apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I totally (heart) these colours! What's the cool abstract (set of lips?) art on the closet door about?

I like the colors, too.

definitely the boldest use of color so far in the contest. it really breathes life into the space.

(Oh know -- here come more anti-IKEA tirades . . .)

I like the metal strips (don't know proper name for them) used in kitchen for hanging things -- clever use of an industrial (and cheap) material!

What's going on with the closet (?) near the drafting table? Is it painted? Wood or metal or what? It looks very interesting and textural. I think really long sheer off-white curtains instead of the too-short eggplant colored ones would look great.
Nice paint!

oh - I'm also curious about the chair near the TV. It almost looks like it's made of stone. Very unique.

The silver stuff looks like drywall studs.

Where did you get that neat coffee table?

This place is beautiful! What color is on the wall in the living room? is that a red or coral?

that chair is awesome. is it laminated stacks of plywood? reminds me of those early Gehry cardboard chairs.

The apartment looks great, nice colors...
If I were a girl and you brought me home, I would definitely do you!!!

oh, this is what i like. nicely designed but comfy and livable, too. the red is great. i'm less in love with the light wood, maybe something a little more honey-colored, but that's picking nits.

La Vi Boheme!

I also love the chair near the window. Give us the scoop!

This apartment is awesome....is that furniture homemade as well? I love the colors and the way he utilized the space in his apartment!

I'm sorry, but I can't get beyond how wrong the window treatments are.

I didn't even notice the window treatments. You're right. But I still like the color.

foo dog - you took the words right out of my mouth (to paraphrase MeatLoaf). Jonathan, what's up with that?

17 comments, and is NO ONE going to ask whether this is the love pad of THE Jonathan?

Or is that The Name of the One Whose Name Shall Not Be Spoken?

Very interesting use of space and color. I like your coffee tables. And I can look past the curtains. ;)

I dig the dresser with the perforated metal drawer-fronts.
Source? Was it custom-made?

Anne (tfo) - it's not the insulting, rude, self-deprecating Jonathan. The contestant lives in Philly. The other one says he lives somewhere in NYC.

i totally want that dresser, too!

Ah - my mistake. I missed Jonathan (tfo's) mention of NYC residency.

Actually, I do recall now the last NY AT party intrigue where he posed as a normal person.

Carry on.

(Thanks, anne!)

Ah, how sad that his behavior online made him go incognito at the party. Doesn't that just speak volumes?!

Jonathan (philly) - love your brave use of color!

Am I the only one who thinks Jonathan NYC doesn't exist? That he's the fictional alter-ego of an AT regular?

Jeffery

Jeffrey, the thought crossed my mind, too.

I was on an e-mail list once where a young woman kept posting as two different people and had a flame war with herself.

Neither of the personalities would have fit in my apartment. But I love the use of color in this one. I've enjoyed seeing the types of spaces people have in other cities besides NYC, too.

Why can't you jerks leave me the hell alone. I dish out PLENTY of good advice to people on this site, many of them undeserving nitwits. Many people have even thanked me. So just because I am not an endless bucket of praise for absolute crap, like many othes on this site ostensibly running for office, that doesn't make the bad guy. I didn't even POST on this string and I still get attacked.

No, this place isn't mine.
Yes, I exist
Yes, I live in New York. Park Slope to be precise, where I am in the midsts of a renovation that is the 7th layer of hell. The 8th layer of hell would probably be a marriage with you, anne.
Yes, I went to the AT party. I only introduced myself as someone else when I heard a woman threatening to drop her drink on me if I wasn't hot. As it happens I am kind of hot. But I felt fat that day so I wasn't sure.

he exists. i met him. he has a gruff exterior, but he's all soft and gooey inside - kind of like a marshmallow rolled in broken glass.

and he's right - he wasn't that hot that night.

(if i didn't loathe emoticons, i'd insert one here, with a smile and a wink)

Nothing personal, Jonathan, but that post has GOT to be prank.

I could use that coffee table! Great way to store reading materials / laptop etc.

This is cute for him.

All my best,
Phyllis G.

I thought he was banned, anyway. Must be logging in with a different ISP. Shit!

