apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

One thing I would like to share, and then a question.

To share: I found the camera memory card from December trip to Rajasthan. While I shall not burden you with vacation pictures, design addicts should once in their lives visit one of the Oberoi Hotels in India. I have never before seen such attention to detail. Every element of design is just…perfect. They manage to balance a modern aesthetic in the skin of traditional Indian decor. It is incredible. This place in Jaipur will blow your socks off (guy who designed exterior also chose all furnishings and interior):

http://www.oberoiudaivilas.com/index.asp?leftinfo=1&leftitem=1

Question: below is a link to pictures of the kitchen. I ordered RADIUS counter stools from R&B, and the wife hated them. She claims that the upward curvature of the chairs made it painful because when you slide off the wood jams into the rectal area. I told her some people paid good money for that sensation. She was not amused and sent them back. Now I have no stools. Any suggestions for counter stools makes sense for this space?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31415264@N00/123254436/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31415264@N00/123254407/

the Radius stools which were sent back:
http://www.roomandboard.com/rnb/prod.do?pfid=128874&grpType=0

This site is like leaving the farm and going down to the local cafe for some joe and catching up on the daily price of soybeans.

Pixie--I like that analogy. Thank god for the new open thread...that other one ruined my flow (have just started reading the book...) and was a real downer.

We've all been zinged.

JenDC alerted us on another thread: "Big spread about partment Therapy (featuring P2's place, the blog and the book)in today's WPost Express."

This is also online at Washington Post Express:
http://tinyurl.com/dr6a5
Click in the upper right corner on "Download Today's Edition."

Page 49 - Healing Your Home. (Don't try to search for any key words to find it - trust me.)
With a pic of P2's place.

Attention P2!!! Stardom has struck again!

DC AT'ers, The Book and Patrick's apartment are in today's Express. I saw the thumbnail accompanying the teaster and thought it looked liked Patricks, and it was!

And Maxwell's star rises ever higher.

Jonathan:

Send said wife to "House of Stools" or whatever you have locally and tell her to sit on it...and that...and the other one until she finds one she likes. I guarantee she'll find one eventually, and then you can complain about how it looks.

Hey, maybe you could each have your very own stool. You can have your rectal-jabbing Radius and she can have her butt-ugly-but-butt-comfortable stool. It'll be just like the Three Bears.

Pixie, I don't get it, but it makes me laugh anyway.

Everyone...hate to gush...but I'm SOOOOO excited. You may or may not recall me trying to find a way to add color to my walls without paint b/c it said to not do it in my lease. WEll, I just heard a response from my landlord about painting...he will let me do "whatever makes me happy." hee haw! (of course, one can't take that TOO literally, as that would probably involve more than just paint!)

Yay, new thread! I had to run and hide from yesterday's thread.

I *finally* got my new dwell. Even though I'm supposed to be reading Susan Sontag today, I'm so going to be flipping through Dwell. I'm thinking of painting my living room floor to recreate the Moholy-Nagy painting on the left at the link in my name - which I found in the new Dwell. So there, it makes sense in the grand scheme of things.

Christine -- Excellent! So are you going to go with pumpkin?

Yay for paint Christine!

Now, what color will you use?

Rachel, Wow--that's ambitious! Post pictures if/when you do it! I still haven't gotten my Dwell, so I feel your pain and subsequent excitement!

I'm going to have to think on the color selection--though pumpkin sounds good, as does "persimmon" which someone suggested when I brought it up. yayayyayayayay!

I got my Dwell (in DC!)ages ago.

Pixie, I'm convinced my postman stole it. (okay, that's unfair, it could have also been my beeeotch neighbor).

rachel,
does Dwell count as Regarding The Pain Of Others?
: )

christine!
paint! yeah!

Your postman is probably just borrowing it to catch up on his design reading.

and that painting on your floor is a very do-able project.
my very patient mother let me let loose with something very similar on my bedroom wall one year.

patience and masking tape . . .

tee hee. great analogy (and image), pixie. grand discussions over a cup a joe in the house of soybeans. made me laugh.

guido - no, Dwell is more like Melancholy Objects for me, with my grad student budget. ;)

Yeah, I think the floor will look awesome. Whether it gets done this month - that's the concern. I have a book review due for publication on June 3rd, a lecture tomorrow, and 2 papers to write before the end of May as well - plus I need to find a new job and pack up my work for shipping to grad school again.

It may end up being my welcome home project in August. But hell yeah, it would be fun!

Hey did anyone catch SSBS last night? Our Robyn was on it - some of you may remember her from the AT walk through Manhattan last fall. Her place looked great and boy does she have a view to die for! The show should repeat tomorrow afternoon.

