apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

ok, NOW did anyone see that nutcase on "Flipping Out" last night? He starts remodeling before he closes on the houses he buys? what?!?

Lisa, I saw that. My husband is convinced that it's not a 'reality' show but that it's somehow a satire of reality shows in general. I think that's a little out there, but the guy seems nuts. It looks like he really does do beautiful work, but I thought it was odd that he would get on camera and openly admit to doing illegal stuff (even though I would bet it happens more often than we'd think).

Question: I just received my Parsons Desk from West Elm...in Blue Moon. It's really not very blue, though...more of a little gray. Has anyone else noticed this? It definitely has more pigment than a white one, so they didn't deliver it in the wrong color. Any advice? It took me so long to get it from UPS that I don't want to send it back.

The guy on Flipping Out has OCD and a whole bunch of issues. Notice how he says he was so happy that he found a career where his neuroses are embraced. Anyway, I find him quite pathetic as he holds on to employees so he actually has humans in his house. The show is kind of boring from a design perspective cause we didnt even really get to see what he was doing to the houses! Bravo's reality series keep getting worse in quality. But why oh why do I keep watching...

When he kept adjusting the outdoor furniture (or rather had his crew adjust it for him), I wanted to reach in the tv and slap him. I did like his "executive" assistant though. She has a future in showbiz.

does anyone know of another plexi place in nyc like plexi-craft? i've gotten a price from them on a job, but i'd like to check out my options. we're doing custom plexi light fixtures, so if you know of a place that does custom work like plexi-craft, let me know!

thanks in advance :)

That "First Assistant" is a trip. Yes, I too thought it uber weird that he admitted his illegalness on tv. Do his lenders watch the show? I wish they'd show more of the finished houses as well. Yes, BRAVO craptastic tv, and I can't stop TIVOing it either.

I am designing on a budget and need help finding some good storage for all my knickknacks and books. I finally found something almost perfect for my needs- the Pottery Barn Lucas Bookcase Console http://tinyurl.com/2wokdb
. I love the dimensions, the multi-functionality, the fact that its made of solid wood and not the engineered kind. The only things not perfect about this piece is the dark stain which is a bit darker than the midtone walnut stain I want and $700 regular/$600 sale price per piece. In a ideal world, I would need 3 of these. I would use one for the TV/media and the other 2 stacked on top of each other as a bookcase and to display my decorative stuff. I need something flexible that is multifunctional and would be useful in another place in my apartment or when I move.

I have looked at and rejected other alternatives like Domino Shelves, Smart Furniture, West Elm, Ikea Expedit shelves, Pier One Stacking T shelf, Cubitec and an MDF piece at Downtown Furniture because of cost or construction. Someone on AT suggested getting benches and screwing them together which would be great if I could find some benches that would work. Currently, I am investigating getting these pieces built custom at a few carpenters suggested on this site. Before I go this route, can anyone help me find the Lucas Bookcase Console for cheaper (maybe under $300) ?

Tru-

Try those wooden shelves at Target.

Lady J, can you be more specific. I have been on the Target website alot but havent seen anything similar to the Lucas.

Speaking of reality design based show, has anyone been watching Design Star? Is it being discussed somewhere else on AT that I missed? I have to say, so far I'm really disappointed in everything. I'm disappointed in the first 'casting' episode, I thought they blatantly chose some people simply because of their personalities (I get that the prize is a tv show so you need a 'personality' but come on, if being a weirdo is enough then I should get MY own show too). I watched the second episode (first design challenge) last night and was disappointed in who they chose to send home.

I get that Lisa didn't design much of a functional space, but they never said it HAD to be functional. I mean, what DO you do by your front door anyway? I suppose she could have put a 'landing strip' of some kind there, but other than that I'm not sure what they wanted. I thought the point was to make the place into a living space, someplace for them to call home, and it seemed like she did a good, funky job of that.

