apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I am a recent college grad and I'm trying to put together my first apartment that does not consist entirely of hand-me-downs. I have a modest budget, but I'm looking to buy new bedding (duvet, sheets, bedskirt). Does anyone have reccommendations where I can get the most quality for my money? I just want some nice, solid color linens.

Thanks.

TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Home Goods....it's hit or miss, but you can find good buys on linens.

I am wondering if it is okay to mismatch patterns of curtains in the same room--on a different wall though, both the same color just one has a "x" stich and the other wall has plain linen. What do you think? Is this a decorator no-no?

Go for it, brianandlynne.

Sarah1083 -- Target, Sears, and Penney's all have lines of high thread-count (400 or more) sheets that are priced much lower than at higher-end stores. The Target ones (which are the only ones I've tried) feel like a 400-tc sheet. I'm not sure if the other two have these in-store or only online; Target is in-store.

Macy's most aggressive close-out markdowns often bring their stuff into a more reasonable price range.

Sarah, I second Macy's for bedding. Their house brand, Charter Club, is decent quality and has a good range of options. If you can hold out until January, they do a traditional white sale and the prices are really good.

This question is for all you ABC shoppers out there:

Does anyone know where I can find a free-standing vintage mirror similar to the one in the jewelry dept at the front of the first floor? (It's not for sale!) I've scoured Atlantic Ave and the west side antique and second-hand stores and still no dice.

Thanks.

sarah,

i've gotten some incredible deals at macy's in their bedding clearance bins. my biggest score ever was very recently...i randomly found $400 worth of calvin klein home bedding for about $60 total - it's the "bamboo flowers" collection (duvet, sheets, pillowcases...) i was so lucky, because one pillowcase from calvin klein home is $60! it had full pricing on it, but i price checked it and nearly flipped :)

even on my recent trip down to dc i went into a macy's and found, for $9.99 ea, some calvin klein shams!

these bargain finds fill me with a sense of such intense satisfaction ahaha


other great deals i've gotten have been at conway, overstock.com, clearance aisles at target, etc. i refuse to pay $80 for a sheet set so i wait, patiently, poring over every clearance rack in the city. :)

yay clearance!

oh, and let me just add an afterthought: the best macys sales i've found are at the kings plaza mall in brooklyn...34th st gets picked over so quickly.

What are AT'ers thoughts on the wing chair? Sure, it's kind of stuffy, and it's got a very traditional vibe, but can it happily coexist with, saaaay, an Eileen Gray side table? Or is it just too mired in stuffiness with no hope for style rehabilitation?

Thoughts?

Methinx there are some very new interpretations of wing-back chair, and like this one from Mitchell Gold Bob Williams:

http://www.mitchellgold.com/ashtonwingchr_uph.asp

There are some even more severaly modern ones out there, too, but that one would be at home with more modern pieces, definitely.

Sarah, I got aMAZING bedding from overstock.com, and know others who have had incredible luck with them as well. No, you can't feel the linens before you buy them, but they ship for free and you can always return, and you can get crazy crazy deals on really high thread count stuff. I paid I think $35 for a duvet cover that is the softest, loveliest thing on the planet.

A bit off-topic from Sarah's question, but I just wanted to add that, unless the quality has gone down-hill recently, JC Penney's is a good resource for towels. When I first got my own apartment ages ago, I bought towels from Penney's since they were within my budget. I've subsequently bought more expensive towels from other places, and the Penney's towels are the ones that are still going strong. In fact, of the many sage green towels I've owned, they are the only ones that did not grow huge rust-colored fade spots thanks to some hellish ingredient in one of the many short-lived facial products that cycle through my bathroom.

Completely off topic. I have 2 questions for my fellow ATers re paint colors.

1) Is is ok to paint a room that doesn't get much light a dark chocolate brown or is that a bad idea. Should I try to keep the walls light. I am considering a dark chocolate for the dining room.

2) I am looking for an orange paint that isn't bright, but is deeper, like a pumpkin orange or the color of an hermes box. I'd like it be an orange which has some depth. Can someone recommend an orange color like this?

Thanks everyone!

Vanessa,

I recently won a wing chair very similar to the one that Curtis posted at a Housingworks Thrift Store auction. In fact, I've been thinking of pairing it with an Eileen Gray side table.

I'm seeing a lot of modern hybrids of the wingback chair lately. CB2 has some. I think Room and Board may, as well.

I just bought my first condo, and it's an apartment conversion. In the next month, I plan to rip out all the nasty carpet and put in a nice walnut hardwood. The one from Kahr's has me all hot and bothered ( http://www.kahrs.com/us/Consumer/Products/Floors/Wood%20Species/Pages/Product.aspx?article=111B29VA50KE040 ), but it costs a kajillion dollars at my local dealer. Has anyone seen anything similar for a reasonable price?

brianandlynne--Tricia Guild sometimes hangs two different fabrics at the same window for her curtains. I think it looks fabulous--maybe a panel of each at the windows? With a band of trim along the long edges? Take a look at her website and see if you're inspired by the look.

Chocolate brown in a room that doesn't get a lot of light? It really depends on what you're after. I'd say it'd work if the furniture is dark, too. Otherwise, the furniture will stand out. It also depends on when you use the room. If it's mostly at night, it won't matter at all.

I just recently re-painted a dark red room--it drove me crazy to have to turn on a light (even at the best part of the day) and STILL not see anything--but I had it for about four years and loved it.

want2bmod - Soft Pumpkin (2166-40) by Benjamin Moore or Salsa Dancing (AF280) in the Affinity Collection by Benj. Moore. Of course, it all depends on what the color actually looks like in the room. Don't make a final decision until you paint swatches of color on the walls (not next to each other) and live with them for a couple of days.

If you paint you dining room a chocolate brown be careful how you create your lighting scheme. Have the lights highlight artwork, put some beautiful lighting over the table, put a big mirror in the room,
try not to put dark heavy furniture in the room. Also, put molding up if you don't already have it in the room and keep it white. And if your walls are in great shape (smooth with no flaws) then a high gloss chocolate would be fantastic.

Here's a question: I have some of these and I'm wondering what creative use I can put these to:

http://www.draftingsteals.com/safco-clamps.html

I'm looking for suggestions other than the obvious of using them to hold up artwork.