apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

i'm so happy that you entered this contest!! i remember seeing photos of your place a few months ago and it's so nice to see the rest of it. ah, the inspiration for my tolemeo mega, i still love it when i see yours.

there is lots to like about your place: the demi-circle table (what a find!), the room divider, the color of the walls in your bedroom area, how the space remains open yet is divided into so many different areas.

really nice, comfortable and modern.

good luck with the contest!

great room divider, and add +2 to the eames LCW counter. also like the kitchen cabinets and the photo-grid wall decor.

Really warm and human but clean and simple, too. A great balance in materials, furnishings and finishes/colors, too. Great job!

pretty damn nice for a work in progress.

A cactus doily?! Hmmm. That's very gutsy of you?

I really like your use of the space. The divider is wonderful and you have made the space feel light and clean.
I think your entry will suffer however, from an abundance of very modern clean lined minimalist entries. I must say that at this point I am more interested in the entries that deviate from this style. Thank you for sharing.

very nice! what's on the back wall in the living? Initially thought it was a mirror but think it might actually be mural tiles? Never seen anything like it and wondering where you got it.

Good luck in the contest.

Good color , creative use of space , cool furnishings. I like that extendo-lamp , Who makes that?

I KNEW this place looked familiar. Loved it then, love it now. Congrats.

Clean, cohesive, grown-up and a dexterous use of space in such a subtle, calm way that it will fool many into thinking "there is no big deal here."

Ah, but there IS.

Nicely done, and a really nice balance of warm and cool colors, which ain't easy.

And Eames-friendly without being Eames-reliant.

That cactus is in every picture. Its so phallic!

Yep, was inspiring the first time round, too. I'd like to achieve a similar feel myself in my place. This is really well done.

If you're taking questions from the crowd, I'd love to know your paint colours. Perhaps you already shared this, but I can't seem to find your previous tour in the archives. (anyone help me out here?)

Ooooh! This is totally a place I'd call my own, I love turquoise accents and nice wood. love love

Love that lamp over your sofa. Your floor plan is great. Especially like the mini bar over your heat register. What a great use of space. Nice job!

Holly

looks very livable (liveable?) good job-espec love the cafe chairs.

Re. plants:

By my count, there are 4 diff. potted plants here, not just the cactus. This may be a new record in the Smallest Coolest competition.

Potted plants: Hot or not?

Love that shelf over the heater -- it completely disguises it as a table base. Ingenious!

Stunningly simple, but packed with style. This place is solid architecturally but without the coldness or sterility you so often see. It feels inviting and homey. Skillful use of color, texture, and surfaces.

The photo-mosaic-mural is knockout! Where can I find something like that?

SUPER job!

This is one of my favorites. It seems very comfortable. I especially like the artwork, draperies and white urn... oh, and the roving cactus.

The headboard / window relationship bothers me slightly. A low platform bed may work.

Well done!

yay! I like! So does the husband~

And plants = ho in my book, as long as someone else takes care of them...

Cozy but not bland. Like it a lot. I've been lusting after the floor architect lamp for so long, nice to see it here.

Anyone know the link to the other pictures of this place that were posted a few months ago...i want that room divider...

I like the photo on the wall too.. but I'm wondering; it appears that the TV in the wall divider turns so that it's visible by the bed. Is that the case? If so, nice nice touch! Overall, great pad there bud.

love the room divider

potted plants are always hot, its a cheap way to make your place look lived in and grown up

This is quite lovely. I agree with Patrick that it's so beautifully subtle that someone may think it's no big deal, but it truly is. Wonderful. Did you get the room divider from Room & Board?

I vote hot, carson...potted plants are hot. they're healthy, too! it's just the pot that can make or break the look you're going for - so choose your pot wisely... ;0)

holly

And the award for "Butchest Use of a Doily" goes to...

did you get that lamp from Room & Board too? The real big one. Anyways, just lovely. I really want to know about the divider? Tell us ----soon. please. or, i will have to go to sleep.

Flos lamp in the kitchen, why have I not noticed that before? I often peruse Dave in DC's pics--they make me want to gut renovate. He did that photo mosaic HIMSELF.

Regards,
Joey (a longtime fan of Dave in DC (and his apartment--but I'm still waiting for Patrick to move to Oregon)

I love it. It's all good things. Airy, refreshing, well laid out. Great colors. Your layout optimizes a sense of spaciousness from every location rather than the instinctive tendency to face the bed toward the bath and the couch away from the bed alcove.

It looks as if it took no effort unless you look closely and realize that anything that good that looks that easy has had a lot of careful thought in it.

Yes, I understand that you got some things from the recycling room in your building. But you obviously know how to edit that stuff, because it looks curated; it does not look jumbled or junky or anything.