Kitchen is clautrophobic. It cries out for the cabinets to be replaced by glass shelves. Or at least to have the doors covered in metal panels.

Curtains are so short it seems a sacrifice should be made. Make one long curtain out of them and chose a window.

Pphilip: i appreciate a good drubbing when it is skillfully administered. Marshmallow rolled in broken glass - love it! I'm going to use it at the next opportunity (but will claim credit for it).

You were attracted to me though. that much was obvious

I like how Jonathan hung the pot lids in the kitchen, the two layers of hooks, and the suspended dish rack. The color spots of the onions and lemons are a nice touch in the photo.

Different window coverings and linens would help. And while I like the coffee table, I'm not sure I like the matching of it with the TV stand.

Great colors!

Ok, so this is the Jonathan from Philly, the one with this apartment. I'm sorry that this post has become the site of such turmoil, especially for a Jonathan that may or may not exist. . . but it is pretty funny. . .

To answer a few questions, all of the furniture is home made except for the white chair and the couch. Most is made of baltic birch plywood and EMT. I can tell you how to make your own if you want. The other chair is made of corrugated cardboard boxes, kind of like the Gehry chairs. The closet doors are made of dark-stained OSB that's perforated with a photographic patern. The curtains are brown, not eggplant (ouch!), but they are too small. I had smaller windows at my last place and havn't replaced them yet.

To Freddy: Yeah, I heard that color red put women in the mood, but trust me, it doesn't.

OK, what is EMT and OSB and how do you perforate it?

Your use of color and repurposing of materials is inspired. Bravo!

oh, dear, sweet, deluded jonathan - you are sooooooooooo the total opposite of my type, and your flaming ego wrapped in self-loathing (kind of like a jalepeno wrapped in a bile wonton, with a little vinegar dipping sauce) apparently blinded you to my very lovely boyfriend standing at my side.

but if you were gay and unmarried, and i wasn't dating someone - i still wouldn't be interested.

and now, gag, cuz i MUST insert this: ;)

Marshmallow rolled in broken glass...jalapeno wrapped in a bile wonton! Good stuff!!! pphillipp have you unleashed like this before, I don't remember posts like this from you. We all have hidden talents. I love it. (I should remind you however that i absolutely guarantee i godamned loathe myself worse than you ever could)

Incidentally pphillipp are you familiar with the modern rolltop desk from Boconcept? It's not on their website but in their online catalog. Allows you to have a virtual office in a "pod" so it doesn't clutter the look of a room. Do you know it? Curious what u think.

Electrical metallic tubing.

Oriented strand board.

Sorry pbphoenix, EMT is electrical metal tubing and OSB is oriented strand board (used as sheathing or substrate, also called chipboard). Both can be purchased at Lowe's or Le Depot. To purforate OSB, you will need a drill and lots of patience. Good luck!

Could we PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE limit-- if ONLY on this specific thread-- all discussions to, by, from and about... the Jonathan whose home this is??!?!?

sorry. guilty. stopping.

I agree patrick - and please note these monkeys were harassing me and talking crap aobut me before i even posted on this string. i love the colors but have issues with the drapes. did anyone notice they are several inches above the windowsill? Why is that? As an obsessive compulsive i find it sort of distracting. i want to reach into the picture and yank down the fabric so it reaches the sill.

and, by the way, impressed with your furniture skills, jonathan. the one whose apartment this is, that is.

Jonathan, the one who is not the (talented furniture making) owner..

Did you NOT notice the "BY" and "FROM" in my desperate plea?!

But, um, "Did anyone notice the drapes?"
So, apparently, you never read what anybody writes unless your name is in the posting.

Ooo ooo ooo. AT: The Workshop Series. I want to know how to make that chair. And to paint french murals in my living room. And upholster a wall. PLease?

And the short curtains, pulled to one side... I mistook them for some kind of design statement. It must be time to go home.

Patrick (the other one): I read them. I saw the critiques on the window treatments generally but I did not see any specific reference to the length of the drapes. Apologies if I missed that.

i just saw it in the middle of jonathan's explanation. i hit refresh and didn't see new posts were added. Put that on my list of transgressions

A Workshop Series would be great. HGTV doesn't teach anything anymore, they just :::reveal!:::

Rad. Very, very rad.

love that you made stuff . . .
this is soooo the kind of entry that begs for two categories, say over and under $10,000

what is "squince"?

