apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Did anyone watch the episode of Small Space, Big Style last night? I saw parts of it, but I loved the Florida architect's apartment. The other places were just so so, in my view - too much clutter.

Pixie, Max and I discussed it after it first aried last Thursday in OPT 87 which was quickly "archived" so it was easy to miss.
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/120105/open-threads/open-thread-87-005249

I did not think Anita's place was cluttered at all.

Oops! That should be OT87

Hey Maxwell, did you see the piece in the Tribeca Trib about the owners of your old location?
http://www.tribecatrib.com/newsdec05/end-arrives.htm

someone was looking for old factory-style glass-ribbed lights recently . . . just saw them at that enormous antique place on the west side of Broadway downtown . . . around 12th St
never noted the name...Howard someone Antiques?

as I write this, I'm thinking maybe they are a million dollars because they are there, but you never know

Jamie Pup

Sorry, I missed the beginning of the show, so I guess I didn't see Anita's place. I was thinking more of that older couple's house, which I didn't care for much. Also, the black and white place didn't do anything for me either. It felt very cramped.

I've been lurking on AT for a few months now, reading arcived posts and looking at everyone's amazing apartments. I'm not a designer, but just a poor young New Yorker with good taste and a newfound design obsession. Anyway, I wanted to post because I was starting to feel like a peeping-tom. Hello.

A question off the string topic. I'm painting every inch of my home. The closets. I want clean so I'm thinking pure white and gloss for easy cleaning. Any suggestions?

Hi Cara

Lorne
Benjamin Moore - it's quality paint. The coverage is better, so less coats/less work. The standard is eggshell finish for bathrooms and kitchens, flat for other walls, and semi-gloss for trim. I personally have an old fondness for semi-gloss shell pink closets from one of my first east village apts . . .

I LOVED Anita's kitchen; I loved how the counter was, and I thought it was sweet that she put a wok thing in her stove, because she thinks that when she and her sister each get married, that her dad will end up living there.

I have used and like Benjamin Moore's Washable Matte. I used it on a pockmarked backsplash and found it was easy to clean but didn't show the ugly dents as much. I'm a fan of flat on walls; my bedroom is oddly semi-gloss and it's too shiny.

(Also, I meant archived.)

Thanks Guido, Thanks for the suggestion. It would be fun to have pink closets. I'll think about that.

HI CARA!!

Guido - I notice lately that matte is the finish that a lot of people are going for. I worked for a firm a couple of years ago that did all walls in matte. Matte seems to be so lifeless for me. I have always used an eggshell finish on my walls because it takes light better. Did I miss the switchover to the "standard" matte finish when I was unemployed a few years back? :)

Further complicating things is that the sheen of Eggshell seems to vary somewhat by manufacturer. And there is also (depending on manufacturer) an intermediate step between Matte and Egshell. And Regal Matte is actually scrubbable Flat.

No wonder people get their dropcloths all in a knot over paint selection.

And while I say go as flat as you can possibly stand, flat paint requires a little more care and maintenance to keep looking pristine (ESPECIALLY) darker colors, which is why I went Regal Matte for the wall beside my bed, but eggshell on the kitcehn accent wall.

I must say that eggshell finish paint is impossible to touch up, because of something about the rubbery nature of it. When the unused portion of it that remains in the can ages for a while, the drying out process is more of a chemical change than a mere "less water" kind of change. So, instead of merely turning more viscous, it actually ends up having a slightly DIFFERENT sheen.

Whereas, matte finish paint (although it absolutely absorbs dirt) actually touches up just about invisibly if you very, very carefully sponge it on. And I do NOT mean "faux-finish-type" sponging on that touch-up, I just mean, so you can effectively feather-out the touch-up.

Welcome, Cara!

Here's my story regarding Benjamin Moore Regal Matte. We used it in our office, and it looks good. One day I was coming out of my partner's office with a glass of water in my hand, when our receptionist suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Startled, I involuntarily threw the glass of water all over the hallway wall behind me. Everyone had a good laugh at my expense (as usual!) and then we all went back to work. The next day the water had dried but it still looked wet. I gave it another day, then got up there with a wet sponge and scrubbed the bejesus out of it. Next day it looked only a little better, so I did it again. Now it looks much better, but you can still see that something happened there. The Regal Matte's big selling point is that it's supposed to be scrubbable, but if just plain water does it in, what would actual dirt do? Or is there something I'm missing?

That's another reason why I like the eggshell finish. I mentioned this a couple of months ago here but again:
I had to use the Mr. Clean sponge on a client's new paint job when movers got marks on the hallway wall. The matte paint was immediately removed and the whole hallway had to be repainted.

With the eggshell, I can wipe off any marks on the walls and nobody's the wiser.

