apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I'm looking for clear or mirrored coffee tables (probably more end table sized), but haven't found any that work for me yet. Crate and Barrel has them and they're pretty affodable (I want two for in front of my sofa) but they're nesting tables, and I'd only want the largest one. West Elm has mirrored ones, but at $229 a pop, I'd rather spend that kind of money elsewhere. Any ideas? Everything else in my very small studio is espresso colored, so I'd like something modern like clear tables (but other ideas are very welcome). Any suggestions are appreciated!

I'm on a search, as well. I'm about to renovate my kitchen and I'm looking for an alternative to wooden or white cabinets. I remember seeing an article in Martha Stewart Living years ago (like SEVERAL years ago) about using a certain kind of industrial cabinets in the kitchen. I remember them as having kind of a retro science lab look, and also remember them being available in great colors - orange, green, blue, yellow. Maybe baked enamel? I can't seem to come up with the right search words on Google and, short of going to the library and hitting the MSL archives, I'm stumped. Do these cabinets sound familiar to anyone? I seem to remember it being a particular brand.

Thanks!

HELP! I really need the opinion of several design-savvy people (and I know this is the place to find them). Here's my question...

Would you ever put tile on a bathroom ceiling?

My bathroom ceiling is currently painted and it gets little spots of mildew. Tile on the ceiling is relatively easy to clean (as well as more likely to prevent mildew from growing in the first place). Also, tile doesn't need a fresh coat of paint every now and then.

However, I wonder if tile on the ceiling is ugly. More importantly, I fear that tile on the ceiling could make my small bathroom appear even smaller (since anything other than paint on the ceiling would probably take up "visual space"). My bathroom is only 4.5 feet wide and 8 feet long (including the bathrub and everything).

For what it's worth, I plan to tile my bathroom with throughbody (i.e., non-glazed) porcelain tiles that are at least 12x12 (and no larger than 12x24 or 18x18). Due to the chemical limitations of porcelain, the tiles won't be a bright white, but more like a creamy white or a greyish white. The floor might be a slightly darker color, but the tiles described above are what I want on the walls -- and whatever tile goes on the walls would be what goes on the ceiling.

No offense, Laura (murray hill), but mirrored coffee tables always make me think of how people in movies from the 70s seem to snort cocaine on them. Just be sure not to leave any razor blades lying around on any mirrored coffee table that you eventually find.

I'll round out the list of questions with one more - is there any way to effectively cover up undesirable wallpaper in a place we are renting (and can't paint over or re-wallpaper), without damaging it? If we had new sheets of wallpaper, is there some non-damaging adhesive we can use to put it up for a year?

Thanks!

I have seen older bathrooms here in NYC that were completely tiles -- including ceilings. I have often wondered why this isn't more common -- but the simple answer is cost.

I say go for it!

Lorca -
If I were you, I'd be TEMPTED (but might not do it) to go out and buy the cheap all-metal white ones that they sell at hardware stores and stuff, and then bring them to a auto body painting place like MAACO and have them paint them with automotive paint. That would give you a nice choice of colors, and if you're having them done all at once it might seem relatively cheap.

I had them do that to my old-timey installed-in-the-wall metal clothes hamper, and it's all shiny limousine black and it makes me VERY happy.

Lisa: What about stapling or otherwise tacking fabric to the walls. Would this be too much damage? I've seen it in several designs and I think it can look very nice. Jonathan Fong did an example (found in my link). Ignore the froofy room and take a good look at the fabric. He sometimes also has other good non-traditional wall covering ideas you might look at.

DavidO--I wouldn't put tiles on my bathroom ceiling, partly because it's a small bathroom and I think it might look like a cell. But also because I'm in an apartment building, and if there's anything weird going on with the plumbing above me--leaky pipes and so on--I want to know, and I think tile might hide that.
You can buy mold & mildew resistant paint, which I just used in my bathroom. It seems fine so far. I can't remember the brand name, but any decent hardware store should know what I mean.

Lorca-
I think MS used Steelcase cabinets.

Curtis -

I just read an article online (a more recent Martha Stewart Living feature!) about doing exactly that - taking a bunch of metal furniture to an industrial painter and having it all spray-coated in one big batch. I'm not familiar with the white metal cabinets you're describing, but I'll take a look around. Thanks for the tip!

