apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Oh, erm, well....hello. I've been "lurking" for awhile and just "delurked" recently. I'm from Canada, actually, and not NY. Hope you don't mind me hanging out here anyway....

So ...you want opinionated (not a problem), yet you want polite? and this is for a primarly NY audiance?

kidding of course.

Being an owner just gives me so much respect for all the others that have done it all along.

been lurking for a while, i suppose i can say hello. read this everyday, even though I'm a resident of your neighbor-to-the-north, Boston, not NYC.

I found AT a while back while googling IKEA's Dignitet window hardware (which we subsequently installed). I now visit AT daily for entertainment, comraderie, commiseration and inspiration. I live in a 500 sq ft, 1 bedroom, 5th floor walkup on the UES. I aspire to classic mid-century modern decor, but for now I have primarily early 21st century IKEA cheap. Ah, well...

Adding onto Amy's message, just thought I'd mention seems that alot of people have been moving to the UES, seems to be one of the few areas, that rent can fall under $2,000

what about brooklyn? we have a two-bedroom with two solid marble fireplaces, original shuttered windows in an 1850 Italianate brownstone for well under $1500. there are great restaurants and bars around, not to mention innovative new design stores all around us. it takes a mere 30 minutes for me to get to my midtown job. there are LOTS of these sort of deals all over brooklyn!

Greetings from deep in the midwest (Columbus, Ohio). I don't remember how I stumbled upon AT, but I'm sure glad I did. I have been lurking for weeks, reading progressively more times each day. Thanks for all the wonderful ideas, links and inspiration. I am keeping a mental list of all the interesting shops/places I'll need to visit on the next of my semi-annual trips to NYC.

I have really enjoyed AT this past year; I found it while I was looking for some items I needed to dress a video shoot for my job. But it's become a daily habit, now. I do wish that there were regional versions, or that those of us in cities outside of NY's rarified circle and who like our bedrooms too could enter contests! (Ha.)

But it does seem like an extra special challenge to live in New York; I feel almost guilty for the apartment I have in Orlando - downtown, cute and retro, 900 sqft., 2 bedrooms, $615/month. It seems almost wrong when I read people's struggles to find space in NY. Of course, they're in New York City (key word - city), and I have Disney down the street... Tradeoffs. That's right.

And on another note - I am looking for nice, clean-limbed bookshelves for my living room. The thing is, I want lower bookshelves, to line a wall - waist high rather head high. Any suggestions? All the great modern stuff I see is utterly out of my price range.

Thanks for all the good work guys...

Brooklyn is great, but back when we were looking 3 years ago, anything over 1200 was out of our range.We found everything we were looking for in Jersey City, and I'm always praising it on this site. I only pay $925 for a one bedroom, with a dishwasher, and washer and dryer on each floor.
Theres brownstones, parks, and great restaurants.
Faith ooh 2 bedrooms for 615, crazy.

Faith--might I suggest the Norrebo bookcase from IKEA? We just got the storage box and add-on unit from the same line. Really nice, cheap for solid wood. Kind of "Scandanavian meets Japanese". We're thinking of getting the tall bookcase for our living room, but there's a short version, as well. The primary attraction, for us, is that it's open. We have that holy grail of NYC apartments--the unpainted brick wall--and we are loathe to cover it up.

MRoman--I can vouch for the affordability of the UES (east of Lex, anyway). We pay $1700/mo, which, while outrageous anywhere else, is a bargain in Manhattan. It's a very nice place--granite countertops, maple cabinets, etc... but did I mention it's a 5th floor walkup? And the environs, while convenient, lack the charm of downtown neighborhoods. You get what you pay for...

I have white walls, light wood doors on my closet (and french doors separating the bedroom and living room. and blond(ish) wood floors, but my bedroom furniture is dark. Any ideas on how I can make the dark and light work better together? I want to paint, but have no idea what colour would work. suggestions?