That's the thing about getting cast-offs. You STILL have to be a "good shopper" when it comes to cast-offs, because it's not a bargain unless it makes the whole thing come off really, really well. And what a tricky, elusive thing it is to make something work this well. That demi-lune table behind the couch just looks very, very right there. And I agree about that shelf above the radiator; it's great.

This is my favorite so far. I really don't see anything I don't like.

Is that a collection of Hardy Boys novels on the divider? Sweet!

great job!

love it...would be totally annoying of me to say that the cactus, however, is sitting in a white greek urn and this touch of classicism kind of irritates me as it is out of place

Great apartment! Don't have time say more now, except that this morning's Scavenger includes a Craig's list listing for a very similar room divider... click my name for the link....

I think your place is great, you should be very proud. Will you tell us where the photo mosaic is from? Very cool.

potted plants are hot in my opinion and i really like david's here. gives a sense of life. i just don't like the plants that people sometimes let get really long and stringy and they proceed to "wrap" the plant around things like curtain rods and maybe it touches the floor. yuck. that's a pet peeve of mine.

david's plants are subtle and at a great height. i like them. i might replace the doily (although i totally appreciate it) with some of that non-slip drawer liner. i use that on the bottom of some of my pots to prevent scratching of furniture surfaces and it's great because you can cut it to the exact size of the bottom of the pot.

thanks for letting us in david!

Thanks for all the kind words!!

To answer a few questions.
First and most pressing is the cactus doily - My Aunt Hazel made it from my Uncle Ken's parachute cord from WWII (no kidding).
Sorry about the roving cactus - I took the pictures at different times and missed that. I'm crazy about moving things around and seeing how things look in various places.

The photo mosaic is of the flying buttresses at the cathedral in Milan. I took the picture a couple years ago. I had it enlarged and put it in simple 8x10 clip frames spaced 1" apart.

The paint color in the Bedroom area is Farrow and Ball's "Hardwick White" - it a nice warm gray beige.
The room divider is a find from Craig's List.
The Thonet chairs at the dining table were found on Ebay - They are from the ENRON cafeteria. They stilll have the "Property of ENRON" sticker on the bottoms. Thought that was cool.
The shelf over the radiator is the Lancaster shelf from Hold Everything.
The large lamp over the couch / dining table is the Mega Tolomeo floor lamp. I purchased it from Illuminations here in DC, but it is the same one as sold at Room and Board.
And finally, yes those are my Hardy Boys books I read as a kid.
Hope I answered everything.

Thanks again everyone!

Yay! I love this! So clean and beautiful and comfortable. I am planning something similar in my new place with regards to the way you have your TV such that it can face the LR or bed (assuming that was your intention). Does that work well for you?

Ana
The TV does swivel around to view from the bed. The only down-side is I stay up way too late watching a lot of empty calorie HGTV.

I like the shelf above the radiator, doesnt cover it completely but it draws your eye to whats on the shelving

This is a very clean, peaceful space. The furnishings are tasteful, if a tad unimaginative.

Enron Thonet? That's brill! And the doily made of jumping cord is just surreally wonderful. Plus the place just looks great.

This is just amazing. It's exactly what I would do if I could start over (and if I had any design sense). It's modern and clean-lined without being industrial or cold. There's room for homey touches (the books) and traditional items (the doily, the cane-back chairs) yet it still feels contemporary. And the colors! The couch upholstery and the pillows are a lovely and unexpected combination. Very fresh. Bravo.

I think your place looks great and so clean and organized. I would love to know more about the T.V on the room divider...how do you run all the cords from a piece that is not againts a wall. Also, where do you hide the components? My apartment is disorganized and I am trying to streamline.... do you have a computer desk or work station in your apartment anywhere?

Apartments would look nice with out your stuff.

Huh? ANYway..

Bonus points for the Phrenology head!!

For those of you who want to blow up a photo like this, there is a tool on the internet that will convert a picture into a huge PDF that can be printed on letter size paper and reconstructed into a huge mural. Click on my name below to find the "Rasterbator." The name of the tool is just too easy of a target for jokes, but it does a wonderful job. There are many examples of how others have used it on the web site.

STUNNING -- love the room divider and artwork -- it ties as my favorite!

Hurrah, DC Dave!

STUNNING! Love everything but the dollies; think you've done a particulary good job in accessorizing the room divider!

I really like what you did here.
LAYOUT is very well done, functional: passages are economical of space, clothes closet is in the logical spot (I assume it wasn't built in), dining table doubles as sofa table and reflect limited amount of guests feasible for a studio.
The more I look at it, more pluses I find.

