apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

So glad I cancelled my date for tonight...now I can stay home and watch SSBS! Not that I won't see the same episode 20 trillion times again!

Yes, but you'll see it while it's fresh! And tomorrow, you'll be able to kvell with conviction along with everyone else in here!

I don't know if there are any Faulty Towers fans here but a heads-up for tomorrow:

Fawlty Towers Revisited
Friday, December 09, 2005, 8:00 PM
WLIW

note to Fiona and susiq

HANG YOUR ART! Go ahead . . .

(I was just reading the last open thread . . . )

You guys were so informative about paint yesterday. I thought I'd throw out another question. I'm in the process of cleaning every surface of my new abode before I paint. Any suggestions on a cleanser for walls, ceilings, floors, and cabinets?

I don't watch SSBS that much because of the talking heads but I'll make a note of it for tonight!

I've asked this question a couple of times before but I'm going to give it another try:

I have a studio apt. and the main room is 22 x 12 divided into your standard living area and bedroom. I've already painted the LR portion of it and then stopped because I thought maybe I should paint the BR part a different color. Is this a bad idea since we're only talking about one room and it would make the room looked chopped up or would the color difference really make a statement and set off the bedroom as a definite space? (pictures can be provided).

Lorne, try TSP (trisodium phosphate) for the walls and ceiling. It's good for prepping surfaces for a coat of paint since it cuts grease and slightly matte-ifys any glossy finish. See article for more info (and cautions!)

http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/infxtra/inftsp.shtm

My thought, Anne, is that unless there's an architectural break too, once you've painted the walls that way, you can never rearrange the furniture across the boundary. Obviously, I like rearranging furniture.

If there's no architectural break, I'd be tempted to do one paint color for the whole room, but accessorize the living room to have a fairly lively level of contrast and colorfulness, while keeping the bedroom much lower contrast (with just a few small items that pick up the most exciting LR colors). You'd have color continuity across your small space, but the LR would be clearly defined as the "social" space and the bedroom as the "soothing" space (and not visually obtrusive from the LR).

If there's a clear architectural break, too, I'd go for it with the different color and make the bedroom a real nest.

wende - I'm a huge fan of rearranging also. But the bedroom area is always and forever going to be the bedroom area because of the layoout of the room. And the only arch. break is a small 4" cutback on the wall. I've placed a hanging curtain there so that the bed is separated from the LR. And I want to enclose the bed all the way around with fabric to make a sort of cocoon that can be pulled back during the day. Um... maybe I should.... oh damn, I still stuck. Of course, I've thought about this for so long that I've turned it into a major decision when it really isn't one.

If you CAN put photos up, please do. I have a really hard time visualizing things without them.

And if you have Photoshop or even some standard version of Microsoft Paint, where you can draw some arrows and say, "See? What about this?" or whatever, that would really help.

anne--
Decide to do something-- anything-- "for the winter". Something dark and cavey to celebrate the long eves or something polar (pun intended) opposite to combat them. Either way, it will get you to decide on something "just for the season". And that's much less intimidating than deciding on something "for good."

Good luck!

question: I found a really nice mirror frame on the street with no mirror. Is there somewhere I can get an inexpensive mirror cut to fit the frame?

Yes, and although "striking the set" of your room to paint and re-paint is a little bit of a hassle, let's face it -- a bucket of paint costs about what a meal at a decent diner costs. So, the option of eventually re-painting shouldn't seem like such a horrible thing to fear.

N T--
Any glass & mirror shop. Check the Yellow Pages.
But take in the actual frame. It may not be square and you should have them take the measurements or trace a template.

I go to Broadway Glass & Mirror on Broadway at 86th Street; although the salesguys tend to make a little more small-talk and bad jokes than I'd like, the prices always seem decent to me.

Anne: I painted my "bedroom" blue, but it took me two years:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/102505/fall-colors-contest-east/ive-got-color-contest-marys-exotic-red-soothing-blue-studio-004651

I have a weird triangular jog in my apartment that nicely hides my bed from the front door. When you stand in the doorway, you can't see the blue area at all. The blue and the red don't match, but they work together. It took me two years to hem and haw and move furniture around before I "finalised" my furniture and areas and painted. If you're worried about it, maybe you just need to live there longer before you decide...

Hanging the Art:

My bf has all sorts of framed vintage b-movie posters, but he also has these weirdly fragile/tough walls. In some spots the plaster or drywall just crumples out in a chunk, and in other spots the drill goes dull getting through the wall. His building is one of those white brick mid-century buildings, so I think the tough spots are probably concrete or tough brick. Has anyone else had that sort of problem? He was able to hang some of them, but there are still a bunch just lying around the place. I'd love to get some of them up over the holidays...

mary-
I had that problem hanging things in the plaster walls in my last apartment. They make these plastic picture hanging hooks that have a circle of little nails on them. Goes into the wall fine since they're just little nails, and it holds since there's a group of them.

