apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I'm very impressed, you sent 125 visits to the following web address in June:

getawaytheberkshires.com/greatbar/giftshops.htm

Unfortunately the address should be:

getawaytheberkshires.com/abouttown/greatbar/giftshops.htm

This is one page in the nycgetaways.com family of guides. Do you offer ways I can further expose my guides to your audience, since it appears to be so responsive to mention of my guides?

hi AT. i just moved back to NYC and got a super cute, very small studio through columbia's grad housing (thanks so much to those that suggested graduate housing when i asked a few months ago... it worked out really well!). now i would LOVE any help in figuring out how to use the space efficiently- esp furniture placement and how to create some sort of separation between sleeping area and everything else. i moved without any furniture, so i don't have those kind of constraints. if you click on my name it will go to a photobucket album with pics of the place and a quickly drawn floorplan-- only thing is that i think i may have measured the area by the window incorrectly, b/c according to my measurements a full size bed would fit there, but i remember it being smaller than that. once i get the keys, i'll remeasure. thanks, in advance, for any and all ideas!!!!

ali,
I've never used Photobucket - how do you like it?

Hi,
I could use some help finding blackout curtains that aren't hideous. I bought some online that work great but the fabric an ugly color and it is like heavy canvas and they can't be moved on the rod.

Found some at bed bath that are called Amanda, they swear they are 98% effective. After four trips finding my color and the eight panels needed, I got one home and it doesn't work!

I am only renting so I don't want to spend a fortune but we have tons of light coming in,and three windows in bedroom, I have to have darkness to stay asleep.

Any help on blackout curtains that look nice and aren't super costly? Also wanted to pass onto others not to buy the "Amanda" from bed bath to save similar frustration.

thanks,

stacey

Stacey--

You can buy blackout liner, to make any curtain you like a black-out curtain.

I know it's an option at Smith & Noble, and if not mistaken, the latest Pottery Barn catalog also now offers a blackout liner to use in conjunction with any of their (or anyone's) drapes.

P2: How did you make out with your GH silk comforter? Can it withstand cat claws, do you think, if one puts a cover on it? I know down does not -- you get down dust everywhere.

And, where do you get attractive, *thick* duvet covers?

Stacey: Some honeycomb shades from Smith and Noble, or Hunter Douglas offer total light blocking (or so they claim).

Does anybody have a feeling for Smith and Noble quality versus Hunnter Douglas?

My blinds are Smith + Noble and I love them. I don't know about Hunter Douglas, but I can tell you that mine pre-date me. The previous owners installed them, and I loved each of their choices, so I've kept them all, and I've been in my apartment since October of 2002. I have no idea how long before that they bought them.

The living room ones are wood, and the kitchen ones are a white wood-looking plastic and the bathroom ones are white metal.

Having purchased a variety of blinds in the past 6 years for different abodes...

Hunter Douglas - a premium brand name that you pay extra for. If you find a similar product by BALI or GRABER (which is what I did) you'll save $ and get a good quality product. Hunter Douglas does have some unique products configured in ways that other companies don't offer.

I am trying to figure out a paint color for the guest bedroom and i'd like to paint it some sort of silver. Has anyone ever painted a room silver or seen one? i tried searching for some pictures in vain and i really want to see it before i go to the paint store and pick out different shades of silver. the look i'm going for is very glamorous, luxurious etc. Also, i dont want a dark greyish silver, i do want a lighter tone of it.
Can anyone help please?

Thanks.

There absolutely are silver paints, and some of them are wonderful, but you really have to be careful with them, because the way they can dry can be VERY tricky.

But the biggest, most important thing is that they DO show every single little flaw in the wall, and so... if you really want it to look metallic, you'll need to have the place totally skim-coated, which is kind of like having a guy, essentially spackle (on a grand scale) every square inch of the walls, and sand the hell out of them. And then he does it again a day or so later, and then at least one more time. NOT a fun thing him or his lungs, or for yours, for that matter.

THEN... if you want it to REALLY look like metal, you should have a professional painter who is used to dealing with major-league sprayers SPRAY it on, and I'm not talking about spray-paint, I'm talking about a huge undertaking with rented equipment.

Otherwise, you might just want to go ahead and decide that you want sort of a pebbled, galvanized, hammered thing which would probably best be applied by at least one to 2 coats with a roller just for coverage, since metallic paints are often kind of translucent and tend not to cover all that well. And then you MIGHT feel the need to have your topmost coat be completely stippled all over with the top edges of a paint brush by hand.

