apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

For paint you should check out the unsold color mixes at home improvement stores. It happens when someone orders a paint and then it isn't exactly the color they wanted or they ordered too much of it. There is a variety of colors and they only cost 75-50% of a regular can of paint.

Now that it is spring you can also check out garage sales, thrift stores, and places like Goodwill as people clean out their own closets.

For inspiration on pulling it together head to your library and check out design magazines and books. Once you have your inspiration you can look for pieces like the ones you found in the design mag to accomplish a pulled together look.

If you paint that kitchen wall something deep, like a dark-ish brown or orange, the cabinets will really pop. Orange might bring out a retro, Brady-Bunch feel ;^)

Love your new kitchen!

I would stick with the colour palette you have (natural wood, cream, brushed steel, glass, and pops of black) when thinking of furnishings. Maybe something with a Scandinavian vibe would work well (and inexpensively)?

You like bright colours so I would bring them in as accents - pillows, drapery, glassware, artwork, etc. Check out the galleries on the Livingetc web site for inspiration - they often have rooms like that are a mix of modern and retro... neutrals with bright shots of colour.

There is a surplus of "too old to be vintage" furniture out there, isn't there? One solution is to always look at how something can be modernized, before you bring it home (and if it can't, let it lie). For example, your coffee table could get a runner made out of a modern fabric -look for "fat quarters" for quilting in a bin at your fabric store. Or, if you can't sew even to hem, you could run a length of felt down it, maybe doing some cut outs in it with a sort of Moroccan look. Or, thrift a large tray, and line the tray with a modern paper (wrapping paper or origami) to match your room, then set it on the table. You could also paint the legs, and the base, and leave the top in that shiny finish. That'd be cool looking too.

If looking at a piece of furniture doesn't trigger any ideas about how it could be placed or modified to suit your needs, don't bring it into your house. All you really need is a place to sleep, a knife, a pan and a fork - the rest can come slowly.

I love older pieces redone to look new. Perhaps that means a coat of paint or a different stain on the wood. I'm a big bargain hunter myself and then just re-do pieces to make then my own.

the best advice i keep seeing on the house tours on this site is to go slow with decorating. buy/acquire pieces that speak to you, not because they are free.

I agree with cakekick...resist the urge to fully furnish your house right away. When my husband and I bought our condo, we purchased some bare necessities on the cheap and made no decisions (i.e. paint, art) right away. Since then, we have slowly replaced our temporary furnishings as we've built up our budget (and figured out our style). It's okay to live with a blank(ish) slate for a while. Start reading blogs like Desire to Inspire in the meantime!

P.S. That kitchen is beautiful.

I also agree with KateN and Cakekick, take it slowly. Get some magazines that you can cut up that have things in them that you like right now and see how they look in the space.

Go to an office supply or art store and pick up some colored paper in a variety of colors. Tape them up on walls and see what broad color works in the space, you can get more exact later when you are actually ready to paint. For a couple of bucks you can find out that the lighting is just not right for certain colors without having to test with paint, it is just a sheet of paper and tape. (you can get more exact with paint chips but they are too small)

Don't be afraid to think outside the box as well and use fabrics, textures, or metal on walls. In the end, the only people who have to like it are you and your partner

For some reason I am a big fan of white during new moves or reno transitions. White is the great unifier, somebody once said. White gives you time to think and live in a space before committing to purchases or paint colors. But really, any color that you love and choose to live with temporarily would be great in complimentary shades on oddly matched pieces of furniture (which would help make the free stuff that much more palatable). I would keep things cheap and simple until you decide on a look or style or color set.

And your kitchen makes me weep, WEEP! I say. It is truly lovely, enjoy your new home.

Well, one strategy for using free furniture and going for the modern/retro look would be to paint them all- so that it acnowledges their roots by their shap, but puts a modern wink-of-the-eye twist on it all. Laquer white, black, or matte bright colors (orange, magenta, green?!) would probably work. A lot of the old furniture that looks like it has no style when it is in that old darkish wood stain suddenly shows lines and loses the dated look once it is a different color. And if the furniture is free you probably won't mind experimenting with it as much, which is very freeing!

Enamel paint or spray paint would be best. light sanding beforehand. Probably won't work on particle board furniture!

And that said- looking at craigslist in big cities makes you very aware that there is lots and lots of free furniture out there- so you can be picky and don't have to take everything! So keep your style in mind and choose accoringly!