After reading the open thread on paint from yesterday, I want to kvetch about my walls. I have flat paint in my "not allowed to paint the walls" apartment, and it's awful...I don't know how, but I get all these scuffs on them....and from past experience, I don't want to even attempt to scrub...any advice?

A Mr. Clean Magic Eraser has consistently taken the scuffs off my flat paint without removing the paint. The paint comes from Benjamin Moore's downscale cousin Kelly Moore, so it's not the quality of the paint that's holding it to the walls.

I also asked our building manager what color we have. He gave me the dregs of a gallon as touch-up paint, and when that died, I just bought myself some more. Whenever the walls bother me, I dab some paint on them.

This is off-topic, but I just saw a great set of bud vases at Crate & Barrel--$9.95 for a set of 4

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=15&f=5381&q=bud+vase&fromLocation=Search&DIMID=400001&SearchPage=1

I might pick them up for myself tomorrow, but thought I'd get the urge out of my system by posting instead :)

Mary says: If you're worried about it, maybe you just need to live there longer before you decide...

I've been living here for 18 years. I think it's time. :)

P2 - I LOVE YOUR APT.!!!!

Oh my god, Patrick, how cute are you?

patrick - Amazing apartment! Congratulations. Where did you get the cowhide/haircalf pillow on the chair in the hallway?

The place looked great! And what a fortune it cost him to get that premature silver so that the people at the courthouse would feel comfortable calling him "Your Honor"!

For some reason, I did not feel the show was as rushed as usual during Patrick's segment. Maybe it's because I've run the two slide shows of it over several times!

Patrick, did you work in menswear retail? I can't speak for the men's line, but Talbot's folds the women's shirts with a white cutting board just like yours, specially imprinted with the folding guidelines. (God forbid you don't do it that way.) They fold the other tops with a masonite clipboard. My link shows a better way.

But, I digress. I love your place, have viewed it many times, and you are so cute! And so articulate and concise in such a short spot!

Sorry, try this link.

P2, I would love to know where you got the raffia ottomans that fit under the sofa tables. I've been looking for something like that for a while.

Yay! What a great segment, Patrick! You looked so cute and your place: fabulous--as expected! Now you can announce yourself to the press like Joanna Lumley did on AbFab: "Patrick Hamilton, 39, International Design TV Icon." And then give your best fashion pout. Woo-hoo!

Anne,

What colors are you planning to paint your studio? As far as painting the sleeping area a different color, go for it. It's just paint and if you really don't like it you can change it, but at least you won't look back and say,"I should've..."

I can understand your want for seperating the spaces. I have a feeling it's very similar to my living room/kitchen, which measure 21' X 12'. The kithen is a tiny galley taking up a small chunk in one corner. The little L space next to it which connects to the kitchen where I put a small dining table. However, the rest of the space is the living room, and I'm thinking of doing something similar to divide the living area from the eating area.

What I'm planning on doing is vertical stripes. Either having both rooms the same color and adding some funky, different width, retro inspired, verticle stripes for interest and division w/o actually closing the whole space off. My other option is using 2 different colors and having the vertical stripes fade into each other by blending the paints.

Anne,

I just thought of another idea. What about using texture for division and it's not permanent? See what you did, you've got me thinking about ideas for my own space, so you get the benefit as well. :) Perhaps because of the holiday season, wrapping and all, I just thought of a great idea! Ribbon! I have the most gorgeous ribbon so for now, I'm going to either tape or pin different types and see how that works out. The colors won't be right, but I could get an idea. I was also thinking about strings of craft beading. You know, the kind they sell on a roll. I have super low ceilings (7.5') which is odd on a 50 year old brick building. I think someone dropped the ceiling and never lifted it back up, so anything that pulls up the rooms height is welcome.

Patrick -- Amazing! A huge inspiration. I have seen the slideshow of your place but seeing the video tour really had my eyes popping. Your thoughtful use of space has really woken me up to how much more I could be doing in my tiny place. Thank you for inviting us all into your home.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d39/lloren11/c5e6270a.jpg room looking blah..suggestions for new wall color, anyone?

Um, gimme-- I'd say the biggest loser prize goes to you.

Hey all! Thanks for the nice notes about SSBS last night. Whew! I think the folks at Brainbox did a great (and flattering) job with the segment. You never know how ten hours of taping will boil down to 6 minutes, but I was very pleased. Thanks Lauren, Yana, Andrew and entire crew!!!