PROPORTION and SCALE of furnishings and art are appropriate for a room scale and existing simple architectural trim, probably a bit earlier period-wise than the room divider and the chairs, gives this sense of continuous history of the place. This is the way to integrate historic details, bravo.

COLOR SCHEME: quiet and mature, spells "a place of safety"-exactly what we all crave for the home.

I'm very tempted to vote it the best entry, but I have some miner quibbles with it. 1) the headboard distracts from window logic 2) that dolly...I do appreciate to domesticity of it...and possibly some personal souvenir...but, honestly, wouldn't a huge shallow glazed ceramics ashtray from the 70's work better here?

For the record, that's not a cactus in the urn.
On the doily yes. In the urn, no.

It's an agave, the once again fashionable "Mother in law's Tongue."

Botanical name is Sansevieria. Also called snake plant in UK and snakeskin plant in USA. Other common names are good luck plant, lucky plant, devil's tongue, and bowstring hemp. Hard to kill, similar to cactus in required conditions.

Matt, aren't you proud of me?!? :)

Ptoo, don't know about Matt, but as a former(oh very former) florist I AM very proud of you.

I love the room divider and the fact that the TV can swivel around to either bedroom and living room. Very flexible and I am thinking of doing the same for my apartment. I connect a lot of things to my TV though (VCR, DVD player, etc.). How do you manage the wires? Are the wires at the back of the TV exposed or is there a hole under the shelf for the wired to go into? Do they get unwieldy when you turn the TV around?

I love the way you've been able to mix modern furnishings with those of more traditional materials. And I like the colors you've chosen, and you've done a great job with the layout.

But, do you have to climb over your bed to get to the closet? The floorplan would indicate not, but the placement of the room divider in the photo leads me to believe that you do.

there are too many things to love here. the doilies actually help soften the space. i LOVE the color of the sofa especially with those turquoise (?) pillows on it -- makes the colors really punch out. the demi table is superb. i even like the shelf over the radiator. wow!

Evan,
The TV cables run under the bed and come up between the bed and the room divider. The TV swivels 180 degrees max.- so with a little slack on the cables it all seems to work fine. I am not an electronics junkie so I only have two cords coming into it (the power cord and the cable). I bet if you put all your cables into one sleeve I think it should work for you.

Now we're talkin'. Well done.

isn't the agave the plant what tequila is made from as well? yeah agave!

very cool about the parachute being recyled in that way...really cool of your aunt to do.

I'm so excited you entered! I am still lusting after the tolomeo mega because of you! And, i love seeing the changes from your previous photos. Well done!

I like this even more knowing about the WWII parachute cord doily, ENRON chairs and Hardy boy books AND I like the Sansevieria in the white urn. Dave, I'll stand by you and defend, to the death, your right to use personally meaningful doilies and classic urns in a modern space!

Sanseveria, under the right conditions, will produce incredibly fragrant small white flowers. My gram's did.

I like the doily.

As obscene as it may be, those Enron chairs are going to be worth a bundle someday.

Hey Dave, did you put your tv on a standard swivel-thinger from Ikea or Best Buy?

And when are you going to come over and help me design my place (I'm your neighbor, sorta, in AMorgan)

Jennifer

Ah, missed the parachute cord origin of the doily. So I'd rather see it framed.

But still no biggie at all in a really well-handled space. Just fun to write "doily."

Love it.
Love it.
Love it.
Love it.
Love it.
Love it.
Love it.
Love it.
Love it.
Love it.

This place really speaks to me. Clean lines, contrasts, angles. Damn, what a sexy lamp over the couch - and I dig the orange couch. What's the bunch of small squares art? Is that the rasterbator? I really enjoy it!

Well done David! I envy much of what you've done!

Dave in DC, as the controversy swirls around its placement, could you be so kind as to reveal the source for your headboard?

Greg,
The headboard is from West Elm.
I agree I am not crazy about where the bed is located but i tried and tried to find another place for it and this is the compromise I came up with.
I am working on disguising or making it more symetrical about the bed with fabric panels. Suggestions from anyone would be great. As I said it is a work in progess.

Could you do without a headboard? It is beautiful, but...

Even if that doily was made from the threads of a jockstrap it would still be a doily. It will never be a masculine decor item but, hey, if you like doilies put 'em out there for all of us to see. (My mother had doilies all over the house when I was a kid.)I did enjoy the tale about the WWII parachute cord. That was one TALL TALE. Whatever. Your apartment is very nice and I could move in tomorrow. And let me tell you something...I wouldn't get rid of the doily. It reminds me of my mother.

(apologies if earlier post is published, I think it was lost,so here goes)
thanks for the info...I think a shoji window treatment may create a visual compliment to the headboard placement.

I just have to keep coming back and looking at this. I really, really like it.