Sorry, some funky error message popped up and it resulted in a double post.

grrr, dwr foils me again! i was hoping the 10% discount would be on top of the combo discount for the sapien shelves, alas they are not you get the combo discount but no additional 10%.

now to decide if i'll order just one then.

With all of the chatter about AT's book, I am definitely going to have to go to Barnes and Noble and take a sneak peak and read it this weekend.

Yes, I'm one of those cheapies who sits in a bookstore and read the books and magazines instead of buying them. Of course that's if it's worth the money to buy.

By the way does the book have pictures in them...me love to look at pics :).

V, not so much in the pictures' region, but oodles of useful info/sources, in addition to other things.

Have you tried Strand? I did, and they reserved the copy for me at half-price. [there is nothing wrong in getting bargains, in my view: the process of arriving at the retail prices isn't exact science, anyway; if you can save some dough in the process- cudos to you, you'll spend it on something else than.)

J,

How about a Jacobsen stool:

http://tinyurl.com/jguqh

It's not imaginative, and they're expensive, but they're comfortable chairs.

Christine: such great news about your paint! Now you will enter the agonizing search for the exact shade that you can picture, but somehow amongst the 10,000 color chips you will no doubt look at you just can't find the exact one...oh sorry, that is my angst!

I found the guys at Monarch Paint at 504 K Street really helpful (Benjamin Moore, etc.)

If your Dwell doesn't come this weekend you can have mine!

Pixie: thanks for your gracious acknowledgement of the Express item. The guy sitting next to me was reading the article and I just starting gabbing on and on to him about the site, the group cure, etc. In retrospect I am surprised he didn't get off at the next stop.

Anyone else notice that the Design Sponge winner was a guy who entered something he had submitted to Ready Made about two years ago? V. bizarre.

And Christine, speaking of paint jobs, look at the cool finish one of the other winners used.

Jonathan, Rajasthan is one of the most amazing places I have ever been. I can't even look at your photos it will make my heart hurt so much.

Sorry for thread-hogging.

minh - try this:

http://www.holdeverything.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?parentId=HE-SH1OFFBOO&partNumber=HE-PROD1168&retainNav=true&cmsrc=HE-SH1OFFBOO&storeId=11001&langId=-1&catalogId=11002&viewSetCode=E

Was anyone at the Union Sq Greenmarket last saturday?

I'm wondering if the big bunches of tree branches are in yet - cherry and quince. The vendor on the east side of the market has had them for years . . .

jonathan. I'm a big fan of the stools made by LaPalma. I've had the chair version of the "Cubo" stool, but think the "Lem" stool might work nicely in your kitchen. Note: these are significantly pricier than some of the other options out there.

http://www.unicahome.com/catalog/index.asp?cid=2047&sort=%7C&page=1&oldpagesize=10&newpagesize=40

JenDC--thanks for the dwell offer--it's a relatively new subscription, so I am going to make sure they have my correct info. I know all about the pain of deciding paint colors too--helped a friend out last year. She literally had about 6 colors on her wall at one time, trying to decide! What fun!

I bought some cherry blossom branches at the Union Square Greenmarket a few weeks ago. They are now starting to bloom!

Christine -

I, for one, am the kind of thrilled for you (about your landlord letting you paint) that most people are when they hear news of things like wedding bells.

I wish more people would approach their landlords about that. Because when he says, "Whatever will make you happy," I think he means that you have so far, shown that you are NOT a pain in the posterior and that he may realize that if you paint your walls in such a way as to actually be fairly happy there, that you're a little bit more likely to want to re-new your lease!

Some landlords want tenants to move out as often as possible, so the rent can legally go up (that is, if it's rent controlled) but some actually like to tenants that are stable and loyal and provide them with a reliable source of rent income. I'm glad yours sounds like he's THAT kind!

For one thing... since landlords are required to re-paint your apartment every 3 years, he MAY realize that once you've painted yours to your own liking, that you're probably MORE likely to take care of those walls, and that there's a good chance that you'll ask for a new paint job a little less frequently. And of course, since you'll probably do a better job of painting it, yourself, than anyone he would hire, he's probably seeing even MORE $ savings!

I'm not saying all this to diminish your love of your landlord by explaining it all away; I'm saying all of this in case anyone else wants reasons to give THEIR landlord why they should be allowed to paint, too.

Does anyone remember the website or program that's supposed to be like a portable "favorites" keeper and organizer? I am sure it was mentioned here...

Rachel,
Delighted to provide-one of my faves!
Here's the link:
http://del.icio.us
Very easy to set up and use.

Enrique, those items are beautiful...i just don't want to spend the scratch on $700 stools in part because i need 3 of them and in part because this whole renovation is now triple above budget

Sweet, thanks Pixie!

