apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I am an interior designer and I have been visiting AT for a while now. For me, AT feeds my desire to see how others live and what inspires them. I am curiuos to hear why everyone else loves AT so much? There could be so many reasons....

MyDesignSecrets.com

i think i read AT to see how other people live. how other people personailize their space. how people budget, do, and make their space somewhat of a safe haven for me. i treat everything in my life with what i refer to as the wes andersen effect. they way that everything he touches you can tell immediately is his. that is the way i like to be as well. i want my house, my grooming, my art to be as recognizable as that, nonetheless staying true to who i am and how i function.

I read AT to see the way other people live in their spaces, and to get ideas about my own. I actually now own a few items--a rug, a set of pieces I got from Craigslist--that I "found" on AT. But mostly, I'm a design junkie. I think that the design of the spaces we live/work in make a huge difference in how we function and how happy we are. I think smart interior design can make up for bad or indifferent architecture, bad lighting, lack of $$...in other words, a whole lot.
And I love reading the posts! For instance, thanks, xjessicax, for the Wes Anderson effect. I know exactly what you mean and feel the same way.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I respect that you are conciously choosing what to surround yourself with. I think many people jump on a fad bandwagon and never consider if it reflects their taste or values.

hey folks!!!

i'm about to commit to hanging up some photos, and i want to do a random-ish spread above the couch. i've only found like two photos of randomly hung photo frames on AT, so i'm wondering if anyone either has some photos of their own randomosity, or if they know of any cool photos of such randomness online or on other design sites (shhh)

thanks :)

kdkaboom, I did something sort of like this recently. I was actually going for a bunch of separate framed photos, etc. arranged to add up to one piece above my couch. I don't know if it's random enough for you, but you can check it out here:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/fall-colors-2008-east/east-31-ginas-color-passion-066045?image_id=12886

Please forgive the seemingly-shameless-self-plug. :)

kdkaboom - a good trick for hanging "randomly" is to try out the variations on the floor first so you can easily swap around. I have one wall done this way (sorry, don't have a photo of it posted anywhere) and also discovered having a fairly even amount of space between the frames helps give a sense of stability to the randomness without it feeling like there is a rigid grid.

i know this doesn't make it "random" but it can looks as random as you want. No one has to know you planned it out so well.

If you are good at photoshop or have a friend or someone you know what is, try it out. Take some photos of what you want to hang, and then the room with the blank area they are getting hung on.

Put all the cropped frames on the picture of where they are going, and make sure the size ratios are similar. Move them all around and arrange them in as many different ways as you can. See which ones look good, leave it up on your computer or as a desktop background for a few days. see if it grows on you. Then whichever one wins, use the photo as a guide.

Or, you could cut out blank newsprint the sizes of all the frames, and place them on the wall with some tape to get a feel for the arrangement. This won't let you play with color or the actual images for placement and balance (or un balance). I did this recently to see if some large frames i wanted felt right for the spot. So i cut them out and left them up for a few days.

Lastly. You could photo and print out on a laser all the pieces. The tape those up on the wall to get your arrangement. If it's a bw printer you will still be having to judge on color. But might help in general.

I know none of these suggestions are really random, but instead are carefully planned. But i doubt that most of the random shots you've seen or actually random, some might be but that would be hard to achieve (a least for me.)

I have used the blank newsprint and the photoshopping recently to see how to put a few things, and it has helped a lot.

thanks guys!! i really appreciate the ideas here. i need to get over my commitment phobia :)

jmorey, awesome ideas. i'm going to do the newsprint tricks AND the photoshop trick. why didn't i think of these things!?!

cheers all!
katy

Anyone feel like helping with a furniture layout problem? I have a small apartment with a main room that must function as both a living and dining area. The problem is that one wall is mostly taken up by a large working fireplace, and the adjoining wall is all built-in bookshelves. The wall opposite the bookshelves is basically a giant sliding glass door, with the door to the kitchen to its left. So there is only one real wall in the room, which unfortunately is where one would walk to go from the entrance to the kitchen - putting a piece of furniture there other than a very narrow console or bench would make me constantly circle around it to get from point A to point B.

I know that putting my couch facing the fireplace is the most likely think to do with it, but that would leave it smack-dab in the middle of the room with no space for a dining table.... so I'm thinking of having it facing the shelves (and mounting a TV inside the shelves), with the table between it and the glass door. If I wanted there to be space for a coffee table, though, the couch would have to be pushed back to mostly block the fireplace. Would it be strange/unsafe to have the arm of a couch only a few feet away from a fire? And how do I make room for a coffee table without blocking my beautiful shelves? Not have one at all?

I get inspiration from this site. It's been helpful for me since I just moved from a large two bedroom to a small studio. This site has helped me put all of my home life in perspective.

Mike, if you look at even just THIS year's Color Contest entries, you're going to get so inspired it's not funny. But methinx this is like the 3rd or 4th one! AND... there was also the "smallest coolest" contests for the past 3 or 4 years you can still look at.