Oddly, one of the most satisfying parts was seeing the 3-D model of the apartment. :)

Luigi-- Pillow is actually from Pottery Barn a few Fall seasons back, but yes, one of my favorite pieces.

Anne-- The ottomans are actually a small-scale glen plaid kind of fabric (but wish I had a raffia pair for warmer months!). They came from Portico here in NYC, but sadly I believe they've closed all their outlets in the city. Web or Vegas, maybe. I'd try Room & Board, Storehouse, Mitchell Gold, or even Todd Oldham for La-Z-Boy.

Jean-- Never worked in men's retail, but am very, VERY familiar with the concept. :)

Sadly, I was out during SSBS last night and will catch it hopefully this weekend. Can't wait to see you and your place, P2!

p2-
Seriously, you came across VERY well. The place looked fantastic, and you were very well-spoken and clear and sane in everything you said, and you looked like you belonged in a place that looked that great. That sofa-table/dining-table/desk situation was the kind of genius that the inventor of scissors would envy.

anne-
You were talking about painting the bedroom area a slightly different color to differentiate it from the living room area. Did you notice how P2 did it in his place? It worked there beautifully. Your place is bound to be shaped a little differently, so there might be slightly different architectural logic at work there, but it's definitely a good idea.

One thing you MIGHT do is buy a few sheets of colored paper in some general approximation of the kind of color you think you want, and kind of tape them on the walls that you're thinking about, so that you can KIND of imagine the whole wall like that. In fact, where they'll meet (at the corners?) you might just tape those pieces of paper butted up against each other. I would get some of those large sheets of Canson paper that you buy at art supply stores like Pearl Paint. Unfortunately, sometimes they can cost almost half the price of a quart of paint, but it all depends on your calculation of cost vs. human cost, etc. about figuring these things out.

P2, Great segment on Small Space Big Design last night. The place looked absolutely terrific. But I missed your wicked sense of humor.

Yeah, there must not have been much opportunity to crack wise.

Gosh, they go fast on SSBS...I nearly missed P2's segment! But, what I saw I loved! I cannot believe you manage to keep your shirts so neat! Great idea! I definitely liked your place the best!!!

Thanks for all the great ideas about my space!

Curtis, I was just thinking the same thing in as far as P2's apt. colors. My bed also sits right inside the front door. I keep it made up beautifully but you can't ignore it. So when I saw Patrick's use of a darker color around his bed I immediately pulled out my Ben. Moore paint fan and started narrowing down a color. As much as I had thought of going light I think I'm going to brave it by painted a terracotta color on the wall that surrounds the bed and front door. Since the main part of the apt. is a buttery gold I think the 2 warm colors will work well in both winter and summer.

OMG, just as I typed that I looked out my window and see that the new building going up a half a block from me (& blocking a portion of my river view) is half yellow brick/half red brick.

P2, thanks for the info regarding your ottomans. What I like most about them are the legs. I guess I could have the legs of a standard C&B ottoman replaced. I'd need to come over to make a template of yours, though. :)

Maxwell, WHEN did you say we were not going to have to type in these annoying #s anymore???

jimkk/curtis--

All my dirty wicked "wit" had to be contained. This is, after all, primetime HGTV, not the best place for the double entendre. Although we did have somewhat of a giggle-fit with the host about something of a questionable nature, the specifics of which currently escape me. The Host started it. I warned him not to get me going. :)

But look for the Director's Cut (Uncensored!) coming in Spring '06. :)

I looked at benjaminmoore.com and they have great advice for all of us trying to figure out what colors to use. Lots of photos!

Here are the scheduled air dates for the episode:

AIR TIMES:
• December 08, 2005 8:00 PM ET/PT
• December 09, 2005 12:00 AM ET/PT
• December 10, 2005 2:00 PM ET/PT
• December 10, 2005 8:30 PM ET/PT
• December 11, 2005 12:30 AM ET/PT
• December 13, 2005 10:30 PM ET/PT
• December 14, 2005 2:30 AM ET/PT
• January 01, 2006 3:00 PM ET/PT

I can't wait to see it!...

I might watch it again!

Patrick- just saw your place on ssbs. Looks great-smart use of space. especially like how you used the sofa tables for work and dining. Nice job!

Patrick,

I too thought the segment on your apartment lasted longer than usual, and, I was so happy it did.

Your place is abolutely wonderful. Seeing it on SSBS gave it a dimension missed on the slides during the Small Space contest. I have watched it several times already, and,each time, see something else.

I live in a studio also and am interested in your sectional - where did you get it? It seems to be the exact size I need.

Again, kudos to you and your wonderful home.