apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Does anyone have experience with Fagor appliances? I just discovered that they're about to begin distributing their 24" x 73" x 24" refrigerator/freezer in the US and iat $1699 (the price quoted to me by Albano appliances in Pound Ridge) it seems to fall somewhere between the Leibherr and the LG. You can see it on the www.fagorusa.com website. I like it and wonder if it's a good idea to go for it.

Thanks.

Stacey

Happy Monday everyone!
I posted this way too late on Saturday night for anyone to see it, so please excuse the repost:

I'm thinking of painting my kitchen backsplash a super-high-gloss deep red!
Firstly, is this a crazy idea?
Secondly, has anyone here done this, and is it a ton of work?
-cat

I'm thinking of buying a (replica) tulip table, but I'm not sure if I should go with the matching chairs. I like the idea of the swivel chairs (fun for kids and the hubby), but I remember seeing a photo of the table matched with the Eames Eiffel chairs in an AT post a long time ago (can't find it on search). The thing is, I'm hopeless at visualising, so I'd love it if anyone can point me to pictures where the table is matched with non-tulip chairs. I live in a 2-bdr apartment with 3 young kids, so space is at a premium and the chairs have to child-friendly (not to mention child-proof).

Deep red always requires more coats than normal colors, so allow more time for painting than you usually would. We ended up needing an extra day for a full wall.

High-gloss paint highlights every imperfection in the wall. If your walls are supposed to be smooth and flat, prep them more thoroughly than you ever imagined prepping a wall.

Thanks, wende. I have a red wall in my bedroom with a matte finish, and that took 4 thin coats. Fortunately, this is a really small strip of wall to do in the kitchen. To do it shiny, is there a better way than just using a high-gloss paint? Should I consider some sort of laquer? As for prepping the wall, do you just mean sanding it?

Kat -
I just saw a tulip table with eames eiffel chairs yesterday in one of my mags (either In Style or Domino). I will check it out and let you know. It looked awesome, BTW!

Carina -- Any shiny surface will highlight the flaws in the wall, so you might as well keep it simple and just use high-gloss paint. It's the shine, not the paint per se.

For prepping, we need Curtis. Curtis! Curtis!

(We're blessed with ultra-textured walls featuring giant, sweeping trowel marks, so we didn't have to prep anything to be smooth. You know how old houses back East that have had cheap rehabs have those very trowel-textured walls? That's considered chic and urban out here. Weird.)

I love this pendant lamp (http://www.mitchellgold.com/corona.asp) and it is $235. I have no doubt it is worth the money but our funds are running low since we bought our first home. Can anybody recommend something similar but a little less expensive? I also have to limit my shopping to online sources, any ideas would be great. Seems to me I used to see these everywhere but I'm having trouble locating them now... Thanks for your help.

and PS for Cat -- we painted a room red once and it was wonderful, but it took many, many coats. The paint store guy told me that we should have started with a special primer tinted for red paint, that might have saved us some time and money. Good luck with it, it will probably look brilliant.

Kat -

I found what I was looking at yesterday. It wasn't in a mag, but still looks great!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/softestthing/742979591/in/set-72057594139834453/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/softestthing/721854249/in/set-72057594139834453



There are loads of other examples on flickr too:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/tarkio11/328765862/

Thanks again, wende :)

Thanks, cat. :-) I don't know why I didn't think of Flickr!

Hey ATers I need your opinion. I commissioned some custom woodwork with a friend of a friend that does woodworking. I gave a picture, the dimensions, the stain, explained how I would be using the item. He called me when some changes in the design would have to be made . I okayed those changes even though it wasnt what I had envisioned. The custom woodwork was delivered and its beautiful even though there are some cosmetic changes that had to be made to preserve the structural integrity of the piece. The problem is the dimensions are wrong. The piece was designed for a particular space in my apt and the height is wrong.

At first I was going to accept it because of the friend of a friend connection. But I know I wouldnt have gone this route unless I was sure I was getting something to the particular specifications ie height, materials and color. Whats the best way to rectify this situation? Help

Oh yeah and I already tried to see if the problem could be revised. And it seems like not.

