department of the interior: home decor

http://bloggiwog.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/kevi.jpg

Aghh I hate those 'rainfall' showers. They look cool but they had them in the hotel I was at last week and I just wanted a quick shower without washing my hair or taking my make-up off but NO CHANCE of that. Plus the pressure was crap so the water was just dribbling down from the ceiling

The one in the hotel I stayed at had great pressure and was just amazing all around. I always wash my hair when I shower so not getting my head wet is a non-issue for me.

okay guys im in love with those small glass (sometime sea glass?) tiles. I'm thinking a neutral color for the kitchen backsplash. Expensive much though???

I love them but they're kind of aggressively "modern" when used in en masse. Suspect unless you & your bathroom/kitchen meet certain other criteria, it's best to use them in an accent capacity, or small spaces.

Kitchen backsplash might be perfect! Use a colored grout, though, because it's going to be impossible to keep white/clean.

or maybe some color (our mostly brown and white walls, floor and decor could probably use it):
http://st.houzz.com/simages/463256_0_8-7842--accessories-and-decor.jpg

yay! I always feel like im making the right choice when Laurel gives her style approval <3

I love them when they're blue and blue-green and green, because they have such a water quality to begin with.

xp loooool I don't know if that's a good idea but it's nice of you to say so.

Kitchen backsplash might be perfect! Use a colored grout, though, because it's going to be impossible to keep white/clean.

Laurel OTM, always go at least a shade darker than the tile w/ your grout. White grout should never have been invented.

my ex-wife and i had those installed in dark brown with gold sparklies and white grout on all of our bathrooms floors - they were beautiful but *very* fragile. if you drop anything on them, they break. we had C&B walnut slat floor "mats", and when you'd shift your weight on those wrong they'd break. they'd even break if ladies walked on them in too-pointy heels.

Putting glass on a floor is maybe not a great idea.

they're floor tiles

I wouldn't believe everything you read. Until the manufacturer starts guaranteeing them not to break under normal use including walking on them with shoes, and pays to replace them if they do, they are not floor tiles.

sad nonetheless

I have the dark brown with gold sparklies! Or one of the many, many varieties of that anyway. Not on the floor though.

want

http://cdn.theatlanticcities.com/img/upload/2012/01/09/BookBike.main/largest.jpg

though i suppose it wouldn't be so hard to mod a regular bookshelf/wardrobe as long as it was anchored to the wall

i wouldn't want my bike projecting into the room like that ... on a related note, i gotta distrust any furniture that's shown sitting at an angle in the middle of an empty room, rather than inside a house. i have a hard time picturing where i would put that (except backyard / garage / shed) where it wouldn't just be in the way. maybe if you have a bigass (10 foot wide) foyer?

don't get me wrong, the idea is awesome. and i guess maybe it's meant to go in the garage?

hahahaaa garage

i live in a 1-bdrm apartment on the second floor

i don't have a garage either, or a foyer

i think it's meant to go in a "loft-style apartment"
...

seriously, knowing me i'd just lean my bike up against it 75% of the time

what i really want is a level/pulley system that i hook my bike into and then it is taken up to the ceiling and out of sight

now THAT's a good idea

those are really p easy to install

i've been meaning to do it for 6 years

just like i've been meaning to paint my apartment

maybe 2012 is MY YEAR

If you just got home from a bike ride on a wet day, dirty water would work its way down and drip from the bottom of the tire. I wouldn't want one except in a shed, garage, or unfinished basement.

hey everyone!

i moved the tree out of the living room and spaced things out in the living room the way people suggested and it looks 1000x better!

i was wondering if there was any interest in doing ILS house tours or if that's kind of corny.

yeah, but I wouldn't want it on public ILX tbh. maybe a super secret facebook group!
My mum just announced she's thinking of redecorating their living room although it will be some kind of compromise between her and my dad as to what they get. My dad has zero taste/style bless him, just wants some snazzy wallpaper or something, and my mum doesn't know what she wants apart from 'something plain' so this could be interesting.