I probably could have lived with her ousting were it not for the fact that Josh and Robb BUTCHERED their area. I mean, the colors they used were not AT ALL in keeping with the rest of the penthouse, they did crappy, crappy work, and the car door on the wall? Just the one, lonely car door? It was awful!! MUCH worse than Lisa's entry, which she clearly put tons of effort into and actually finished.

The worst part of all this? I'll continue to watch, because I can just TiVO and fast forward through the annoying parts :)

Tru-

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=in_de_detail-item-display/602-5939040-2899805?ie=UTF8&asin=B000FTLF82

oh Bluestar, I feel your pain.

Bluestar, I'm with you! I really did hate Lisa's area, though, but good lord - anyone who ever takes the "Hey, we don't know what else to do, let's throw some sparkly pillows on it" approach to design probably isn't going to be invited to my next dinner party.

If they could have kicked Lisa, Josh & Robb all off, I would have been all about it.

I did really love the sunken dining room, and surprisingly, the quarter pipe! It's a little weird for a living room, but it somehow worked aesthetically and didn't seem like... well... a quarter pipe dropped in the middle of a living room. I'm sort of excited about this season. There's clearly some talent there. I just hope they kick certain people off soon so we can really see the people who deserve to win.

Hey Lady J, thanks. I would not have seen these because they arent in the bookcase section and I am not sure where they stock these in the local store. Trying to figure out the dimensions. Will try to see these in person cause I am always wary of laminate.

Bluestar, I missed the first episode on Sunday and couldnt figure out when the show repeats. Anyway I have seen the commercial and was suprised Lisa got kicked off so soon. She seemed to be creative. The problem with these shows is they kick off people with talent and keep the talentless troublemakers or whiny people cause "it makes good tv".

Oh and back to Flipping Out, I loved when they showed some clips from the season. And he was all like "It has never been so bad for me" and you could tell he wanted to cry but he couldnt frown because of all the botox. Mwahahaha!

Bluestar--

Did you listen to the interview about Design Star with HGTV's VP of Event Programming?

Unrelated, and to paraphrase Steve Martin in The Jerk, "The new Ikea catalogs are here! The new Ikea catalogs are here!"

P2 do you have a catalog? I have been looking at IKEA catalogs for years because I love the way its designed. Never been there yet but love looking at the catalog.

I saw the IKEA commercial that said the catalogs are coming soon...

for those of you that are still not over that chair at Anthropologie...

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/1353-Low-upholstered-Victorian-armchair-tufted-back_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ28221QQihZ007QQitemZ170134927695QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

Got mine in the mail today. Ikea catalog, not Anthropologie chair, that is.

I'm sure a lot of you already saw this but just in case:

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=tgt_email_RX707291/602-0280763-6333418?ie=UTF8&asin=B000ASASKE

Love this lamp!

I was at an IKEA today and their new catalog is definitely out. Stacks and stacks of them all over the store.

Ooh I have a new Ikea catalogue too...!

P2, I did not listen to the interview, but I'm going to go back and do so!

I also loved the sunken dining room and I loved the quarter pipe too, mostly because the guy (was his name Tony? I can't remember) was SO confident about it. I like that a lot, he seemed to have a very non arrogant attitude that was like "I would want a quarter pipe in my living room and if they don't like it then maybe I don't belong here". I also did not like the bar area because PUHLEASE, you can't find barstools???? I can't believe they didn't make a bigger deal about that. I'm sure you can make an argument that you don't necessarily need barstools, it could be more of a standing cocktail area, but the judges seemed to expect to see them there so I can't believe they didn't absolutely shred her to pieces for not being able to find barstools. It seemed lazy of her, to me anyway.

Thanks for mentioning the Ikea catalog guys, I *just* saw an ad on TV saying that their new one was coming soon and I thought I'd wait to visit the store until I knew I could get a new catalog while there. Guess I'll be visiting this weekend! :)

Anne - OMG the Target Tolomeo ... I am going to see if they have any in person at the store.