TONY G.--

Doilies woven from jockstraps?
Doilies remind you of your mother?

Must... run... to... therapy...

Anna-
No headboard? What, you want to fall out of ANOTHER bed?!? ;) I knew I liked you.

Actually, headboards partially blocking and/or not centered on a window usually annoy me. This one doesn't, partially because of the open fretwork design of the one selected.

But David, if you want to balance things out, I think fabric panels are the ticket. Make it look like the bed is centered on a wider window with drapes... just that you have only one "side" pulled open. Or continue the grommet top panels around to the bed-head wall...

love love love!

Shout out to Patrick (the other one)

I’m sorry. I didn’t make myself clear. Regarding the cactus doily: I got the impression, from David’s doily explanation, that this was one of the most manly doilies ever created since it was made from the rip cord of a WWII parachute. My point is, no matter what it’s made from, it’s still a doily. Doilies will never be manly. Doilies will always be associated with mothers, grandmothers and certain confirmed bachelors. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that or even having doilies in your apartment. I just found it amusing that this doily had such a virile, macho pedigree.

It’s a great apartment David in DC.

Tony G.--
You had me at "jock strap." :)

This is a really fabulous apartment. I especially love the dresser/night stand. Was this a "find" as well? I'd love to know where you got it.

LOVE the apartment as well. the room divider is perfect! adds lots of character...and what a great find on craigslist! on the one side of your bed area, it looks like you've hung some curtains? just curious how you put those up - is it a curtain rod? or some other kind of hardware? let me know. thanks!!~

This place must bring a huge smile to your face- what an accomplishment!

Caroline,
The curtains are from IKEA and they are hung from the ceiling with a rod. Hides my floor to ceiling closet.

Janeen,
The nightstand, I hate to say it is also from IKEA. It is the NIVA sideboard. Its a recent purchase and has worked out great! My shoes fit perfectly in the bottom drawer.

Are the rasterbated sections mounted on something? I've been keeping a file of images to rasterbate in my next apartment, but this is the first time I've seen a rasterbated image look really clean and professional. (How many times can I possibly say "rasterbate" in one comment?)

Kristen,
I did not use Rasterbate. I did this myself on a color copier.

david n dc - thanks for the note! sorry to ask more questions, but where did you find a rod that long? did you have to drill any holes into the wall to put that up? i've found that most of the rods i've looked at aren't long enough to reach from wall to wall in most rooms i've tried. thoughts?

Caroline,
The rod that stretches the length of my Living Room is actually two rods. I purchased them at Storehouse and took the finial ends off. Since they are expandable I was able to slide the narrow end of one into the wide end of the other. I supported the connection with one of the wall brackets. The length of rod in the bedroom is only just over 6' so that is just a single rod. Hope that helps.

David,

Lovely apartment!! Do you mind sharing some tips on how you constructed your photo wall mural?

I love this place. I even love the doily - hey, it softens cactus (juxstapositions are fun!)& the hard coldness of all the marble/stone/steel in the kitchen. Plus, it has a great story.
I am so *glad* you have your bed like that. I am having a similar problem in my bedroom, there is no wall the bed can go up against without somehow involving a window. Now I don't feel so awkward knowing someone else pulled it off.
Cheers - your place ROCKS!

I find the mosaic really creative - it's definitely something I would want to do for my own place someday.

Understand you did it yourself on a color copier. Could you explain how you went about it exactly?

SusyQ and Linfred,
Re: the photo mosaic. I am fortunate enough to have access to a color copier and a computer program that made it so easy. I imported the image into a drafting program I use at work. (I'm sure you could probably do it in photoshop or similar program) I then enlarged the image to full scale in the program and printed it out in 8 1/2 x 11 sections. I then cut each page to 8x10 so there were no margins and put them in 8x10 clip frames. The key to doing it yourself is to have access to the right equipment and some trial and error.
Hope that helps

The doily debate is really funny.

I thought the doily/cactus placement pulled off ironic/clever/sweet, which is hard to do. And the story of it's orgin is even better because it's personal and also absurd, in a totally normal human kind of way.

No need to defend your masculinity here, Dave. Great eye, great aesthetic!

Lovely apartment!

David in DC,

Lovely place!!

Great use of your space. It's nice that the kitchen and bath are a good size, not tiny in relation to the other rooms. Can you please email me outside this site? I am interested in putting your apartment in my publication.

Elaine

Awesome! I moved from DC recently and had a similarly compact apartment in Dupont Circle--you've done a remarkable job with yours. One suggestion: altho the headboard is v. nice, it does block the window. I'd switch the bed orientation so the head is against the divider--that way you can look out the window while in bed. That's what I did in my place in DC. It opened up a whole new world!