Maybe you can stain instead of painting?
Do you own or rent?

faith,

you may want to look at the 'woodwinds' line of bookshelves at room and board (roomandboard.com), the GREATEST source of furniture in america, in my opinion.


tim

Veronica -- It's not that tough to work with mutiple woods, you just have to remember that they are also a color in your room. The best thing to do is either bring in pictures or samples of your floor and furniture and anything else important in your room and take that with you to the paint store. Most paint stores also have stain samples of different woods [look near the stain section], if you want a quick rough match in the store. Afterwards, you can take home your favorite samples and match them against your pieces and look at them in your room's light.

I rent.
So not sure I should mess with the floor, though the cheap, unfinished look to my closet and bathroom doors make me want to take a stain to them.

Ask your landlord first, before he or she gets mad -- most landlords won't mind as long as you improve something. They might not be quite as happy if you stain it ebony or walnut or wenge, but if you're just staining platinum blonde to honey blonde they probably won't care [or notice]. If you can, try and get an eco-friendly stain, so you don't have to breathe in anything nasty in your bedroom.

On sort of a different subject--re the beautiful bedroom contest... my bedroom is in no shape to have pictures of it posted, but one thing I do like is the color--Benjamin Moore's Oriental Silk, a very pale, warm yellow that looks good in different lights. Worth checking out.

Another Boston reader here. It would be awesome if there were a Boston version. I'm having a HELLISH time finding window treatments, and if I had some sort of cool site like yours pointing me at resources in this city I wouldn't have to sell a kidney and get something nice from Smith & Noble as I'm planning now. It's either that or settling for something from the "softer" side of Sears.

Any Boston folks have any ideas? Are there any comparable Boston-based blogs? How about someone not as lazy as I crankin' one out?

I found a charming Victorian house just outside of Greenpoint where I had been living---- near Manhattan Ave). The 1888 Victorian has pocket doors, great wood floors, LR, DR, Kit and pantry plus an extra apartment --3 rms + bthrm--- on the 'side' with its own entrance. On the second floor there are four bedrooms; the third floor had a maid's room reached by 'back' stairs ---can't look or see the servants ya' know--- and a huge space that I use as a studio.

After growing up in a Greenpoint RR flat with parents and three siblings, I needed the space I have now. This corner property permits the garage entrance to be located in the rear of the property ....but getting to the rear deck and into the house, during rain, requires that we encircle the Koi pond --I installed it a few years ago. A small bridge over the fish pond would solve that problem.

Living 'just outside' of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, as I do, is not as exciting as being at the core of things. Why, look, you have Williamsburg next to you! And I always thought of it as such a dump.
Currently I tend to drive into Philadelphia --which is also 'next' to Greenpoint--- for whatever amenities it has. But ......I really do miss the old neighborhood.

DC reader here. Amateur Design Enthusiast. Love the site and look forward to posting in the open thread more

Washington DC reader here. Amateur design enthusiast. Love the site and look forward to participating in the discussion more going forward

Howdy everyone!!

I too have been lurking for quite some time. I think this is a GREAT website!!!

I'm a married 38 year old man living with my wife and two cats in Williamsburg Brooklyn.

My wife and I have been renovating our 3 story brick house for the past 6 years.

We've taken the entire first and second floors as our living space (about 1000, square feet on each floor), and we are building it at a duplex linked by a spiral staircase inside the apartment

Most of the first floor is now finished. It consists of

1) Entry Foyer (with coat closet and laundry chute, marble floor)

2) Living Room/ Dedicated Home Theater(with 70" screen and 5.1 Sound)

3) Media Room

4) Spaciaous Kitchen with windows and marble floor.

5) Formal Dining Room.

6) Primary Bathroom (with granite-top vanity).

Work on the second floor WILL begin before year's end. Located there will be the Master Bedroom, Master Bath, Master(walk-in) closet), Front Sitting Room, Home office, Office (walk-in) Closet, 16 Foot long Closet-Lined Corridor.

I'd LOVE to post some "slide-show" photos of what we have already completed in the space, but I don't know how.

Can ANYONE help me? It would be MOST appreciated. Thanks!!

Best Regards,

-Roberto