apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

That just looks like an average bedroom with a very colorful (very Chinese) bedcover and pillows in it. But I do like the artwork.

What's particularly Chinese about the bedcover? I find the flinging around of the term offensive. Is it made in China? Designed by a person of Chinese descent? This is like getting a jungle print bedspread and calling it African...

I have to know. Where did they get the Asian floral print bedspread from? Was that DIY or did they purchase that from a retailer? Love the burst of color.

OK I don't usually say things like this, but OH jeez with easy and ready offense! Obviously designs are almost always inspired by textile or color schemes that have gone before, and many times designers are influenced heavily by certain various motifs. Forestdweller and devlo obviously believe that the duvet cover has borrowed from floral Chinese motifs. It has nothing to do with 'flinging around a term,' but with identifying various aesthetic characteristics.

Chinese in the sense that it looks like those chinoiserie housecoat thingys. Sorry, I'm too provincial to know the real name (or even if "chinoiserie" is offensive), but I knew what they were talking about. Heck, maybe it's just the JPG compression artifacts. Now there's a design idea.

One thing that everyday interior designers don't get that artists do, is how to put something electric in otherwise ho-hum surroundings, and also to hint at the electric item(s) with things like: the framed item behind the mushroom lamp on the left, the pink outline in the high-heels piece in the hallway, next to a red cone. Ats'a spicy a-meataboll! The greens and tans in the bedroom prints call out to the green and gold spots on the bed coverings and the dusky shapes descending from the lamps, as if they took all the pink and red out of the bed and used the remaining colors to create some paintings. The color amounts are so equal, or at least close enough for government work, that's for sure.

Speaking of the hallway, everything is so balanced that the color that jumps out most of all is the spare cyan highlights in the skull painting: any more would be too much. If that wasn't enough, this cyan is quoted in the bedroom, only but obviously smack-dab in the middle of the center, pink pillow. Outstanding!

I also love that the nightstands and lamps are totally different for each person, total his'n hers action, but I'll bet dollars to donuts that the photo up at the left of the bed has both of them in it. They tie the room together, man.

This apartment is actually in China. Can't you read?

Design Junkie, if you are looking to be offended, you will be, every day of your life. Chill. The colors and patterns of that fabric are extremely Chinese. Spent any time in China? I have. The color red is very meaningful in China. It is often paired with that bright pink. Walk through a fabric store in Chinatown and you will see...

Now take a deep breath.

#1 yes the artworks rocks and i agree its kind of basic beyond that.