Also keep in mind that the paint, itself, ain't cheap.

One thing you MIGHT want to do is paint the whole room with a primer coat of some kind of undertone that you like. Say... grey, or lavender, or a pale blue-grey. If you're doing gold, you should probably paint red underneath it, but then you might want to stencil the gold on in squares so it looks like gold leafing.

Peacelamp--
For the look you're after, I'd recommend wallpaper. Or, just do an accent wall in aluminum leaf.

If committed to paint, look at Ralph Lauren's metallics.

Curtis - You make it sound like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

Thanks for the tips, I am looking for panels rather than shades or blinds. I may end up keeping the panels that aren't blackout that just arrived,and adding blackout liner to the rod. I have looked at bed bath and pottery barns liners. I didn't see any on the smith and noble or hunters site.

Thanks,

stacey

thanks curtis n patrick. Wall paper might be the way to go as there is some really nice wallpaper out there! or silver leaf one wall will also look nice.
check out http://www.jocelynwarner.com/

thanks again!

Peacelamp--
There is also wallpaper designed to mimic the appearnce of leafing... I want to say from Maya Romanoff, but not entirely certain.

Stacey--
I think on Smith & Noble, they offer blackout lining as an upgrade, but maybe not as a stand-alone item. Which only helps you if you are starting over at S&N!

For people who were interested in linen sheets, they're on sale at Garnet Hill.

And because I love most of you so much...if you enter ENT in the discount code box you get $10 off $50 or $50 off $250. Don't know how long it will work but it makes those linen sheets nearly affordable!

p2, I would be interested in hearing how you like your silk comforter too. I'm looking for down alternatives and hate primaloft.

I think I found a good pillow, it ain't down but it ain't bad, it's the natural latex one from Overstock. It smells at first, so you have to let it air out for a while, but so far, 2 thumbs up from 2 testers.

regards,
trillium

This maybe isn't so much a recommendation for Peacelamp, who has the silver fever, but a super easy, chintzola way to do gold leafing, is to go to Chinatown and buy some dirt-cheap packs of joss paper, which is decorated with squares of goldleaf, like so:

http://www.blockheadstamps.com/Images/Accessories/Paper/joss-paper.jpg

It's a good quick way to do goldleafing on plain picture frames, or borders on walls, or any other flat surface where you don't need the leaf to be really filmy. All you need is wallpaper paste or diluted white glue. The effect is quite impressive, for such a low-cost project.

This is my first visit here, and I need some decorating advice! I hope I am posting it in the right place!

I have just moved into a new apartment, and I need to add some color to my bedroom. The walls and ceiling are all white, and the carpets are beige. The window frame and door are light colored wood. The bed and dresser are brown-black (wenge) wood.

So… I was thinking of painting an accent wall behind the bed to liven things up.
My current sheets are shown in this picture: http://i5.tinypic.com/20jkcxg.jpg

The wall looks like this: http://i5.tinypic.com/20jlcg4.jpg
The bed will be right in the middle, with 2 white pendant lamps hanging over the bedside tables.

Any suggestions for a great color for the accent wall and/or a suggestion for colorful window treatments, or both??

Peacelamp -

We painted our bedroom ceiling in a Ralph Lauren silver. There are a number of shades -- really a great selection -- and we chose the lightest.

We had a lot of problems with the painting though -- we DID use a sprayer (we actually own one, but it is probably not as professional as some of those you can rent), but since it was my husband doing it, his spraying was not as even as that of a professional. And frankly, I hate the effect of sprayed on paint; I can always see spray dots.

A worse problem was that we have an intercoat adhesion problem between the drywall compound and the primer -- we bought a cheap primer (BEHR) from the hardware store, and have lived to regret it. Chunks of the ceiling have come down when we took the painter's tape off (when we painted the walls). We are hoping to be able to patch the areas and repaint the ceilings (this time, hiring a professional).

So that would be my advice to you: hire a professional to paint any metallic paints, and do only a feature wall (or ceiling) -- it can be too much for a whole room.

Peacelamp:

Here are the Maya Romanoff wallpapers:

http://www.mayaromanoff.com/collection.pvx?;?Category=1101

P(2), Romanoff has it, too, but in my opinion, Anya Larkin does shifted silver/copper/gold/pewter-leaf better. Link @ my signature; look for the "Smoke gets in my eyes" pattern

Ali,

Because most of us are trying to declutter and streamline our homes, it was so refreshing to see your new place (new and spotless and open)-- it's like having a blank canvass where you can create exactly what you want.