Hi. I'm an avid reader, but occasional poster. (Yesterday was facinating.) You helped me with my Schrager Home delivery issues, pendant lights and would love to know what you think. of the following:

- Bought the wood cut-out table from West Elm in chocolate, but still have no chairs. What do you think of the T-back chairs in wood or WE's suede chairs? My decorator friend thinks dark wood table and chairs is too dark(and i think the t-backs in white look really cheap). The suede chairs look nice, but are WE chairs durable? Are these poorly made?

- Also, what do you think of Flokati rugs? I'm looking for a sophisticated/glam/tailored kind of look. My decorator friends thinks they are for log cabins.

Thanks.

SMALLEST, COOLEST APARTMENT CONTEST?????

Have the finalsists been notified? If I look back at the competition rules, they state:

"These top 10 finalists have from April 4th through April 6th to refine their profile and to send in new and better pictures if they so desire."

Are things kind of running behind here? Will the finalists be notified by email and simultaneously have their name published?

Anyone have any insight?

thx GM

http://www.zaishu.com/files/Zaishu_Projects/MILAN___13_04_05.jpg


^^^ from the LA site, and awfully pretty.

is there a book called "learn to look" or "learn to see" or something like that? i thought somebody mentioned it yesterday somewhere on AT...that it's a great resource for people just getting their feet wet in design. does this ring a bell to anybody?

thanks!

Yeah, its called Learning to See : Bringing the World Around You Into Your Home by Vincente Wolf. I don't have the book--he's a talented designer but I never seem to be able to translate any of his ideas into anything doable for me (read: no money to spend).Who knows, maybe the book is instructional for us little leaguers?

I greatly enjoyed Andree's suggestion of "the wife Jonathan" doing some stool samples.

It's called Learning to See by Vicente Wolf (a man I used to work for). It's a wonderful book and definitely worth buying. Great coffee table book.

i was the one who mentioned the wolf book. i was thanking p2 for recommending it. anne's right it's more of a coffee table book than a how to. and it's true the photos are of 'high end' rooms, but a girl can dream. he mixes styles seamlessly and beautifully. come home after a hard day, put your feet up and read. anne you worked for him. how lucky.

Christine, I'm so glad your landlord was reasonable. I think that sometimes the "rules" of no painting , no pets , or whatever are willingly modified for the right person. Just your willingness to ask if you could paint shows your landlord
1.) your acknowledgment that this is her property;
2.) your desire to enhance what you regard as your home;
3.) your stability as a tenant;
4.) your honesty.

I know of one landlord who allowed a very distinctive and dark color scheme, and only asked that the place be repainted a neutral, which he supplied, when moving out, which my friend was happy to do. He got his very substantial deposit back, too.

Landlords can be funny...but I think many can be extremely reasonable. So much depends on the actual person living in the apartment. One time the most recent landlord was in my place and had to ask if the sponge painted wall was paint or wallpaper, and she ran her hands over the wall to feel it. Months later, after the rental office redo...guess what they did to the walls? Sponge painting.

I've seen some very scary apartments while I've been here. I'm always nosing around, checking out the view from other apartments when the workers are getting them ready for the next tenant. And we have a tenants bulletin board.

I've seen apartment with black mold growing across the floor, up the walls, and across the ceiling. Same apartment, different residents (hence, different habits) looks just fine with no sign of mold.

Yup, I've got serious clutter here and consider cobwebs/dust bunnies a lovely holiday accent for Halloween...or Easter...or Summer Solstice...or...

But dust aside, it's not full of mold or mildew. The walls don't have holes. I don't blast a stereo (I don't have one) or a TV (it's not plugged in and I don't have cable). I do things for the neighborhood to make it better for everyone, tenants, guests, and the landlord.

Yes, it would be nice for them financially to boot me or have me move to get a higher rent. But at what cost? There's no guarantee they will get someone like me who is considerate. They might get more of the noisy people. Or the people whose habits allow mold growth. And mold repairs are NOT cheap...like one I think cost about $10,000 to do a damaged apartment...we have asbestos. So any drywall replacement had to be handled as asbestos containing areas, with the ventilation, the special tarps and plastic floor covers, the need for workers to wear filtration equipment.

So getting me out and getting someone else in might net them an extra couple hundred a month. But cost them thousands down the road in rehabing the apartment after that tenant moves out.

Personally, I think it's GOOD to have a mix of old and new tenants. The "old-timers" can give lots of tips to the new folks.

