apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Good morning! Here's my chance to ask a question that's been gnawing at me: why have we seen so few pictures of kitchens or bathrooms in the apartment contest? I understand the number of photos is a limitation, but don't we do a lot of our (ahem) living in those spaces? I'm finding all these artfully cropped shots of part of the main living space frustrating.

Probably because they aren't always under the control of the residents if they are tenants and illicit comments about how ugly the cabinets are (like in Allison's entry...where I recognize those cabinets as rental-issue from many a viewed apartment in my life.)

Sorry, that's "elicit," not illicit! must. have. more. coffee.

here's a question - not meant to be rhetorical, actually, and addressed to all the in-the-know design-heads on the site:

in the most current elle decor, they had their usual "top 10" list - this time, day beds. the most beautiful, for me, was the mies van der rohe barcelona day bed - but with a whopping price tag of $14,544 (NOT $14,600) it just seems insane.

my question: while i'm sure that the quality of the materials used is of the finest, does this really justify the price? is this really about paying for the snob-appeal of the name, only? is it about the design? what the market will bear? maybe this seems like a dumb question, but i'm just curious what others think.

I've been noticing in home design mags lately that usually if interiors are very dark--dark paint, wallpaper, woodwork, cabinets, etc--it seems to be a design decision on the part of the male occupant(s). What is this affinity to dark spaces? Cigars and The Club? Hearts of darkness? :D

continuing what christine has written..

Or may be because the living room is more "displayable" Or may be because there are more chances to buy a furniture because it is displayed on the furniture store's window rather than a bathroom tile or a medicene cabinet.

As city dwellers with galley kitchens and tiny bathrooms, how much time do we spend inside them compared to living and enjoying the city.
We are more in search of goods for entertaining than entertaining ourselves in our quiet spas and soulful cooking.

Probably we just all (all being guys who influence dark color choices) want to go back to living in caves or something!

pphillipp,
I have come to the conclusion that like fashion it is the name only. Cents on the dollar to make but yet a huge markup just because of the name.

personally, i spend tons of time in my kitchen - cooking, working, with friends. it's always my favorite room in the house.

For anyone in the Philly, area Matthew Izzo is having a big moving sale at their 928 Pine Street store. It looks like they are consolidating into their Walnut & 13th street stores. There are a lot of umbra and adler accesories up for grabs as well as several furniture pieces including a Noguchi table and several blu dot pieces.

kea,
I believe there is only so much you can do with a kitchen/bath compared to the 'living' spaces like the bedroom and living room. And with a certain amount of pics allowed bedroom and living will come out on top.

pphillipp - don't despair over prices. If you go highbrow you'll probably never buy anything else again in your life -unless you marry rich or hit the lottery.
Most people's tastes change - or they wish to experiment with design, so stick to lower priced (dare I say) copies. That way, you at least can have some fun ,and won't have to attend so many of those lame Sotheby's auctions to rid yourself of 'spensive furniture (though pure of design origin).

To me design = fun and lots of changing + experimenting with finishes and furnishings.

Design is intensely personal (taste) and risky (will it work?) $14,xxx dollars is too much to spend IMHO, unless you're curating a show on twentieth century design for a museum.

pphillipp
There was a knock off version posted for sale on here a few days ago. I love that daybed.

pphillip - It's definitely not worth it for most people (myself included). But for some the lure of having an "authentic" classic is worth it. In the same way that some with the money buy exotic cars. You can probably find a car for 1/4 the price that does 95% of what the exotic does, but for some they just need that rolling piece of art.

pphillip - I agree with Max. To me it's 2 things (1) knowing it's an orginal and (2) knowing that it will be good quality. For (1), It's like buying an original Mondrian - if you it would cost a fortune but if you just got a copy, say, it would cost like 1% of the price, although the two could be exactly the same.

I wonder if these classics are a good investment (not that I have the $$ and if I did, I'd put it in real estate). I'd hate to have a piece of $14K investment furniture that no one could use or sit on. And I wonder what the insurance would cost. Although I have seen some things in mags that I think are gorgeous and drool-worthy, such as items by Perriand, Prouve, and others.

I guess if you can afford to really use it as furniture, you can enjoy it.

Question - i have a poster that came in the mail and i'd like to frame it. the only issue is the crease lines where it was all folded up.

Does anyone have any ideas of taking the crease lines out of paper?

Thanks.

PPhilip:

Retail prices and name brands are for suckers.

