones, greens, cream and brown but that may not have as much bling as he's looking for.

Any thoughts on the best place to sell a couple of Heywood Wakefield dressers? My good pal needs to do this (he's in NYC)

Ah I see Curtis and I were on the same wave length...and he said it all with much more clarity and without the typos!

NT--

I'm also a big fan of the HUGE mat on a small or even tiny image. Maybe consider this tactic to give your collection of smaller images some architectural heft. Or to get them all to the same outside dimension so you can create a grid out them. (And a huge mat will also allow you to frame a vertical and a horizontal image in the same outside frame dimension and not have it look weird). Of course, larger mat will equal larger frame, and the prices go up by the inch/foot...

Another trick: If you find a ready-made or store-bought frame you love (framers often have a bin of readymades), many framers I know of will still cut a mat and assemble the whole thing for you.

guido--
Craigs List or AT Classifieds would get my vote.

Thanks curved

Since my "art" is just blow ups of my own digital photos ordered from shutterfly.com, I went with the regular matting.

I know I won't be able to make a decision about where to hang them until I get them back and actually try it out. It's really hard for me to visualize.

Here is how my tv is set up. I have a low console flanked by two low rolling bookcases from West Elm. The tv sits on top of the console. So essentially, my entertainment unit fills the entire lower part of the wall, but there is a lot of blank wall space above.

I have two gallery shelves that I'm thinking about mounting above each of the rolling bookcases to put framed pictures on. If I do that, there will be a blank space above the t.v. and I don't know if that will look weird. I guess I'm just not sure how to best decorate that blank wall.

Any suggestions would help.

P2 - i think the huge mat/small pic looks great too. I'm definitely to look into it.

P2 is really onto something with the oversized mats; it's a great look and if you use white mats on dark walls it's very striking. And if you photoshop the photos to be black-and-white, it's even better (unless the photos are just so much all about the color that you just can't bring yourself to do it).

And about the ready-made big ones, I think that Pearl Paint's frame shop which is on that little street south of Canal (if you walk through their main store, it's across that back street and west a couple of storefronts) sells some ready-made sizes of frames.

Seriously, although it MAY seem expensive to have framers cut mats for you, TRUST ME it's too big a butt-pain to do it yourself without their equipment, and these days many of them have their mat-cutter equipment connected to a computer.

anne and guido-
Thanks!

guido-
There's a place on Lafayette not too far from Bleecker that sells ONLY Heywood Wakefield, they're still there. I don't know the name of the store, but maybe they would buy it.

I like curvedfeather's idea of hanging all the small images in a row, and on the TV wall sounds like an ideal candidate. But as low as possible.

If the small ones, framed, are portable enough, take them to Kinko's and color copy 'em, frame and all. Then use these life size "stunt frames" for test runs around the apartment, in various configurations. Beats the intimidation of nailing holes in the walls.

Thanks for the comments on color. I pretty much had some of the same ideas and I just need to take a deep breath and jump in with both feet. And for the record, I'm NOT a guy ;-) It's an interesting social experiement though!!

Thanks for the great tips. I have gotten so many great ideas from this website -- I check in at least a dozen times a day.

Rebecca (BC is my nickname)

P2 - that's a great idea! I think I'll do it.

P2 is a genius; I love that "stunt frame" idea.

Another thing that can be done with a color photocopier that I did with a pair of pictures that were antiques:

My family inherited some 100-year-old prints that must have been kind of cheap at the time, but they were picturesque and pretty and pastoral, and had interesting mission-style frames.

Anyway, they were cheap lithographs and they must have been printed like 5 minutes after the acid-process of paper-making, because they were VERY faded and VERY dark, and almost too scarily so. So, I took them to a photocopy place and did color photocopies of them, tweaking the colors and the lightness and the brightness, until we pretty well got them to look right. Then we put the photocopies in the frames with the originals BEHIND them, so they wouldn't get damaged or lost. It was a WONDERFUL way to get new life from the old pictures without destroying them.