Christine, I have some PICTURES for you.
View this entire slideshow:
http://tinyurl.com/jqsob

Check this picture on slide/page 12 and the one before it, on slide/page 11:
http://tinyurl.com/ptuj5

Lastly, this one, one room, done in three different colors, one of which is Orange. Changes Victorian architecture to contemporary via paint and accessories:
http://tinyurl.com/ovuh6

Also note that the entire wall is mirrored...someone was having problems with, in the top picture of the orange/blue/camel room with the fireplace. The wall to the left. Makes the space look absolutely HUGE!

Hope those colorful pictures help you in choosing a shade that is right for you and your space!

Jonathan. A significantly more cost-effective option is DWR's Kyoto stool (available in both counter height and bar height) and currently on-sale for $117/each. I can vouch for these as I have 6 of the dining chairs. Slide curvature in the seat and back for make for surprisingly comfortable seating. More basic in looks than the LaPalma stools, but you can't beat the price. Definitely worth checking out in person next time you are near a DWR showroom. http://www.dwr.com/productdetail.cfm?id=1762

PS The LaPalma Lem stool is priced slightly lower at DWR than on the Unica Home site, but still costs a pretty penny.

Argh! DWR now has the Kyoto dining chair available in natural with a pastel green upholstered vinyl seat pad. Now, I'm suddenly hating my coffee-colored chairs--and want the these new ones instead! (Anybody interested in buying 6 like-new coffee Kyoto dining chairs... I'd sell 'em cheap if you can do local pick up in Hollywood.)

SPCY,

There is also " How to See" by George Nelson. Available at DWR if i remember correctly.

Build It Green NYC is having a Spring revival
a bunch of new inventory - kitchen cabinets and windows
and a volunteer day next Saturday, 12- 4p.
More info on their website

This link will take you to a cardboard tube log cabin built by one of their folks . . .
http://www.bignyc.org/?p=45

For those who enjoy the stuff/nostuff conversation on this site...here's a word contest for you...

From the May06 Atlantic Monthly Word Fugitives page:

"There is no word, however, for the opposite of a pack rat. What would we call people who are good at letting go of posessions, rather than keeping things in case they might - decades from now - need them again?"

You can enter here:
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/fugitives/fugitives.htm

If you are unfamiliar with this contest, the object is to use "real words" (or parts of real words) to create a "new" word or term.

It would be cool to see them overwhelmed with AptTherapy submissions!

RSW:

Flokati rugs!

They do have a unique textural quality that makes them sensual and attractive...

Down sides...and there are lots of them.

Don't even THINK about trying to vacuum it with anything that spins...you can part the tufts of hair and vacuum in between. Or you can beat it, shake it, or do the mambo with it to try to loosen and remove loose dirt.

Goes from being very fluffy to being more matted, if walked on a lot.

Fleas think it's a condo development for them. If you have a light-colored one, you can watch them climb up, leap and disappear into the rug. Only to climb up, leap and disappear again. They're heading for you.

I just know if I could have used a magnifying glass, they'd be little pirate fleas, with tiny daggers in their mouths, a patch over one eye, and the flea equivelent of "ARRRRRRR" coming out of their mouths.

They're wool. Clothing/wool moths love it.

Don't spill on it. Check how much it would cost to clean at the dry cleaners before buying.

All textiles absorb scent, good or bad. And having that lump of wool on the floor can be a problem if you hit the microwave popcorn, cook fish (or whatever the hell my neighbor cooks), or smoke. If your home smells like cut hay, fresh blossoms, then that too will be reflected in your rug. Airing it out overnight can make your whole room smell like FRESH NIGHT AIR. Mmmmmm.

But, if you're really neat, aren't in an insect-prone area, don't have a smoky L.A. haze in your living area (all of which apply to me), then go for it, and keep duct tape handy for your friend's log-cabin comments.

After all, whose home is it anyway? Yours? Or your friends? Who do you want to please? You? Your friend?

It's YOUR home. YOU get to decide what you do and don't want in there. If it means glamour to YOU, then do it.

(a long time ago in a county not so far away...) I wore a black leather miniskirt, a white sheer lace victorian-style blouse (with layers of lace underneath) and a black pin-striped men's style double-breasted blazer with black hose and high heels. Yeah, I'd put together some interesting outfits when I worked at the bank.

Some woman, obviously having just come from Nordstrom across the street, gives me the once over. Gives me a dismissive comment like "That's cute...I didn't know leather was still in fashion" and I looked at her totally perplexed and said "I don't follow trends, I do what makes me happy."

Different outfit, different bank branch, comment "Why, you look like an albino angel."

***tilting head like a dog hearing a high-pitched sound***

It made ME happy. My strange, non-trendy, albino angel, diaphonous layers, glamourous look. It doesn't matter what other people think. It was a combination of things *I* put together that totally reflected the many facets of *ME*. Not the cubbyhole someone else wants to put me in...but ME.

