apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Hi all, long time lurker and first time poster here with a question. I just got the Panton chair in blue from the Design Public outlet sale, thinking that my 8-year-old daughter could either use it as a desk chair or a reading chair. However, she wants her room to be painted a pale aqua. I'm wondering whether the chair's bright blue would clash with the paint color? What paint color would you guys suggest?

Sunset Idea House

we went this last Saturday.... and were a bit underwhelmed by it. anyone else feel the same way? I mean, the idea of LEED certification was great and is what made us go take a look but, you couldn't see the solar pannels or the living roof...
what surprised us the most was how shoddy some of the work was and how the space had been divided...
when you walk in you are greeted by a giant "wet room" (almost as big as our house) complete with lap pool, soaking tub and sauna. the sauna was tiny and the soaking tub just a waste of space. they should have kept the garage or turned half of it into an office/studio/guest bedroom.
on the second floor: the entry to the master bath was really narrow, not to code. The scone by the toilet hung so low you could see the bulbs sticking out the top (yet the ceilings are high so it looks silly), the basin was cracked and someone tried to 'fix it" but it just looked awful. a power outlet inches from the faucet (again, up to code?).... adjacent to the master was a narrow "sitting room" (with no sitting save for a chair at a tiny desk) and a large free standing wardrobe since the master suite has no closets!
small rooms on the second floor that could barely accommodate twin sized beds but had a bathroom in between that was twice as large as either. these are adjacent to a large library that has a large dining room pendant on top of a window seat but no adequate task lighting for actual reading... by the flow and size of the rooms you could tell that before the renovation it was once two 1 bedroom row apartments.
the top floor seemed the most cohesive function wise (it was added on) but again, some odd things like an oversized metal door that opens to a strip of a "deck". huh?
lastly, the landscaping was quite nice but eventually, once they install the missing (and by law, obligatory fire escape) it's going to ruin the effect with a huge eyesore.
in the "apartment" the bathroom was larger than the bedroom. in that entire space not a single drawer to stash things. the over sized vanity had none but a couple of shelves above to display your towels. huh? who lives like this?

anyhow, it wasn't a total waste.. we did get some brochures for flash water heaters, concrete flooring, landscaping and solar power.
what bothers me the most is that the house is for sale for over 1 million. whoever buys it is going to have to sink a fair chunk of change to "fix" things.. in a NEW house. dunno but, where is the pride in craftmanship? I guess people just don't care anymore because they know it will sell anyway.

I think a bright blue chair would be great in a warm off white room. However, the 8-year-old girl inside of me thinks that's boring and wants pale aqua. She's a kid and the pale blue and bright blue are way better than if she wanted a bright pink or red wall or something. It'll be very under the sea. Maybe just make sure that after the paint and the chair the colors choices stay a little more subtle?

jazzybel, your 8-year-old daughter should be the one to decide what clashes. Show her some paint chips next to the chair, and also some examples of other colors that clash or harmonize with each other.

And speaking of that, I'm going to repost my purple paint question that got lost in the last Open Thread.

Actually, it got lost in the current NY Open Thread:

I'm trying to find purple-purple interior wall paint, and can't. What I'm looking for is a 4-year-old's idea of what purple means -- the secondary color, red plus blue. Everything I've found at Home Depot (Behr, Glidden, Lauren, Disney), plus Benjamin Moore and Janovic, is either more pastel or deeper, too blue or too red, or just muddier.

Ironically, one Behr primer has a purple label that's very close to what I want, but its scanner system lands me at deep orchid or something like that--very different.

Any suggestions for a ready-to-go pure purple? I don't want to start mixing my own.

Alan, Domino's february issue has an article about purple paint. The featured paint is Ralph Lauren's Embassy Purple. It's unmistakeably purple. Popsicle purple. I really like it.

jazzybel: I think aqua and blue look GREAT together. It's a combo you see a lot in Greece. And in the colors of Turkish tiles.

chris: That must be the same "designer" who did my bathroom before I moved in. No shelves, no medicine cabinet, no under-sink storage, no drawers, not even a toilet-paper holder. But he managed to use up 150 square feet nonetheless. Ugh.

Alan: I believe many paint stores have a service where you can bring in a swatch of something and they will actually custom mix the paint to match. I seem to remember actually taking a Benj. Moore paint swatch into Kelly Moore and having them make up a color for me. It might be worth calling some paint stores and asking.

chris - re. the sunset idea house's apartment, downstairs bath: i heard that the architect/designer did include storage units in his plans, but for whatever reason, they weren't included in the construction. (i'm assuming the architect/designer was not pleased, since it reflects poorly on his work if you don't know this fact.)

overall, i think the house showcases a lot of good ideas, but most aren't feasible for your average homeowner (like the gigantic windmill in the backyard).

since the house was completed WAY behind schedule, my guess is that they had to take a bunch of shortcuts -- which you (and probably a lot of others) were able to pick up on.

jezzy--an easy thing to do would be to grab some benjamin moore (or whatever brand--i just love them though) paint chips in blue, where one of the blues is the same shade as the panton chair. there has to be a coordinating aquaish blue on one of those chips that your daughter would like, so show them to her and see what she thinks. you don't have to worry about clashing if benjamin moore told you it works already.

And Alan--doesn't Disney have a line of paints? Someone like them makes paint for kids' rooms and they are supposed to be true, unadulterated basics.

Does anyone know where I can find a nice coat hook that hangs over the door? I live in a rented apartment with plaster walls that I'm not allowed to put holes in. Also, my building was built in the 1920s so it would be a plus to match our antique-y hardware and glass door knobs.

I have a rental question and didn't know where else to look. I'm on the third floor in an old Edwardian building. The windows are filthy. Does anyone know if a landlord is required to clean windows that can't be reached by the tenant. I don't like the idea of hanging out the window and trying to do it myself, especially since some of the windows aren't operable. Any thoughts on how to get my landlord to pony up and clean them?

Noarch,

I found this online:

http://www.reiblog.org/2007/02/25/escrow-payments-are-often-waste-of-money/?p=896

Unfortunately, the landlord is responsible for maintaining windows and building exteriors, but they are not required to keep them clean if it's not a safety or health hazard. Look in your rental agreement and see if there's any mention of cleaning or general exterior upkeep. Some properties do take responsibilities for window washing and others explicitly state that it's the tenant's responsibility. Even though your landlord is not legally bound to pay for window washing, you might convince them to do it anyway if they care about the appearance of their property. At the very least, maybe you can get them to pay half, or if there are other units, split the cost with other tenants. Good luck!

Alan: Purple paint can be found in the Diseny brand section at Home Depot. I found "Donald Duck Orange" there.

Disney paints arevery kid oriented and they do also havethe basic basic colours- i would try there. They are available in Home depot, that i know for sure.

good luck!