I like the legs on this one but the leather is anyline which means tier 2:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Mies-van-der-Rohe-Style-Barcelona-Leather-Daybed-Sofa_W0QQitemZ4445854586QQcategoryZ4960QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Better quality leather, $200 more:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Mies-van-der-Rohe-Style-Barcelona-Black-Leather-Daybed_W0QQitemZ4400696361QQcategoryZ38186QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

regarding designer prices, like clothing, part of the price is in the name, but that name represents materials, construction, and workmanship. i know that with knoll van der rohe pieces the leather is individual squares sewn together, and the copies are not made that way.

"It's like buying an original Mondrian - if you it would cost a fortune but if you just got a copy, say, it would cost like 1% of the price, although the two could be exactly the same"

you know, jessica, i think this is one of those - dare i say - philosophical questions re: what is "art." i mean, are pieces of furniture art? are advertisements? textiles? they are all now in museums, that great litmus test of legitimacy. it seems - to me - that most folks might not look askance at having a knock-off MVDR but to have a knock-off paul klee would be - too, too horrible. but this is one reason i have a hard time hating art forgers - cuz the cultural value (translated into $$) we've given "art" seems, like the daybed, insane.

(god, i really should write something other than AT posts today!)

Okay, slightly embarrassing question. Got a pre-vacation waxing yesterday, went home, and immediately managed to smear a blob of errant wax onto my fabric couch. Does anyone have any idea how to remove? I've Googled the hell out of it, but all the tips are for getting out candle wax.

try using muslin strips of fabric like they use wax.

As a rental-apartment dweller, I do feel like we have the least amount of influence over our kitchen and bathroom. We have done the best we can with paint (our landlords are very accommodating with this) and some cute accessories (table and chairs in kitchen, shower curtain and bathmats in the bathroom) but ultimately we can't fix the most glaring problems (the bathroom light fixture was so ugly (think dusty-rose glass shade) that we just removed it and have a bare bulb right now.

As for men and their fondness for dark colours: I work in the design industry and designers joke about the common male design blunders (note: these are, of course, generalizations, not hard-and-fast rules).

The common, typically 'male' quirks:
- black leather, often in overstuffed couches/chairs
- GIANT television, out of all proportion to the room
- plaid duvet cover
- dark sheets (in colours like navy/forest green/black
- An unnatural commitment to wood and wood grains, of any description, and an unwillingness to paint over them (even if the wood is overpowering and clashes with other woods in the room)

And in an effort to be balanced, why do you see so many master bedrooms shared by couples that are overwhelmingly girly? Floral bedspread, pink walls, fussy window treatments, ugh. It seems so emasculating to not let the man have any input in his own bedroom.

chuckle chuckle sarahB.

(Must get to work....)

Congrats, SarahB, you actually managed to gross me out. Allow me to speak for everyone when I say: eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew

Or

It is more budget friendly to renovate a living room than a kitchen or a bathroom

Thanks roundabout-
That is the stereotype too. What I'm amazed at is how many of these dark spaces are well-done (not that the idea of living in them doesn't horrify me) and featured in design mags.

You pay not just for aura and design, but quality materials and workmanship.

Or, you pay for marketing (see Barn, Pottery and Hardware, Restoration).

Of course the difference between a Klee and a Mies is that, in most cases, you will not take a nap on the Klee.

"Of course the difference between a Klee and a Mies is that, in most cases, you will not take a nap on the Klee"

at $14K++, i'd be reluctant to take a nap on the mies. especially after a bikini wax.

Heh, roundabout, I was reading your list, feeling proud of my husband for not succumbing to any of those flaws....until I got to:

- An unnatural commitment to wood and wood grains, of any description, and an unwillingness to paint over them (even if the wood is overpowering and clashes with other woods in the room)

The spare room in our house has this hideous paneling, with raw cedar trim - it's ugly as hell. I keep musing about pulling it all out and re-doing the room, but the husband says no.

And wrt fluffy floral bedrooms - I actually wouldn't mind a nice rose print on some vintage sheets, but the husband refuses that as well. I'm not really the person in charge of our house - I think that's because I probably would run out and buy a $15K daybed first and think later. Practicality is not my strong suit (like those plates posted yesterday? I *loved* them.)

AT should be paying us for posting here instead of doing our jobs.

Compulsive AT clicking reminds me of that Sex and the City scene where Miranda cannot stop eating the brownies, throws them in the trash, sneaks around the corner, pulls some back out and eats it. Calls Carrie and says, "your best friend eats food out of the trash." Then throws dish detergent all over the brownies in the trash.

That's it - I'm out of here.

Guess I should have specified that the wax was on my ankle, not...nevermind. It's utterly characteristic that I managed to make a slightly embarrassing question /totally/ mortifying.

On the upside, I managed to make Jonathan queasy with something other than self-loathing. Small recompense, but still.