I've got a for real TASK CHAIR getting delivered this week after months of my spine indicating that it's very unhappy spending 60 hours a week in a knockoff swivel tulip chair.

http://freedomchair.org/wp-content/uploads/freedom-chair.jpg

I hate the way task chairs look but my apartment is pretty much turning into an office anyway.

got my kevi

http://bloggiwog.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/kevi.jpg

it's a second-generation rabami-built one though so the rolling-part with the casters etc isn't quite as good.

how comfortable is that chair?? i need a new desk chair too

Congrats on refreshed living room, dude.

Do any of you guys have the Houzz app for iphone/ipad. its like 300K+ interior dec pics that you can browse and save to an ideabook. so great.

ok going to risk being corny because everyone's advice in the past was so good

so if my place looks kind of spare keep in mind that my two roommates both moved their stuff out recently and so i've only had it to myself for about six weeks during which i've been trying to dig out from the detritus of living w/ recent college graduates.

so i took the "general advice" to clear out my living room and move the tree. i figured that aside from a little dog, i'm really the only one who needs to go in and out of my bedroom, so i got over my fear of blocking the bedroom door and spaced everything way out.

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6039/6879328320_915c117c59_z.jpg

so now there's this empty space between the fake shell rocker and the turtle tank. i was thinking of putting in maybe three tall cactuses (ex gf took all the little cactus buddies away away), like one cereus peruvianus, one euphorbia tetragona and of course who could resist a fabulous old man of mexico, a cephalocereus senilis?

My one advice with cacti is if you are a drunken stumbler, or even a sober klutz, don't put cacti in your main footpath.

I know nothing about interior design but I know plenty about the perils of alcohol/lack of coordination + C4 plants.

I mean...cacutussis.

there is a lot of space up there on the wall unit for little plants, also gotta get to the ceramics guild sometime when they have a sale. i was also thinking of replacing the "boob light" on the ceiling with a hanging fixture but i can't make up my mind what the space needs

it's ridiculous that i haven't restocked my succulents though, especially since there's this cactus shop literally a block from my house where they sell little ones for $0.75 apiece

http://s3-media1.ak.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/QAtPOotgt7fQzq_veeuU6A/l.jpg

i've lived with cactus before and i don't drink so i think it'll work out but i was also considering some sort of ladder-type shelf with little potted succulents on it, don't think there's room for a bench

anyway cactus dream house

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lpvfyazHYb1qbh6tno1_500.jpg

i mean look at that tetragona

http://the189.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Maurizio-Zucchi-Life-Among-Cacti-3.jpg

haha vah1d are those the life nature library books from the 60s? i have been slowly completing my dads childhood collection of those

i dont really have any other advice i think the room is plenty full enough? theres space on the shelving unit for some nice potted plants and i guess id paint if thats an option for you but i mean, i think its a p nice layout in that photo

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7060/7025429131_c3439a4c8a_z.jpg

it's not too congested, i don't think

but the entryway still looks shitty

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6211/6879331604_8065573750_z.jpg

was thinking i could brighten it up by installing a simple hydroponic planter in the window, like this one i saw at a local elementary school

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6056/7025557833_c997b21e19_z.jpg

j/k but maybe i should move the tree to that window next to the bike

right now the tree is serving a screening function between the "dining room" and the "office"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44557375@N00/6879331792/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44557375@N00/6879333888/sizes/z/in/photostream/

i got that ficus a pot that's about 2x the size of the one in the pic, gotta get some fresh soil from the nursery since we've had lots of rain and it got into my stash in the yard and now the bag is sprouting weeds all over, then i am gonna replant it in the bigger pot and sink it in at angle to straighten it out, probably going to trim the top 1/3rd as well

whoops

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7085/6879331792_2517c4f134_z.jpg

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6222/6879333888_7e46850d84_z.jpg

kitchen is ... pretty bad

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6224/7025434429_a380b21caf_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7073/6879323082_a58936d897_z.jpg

chicken soup about to happen tonight