Get the rug. Try it out. Return it if it looks like crap in your place. Keep it if it makes you say "Ahhhhhhh"

Hey everyone!
I'm new to this site. I have a question.
I live in a small NYC apartment, and I want to hang a curtain track on my ceiling paralel to one wall to hide storage behind a floor to ceiling curtain. I'm trying to find a NY area retailer for the track and a handy man who can help me hang it.
Oh, and I'd like to do this on the cheap (of course).
I assume the best track to get would be the kind used in hospital rooms.
any thoughts and/or resources would be most Excellent!

Thanks!
Victoria

Hi VictoriaK. Welcome!

I got my hospital track at a place called curtainfair.com. It was very inexpensive.

They were very helpful, so if you can't find exactly what you want on the site, call them. Very helpful, a little quirky. :)

"pirate fleas". Too funny! and too true.

VictoriaK-
I believe I also saw something on Room Service (the one with Sarah Richardson) that only used some sort of eye hook at either end, with a device for tightening the line (that goes through the curtain), so it doesn't droop. The line itself was some sort of thin but very strong material--like fishing line, but much much stronger. It looked like that would be dirt cheap (other than whatever you use for the curtains.)

Sorry I don't have details, but watching her put that up made me think, not hard - I could do that!

Hey, is it too far down into the thread to ask a new question? I just checked out kitchen cabinets at Nu-Way in North White Plains this weekend and the Ultracraft cabinets were very impressive. They're frameless, seem very attractive and sturdy, and come with full-extension drawers (that close gently without banging) as standard features! Does anyone have experience with these cabinets?

Busy weekend and computer glitch, but Curtis--I'm feeling the same way. Very giddy. i've been telling people about this as if I just got engaged. Like at dinner Friday night, when most of the people there gave me a blank stare. I've been living with white walls for years and years now, and it's so thrilling to think I can have some color. Andree, thanks for the links to the goregous oranges. This is going to be a tough choice!

I think the comments about the landlord are right on...I mean, I think actually, he'd rather keep them white, but he knows I'm a good tenant. He's not charging as much as he *could* but I think he wants to have stable tenants. It's a balancing act, depending on where you live, between being able to hike the rent if someone leaves and not having a lag time between tenants, losing that income, plus any improvements needed. When I had my first sofa delivered (the damaged one), the delivery people broke the hall light and scratched my floors. I told him immediately and offered to pay (the furniture store ended up paying). I also call him anytime I notice anything...plus, I think he feels bad because of the ongoing debacle with the downstairs chain smoking neighbor...

RSW--flokati rugs. I briefly considered before finding out they couldn't be vacuumed...which made them impractical for me. I think they're more modern than rustic, so I'd disagree with your friends. Though, as I believe Jonathan pointed out about sheepskins, which are kind of the same family as flokati...they CAN have a "porno set" effect if not careful! though, I doubt the rest of your things would lead into that direction...

Has anyone ever seen the "Hello There" chair for sale in the USA....

http://www.architonic.com/1021088

I meant to come on here yesterday and say that it was I who put up that picture of those bedside table from St. Francis Thrift Store up on the flickr bar. My new cellphone camera took me a while to figure out for doing this, but it does have better quality at least.

However, I actually cut off the top parts of those pieces when I took the picture; they each have like their little soffit thing above that mirror, that has it's own light in it. So, it's a bedside table with a reading light in it which is cool, and they close to conceal your clock and stuff.

The reason I even put them up was that although that off-white color they are now is hideous, if you painted them (kind of like my little weekend project of last weekend) then you would really have something, because what with having three drawers each, they really could be pretty dang swell.

Thanks Andree and Christine for your flokati comments. If dancing the mambo and battling fleas is the only way to keep the rug clean (had no idea you could not vacuum it) then I may be getting a shag rug. (Not looking for the porno atmosphere. :)

Anyone have thoughts on the quality of on West furniture? I bought the chocolate cut-out dining table and was thinking about getting West Elm's T-back chairs or suede slip covered chairs or, Stark's ghost chairs with no arms (Victoria chairs).

Will West Elm products last and is lucite overdone. Thoughts?

Thanks and happy Sunday!

above -- meant quality of West Elm, not West

RE West Elm quality.

There is a WEST ELM store near my workplace so I cruise through there once-a-month to check stuff out.

In general, their furniture quality looks pretty crappy. Although, I must admit that the quality of stuff I've seen this spring looks much better than it did this winter.

If you're looking at WEST ELM for sheets or accessories, etc. Then you're getting a much better value.

