apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Hi all,
I am just starting to get into the whole decorating thing for my condo and I am having trouble deciding on a color for a new coffee table.

I have a cognac-colored leather sofa and chair...like a deep tan, caramel type color. Most of my furniture (bookcases and media center) are called cherry, but are more brownish than reddish. The walls in this room are and will remain a slight off white color.

I keep thinking that I should go with a darker brown or near black color for the accent tables, but am afraid that it will darken the room.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Where can I find nice vibrant colored self-adhesive shelf liners (or contact paper)? They have these everywhere but I've only found them in those really boring colors. I want to add some color and make my drawers pop a little without have to paint.

Thanks.

Mei--one of the Domino bloggers wrote a while back about the wide selection of contact papers at Aubuchon Hardware:

http://housewares.hardwarestore.com/37-188-contact-papers.aspx

tracydanielle: Go with your gut. You like the black or darker wood? Go with it. So your living room is really dark-colored. So what? As long as there's plenty of light and accents of whatever colors you want to give some variation, then dark sounds fine.

Just feel lucky, I suppose. Some of us also starting out (like me) don't have the luxury of our furniture matching.

Musings:

looking around some of the posts here in AT and other design blogs I frequent, I see some trends... for example, every time furniture is a couple of decades old or is streamlined in shape, it gets labeled "mid-century modern" or "Eames Era" (even if, it's clearly not) like that's such a good thing...
I seem to remember that some of the tenets of that movement were that furniture was supposed to be mass produced and affordable, egalitarian, much like Ikea is today.
hummm.....

I see lots of oohs and aahs comments on peoples' apartment photos where they have the stereotypical Eames chair and Tulip table and Bubble lamp.... many of these apartments look the same (it's refreshing when there isn't a single "Eames Era" object in sight!)...

I've started to wonder if everyone shops at DWR? (which, BTW, is not as Within Reach as the name suggests but, that's another story).

It's not that I don't appreciate what these Modernists aspired to, but I get the impression that now, we're fixated on the label as a badge of... hipness... (but are we really hip if we're recycling as opposed to innovating?)

Dunno, are we stuck in a design rut?
Has nothing new/different/better come along since 1950's?
Seriously, have design movements (Baroque, Nouveau, Deco, Modernism) just ceased to exist or be relevant?
Will there be a new one to grab our collective imagination or, are we stuck rehashing the "modern classics" like they're the zenith of design?

We'll those are my musings for the day... feel free to burn me at the stake like the heretic I am. :0)
Cheers,
C

Chris--well, I see the debate lies within you too; I took a look at your other comments and saw that you have sought a "sleek, modern design" for a solar panel, a "clean-lined BBQ", and that own a multipot (which they sell at DWR).

I also look for modern, clean-lined stuff, and maybe that is a trend, but it's a trend I see myself being able to live with; it just feels classic and beautiful. I also feel like Eames and Saarinen, et al, paved the way for this further movement of modern, clean-lined furniture and accessories (beyond their own pieces); that is, our taste for a sleek, clean-lined grill is probably there because of the essence of their designs and ideas.

I wholeheartedly agree that there is a disconnect between the ideals of making designs-for-all and the current pricing of a Saarinen table at upwards of 2 grand. This is why I look for vintage. I appreciate the pieces a great deal, but could never afford the reproduction prices. And if I could, I'm not sure I would pay them.

Did anyone make it to the Thorina Rose launch party at Timbuk2 yesterday in Hayes Valley?

I am seriously coveting one of those bear bags.

Has nothing new/different/better come along since 1950's?

Having just read the latest I.D., with their annual design awards, I was kind of wondering that myself. Very weird to see graphic design that screams "1971!" being hailed as the new cutting edge...

I can too readily remember when the plastic Eames chairs with the metal legs were widely knocked-off for elementary school seating -- every time I see one in an otherwise lovely home, I smell sour milk and those horrible chocolate-peanut-butter brownies that the cafeteria mistook for an edible dessert.

Maybe the "mid-century" rut has to do with the fact that the current largest demographic grew up during that period ('50s, '60s, and very early '70s) and thus has a kind of knee-jerk attraction to that style because of the familiarity?

I was just looking through the recent Crate&Barrel catalog and was, quite frankly, horrified at all the ugly looking "new vintage" tweed, flat-line, retro collections. (It's mixed in with their overstuffed, overscaled, "casual classics".) They call it mid-century and "streamlined '60s", but it looks like the '70s to me, and I for one do not want to re-live that era! (I think the styles bleed into many years later than their inception, since - especially back then - ordinary families did not update their furniture that often.) Full disclosure: but I still love Eames.

Sea reminds me that I'd love to see a poll in which preference in MCM is correlated with loose age groupings that separate the Boomers from the "baby bust" generation (me -- people in their 30s and very early 40s) and from the second boom (people now in their 20s).

Oddly enough, I lean towards MCM in theory but have never found it to be in my budget (the vintage pickings are pretty slim out here), partially because I feel like it would fit with the style of my house (1968, yes we have shag rugs but they are relatively nice ones). I have been redoing fixtures and repainting in what I like to think of as a clean, minimalist style, and as much as I like Art Deco, or Craftsman, or Log Cabin Country Style, or Overstuffed Floral, they are much harder to incorporate into the style of the house. I had a long argument with my father about this last weekend as he argues that most of our living spaces are tracts in the style of whatever the local construction places thought would sell at the time and only the expensive houses that were individually designed by architects actually have their own style. For example, my in-laws just bought a new place (built 2005-ish) and it has the ubiquitous black granite and stainless steel kitchen that will eventually be "early 21st century" and they look great there but I am already sick of seeing them in so many places.

So anyways, my point is, I think that MCM with its clean lines etc. fits more easily with different styles of architecture than more ornate styles do so it is easier on the eye. I also think that's why IKEA is so popular right now as well, it is for me what MCM was for my parents. Pardon the ramble.

Hey Shannon,
my peeve with the solar light is, in fact, the butt ugly solar "rock" they attached to them.. why did they do that? If I have to pay more than 100 bucks for a string of lights, then I expect the whole thing to be attractive.. google it and you'll see pix of the "rock" and I'm sure you'll agree that it is plain hideous and sticks out like a sore thumb. That's why I was wondering if there was one out there with out the "embellishment". Why bother "hiding" the solar cell if it's going to stand out for being a cheap looking rectangular plastic blob.
As for the streamlined BBQ, well, have you been to HomeDepot or on the net? It just seems that almost all BBQs sold here in the US are these over done affairs with a million knobs and accessories...do we all really need 8 burners to grill a couple of burgers?
Since I have limited space, I would like something small and attractive and simple; I don't need all the bells and whistles but I'm having a heck of a time finding a BBQ that isn't as pedestrian as most of the ones out there...and, yes, the Eva Solo and the Fuego are both quite striking but also so damn expensive, ugh.
As for design in general... I just feel like we're in a holding pattern at the moment and so people stick with what they know as a security blanket... you say Eames and everyone knows what you're talking about... but by trying to be safe, people feel compelled to "match" everything and it ends up being a catalogue vignette cliche.
I just wish to know if there was something in the horizon to look forward to, you know? Something fresh and different?