SarahB, I am so glad you clarified that. I was trying so hard to figure out how you got home without the errant wax sticking to your clothing before it stuck to your couch. The only solution I could think of was that you went home naked from the waist down.

roundabout, every single guy I know has navy or maroon sheets. Pillow cases optional. How they ever get laid I do not know.

"roundabout, every single guy I know has navy or maroon sheets"

not the gay ones. um, i mean, that's what i've heard.

What I love about AT is the ideas for sexy bedrooms that are *not* floral or ruffled. At the tender age of 9, I was dictating to my mother that my bedroom would have NO RUFFLES, no frills, and nothing remotely pink.

Having gotten the futon off the floor (husband *now* says it's nice to not have to bend down so far!), I'm working on convincing him that a Real Mattress would be nifty.

Thankfully, he has never been exposed to dark wood paneling.

I hear you guys about kitchens and bathrooms, and yet...yet...well, life just isn't fair. I am always intrigued by how the creative trumps the constraint. And as a low-budget type, I love to see how people manage to work with what they have--whether it's cabinets, tile, men or furniture they can't replace.

HELP! I'm trying to look for a lamp I think was posted on this site recently. It is like a mis-shapen egg and sits on a diagonal with a little pebble to prop it up. The egg thing glows.

Anyone have any ideas?

What's missing from the "man's preference" list is the yen for white loft spaces. I feel that esp in NYC men are really into stark white apartments no matter the lack of interesting architectual detail in their homes. As if a lack of color was style in of itself. hmm..

And just to add my 2 cents to the original MVDR vs. "copies" issue ... I think that it's interesting what little faith people put in price tags - be it furniture or clothing. Sure some of these prices seem extraordinary to the average buyer but, really, they are not pieces for the average buyer. I am not entirely familiar with the barcelona daybed but I know someone mentioned that the leather is all small squares stitched together and that adds to the price (whereas copies are just tufted). I would bet that there are a number of craftsman details that would separate this from a copy. In the same way, if you were to buy a Prada wool coat (for example) you would find a higher quality wool, better stitching, more tailored seams, silk liner, etc that would make it distinct from a similar style at, say, J Crew. My point is that it isn't merely a name that drives price but often craftmanship and materials.

Another possible reason why kitchens and bathrooms don't show up much in the small apt. contest. As several people found out in AT Bathroom contest, they are too hard to photograph because in a small apt. they are just to darn small to get any good angles.

SarahB--I don't think this would work on a sofa...but believe it or not, solid deodorant is great at getting wax off skin. I've used oil too, but that definitely wouldn't be good for the sofa!

surely every real mondrian is an one-off, whereas each authentic piece of furniture is still a copy.


pphillip can you afford to buy an authentic piece of furniture. more so, will you really like it enough to keep it for years and years.
my solution would be to buy a second hand copy of the piece of furniture. that way your costs are low. keep it for a while to see if you really like it and it fits in with your way of life. if it does, then you can keep a lookout for an authentic piece to buy and cherish

A sofa is not to be cherished. A sofa is to flop on when one stumbles in at 3:00 AM, so one can roll onto the floor and puke everywhere without ruining the bedroom carpet. A sofa is a place to retreat to when you are banished from the bedroom. A sofa is for those romantic albeit hasty moments with the babysitter while the wife is putting the children to sleep. A sofa are for all-night Law and Order marathons

My sofa HAS been puked on before, and it deserves it.

Jonathan is a man wise beyond his years.
His wife is lucky to have found him.

obviously i agree with jonathan that a sofa is a place to lie down and watch "american idol" immediately after getting one's legs waxed, not to be cherished.

thanks christine and JR for suggestions. a co-worker just said, "you know, you could call a furniture cleaner"--something which would have literally never occurred to me. might be the ticket, though.

Henrietta, I spit out my skim milk laughing - too funny. That's how I feel about most of my furniture!

At last the old beast is good for something!

anyone know a woodworker in Jackson Heights for Alex?

For *candle* wax on fabric, freeze with an ice cube and chip away as much as possible.

When almost all is gone, I *think* the next step involves a dry iron and paper towels or newspaper...

But this sounds like a job for Martha...

Surely, Jonathan himself has had many an errant wax blob fall on his cheap chinese couch... those mono-brows don't part themselves!!

recommendation seeking...! Does anyone in the SF area have a painter they can recommend? A friend of mine just moved into a new place and they are looking to have the kitchen a bathroom painted. Anyone know of someone reliable and (hopefully) not too expensive?

aquarabbit,

i do! will email you after i find the painter's #.