I notice you have a long entry hallway too. Be sure to check out one of the recent Good Questions which talked about what to do with long hallways (one popular suggestion was to line hallway with art, track lighting and use it as a sort of private gallery as one enters the apt.)

Congrats on finding the apt. Good luck with the decorating.

I'm in the middle of painting horizontal stripes on my kitchen walls. Now that the taping is done I have to decide on a paint color. I thought about going darker in the same color range as the walls but that might be too dull. Then I thought "what if I add a one inch stripe in another color to the bold stripe?" Something like a glassy green/blue would be nice. Any thoughts?

Also, when I took a piece of the blue tape off to reposition it the wall paint came off with it (see photos). Am I going to have that problem when I remove ALL the blue tape!? OMG, please say no.

Anne -
The way that paint came off makes it look kind of like the paint that peeled off might have been an eggshell finish latex paint and that the paint underneath might have been an oil-based paint and/or a semi-gloss. If you primed in-between those two coats, I'm not sure why that paint would be coming off.

However, some of those blue painters tapes are "calibrated" slightly differently from each other as far as how many days it's OK to leave them up.

Curtis, I have painted the kitchen walls a couple of times since living here and I didn't prime the walls between paint jobs. I think both paints were latex semi-gloss. I guess I should prime the stripes before painting them this time? I'm going to use a latex eggshell paint unless you think I should use another type of finish. I won't use oil based paint but that may be the paint that was originally on there before I started painting the kitchen a few years ago.

Caterpillar--
Your instinct is right... that wall is MADE for an accent color (in between the bump-outs only), and I think you have two ways to go... pick a color directly from your sheets... from one of the bold teals or reds, or even the lime. But that sort of locks you into those sheets season to season.

To get a little more mileage, I'd go a robin's egg blue that works with the sheets but doesn't lock you in (and if doing that, I'd bring your white walls down a notch by adding a warm tan to all other walls.)

That, or sort of a "none-of-the-above" solution: a deep, rich camel color (that would relate to carpet and wood trim) and would provide a neutral base for a parade of bedding combos (sorto fhow the seagrass works in that sheet pic).

The final option is paint that patch of wall to match whatever sheets you have on. Great fun to change so often!

Good luck, and show us "afters"!!

alternatives to crate & barrel, room & board, pottery barn?

hi all. i am an newbie designer suffering through a project helping a "friend" redo his living room in manhattan. we've come a long way and i'm now held up my a simple armchair purchase. i can't find him any reasonably priced armchair that he likes. beyond the 3 retailers mentioned above, i don't know where to turn for a chair that is in the $600 - $1400 price range. any ideas beyond scouring the flea markets & 2nd hand boutiques and getting something re-upholstered?

here is a pic of the chair we were going to buy but the price for getting the custom fabric choice was prohibitive; it basically doubled the price.
http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=947&f=10673&viewall=1

if you notice, this tropez chair is simple and square but not overly boxy.

i guess i'm just looking for sources to check out. if you have a bunch of places i can go within the 5 boroughs, i'd appreciate it.

thanks.

stef

stef--
Did you try Storehouse, or Mitchell Gold at ABC Carpet?

(specifically the Storehouse Vega)
Click my name to view.

Stef, Pier One has their "Westcott" armchair, which looks very similar, for $550, but only three fabric choices. Butterscotch-y, sage-y, and mocha-y.

I think Storehouse might be the way to go, fabricwise.

Good luck.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that you can click my name for the link.

Anne -
I'm not dead sure exactly what should happen next, because I'm not there, although I know that sounds strange. It seems like now that you've got that tape on that paint that wasn't primed underneath, that every where you take the paint up it MAY come up just like that did.

Although it's hard to say what I'd actually do, I think you might ought to take the tape off, prime the whole thing and re-paint your base color over the primer. Then really let that bottom color dry and cure for a nice fat long time because applying any tape over it.

THEN... put the tape on and paint the stripes, and then lift the tape off while the paint is wet, which will minimize the weirdness, I think.

thanks patrick & marm. the problem with storehouse is that it's catalog only, right? you can't go sit on the chair anywhere. and i will definately go to mitchell gold. my "client" would now rather pay more money for a better chair than pay $1700 for the $800 chair with a different fabric. oy! thanks for your help!