"what is "squince"?"

i was thinking "scarlet + quince," in reference to the paint colors.

go on, y'all, laugh.

(and funny, i'm not a huge fan of reds, but i think it really looks great in his living area)

I soooooo agree with Guido. The idea of a pair of categories for over / under $10,000 would be brilliant.

Jonathan has done something marvelous here. A very enthusiastic WOW from me.

So excited that you used your own craftsmanship. nice.

yeah i vote for 2 categories as well!
its hard to put a completely remodeled apartment in with a DIY apartment...

Jon, it looks great. Way better than the place in Portland. Glad you decided to enter. The only thing that they can seem to find negative is the curtain. I have lots of old curtains. I have some cool cordoroy ones you can have. I'll bring them when I come down to visit. Good Luck!

Lovely! It looks amazingly cozy & liveable

dear god, how am i ever supposed to get any work done when this is just so darned entertaining?

good use of color wish I knew how to do that.

I can't lie, the artwork in the bedroom scares me, but I love your furniture. You are very talented.

Apt is great...but having the kitchen open into the bedroom? I couldn't handle that! I don't know what would suit the layout better, though.

Oh. My. God. I was looking at the layout and thinking, "Gosh, that looks awfully like a place I lived in once when I was in Philly" - and then I hit the last photo, with the front of the building. I lived in THAT EXACT BUILDING 12 years ago, for three years. It was my first place, and I didn't have a lot of money, either.

You're on the first floor - I was in the second floor studio. But the fireplace, the bookcase beside the fireplace, they're the same on the second floor. Exactly the same. You've probably got a better view of the community garden around the corner than I did - oh, please tell me it's still a community garden.

I remember so much about living there - of course it was tiny, and I too used bold colors to stake my claim on the space (purples and reds and greens and a very bright rug). And as with you, my futon was up against the wall, across from the fireplace - nowhere else for it to go. The mini-kitchen frustrated me because the freezer in the under-counter fridge wasn't up to much. But I liked the gas stove. I remember leaning out the window, along with all the neighbors, watching someone attempting to drive a mid-60s cherry red Cadillac down the tiny cobblestoned lane that is Quince Street. And the time the street was cordoned off because of a bomb threat to the Planned Parenthood around the corner, and one of the neighbors saying to me, "They can't blow up Planned Parenthood, my coffee urn is in there..."

The smallness didn't bother me, partly because I was young, crazy, and on the run all the time - going out clubbing, meeting friends, walking to work. I had 22 people jammed in for a party once, and a friend said to me, "This apartment is like a second skin for you, isn't it?" It was.

Thank you so much for posting this. You've made the place look fourteen times better than I ever did with the one upstairs.

I'm amazed nobody is talking about the fact that he has to go through his bedroom to use the kitchen.

It's called a "railroad flat."

jon-it's someone you know from NYC via syracuse/maine...anyway...nice work! it's inspiring me to finally get my ass in gear and push beyond painting my walls! I dig stained OSB, i made myself a table out of similar only, stained white/charoused finish...Also, have you thought about laminating the table tops? I think it could kick the baltic birch up a notch and out of the "ikea" image realm...take a look at cheap Mica panels from someone like Tar Heel Mica company...just a thought! nice work!

oh, and...did you put "Informal" on the side table for it's vivid color-matched color??

If so, cheers.

One day pphillipp is going to open one hell of a scary-ass restaurant.

I really like the color juxtapositioning--the red with the green and the lavender with the green. Great choices. The living area furniture pieces are too big for the space and makes them look more like they're in temporary storage than actual placement. And glass cabinets for the kitchen is a smashing idea!

Those purple curtains. I stared at them wondering why the fact that they didn't go to the bottom of the window nailed my attention. Then I had an "Oh" moment. Those rascally curtains remind me of a guy wearing nothing but his workshirt, "The covering that's not covering", violating convention, and purple to boot. I don't know if I am excited or repelled.