I was looking at another design blog the other night and saw a link to a great store called Zara Home. Has anyone heard of it or know anything about it? It's not in the US and their online "catalog" are just photos with no way of getting any info. When I tried to send them a note via their site I was blocked from filling out a couple of boxes and it wouldn't go thru. Out of frustration I closed the site. But I want to buy everything I saw! What can anyone tell me about them?
http://www.zarahome.com/i07/en/

Anne, Zara Home is great. I always lust after their stuff when I am visiting Europe. I always want to buy stuff but with the strength of the euro and the difficulty of carrying it home I was always talk myself out of it.

Hey Everybody. I have a bare wall I want to line all my clothes up on and then hang some pretty linen panels in front of. It's about 10 feet across and the walls are brick, plaster. (It's a rental and I tend to move every year so I don't want any heavy furniture.)

Do you know of any way to have something go right accross as I don't want to install something permanant against the wall.
It's too wide for a tension rod. I just want something really simple and inexpensive which I could possibly use again. Is that possible?

cat,

not a crazy idea at all. but definitely do a tinted primer...it's a neccessity. certain primers and paints are special to moist areas (backsplash), too, so look into that. if you want something that looks super super smooth'n'shiny (like epoxy panels or something) then make sure to sand, etc. if the area's very pocked or bumpy, consider skim coating it.

cheers,
katy

dana, what about getting two garment racks? they're flexible and good for moving clothes, too! :)

maybe even look into curtain hardware (thin metal wire as opposed to big tension rods) but i'm not sure about the weight of clothes vs curtains.

or, pipes and flanges in such a way that you can attach to the ceiling, not the walls.

Anne, isn't Zara Home the housewares offshoot of the Zara clothing line which has so many stores here in the US? Unfortunately that would mean their stuff is probably only sold exclusively through them though, and thus not available online. If there was something specific you are dying for it might be worth looking through a European eBay site, although shipping will be a killer.

On another note, I would like to replace my dishwasher with something more highpowered. I need something that's good at stripping off dried-off gunk that can hold a ton of stuff, including stockpots and stemware. I've been looking at a Kenmore Elite as well as some Bosch models, any reccos either way? And do I need a "hard food disposer," whatever that is?

Thanks, katy and jendavid.

I just picked up paint swatches at the paint store, and the paint guy was seriously urging me not to do high-gloss. He said semi-gloss is just as good, and is MUCH less expensive. He also said not to bother prepping, and just to use a good primer.

I am very sad and confused now and am rethinking the whole thing :(

Zara Home is part of the Zara clothing company? You'd think that if they have the clothing stores here they would at least provide a way for the USA to order from them. Darn.

hey cat, what size is the backsplash? usually in nyc it's small enough that one can afford to tile it or use a sheet of steel, etc. there's also that lightbox backsplash that was posted a few days ago.

it doesn't have to be paint, yaknow. panels of interesting material can often be cut to size.

what about opaque plexiglass? do they make red plexi?? plexicraft could probably whip something up for ya :)

kdkaboom, the plexiglas idea for the red backsplash is inspired and made me wonder... can you *paint* plexi? If you paint one side and put that side to the wall, I wonder if that would work? That would certainly feel/look glossy and would be a cinch to keep clean. This sounds like something I might want to try myself...

jendavid99
not the same size but way way cheaper, available in 8" and 4" diameter
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80088598
and this one in 10"
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20081175

kat
sfgirlbybay shows her beautiful dining room with wicker chairs
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sfgirlbybay/449950131/in/set-72157594217719276/

Kat, I'd go with non-matching chairs (I love the Eiffel chairs) because otherwise with such a unique piece it can get kinda matchy...

Polkadot - Thanks! It does look lovely. I'm considering wicker chairs if I can find a similar design that will fit 5 around the table ... and won't make the hubby mental when he sees the bill.

Jess2nola - I love the Eiffel chairs, too. I'm thinking of getting plastic replicas until the kids are a bit older, so that I won't have to wince every time they do unholy things to the furniture.

polkadot, thanks for pointing those ceiling fixtures out @ Ikea. I haven't seen them -- I'm beginning to believe that yeah, maybe size doesn't matter, LOL.

Stacey, look at Vestfrost too; less than half the cost of the Fagor and seemingly similar.

jendavid99,
cb2 has there own version of that pendant lamp, about half the price
http://www.cb2.com/family.aspx?c=120&f=3480&viewall=1