department of the interior: home decor

^ things that make me wish i loved crafty things more. but, like, lol @ "the steps look simple enough" - i could never do this, at least not as a fun activity - i'm like "this is why we made the machines!!" haha. i got frustrated just reading about drawing the lines, let alone exacto-ing all that.

Hah! Fair enough. I'm not generally very crafty but I have little bursts, I feel like I could do something like this fairly easily (but I'd probably pick a smaller area - my small neighbourhood of Toronto, say, to keep it simple).

I've been thinking a lot lately about buying some things but my question is.. what is the A.P.C. equivalent in furniture? (Besides 'mid century modern' even if that's what J Touitou says it is..)

I've been thinking about this quite a bit since you asked and yeah, I think the closest to an A.P.C. equivalent in furniture is probably the Eames work for Herman Miller and the Saarinen work for Knoll. Modern while comfortable and not at all imposing, not cheap but not insanely expensive, works in just about any context. Hard to think of many manufacturers now that are doing similarly versatile work, although there are some companies reaching for it (Atlantico, Blu Dot, Arper).

for some reason i am thinking about folding down my fold-out couch/love-seat so that it lays flat (it is similar to a futon rather than a proper couch) and then i will have a flat surface for lounging. i think this is inspired by recessed lounge areas/giant couches...

I'm going to learn upholstery! I have all the tools and books plus a room full of 1940s furniture.

I just have to master plumbing first. Ugh. :(

HEY GUYS

what do you think of my new wall unit?

what sort of rug do i need for this space?

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6842200019_b648eb8435_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7157/6842206129_51381f2bd5_b.jpg

sorry about the shitty cellphone pics by the way - also it's lit very badly but i'd just finished installing it so i was dying to take a picture

I like all the pieces of furniture, but that room seems very crowded. Can you move the shelving unit to the left side of that wall and away from the window so the tree isn't in front of it?

unfortunately there's a door just to the left of the frame, and there's a door just to the right of the bookshelf

my back was more or less to a wall when i took that pic - unfortunately it's just a small living room and i sort of feel the urge to at least be able to entertain at least two friends

i think i need to move the tree and get rid of the speakers, or figure out somewhere else to put the whole stereo arrangement. i would really like to put a bunch of hanging plants in that space but i'm not sure i have time for that right now and i'm worried about plants dripping onto my precious midcentury swag

the other option would be a nice shelf of succulents and miniature palms in and around that west-facing window but there doesn't really seem to be room for that either

the wall unit is sort of stuck there because of structural reasons and the tree is there because of photosynthetic reasons ... you might notice the tree is in an extremely hideous pot - but i rescued him and i have a hard time abandoning plants or moving them once they seem comfortable ... i'd put the stereo on the wall facing the windows but there's a heater there ... maybe i could still make it work

I just had to disassemble and put away my monolithic slab-topped coffee and side tables in my current apt, and the place works TONS better since I did. Tried to make them work but they really need big rooms because of their scale, and I don't have any big rooms right now.

Judging by your pic, the first thing I'd remove is that coffee table. Use little pedestal/candlestick tables or a pile of books next to each chair, in its place.

The door to the right of the frame isn't stopping you from pulling the shelving unit like 2.5' to the left, where the rocker is now, and letting the tree breathe in the corner by itself.

Keeping in mind that I can't see what's out of frame, this is what I would do:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e66/LimitedLiabilityGirl/Floorplan.jpg

Uerrhghg that thing between the two side-chairs is the bentwood stool that the laptop is sitting on, in your photos.

i like that plan a lot, and i'm not wedded to the coffee table the way i am the chairs and rocker

the only thing is that moving the wall unit is kind of a no-go, mainly because drilling half-inch holes into that empty space on the left is problematic (there's conduits there)

would it still work with an off-center shelving unit or would it look funky?

a relevant piece of info is that the distance from the window to the bedroom door (out of frame on the left, next to the rocker) is about 100" wide (8 1/4 ft iirc), the armchairs are about 32 inches wide and the bentwood magazine rack is about 18" wide.

do u really want a carpet in that room?