Oh, I am always so off topic... and yet I have been pondering this question for a while and was reminded of it again as I drove through rainy Golden Gate Park last night.

My question is thus: are there environmental impacts associated with copper-clad structures? I know that copper from runoff (I believe from brake pads on cars?) can end up in waterways in fairly high concentrations. But are there problems with copper metal collecting in the soil/waters directly around such a building? I assume that as it rains and rains that *some* copper metal must be leeching out into the surrounds.

Of course, I love me that DeYoung building. Especially on a rainy night, it's just gorgeous.

Hello fellow AT lovers;

This is a reallly random one. I have just started making my own greeting cards (tired of the Hallmark sugary stuff)and I haven't perfected the folding thing as yet. Does anyone know of a machine or something that can help me achieve that ridge/fold found in the really nice cards?

Any advice would be awesome!

karen: There's a tool that Martha always whips out when she needs to make a clean, crisp fold on paper--a bone folder? I imagine you can get them at any good office supply store or online.

Hi Karen.
Folding card so that its crisp and clean is really much easyer then you think.

What you need is a strong ruler and an imbossing pen (its a stick of metal with a small metal ball at the end) using the ruler run the embossing pen down the fold line and then fold the card along the embossed line, Placing the card after folding under a few heavy books or other flat heavy things for a day or so.

This is the way I do my christmas cards and they look like shop brought cards so much so my family was shocked to find out I had made them.. I was soo overly pissed but alas they loved them even more!

Thanks guys! I ran into both options online; but now that I know they actually work I'll try them out. I was thinking of showing them to some stores in my area; so I guess I'm trying to find that middle ground between 1)having a supplier/printer that ships the cards folded and 2)scoring a bunch of cards by hand (if I get that many orders).

I posted to the flickr thing on the side here a photo I took of a wall in the restaurant "Houston's" on 27th and Park Avenue South. It's kind of hard to see in the photo, but the lighting they have is the "pot light" kind that Candice Olsen does, and the mats are like 3 inches of white mat all around with black wooden frames, and they're black-and-white photos of abandoned Drive-through movie theatres, so they're a series and they look great together.

Kind of a good example of some of the kinds of things we've been talking about in here today.

One thing I learned when I started a business is to do whatever I could myself until I had a gauge on how the business was going. If you can fold the cards yourself using Ben's method you can save money which can go back into the business. After a while you'll see how it's going and can assess it from there.

karen--
YES!!!!! I know of THE perfect thing...

it's called Scor-it... scorit.com (or click my name for the site)

A deceptively simple gadget that makes scoring cards an absolute breeze. (Once scored, the cards almost fold themselves).

I also make my own holiday cards, and the task would have been BRUTAL without this thing.

Oh, I am so $@%#%&! excited to be able to recommend this to someone!! You made my night!!!

P2-
I've bookmarked that one. Definitely going on my wish list, in case anyone who I don't want to spend much on my birthday asks what I want for it.

BC--
Whoops, sorry to jump to gender conclusions. Me, of all people. ;)

Luckily, color knows no gender. So all the color ideas as originally presented still apply.

(I go soooo ballistic in stores when I hear a parent tell a kid "That's a girl/boy color.")

P2-
Exactly. It's like there being boy jobs and girl jobs.

When I bought mine, I got it directly from the site, reaching them via email: hammondsgrp@earthlink.net

Tim (Hammonds) was OUTRAGEOULSY nice.

and/or OUTRAGEOUSLY :)

Patrick, that is SO cool--I never even TRIED to fold my own cards--i bought pre-folded ones. Now, I've found a new gadget. What fun!

"(Once scored, the cards almost fold themselves)"

After P2 scores the card and gets ready to fold it the paper says "Thanks Dad for all you've done but it's time to let go. I can handle it from here."

i love this site. i can think of no where else on earth where i can go to find people excited (and, gosh darn it, knowledgeable) about archival printing AND card folding.

thanks guys!

guido- their used to be a guy who dealt in only heywood wakefield on Lafyette near prince. I think it was called 'barn antiques" or "city barn antiques" or "a whole bunch of heywood wakefield stuff in a barn near prince street antiques"

AT, I think your website needs a redesign.

