department of the interior: home decor

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?

So far for seating I'm buying 5x8' unbleached drop cloths, my favorite things ever, and will use them to cover a ledge and pile with pillows.

But you know they throw in secret little things they like, right? I mean, like little things the clients didn't think of?

I...think clients hire decorators for the express purpose of thinking of things the clients didn't? Because they don't want to/know how?

does anyone have a recommendation for a really small computer desk that is available online?

http://www.cb2.com/helix-white-oak-70-wall-mounted-desk/s194118

something like this? i know ikea used to have wall-mounted things too

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00250249/

i bought a small computer desk from ikea, it was appallingly flimsy. i bought a great big desk from ikea and it was awesome.

that wallmount looks like the shit though!

I...think clients hire decorators for the express purpose of thinking of things the clients didn't? Because they don't want to/know how?
i'm not a dummy, i know why people hire decorators. or maybe i don't, as i said i've never met or had an encounter with one!

the belated realization that 1/2 of my new apartment is only accessible through two doors of less than standard width

this definitely complicates things

fuuuuck

Lechera: I mean I suspect ppl who hire "decorators" aren't thinking about someone's creative essence at all like you are? I have another suspicion which is that becoming most kinds of "decorators" is mostly about adopting the most boring and produced styles that read as whatever at that moment in consumer culture but that's a whole other thing.

as in, consultants from Ethan Allen

i have a friend who is an antiques dealer & interior decorator and i honestly don't understand how it works, like -- his 'decorating' seems to consist of... selling antiques to clients?

maybe that's a bit intentionally obtuse of me, but i honestly don't know that he has any design clients other than himself, in his home and in the various showrooms / storefronts he's occupied

elms, what do you have to get through those doors? Is it the bedroom, and does your bedroom furniture not fit??

the narrow doors lead to the living room & bedroom -- i think the bedroom furniture will fit ok but we have a pull-out couch that's definitely will not go

i mean

that definitely will not go

it's a nice enough couch but we'll probably have to sell it

the move is almost complete, only a few loose ends left. the bathroom is going to be the first room to be painted, so the question is: what wall color will complement a cool mid-grey toilet, bath, & tile and (ugh) maroon accents? it's light grey now, which is acceptable I guess, but drab.

a very pale powder pink might work in theory but i don't think that's gonna be put into practice.