If you have a specific item(s) you're interested in, I'd be happy to walk over on my lunch break and take a look and give you my impressions.

RSW--I've never owned anything furniture-wise from West Elm, but I was just there yesterday. I find it fun to look there, but I kind of feel like the furniture is Ikea quality for people who don't want to feel like they have Ikea, and so are willing to spring more $$. This is just my take on it. I like the look of some of their things, and the accessories are fun and all, but I checked out a few of the bedroom pieces yesterday, and that was the impression I got (and I'm an Ikea fan, so I'm not dogging on it, but all I'm saying is I'd rather pay Ikea prices for it!!!)

Christine, are you sure I'm not your downstairs chain-smoking neighbor? Are you BIGfoot? I swear, I have the most horrendous person living somewhere above me. I haven't figured out if they just have HUGE feet, or what other things could be going on. But I like to imagine...

Sumo wrestlers.
Clumsy bowling ball jugglers.
The giant from Jack and the Beanstalk.
Mosh pit.
Drunken oafs.

It wakes me up and I'm so mad that I end up sitting here chain smoking and reading this site. It'll turn out that my chain smoking keeps the buffalo awake upstairs, turning the stomping and smoking into an endless cycle. Until one of us passes out from sheer exhaustion.

Re: FLOKATI...I guess I just haven't seen enough porn to get the connection there. I mean, geez, my MOM has one in the family room.

Christine

Re: Orange paint

I'm not sure how much space you will be painting, or what shades you are considering, but do note that orange colors (as well as red and yellow) of paint generally NEED a primer or several coats. Or both.

======
"Bright, deep reds, yellows, oranges are famous for poor hiding ability. As many as 5 or 6 coats have been required for some of these colors. This is due to the tendency of light to easily pass through the pigment particles that are used to make those colors."

http://www.belcaro.com/general_coments.htm

======

"Certain colors such as yellow, red, and orange tones inherently offer weaker hiding."

http://tinyurl.com/kp366

======

"Legislative restrictions on the use of inorganic pigments (including lead chromates) have resulted in the use of organic pigments, particularly in bright reds, orange, and yellow paints. These colors offer lower hiding than a brown, rust, or olive. To enhance the hiding power of a red, orange or yellow, have the primer tinted to approximate the finish color."

http://tinyurl.com/fkydb

======

Looked that up before for people having problems with red, orange, and yellow. They were getting seriously uneven results on their walls. Coat after coat after coat. And other folks were commenting that the original people were "buying cheap paint" or "not applying it correctly" and that's just not true. It's the nature of those colors and the way they are made.

Let's say it does require a primer and 4 coats to achieve the color on the paint chip. Do you want to do that much work? Consider an accent wall instead, to add the COLOR to your home, without adding coat after coat of paint in your home for the next three months.

Of course, they rarely say in magazine articles or in ANY of the pictures I posted for you that "Yeah, it was a real pain in the butt to get the color just right"...we only see the glorious finished projects. We don't hear all the Jonathanesque comments along the way (and there would be those comments flying out of my mouth if I was on my third coat of paint, and didn't use a primer and it STILL wasn't "orange").

Look at the far end of this loft done by Thom from Queer Eye on Oprah:
http://tinyurl.com/ltxrf

Same thing done in picture four, behind the sofa.

Look at some of the pictures here that have colorful walls, for this year and last year's contest. You may not NEED to do ALL the walls to add in the color you crave.

And, with that nicely boxed in arrangement in the Oprah pictures, that would be SOOOOO EASY to change later on. And cheap, because you're only doing that area within the wall outline. Tape it off and change it for the weekend. New color trend? Groovy, add it in next weekend.

No fussing with the awkward areas at the ceiling, or the dadgum baseboards, those parts only need be done once, when you do the primer. Or you might not need to do them at all, you non-smoker you, and can just add your color to the taped-off area.

RSW -regarding West Elm furniture:
A year ago I got a daybed from West Elm and I have not been too happy with the quality. When It arrived it had a really strange smell and when I called the store to complain about it the salesperson told me to take it out to the street for a few hours since this was just pesticide or something that the stuff gets sprayed with in the shipping process (at the time I lived in NYC so taking it out to the street to air it was not an option). The smell took forever to go away and soon after that I noticed that it was not a good idea to have anyone sit on the daybed, the stuff they use for the padding gets all squished and does not return to normal state, specially along the edges, so my daybed got all deformed. Just to top that my son spilt food on it and when I tried to clean that off with a damp cloth the color in fabric started to run. So what I have now is a daybed that looks a bit like a twisted banana and the only thing that looks like it will last are the chrome legs that i was not too fond of in the beginning!
I think a lot of the West Elm furniture looks like it would be easy to build yourself, like the upholstered cube stuff, then you can choose the quality of the materials and make sure that the fabric is washable. You can check out your local foam and futon place and see if they have suggestions for you.
Hope this helps.