For one thing, i always get this feeling when I come to the site and see the thread page that the staff has gone home, leaving me with a picture of kneedle and thread and a bunch of anonymous posters.

I feel like I've missed all the action.

Then I scroll down, and there isn't much rhyme or reason to the layout of the posts. There isn't a definable 'border' to the blog entries, and it looks rather random and chaotic. Also kind of hard on my brain, that doesn't want to have to figure out where the cool stuff is. Maybe something as simple as little outlines around the posts like here on the comment page, which I find much easier to look at and make sense of when I scroll down.

Also, the page is very white. It's like walking into a white room with no style or color. Even on solid spash of color, say on the border of the 'page' would help brighten things up and provide more definition to the layout.

If AT were an apartment, it would be white, cluttered, with random posters milling about - yes, like a lot of NYC apartments, but this is supposed to be better!

End rant. I really like AT. It just needs some sprucing up.

Kneedle?

A kneedle, dear Joan, is a multi-purpose design tool that helps you knead and to knit, of course. Heh heh heh heh hehhhh.

I have been looking into some of the color schemes and I'm suddenly in love with the lavendar-grayish color especially up against a dark brown. Then throw in a few splashes of bold accents here and there, I think it will work. Thanks for the great tips. Maybe I'll come back with before/after pics.

Love the idea of the stunt frames for the pictures. I used to work in a frame shop and had an addiction to framing things. I've since curbed the impulse. One great tip I did pick up was to invest in the "quick change" type frames. So I can print a pic that I'm in love with that month and then next month swap it out with a different one or even change the look for the seasons -- beach prints in the summer, snowy scenes in the winter. It's great for the amatuer photog or someone who is *really* fickle about their artwork.

:) I picture it as knurled and kind of knobby.

Does anyone know the exact paint color used by Brenda and Dave for their "One Joyous Wall" entry into the "I've got color" contest? I'd like to use it on my one (among many) boring wall. Thanks!
In the alternative, a recommendation for a close approximation would be appreciated.

City Barn Antiques, the Heywood Wakefield furniture dealer, is in Dumbo now. http://citybarnantiques.com/ I went there to look into refinishing the H-W table I bought accidentally off of Craigslist, and the guy was really nice.

oh P2;

I don't know you but I love you! That's an awesome option and sooo damn hard to find when one just googles "card scroring".

Three cheers for AT and some really cool folks!

-karen

This is so off-topic by now, but whatever.

I say skip the red as an accent wall; it's played out.

One more question -- does anyone have any tips for painting furniture with veneer? I have a bookcase turned TV bench that needs a new look, but I'm certain about painting the veneer. Any tips/suggestions would be appreciated!! Thanks

Just for the record, AT has never hurt my brain.

final report from the Fizzbows on Curbed yesterday

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006/01/11/the_fizzbows_final_report_from_the_fsbo_front.php#more

Moon--
Not quite sure what your specific objection is, but for a content-driven site with a broad category and a LOT of necessary variation, I think AT does it up just right (especially since the recent redesign).

I think the only antidote for feeling like you missed the blog bus is obsessive refreshing. :)

That, and jump in more often and comment. Then you too will be one of those anonymous posters just milling around...

BC--
So psyched you are liking the dusky lavender against brown!! Hey, and if you are feeling brave (but not too brave) paint one of your ceilings the palest, palest version of the lavender...

And for the record, I think white, lime green, turquoise and coral red would all (alone or together) would work as accents in the scheme.

But please, accent responsibly. ;)

Joan and Curtis--

Be knice!

Patrick--That's the second laugh I've had all morning. Thanks. :) (The first was Curtis's post.)

But if he really meaknt that we were beikng meakn, I'd be sorry, except that oknce I'm okn a roll with playikng with words, I'm out of cokntrol and akny origiknal sarcasm flies out the wikndow; kno offeknse was meaknt.

eknuf already! ;)