Patrick (the other one): did you actually see the link to the chinese knockoffs? honestly is it really, really horrible?

Having nothing to do with cheap chinese knockoffs or getting errant wax on my couch (SarahB, I almost choked on my water when I read that!), this is off topic'; but I'm sure some of you will have some input for me. I'm in the market for a cocktail shaker.

The one I've been most interested in (based on cleverness), the Oggi Dial-A-Drink, has not gotten very good ratings. Seems the lid is near to impossible to remove after you've loaded the shaker up with the good stuff.

Does anyone have one of these in their arsenal? Anyone have another favorite in the $35-50 range? BTW, I just need a shaker, I don't need all of the accessories. The plastic pitcher I've been shaking drinks in for "Movie & Martini Wednesdays" with my friends is not how I pictured myself making drinks in my kitchen.

movie and martini wednesdays? that sounds like so much fun. I want to come.

In the Daybed....stainless isn't painless.

You're paying for whole hides...ground welds...licenses...advertising...and exclusivity. All the differentiation few take the time for costs bundles.

I"m not defending...I'm just sayin'....

NT: Come on over! I'm in Chicago, though, so it might not be too easy for you to get here. We're taking this week off, but I came up with the idea about 6 months ago.

Some people have book clubs and some people have poker tournaments; I'm better at reading the books I pick out myself than reading what others dictate as "the-book-of-the-month" (I read A LOT regardless, I think it's more about having someone else tell me what to read. Maybe I should start a new weekly routine with "Therapist Thursdays!") and I don't know how to play poker, but I do know movies and I know how to make martinis. So, go with what you know, right?

However, I don't know what shaker to buy so someone please save me from my plastic pitcher in time for next week's get together! Thanks!

I wish I could help with the shaker - I actually do have one at home, but I've never used it. I think it's from pottery barn, but I'm not sure. The only time it was used was at a party by a bartender friend.

Jules,

Since you are in Chicago, you might want to check out CB2. They have several cocktail shakers on their website and probably more in the stores:

www.cb2.com/search.aspx?query=shaker

I bought one there a couple of years ago that had skiers and ski-themed drink recipes printed on it. Cute (at the time).

Jules,
I think that most shakers get sort of stuck when you shake stuff up and try to remove the cap. I don't know why...I'm no physicist. I got mine at a Crate and Barrel Outlet a few years ago. Just plain ol' chrome looking one...You can do stirred not shaken and get a nice tall pitcher with a glass stirrer...but I'm a sucker for a shaker myself!

jules
i would forgo the shaker, and instead get the two metal cups things that most bartenderds use to make drinks in
one is pint sized i believe, the other one is a bit smaller
you put your ice and booze into the bigger one, pop the smaller one on top, create a seal, shake shake shake, shake shake shaaaake, shake your booootay
okay, sorry, no more songs....
when well shaken, you just tap the two parts on a hard edge to break the seal, and then either pour the drink out through a small crack btwn the two vessels, or get one of those groovy strainer things
it takes a little pracitce, but its muy impressive!

NT, Kathryn, Christine & Ann:
I like the CB2 shaker (looks surprisingly like a travel coffee mug-- I could maybe make martinis on the road? Oh, better not) a lot! Also, I never even thought about getting the bartender metal cup-things. That is a great idea! You've all steered me in the right direction!

Thanks so much!

I second the Boston Shaker (aka two metal cups). Simple, efficient, and much easier to work with in my book.

thanks to everyone who chimed in on the $14K++ daybed question. interesting, as ususal.

As a long time cocktail devotee, the Boston shaker really is the way to go, but I'd vote for a glass half and a metal half. Loving color, I like the vintage ones you can score on eBAY very easily. If you can, make sure the glass half comes with its metal partner, because it's hard to find bigger metal halves to fit the old glass shakers (they're bigger in circumference then a beer pint glass). Get two jiggers, a muddler and a Hawthorne strainer and you're good to go.

The other prettier types are such a pain in the ass to use I just display the ancestral ones and carry my Boston set to friends' houses when I know I'll be expected to do barkeep duty.

regards,
trillium

I like my shaker a lot and got it at PB. Its "family" sized which means its big enough for a family of 4 lushes (or just me). Plus it was hard to go wrong for $20.

I'm having a similar philosophical $14K discussion. If you can't afford the real thing, do you buy a knockoff or the knockoff of the knockoff which, in the end, doesn't really look like the original at all but something different (and not so bad). I'm leaning towards the k.o.t.k.

I have been using the standard chrome shaker for awhile after an accident with glass has made me paranoid to use the glass shaker, but the cap over the strainer keeps getting stuck! Does anyone have a slick trick to remove it?