I recommend making scale cut-outs of your furniture and room and playing around. Usually find that 1'=1" works well.

i wonder how hard it would be to do it in google sketchup

mainly i want the rug because the room gets *very* bright in the afternoons as light bounces off the floor. the floor itself is nowhere near as nice as it looks in that picture. it is more orange than brown and because of poor lacquer application there are matte spots and dark spots all over the place (could also be dog pee from previous owners).

in the winter and on spring and fall nights the floors are quite cold because of a crawlspace under the house that gets no light, and i was hoping a rug would help maintain some foot insulation.

finally, i find that having rugs in your house is the ONLY way to get your 20-something friends to respect the "no shoes" rule.

my original plan was to use a big wool pendleton blanket (somewhat tatami-style in my mind) but having bought a few now i am realizing they are much too thick for furniture to sit on

id go for s.thing monochrome and textured

a lack of rugs in living areas really makes a room feel cold/echo-y. bc that is a small space with a lot going on, maybe a rug in one solid colour, a neutral that complements the other room colours

Was going to rec a woven grass-style/sisal/outdoorsy rug for summer, maybe with a fabric border for contrast? You could put your blanket down in the winter, but make sure there's a non-slip pad under it.

like a flokati? except the one time i actually had a flokati it shed crap all over the place.

i have been looking for a simple, woven off-white rug but everything i find either looks like something you'd buy at home depot to put on your deck or like a giant bath towel

one of the most unfortunate things about the floor is that it makes persian rugs look really bad

that's an xpost to lamp

I don't think I'm grokking the "blankets too thick to put furniture on" idea because carpets--pile carpets are like an inch thick, plus padding!

Sorry, itt Laurel gets rid of all your furniture and tells you to like what she puts in your house. :/

Flokatis stop shedding at some point? I have one from 1997 that's fine, but I've put it through the washer a bunch of times, that's probably thinned out the strays.

haha theres a sort of muted white broadloom in the bensen catalog that i think would be perfect for that space but i cant seem to google find it

anyway i dont think color would be too bad as long its not ~bright~. something like these: http://www.modernweave.com/modern-movement_197categ.html

i am kinda biased cuz those are really beautiful but we have carpet already and tearing it out and refinishing the hardwood is just too huge a project atm

Those ARE beautiful. Overstock.com also has a lot of options for not that much $$.

http://ak1.ostkcdn.com/images/products/3/P11448023.jpg

http://ak1.ostkcdn.com/images/products/P12375684.jpg http://ak2.ostkcdn.com/images/products/4/278/P11992867.jpg

Or, quite frankly, I love this one as an anchor for the room:

http://ak1.ostkcdn.com/images/products/75/920/P13711648.jpg

I fall in love with at least two rugs a week, tbh. How I would love to furnish a whole house.

some people seem to "get" the blanket thing and other people look at me like i'm completely bonkers

this was the inspiration here: http://www.tpor.jp/item/mensnews/mn563.html

i liked the coziness of the pic and it reminded me of my armchairs

how about this old chestnut: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20072067/

i think my parents even have one i can steal

For the price of that IKEA one, you can get something better, I think.

Like this!

http://ak1.ostkcdn.com/images/products/L14040197.jpg

that ikea rug is p scratchy ime

i really like cowhides and had one in my old living room (ex-wife owned it) but i am really afraid of offending my vegan friends, especially since i have like three animals in glass boxes in that room also and my fridge is full of pork products

the amazing thing about cowhides is you can spill anything short of heavy oil on it and it won't stain

haha theres a rug on abc carpet called the 'lhasa' thats really beautiful and would suit the room and maybe split the difference btw the blanket and something more carpet-y but its like $3400 (down from $6300!) but if you can find something machine made thats similar i think itd really work

would suggest removing everything from room, finished plan should be similar to this:

http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/40600/40690/pb_sq_40690_md.gif

hm my rug budget is around $200

don't think everything in that room adds up to $3400, even w/ POWERBOOK included

er sorry MACBOOK PRO

hey what happened to suggest ban?!?!

Don't mind I DIED, he's obsessed with looking at fewer things. I think his apartment has one chair, one rug, and some cardboard boxes.

oh yeah abc carpet is the type of site i can only depress myself looking at but its often p easy to rip off stuff you find on really high end blogs/catalogs and im always just as happy with the stuff i find at the flea market and not having credit card debt

Two of these Ikea rugs fill my living room...

http://images1.americanlisted.com/nlarge/rug_ikea_beige_checkers_40_glen_rock_8617756.jpg

....arranged in an L shape, not side by side - like my living room itself.

http://fuckyournoguchicoffeetable.tumblr.com/
lol tho tbh i like a lot of stuff i see there

God every single photo on that thing is from Apartment Therapy it seems like. They all look familiar....

haha I 100% agree with 'Fuck your Keep Calm and Carry On poster' and 'Fuck your thing that says EAT in your kitchen' but a lot of the rest I'm a little jealous of. Except a book stack because fuck getting a book out of that thing.