RSW, I just love those Ghost chairs. Ghost family here:
http://tinyurl.com/qv7j9

Two things I'd be concerned about, yellowing and scratching. I did a quick search and found lots of info on polycarbonate...if we're talking sunglasses or greenhouses, and we know which kind of item we want. Some have warranties for a long period, some don't. You probably won't have to worry about hail damage in the dining room, and I'm hoping you won't be wearing the chair on your head while sailing, so I guess weather damage isn't going to be a problem.

While Jonathan wanted folks to take off their shoes to protect his new floor, there's just no way RSW, that I'm taking off my pants to protect your chairs. Unless you have the Flokati rug.

Maybe not that much of a problem, but it just seems like yesterday that there were all kinds of metal attachments to the backs of pants, zippers on pockets, studs and grommets and copper nipples that say "LEVI STRAUSS AND CO" on them. Any of those would be a DISASTER to your lovely chairs. Metal belts. Metal things that attach a wallet to a belt. Pens. Pencils. Anything that anyone might have in a back pocket or might accidently brush against the chair.

If you have a showroom nearby, go by and see if any of the displays are terribly scratched.

Here's your table just in case you can't see it from where you are or someone else would like to look at it without having to look it up on their own:
http://tinyurl.com/qagy7

What else do you have in the room? How long will you be sitting at that table? Seriously, because that hard plastic chair doesn't LOOK comfortable for extended periods of time.

Me? Being practical, I'd pick this office chair.
http://tinyurl.com/m225t

No, really. Stupid dining chairs, all one height, great if all your guests are the same height. Not so great if you have varying heights of people.

Secondly, it swivels. A sign of a good chair.

Third, it has wheels. Wheeeeeeee!

Nah, seriously, go watch people try to get in and out of chairs at a busy restaurant. They're trying to scoot in, getting hung up on carpet, and practically falling into their place setting, or dragging the chair across solid surface flooring creating a nerve-irritating sound.

It actually looks comfortable. It could be wiped clean. It's not nearly as expensive as the other chairs, and you could replace it if you needed to.

Maybe Phillippe will get the idea and put out a nice, swiveling, wheeled Ghost chair.

Didja see that Milan picture above? Don't he and Marcel look like a couple of winos? Next year, I'll be in that picture, having truly inspired Phillippe with the swivel ideas, and Nanine can give me chandelier tips.

sorry about that ...you were looking for advice on the "T-back" chairs not upholstered furniture. I guess I was feeling a bit frustrated about my daybed.
However Andree is right about plastic and lucite ...it gets scratched!

Fritz:

Re: Hello There chairs

Available at Unica Home:
http://tinyurl.com/qyha6

Andree--I am not your upstairs neighbor, because I've had run-ins with my chainsmoking downstairs neighbor, but I know she thinks I'm purposely walking like an elephant. I'm not! My floors are so incredibly loud, they bother me. they squeak with every move I make. And, though I wear bare feet or socks most times, I am sure my steps sound loud, too. Another goal I have, aside from painting, is getting cushier carpets, because the throw rugs I have--even though most of the floor's covered-- do little to muffle the noise. I love the wood floors, but it's such a noise difference from wall to wall which Ihad in my last place (but it was gross berber, so I'm glad to not have it...it's a good problem!) The building's construction is part of the problem with the smoke too--versus the newer construction with concrete floors in my last place. Definitely something to think about if I ever got to the point where I could buy something.

I'm not committed to the orange, but thanks for the links...I'm leaning more toward a salmony-pinky-red/orange...if that makes any sense.But I'll probably only do one wall in that, and maybe something like that effect in the slideshow. I wonder what that would be like with off-white surrounding it? Maybe I could do a slightly darker color on the other walls, and then the punch of bright color on the back wall...hmmm...lots to think about! But I love it!

So the New Rule is... if you're going to have Louis Ghost Chairs, it's going to cost you in the square footage of having an extra closet dedicated to pants-check, regardless of whether you have them take their shoes off.

I think that invitations to parties held in such a space would probably need to have a little larger font than usual on that little caveat.

Thanks for that Andree. looks like they oonly sell them in set of 4 for about $2000. I just wanted one Ahhhh dang

Andree, LG and others,
Thanks for your insighs on ghostchairs & West Elm. Humn... a shoe & pants check-in policy. Now that may be interesting.
Thanks all for your suggestions.