There really is something nice about scrubbing down baseboards painted with semi-gloss, and I'm generally allergic to cleaning.
Except I do have to wash spots on the walls in my kitchen sometimes -- the eggshell is great.
I never had need to repaint a spot there, but we all know Curtis knows of what he speaks in that dept.

Why are people touching up the paint on walls?
children?
frequent repositioning of art?

anne,
I don't think there's anything new about flat paint -- I remember those basic rules from the my mom!

We had a moth problem a few months back and had an exterminator take care of it. We still have a few moths but haven't seen any larva. The exterminator insists that it's a process and he has to keep coming for $40 a pop--ripoff?

Curtis is right, of course, about the near impossibility of matching eggshell paint. We just moved into our new construction and had some additional work done by our own contractors. They were given the Benjamin Moore paint code to match the paint but could not get an exact match due to it being eggshell. Some of the work consisted of moving light fixtures and creating new points for light fixtures (involving drilling channels in concrete - ask me if you want to get this done) and with a matte finish you would only have to touch up the small areas worked on but with the eggshell the whole ceiling had to be done.

Other reasons for touch up are related to kids - the stroller handle rubbing up against the wall has left a dark mark that won't come completely off, the delivery of impact absorbing safety tiles for the terrace created terracotta red marks on the wall as they were being stacked in the hall that were also impossible to completely remove without painting over.

Having said this, I am not entirely convinced that the washable matte can be cleaned to remove all marks because the eggshell did not stand up to what as been thrown at it so far.

BTW, New Tenant, I completely filtered out the other apts in SSBS but did like a lot of the black and white apt - not all but quite a lot and, although the other couples' place was not my style, they were a lovely couple and their enthusiasm and love for each other and their place made it seem very appealing.

This thread is so funny. I have never had much luck touching up paint without just repainting the whole wall, but that is probably my lack of patience.

My husband keeps asking if we can finally hang our artwork, but considering I have to figure out when and if we can get a certain large piece of furniture up--which could potentially change the whole layout of the room--I keep saying "Not yet." I just don't want to deal with filling and matching artwork holes yet, especially since our walls are extremely hard to hang picture hooks on or drill. (I think they are "real" plaster, but am not sure. If you aren't really careful, a sizeable hunk will come off the wall.)

A sizeable hunk?! So what't the problem?! ;)

Me too! I have a lifeless apartment because I'm scared to death to hang artwork (which is now propped up against the wall which looks kinda cool like that anyway)! We painted about 2 months ago at least and I just can't make the commitment for the artwork locations. I even looked into getting those gallery rails, which look really cool and then I wouldn't have to be make a decision on where to put the holes.

BM Washable Matte - LOVE IT, haven't had any problems scrubbing, even in the kitchen. I think it looks better on older walls becuase it doesn't show the imperfections as much and it just looks classy. I used the bright white and it really brightened up my living room.

Now I'm wallpapering one wall and hanging art to make it more homey.

on touchups, keep in mind if you buy paint later (even with the correct code) it will rarely match the first batch. you need to buy enough paint all at once to get an exact match. i don't know why, you'd think the machine could get it right everytime!

but i agree that once the paint sits in the can too long it does change hues, which is a pita!

oh and I also use BM paint, it goes on the best, it's expensive relative to say Behr but the quality is much better.

art lovers, you know what to do!
hang it up!

this is a subspecialty of mine
my best friend has all sorts of stuff framed and on her wall because I keep showing up with the picture hooks and Ikea frames. The office got done in less than an hour...make choices, stand by them.

Sure there's a certain amount of Time For Considering, but you (or your lover) know when you've passed that mark and it's just indecision. In this case, the great is the enemy of the good.
Hang. The. Art.

before Xmas, go ahead!

Fiona and susiq - I'm really good at picture display so if you need help deciding how to hang them........

anne, talk to me! do you want photos? measurements? do i hire you? thank you!

jamie pup/New Tenant--

I missed that episode of SS,BS, but am just getting up to speed via HGTV's website about it.

The black and white apartment is actually the stylish abode of none-other-then Christopher Coleman, talented and oft-published glam interior designer.

I read a write up of his place, regarding the extreme "black and whiteness" of it. Since he's more famous for technicolor spaces, he gave a few reasons: the sheer design challenge; the fact that he and partner work with color all the time; and the fact that the palette (or lack of one) was a bridge between the two men's slightly disparate tastes. Plus, he has reddish hair and looks FABULOUS in it. :)

Like it or not, you gotta admit it comes off as "intentional decision" rather than "fear of color."

So it seems Anita was in very good company on that episode!

Argh.. none-other-THAN

Diane--

Sure, that was a glass of "water". ;)