department of the interior: home decor

i just hope the property owners are open to some renovation. i want to replace the cabinet doors or just remove them altogether, i'd rather just have open shelving than a menopausal country cupboards

that kind of horrible grainy oak gives me stomach pains ... it can be so lovely why do they do such horrid things which such horrible grades of oak

Aye the country doors are pretty bad but the wainscoting is worse.

PS: You can remove the doors and just have oak shelves and never tell the LL, right? Totally reversible.

for sure. that's probably what will happen. i mean, i would love to have divided glass panes instead but

Fake divided-light windows of today will be the faux Victorian portrait frame insets of tomorrow.

truuue

my favorite part is the reflection in the shower door that makes it look like there's a second toilet in the shower

god my condo still sucks ass

I'm moving on May 1 too!!

may is moving month

:D

yayay

you're still in chicagoland, right, LL?

Oh yeah! Just moving abt a mile away!!

I'll def need some help here once we move in, but right now the logistical challenges of moving/working/basic subsistence are enough to keep me busy.

Lecheraaaaa, does that mean it's final????

Nice place Elmo! Oh how I would love the adventure of moving but our rent is ridiculously cheap & houses far too expensive.

As final as it can be! Still keeping fingers crossed because we all know that anything can happen, but we are proceeding. I mean, things are in boxes! (I had a nightmare last night about moving and woke up with shame over how many books I have, but it quickly faded when I thought about getting rid of them.)

that is nice-looking apartment, elmo - good blank canvas for decorating

Awesome space, elmo! Floors really caught my eye, and the layout/space/light. I'd consider it turn-key (but apparently I am someone with no sense of interior decor, according to spouse!).

Welcome to my world re books in boxes. So excited for u!

moving time! got the keys this weekend and started moving stuff over. that kitchen wallpaper is vinyl which will make for easy removal, thank god.

lucky!! we still don't know when we can start to move stuff in and it is driving me banananananananas.
your apartment has so many wonderful angles and little places -- you must be so psyched!

i am honestly feeling a little overwhelmed because i feel like everything needs to be painted

everything

we learned that the previous occupant was a 90 year old nana so that definitely explains some of the design choices

Doing maraca dance of so excited for u!!

i don't think i mentioned the decorative fireplace with the odd green lead-glass tiles. there's that, too.

like so:

http://i.imgur.com/mMa8eme.jpg

that's gorgeous! what a pretty green.

variety of greens, i should say
i hope you put a lot of plants in the room to bring it out!

oh yes! my boyfriend is positively ECSTATIC to have an apartment that gets a lot of light because we've been without indoor plants for years

also i need help picking a wall color that will play nicely off that green tile, you can't tell in that photo but the wall is this hideous nude putty color and it must be stopped

maybe a nice clear celadon or sage green. or would that be too matchy?

i like yellowy greens but i have bad taste!

i guess not bad necessarily but i have a tendency to want everything to be technicolor and that's just not always advisable

I have a green room! It is 'cooking apple green' (Farrow & Ball). Trying to find curtains to go with atm

I am normally a big fan of putty color, but agree that it does not work at all with those tiles? Maybe a gray with greenish undertones? IDK I am a boring neutral person tbh.

I like the idea of a yellowy green, especially in a room that gets lots of light

I would prob go for contrast with an actual yellow tbh.

Love love love the tiles, of course.

I've always wanted to do a chinoiserie room with bamboo lattice-print wallpaper and glass-topped tables on brass legs and pots of ferns. Believe me when I say I am so jel.

Currently killing a baby maidenhair fern in my bathroom because it gets no light whatsoever.

do people who do interior decorating as their job get a little kick every time they think about rooms they decorated? like their essence is all over the room?

i can't imagine having someone spray their own essence all over my rooms, the thought is kind of horrifying!

I don't know, but I doubt it? Since they have to decorate for their clients?

I see what you did with the phrasing there

If ilx's own decorates-for-a-living I DIED had his way all rooms would be empty boxes with one chair and really bright lights so

My new business card:

mh
Interior Designer

"I will spray my essence all over your rooms"

But you know they throw in secret little things they like, right? I mean, like little things the clients didn't think of? Maybe if they're good at what they do they hide their essence.
I've never met one! Didn't know there was one on ilx!

I like minimal, clean spaces because my natural tendency is to put junk everywhere and having complex colors and patterns just camouflages my bad tendencies

I'm getting v v excited about set-dressing my downstairs courtyard/backyard for a party in May because if I can't decorate any more inside why not outside?