One more question for you - I see on your flickr page that you seem to have retained a vintage stove in your kitchen. I'm considering doing the same with a huge (40 inch) beautiful stove that seems like it's from the 40s. Have you been happy with your choice to stick with the old rather than buying new? Any warnings?

hi everyone.

i was looking for a little help. i need to find a bench similar to this one,below, but it needs to be less than 20 inches wide. preferably not leather.

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=950&f=8659&q=storage+bench&fromLocation=Search&DIMID=400001&SearchPage=1
thanks for any help.

rachel

p.s. thanks jamie pup!

Laura -- CB2 has some nice lucite tables that might work for you.

I'm looking for some good design books for my library... any suggestions?

Lorca -
I'm just really not a huge cook, and I'm not sure I've used that oven even once, so I'm almost scared to even check to see if it works, but I have no reason to believe it won't.

But I loves me a gas stove top for boiling the occasional water to make a bucket of iced tea, etc., because I love the real, visible flame.

I bought some appliance touch-up paint for the dings and nicks that time has given it, but the only real upgrade I did was that when my super's cousin put in my unglazed tile flooring, they went into the basement and disconnected my gas-line, since my stove had been installed originally in such a way that the pipe went directly into the wall (no flexible hose NOR a cut-off valve of my own!) and totally disconnected the stove, put it into the dining room where I cleaned the HELL out of the nasty sides of it where 60 years of grease had dropped down, and then they re-installed it with a fresh, new flexible hose and my own shut-off valve.

So for me, the charm of the old stove, and the safety of the valve were perfect for my needs.

So between that and sending out my original-equipment cabinet doors out to be stripped professionally, and stripping the cabinet frame parts myself; AND painting the walls of the kitchen to look like a vintage wallpaper pattern I got in a sample book I bought on eBay (took me a VERY long time!); and buying a period-friendly version of a Moen-sprayer-faucet thing, I have a homey, yet sufficiently convenient kitchen that I love.

If I (or my heirs) ever sell the place, the next owner can upgrade to their heart's content.

I saw a bath room with the ceiling tiled with 1 in glass tiles. they were irridescent and beautiful. they had also carved out 'nooks' in the walls and put the glass tile in the nooks. it was sooo pretty. i think that if you are going to put tile on the ceiling it should be smaller tiles because of the weight. does that make sense?

Curtis -

Wow - I'm inspired by your willingness to take on that level of work, especially with your cabinets and your walls. Glad to have the vote of confidence on the stove! I'm looking forward to checking out more of your flickr galleries.

Abby -

Thanks very much for the Steelcase reference. I'll check that out.

If anyone else has ideas about sources for interesting industrial cabinets, please let me know!

Lorca

Jen C, thanks for the link! now that's what i call brothel decor! the cheap stuff (postcards, posters, take out containers) was unnecessary, but the bedding and wall fabrics and chinese red dresser are just wonderful... in an over-the-top brothel-y kind of way.

are bolsters the secret to turning a bedroom into a boudoir?

Any one out there have any words of wisdom or been there/done that advice on fixing and or replacing a door in a co-op apartment? Our pre-war co-op has a metal door at the entry that has seen many coats of paint, and many wounds - some heald with screwed on, painted over metal plates (former door handle plate) and some just painted over, large chips. The frame is equally scarred. We're sprucing up our entry and I'm wondering what to do about the darn door...just painting it won't do much and having just stripped the same period metal window frames in our kitchen, I've learned my lesson not to try that again.

Do you think I could approach the co-op board/managing agent about replacing both if I were willing to eat the cost?

Are there less expensive alternatives? Maybe facing it with something (veneer? maybe a grid of padded leather colored squares?)

Maxwell suggests keeping cool and warm colors separate, unless you're going for a funky or offbeat look. Every single color combination I enjoy seems to bring together cool and warm colors. Do you think it's possible to pull off those combos without the place seeming childish or dormish?

andy, for what it's worth, i think it's necessary to have both a cool color and a warm one. one of the most popular apts on AT is that one with everything white or icy blue except for a red chair. many apts i've liked use cool colors for walls or larger furniture, and warm ones for more inimate objects/pieces -- i think it makes a small space seem more spacious.

Curvedfeather, if it is a solid metal door, it is probably a fire door and you might actually have to have metal. Is the door in the building entry or your apartment? If it is your apartment, you just need to know whether steel is obligatory. If it is the building entry, I wouldn't offer to pay for it, I'd propose that the building take that on.