Victoria K- Here is a link to hospital tracks...

http://www.shelterrific.com/2006/04/06/try-this-at-home-hospital-track-curtain/

BTW- Fun site from the editor of (what was) Budget Living Magazine.

Will miss that magazine...

Andree--
Part of the reason behind the resurgence of lucite and polycarbonates was breakthroughs in the technology that prevents scratching and yellowing like the vintage stuff.

Patrick, thanks! I need that info, and I can't FIND it without getting overly scientific information about composition, which I don't UNDERSTAND!

I'd still be terrified of riveted Levi's getting within a few feet of that lovely chair.

The Ghost chairs, while they might withstand minor tussles with coarse fabric, I'd panic over everything else. Like pet claws? How well would it stand up to that?

I end up thinking soooo hard about certain choices, because if there's something that can go wrong, it generally DOES go wrong for me.

Things I didn't think of being my downfall. Like moving my desk after years of considering it, and thinking about the position...and never even thought that it is the PERFECT location to provide a "road" for cat feet to the bar counter, then the fridge, then the top of the cabinets. Instead of seeing the monitor, I often have cat-vision standing so I can't see the screen at all.

I don't want anyone not to get what they want. I do want folks to really think about things they are considering, so they don't end up like me. hahahaha....like when a little nephew comes over to RSW's with their favorite dinky toy that long ago lost it's rubber or plastic wheels and runs the metal toy wheel rims back and forth over the new Ghost chair. AHHHHHH!!!!

Curtis:

along the lines of the cheesy gripper socks I suggested, we'll be needing soft fleece pants or robes for guests. Might as well have all guests deloused at the door too, so add the haz-mat shower set-up to the shopping list for a clean, scratch-free zone.

Fritz:

I saw they sell them only in sets. But don't give up. Never give up. Check with them first...do they have any on display that they would part with as an individual item? They probably ask that folks buy that many because they are being imported from the source.

But somewhere in there, there's probably a set that came partially damaged, resulting in one extra chair that's perfectly good.

Or check eBay. Or put up a "Wanted" ad on Craigslist in your area. Or see if other people in your area are willing to go in on the set. You get one chair, someone else wants one chair and a third person wants two for their little cafe table in their garden/kitchen/balcony/store display.

With my kind of luck, I'd order some kind of "seconds/slightly defective" version of the Hello There chair and it would end up saying "Hell Here"...which is fitting.

Christine:

The louder my upstairs neighbors get, the quieter I get. Because I don't want to add to the noise pollution by making MY downstairs neighbor miserable. I practically tip-toe throughout my house, close my door so it's not heard, and try not to breathe too often.

I think I know the color range you are talking about. I'll have to look around, and see what I can find to show you. You want it intense, right? Like one of the brilliant colors in a sunset that almost makes you weep with joy from the sheer beauty of it all.

Andree, IRT your lucite issue: there was an article in the House and Home section of the NYT a couple weeks ago called "A Studio That Refuses To Think Small." It was about an architect living in a studio he outfitted with mostly vintage or handmade lucite furniture. He had 3 kinds of plexi cleaner he swore by, one of which makes scratches disappear. I don't remember what the names of the cleaners were, and the article is expired. maybe someone has a permalink?

Fritz!

FRITZ?

Lookie lookie...

http://themagazine.info/products/-/678.html

Buy just ONE of your Hello There chairs! Woo hoo!

$373.35

They have Orange and Chromed in stock and ready to ship to your home immediately.

Ahhhhhthanks again Andree I might just find one after all. here is what started this search. You might have to scroll down a bit to see the ddesk entry here..http://www.zeigermann.com/cartoonist/
Cheeers!

Fritz!

You already had the link to The Magazine. You found it yourself.

***smacking Fritz upsidethehead with a bag of cat tuna cans promised to the recycling bin***

Looks good at a desk! And just think, your back and butt can say "Hello There" backwards if you wear linen and sit for an extended period of time!

I know but when I went to the link the first time they did not have it for sale?.... You must have magic powers Andree. Check in at The Cartooonist from time to time he finds some unusual stuff over there in London.

I love reading this site. You guys make me smile with all of your comments.

It's a good thing my nephew is now 18, so don't think he'll ruin the ghost chairs. Now my cat, that's another story.

Decided NOT to put ghost chairs around the West Elm dining table (I'll do the t-back or upholstered dining chairs) but will put oneghost chair in the living room.

I also saw this cool ottoman with acrylic legs. I think it's cool. I'm really liking the acrylic thing lately, although when I was 12 (when it was big the last time, I hated it.).

http://haziza.com/Dataview/Dataview.asp?Id=1281&CId=17&P=

http://haziza.com/Dataview/Dataview.asp?Id=1281&CId=17&P=