My questions:

Has any true mortal ever lived with a lucite table? I worry that it would be a dust magnet or would get scratched and ugly over time. Are they more durable than that or should I leave lucite to people more delicate than I?

And, I am on the hunt for framing ideas. It is time to get my posters and prints into actual frames, both for archival purposes and because I'm tired of leaving things clipped to the wall. I'm looking for ideas that won't make my apartment feel more cluttered than it already is.

DavidO, it doesn't sound like tin would go with your aesthetic, but I love it:
http://www.americantinceilings.com

Does anyone have experience soundproofing existing interior apartment walls, to try to reduce noise (especially from a subwoofer) from a less-than-considerate next-door-neighboor? I have been speaking with a few contractors and companies in this space, and one oft-mentioned product is Green Glue (www.greengluecompany.com), a new-ish product that supposedly works especially well against subwoofer/base noise. Green Glue involves putting up new dry wall - "glued" to existing dry wall - and the installation is said to be easy-enough. Plus, the cost is not-that-much. Does anyone have experience with this product, or have other suggestions (at various levels of complexity and cost)? Thank you.

Thanks Amanda for your thoughts. It's our apartment door (not the building's entry). It is metal for fire reasons and since everyone in the co-op has the same door I imagine I'd have to replace it with a newer version of the same model.

I'd rather refurbish it though if I could find a decent treatment as I'd rather put my money into other projects that need doing.

nnn, We have a wall of books that helps soundproof from the neighbors television. I've had friends who have lined their walls with cork and then covered that with gathered fabric. The cork was a great insulator for sound and they really made the fabric walls work for there small space though I would think it would be a dust magnet.

Laura, what about toping a minimall styled coffee table with a beveled edge mirror?

Frank: Thanks for assuring me that at least one other person doesn't think it's not ugly to have tiles on the ceiling. And I'm not deterred by the extra cost!

anta: You raise a good point about water damage. I also live in an apartment building, but it's a modern construction -- with my floors and ceiling composed of concrete (not even sheetrock to cover it). I'm sure water can still seep down from my upstairs neighbor, but I think there would have to be a LOT of water for that to happen.

amanda: I love the look of tin ceilings, but you're right that it probably wouldn't jive with my design esthetic. However, I'm going to look into a tin ceiling (well, perhaps an aluminum ceiling since it's for my bathroom). Hopefully, someone will have a design that will match the look I'm going for.

DavidO -

Just want to add one more voice to the pro-ceiling-tile ranks. I think it sounds great, especially since it will match the tile on the walls. Go for it!

attn: Florence Broadhurst fans!
help, please!
having a helluva time finding the recent flawless Top 10 in here, FB wallpapers...have searched archives by topic + date to no avail...it appeared in past few months...does anyone recall when, where, have it bookmarked maybe?
please lemme know!

thanks!

nnn, Green Glue is the way to go. But remember that you have to treat all the holes in the wall as well. That means dealing with all your electrical outlets, vents, etc. And if the two apartments have windows near each other that's going to be an issue as well.

orange ed:

I did a "Top 10 Florence Broadhurst Patterns" post on AT:Chicago.

Click my name for the link.

Andy,
we think it's absolutely possible to combine hot + cool colors + w/out it looking childish/dormish.
the recent Portugese? kitchen featured here, with the dominant reds, pinks and white, aqua accents, terrific...need to look again here!

been scheming our kitchen to be 2 red + 1 fuschia, in the middle wall panels, a nod to Werner Panton's entire rooms in these colors, with a cocoa brown floor (all warm + coffee house-ish) bit we're gonna try a mint green floor instead, which will pop more (painting thrashed, 80's dinge-white linoleum...possible with right primer put down first).

don't know how much warm/cool mix you could say is found in the work of our hall of fame of influences (of our current home): Broadhurst, Panton, and D. Draper, but we have noticed more warm/cool color combos in the recent work of Thom Filicia
(ok, one recent Oprah show re-do for a young couple).

Lisa - There is a paste called Beva that is used in art conservation / preservation. It is a heat-activated reversible adhesive. It is brushed onto the back of the material to be adhered, the material is held in place, and ironing creates an adhesion to the backup surface. When you want to reverse the adhesion, you just iron again and remove the material while it's hot. I wonder if this could be tested on a small area of your new wallpaper over the old?

speaking of broadhurst, anyone got a zaishu? i am oh so tempted.... but the price is not right:

http://www.zaishu.com/index.php?mode=enter

Thanks, Lorca.

JANEL,
Chicago, oh, duh! coulda sworn it was a NY entry...
thank you! i owe you one!
:-D

rasil, cool, thanx!

Lorca -

I think if you check out the September issue of Martha Stewart Living, those same lab cabinets are featured yet again -- in her latest kitchen reno. You can get the exact source there.

I think this is along the lines of a "hot or not" question. I live in a rowhouse in Philadelphia with windows on the first floor that allow ample viewing of our interior by passersby, particularly at night. I'm looking for a window treatment solution. I've ruled out shutters and curtains and I'm leaning toward a sheer cellular shade that offers a top-down bottom-up function. I'm also considering something along the lines of the Hunter Douglas Silhouette shade -- the type that supends fabric vanes between two sheer fabric facings (their words). I like the versatility that they offer, but something in the back of my mind is holding me back. Something about their complexity seems a bit cheesy to me. And maybe because a salesperson told me that it has become a very popular choice for her suburban customers. I will admit, though, they do look kind of nice. So...hot or not? Can anyone speak from experience? Or, know of a cheaper, yet still good quality brand to consider? Please help me, I'm really choking up on this one. What else is new....

I believe Martha used Duralab cabinets.

DavidO,

I think tiles could look nice on the ceiling, but I would suggest smaller tiles on the ceiling than the walls.

Kim: I have to say, "not". I know what you mean, they are tempting, but I saw them in a great apartment recently and they looked, well, cheap. Maybe it was because they were white, I don't know, but it just didn't work. I am trying to decide what to put on my window - not on the first floor, but facing the courtyard of an adjoining building thus prying eyes. I am considering voile roman shades that have a top down and bottom up option. I might just go for traditional blinds, but they get so dirty, ugh, I don't know.

We just bought an apartment and are now in the process of sprucing it up before our move-in. On Monday I was over there cleaning the bathroom (which was foul) and when I took the vanity cabinet pulls off to clean under them, the entire panel of "laminate" came off of both doors. I have lived in cheap ass New York Apartments since I was a sophomore in colleg, I;ve had slum lords for heaven's sake, I have never seen such cheap cabinets. The substrate was greenish brown MDF and these are the same cabinets that are in our kitchen. My question: has anyone ever had this happen to them and do you think that I can remove all the laminate and paint or stain the MDF? We are going to replace the entire kitchen next year and the bathroom will be gone before Christmas, but I thought, in the mean time, maybe there's something I can do to make it liveable. Thoughts?

Lisa - there was a thread about temporary wallpaper solutions before, check it out here: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/good-questions/good-questions-temporary-wallpaper-001457

Kim - I have those shades (a Smith and Noble knockoff version) and I think their main advantage is providing some protection from light and glare while still allowing you to enjoy the view; that's the main reason I got them. You actually can't adjust the angle of the slat-like panels nearly as well as you can with traditional venetian blinds and they are MUCH more expensive.

I did use those cellular shades with top up/bottom down when I lived in a ground floor apartment and they provided great privacy protection although they weren't much of a design element, just kind of a neutral thing. If you don't like that look maybe wood blinds would be an option?

Kim, I went with cellular shades (top down bottom up) and I'm really pleased with them. I got mine from decoratetoday.com for about 1/3 of the price of Hunter Douglas (went with the house brand) and they have been working very well for the last 4 years with no signs of wear.

Colleen - if you are replacing both in such a short timeframe I would just paint over the laminate rather than try to remove it. I would use spraypaint for something like this, but I've also painted over laminate with KILZ primer and regular paint; I am not a very careful painter and laid it on too thick but it looks okay from a distance.

If you need to conceal your kitchen countertops as well, I would tile over them rather than paint due to the heavy wear these surfaces receive. I did this exact same thing myself as a temporary stopgap before replacing my kitchen, this is something you can do yourself as long as you don't have a lot of cutout areas in the counter that are hard to tile around. Using bullnose on the counter edges is important for a finished look.

Thanks, eeeck.

Hi All,

I emailed this question to AT but realized that you all would probably be able to advise me.

I am trying to find out what color is on the wall in the cover photo for the latest (Fall 2006) issue of Blueprint. There doesn't seem to be any credit for it, and I'm looking for a deep, rich blue like that for one of my bedroom walls -- essentially a blue that's intense (a true blue or slightly grayish, but not green) but not bright or primary-color-y. And not so dark it's navy or almost black.

Any ideas?

Thanks much!

Margaret