department of the interior: home decor

i am trying to get all my shit organized. in the past 9 months, the amount of crap in my house has grown exponentially, thanks mostly to books and notebooks from grad school. thinking of going to the new ikea for some wall shelving ideas since there is no floor space left for bookshelves.

anyone have small space organizational tips? also, since this is ilstyle, i want it to look good and as least-dormy as possible.

we need to get stuff more neatly organized, too. no matter how often we tidy up, our place looks messy because there's just so much damn stuff. our downstairs neighbors keep about 80% of their stuff in large storage bins in the closets, so their place looks so much neater. however, it's kind of a pain for them to get to things if they realize that they've packed something that they want to use. i'm trying to find a compromise. ikea has a giant, freestanding double closet/shelving unit thing that i'm interested in, although it would be a significant expenditure.

the amount of crap in my house has grown exponentially, thanks mostly to books and notebooks from grad school.

it's still part of the mess problem and i've been outta grad school since december!

i am a fan of big plastic bins but then i forget what's in them and mostly what's in them is stuff that could be thrown out. and yet.

i never even think abt buying furniture. but maybe i need a new couch (mine is comfortable but total 2nd hand and starting to really feel like it.) and my desk is still dominating my living space. i shld replace it wth a table and bookshelf. i don't know, i'm not really good with drawers or cupboards b/c i just totally forget abt what i have and so consequently everything is on surfaces. which is not nec a bad thing but currently looks too chaotic.

i need to reorganize in general

I'm looking at putting high wall-mounted shelves in my bedroom, ones that would turn a corner to wrap over two walls of the room. I have another 6-8 boxes of books that I can't unpack, and they're getting in the way of other pursuits (ie blocking my sewing area). I want to be able to get my books down with a simple step-stool, though -- the only drag with our 15 foot ceilings is that the top 6' of that is wasted for storage because you can't get to ANYthing without major ladder.

So maybe one shelf at 6' and one shelf at 8'? Or something.

i know plenty of people here who've put up high shelves for storage b/c there are a lot of high-ceiled apartments - they just end up standing on chairs or stepladders to get to stuff - so yeah, high shelves but not like top-of-the-ceiling high. unless you're going to make some kind of pulley+shelf system. which wld be rad.

yeah i love the bin storage idea but even the long, slim, not too tall ones don't fit under my bed bc of a weird bar in the fram. that brings up another issue of wanting a new bed, but i think that will have to wait.

i have tons and tons of books and videos and operas on cassette tape stored at my parents' house right now. i miss them dearly, but there is nowhere to put them :( i would really like the high wall-mounted shelves, but am nervous about putting them up - i am sure i'd end up with a crooked disaster.

get one of those library ladders with wheels!

To help with storage of small stuff when we moved to this smaller place, I replaced the coffee table with 4 storage ottomans - they hold all the "office supply" stuff (reams of paper, tape, pens, blank cds/dvds, etc) and all kinds of weird computer/audio cables and assorted other technology (battery charger? probably in there). They can be set up as a square, or a long rectangle, or an L, so flexible for our main seating area, and they are the right height to work as extra seating at the dining table. Also, they are still continually covered with newspapers, magazines, and books (and cats, on top of the piles) so provide the normal function of our coffee table. And you can put your feet up on them.

storage ottoman! such a good idea

ohman i want to redo my whole place now

huh. that is a good idea. i really hate plastic bins - they scream DORM to me (even if they're hidden in closets).

I've started thinking about replacing the bed, which is a queen size platform one, with a king size one. But then I think about some of the places we've lived where a king size mattress would be hell to get up into the bedroom. So what about getting two twin size mattresses and a king size platform? Would that be ultra-annoying, to have the two-mattress interface in your cuddle space? Would it be excellent at preventing middle-of-the-night restless flopping around from waking up the other person? It's nothing that's going to happen any time soon, but I wonder how it would work. All the sheets are already king size, for easier bedmaking.

my friend has a studio the size of our living room (including kitchen and bathroom) at union square that i'm sure she pays way too much for, but i am amazed at what she's been able to do with it. one wall is covered in a boxed shelving unit. unfortunately, i do not have her husband's income to purchase all this awesome furniture units.

jaq, my grandparents always had two full mattresses put together to make a king. i've slept in it. you really don't notice if you have a mattress pad and sheets, etc.

one of the bedrooms in the country has a double-twin set up, and it's a pain in the ass, but there are separate sets of bedding on each. it might be different with one set of king-sized linens over both mattresses.

4 ottomans in a zigzag shape here:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2336/2254065988_5d56986548.jpg

we had the book problem in our last house. i dreamed of having a number of some kind of short bookshelf with doors on it to hide books etc. if i had my way id get rid of 95% of our books. i read and recycle.

i guess what im trying to say is you'd be amazed what you dont miss and how much space you can end up with by throwing out/giving stuff away.

that thing that looks like a mask protruding from the wall there is a bit spooky

re 2 mattresses - I've also seen this foam thing that is a sort of T shape that is supposed to go over the mattress interface - but maybe a good thick mattress pad would do the trick just as well. I think this will be a go.

Tomboto, that is a mask. I have 2 - they used to hang in the guest room, staring at the bed. No one ever stayed too long with us :)

I re-read books, loan them out, refer to them in order to quote them for something, etc. I don't keep EVERYTHING, there's def a value judgment about whether each book is worth keeping, but I do need book space.

my apartment is semi clutter-free but will not stay that way if boyfriend moves in with his 1203483 records

I feel like I am in a constant state of getting rid of stuff.

I have more space than I need and am trying to think of cool ways to clutter it all up
I would love to live in a place like Jaq's that is just totally full of stuff, oh and also exposed brick (I hate the way red brick looks on the outside but love it on the inside. Am I weird?)

Haha, be careful what you wish for Tombot! This was how it looked when we first moved in:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1180/1426382046_bc8dca1422.jpg

I do truly love the exposed brick walls - but it's tough to get brick interior walls w/o brick exterior too. This building is so old and has been through so much (great Seattle fire, earthquakes, etc, plus it's so close to the waterfront and the viaduct), it would be a stretch to call the exterior color "red".

I also just realized I used to have exactly that office chair on the left of the first picture, back when I had my JERKER with three swivel arms and all the fixins (rip)

It feels like I spend 3/4 of my life in that chair.

i did a really good job with clutter and not having tons of shit back when i was moving every 3-6 months. now i've been in my apt. for 1.5 years and am accumulating clutter + school shit and i do not like it.

I stopped buying books and dvds 5 years ago, stopped buying cds 3 years ago. Got rid of all except a handful. It really helps.

I've got far too many books too. We moved June 1st and I am still digging stuff out.. But slowly working toward a fantastic conclusion. Unfortunately a lack of linen closet meant I had to buy Rubbermaid containers for sheets/towels and store it in my (very large..yay) closet so I do have the dorm thing going on, but only when you start opening closet doors.

I'm painting two mis matched bookshelves glossy black right now, and I've taken the backs off and wallpapered them with this cute Victorian toile design I got off of Ebay. It's going to be adorable; I can't wait til it's done so I can show off via pictures.

(I should say.. glossy black to match three other living room pieces: TV stand, small corner bookshelf, picture frame stand). If your room was yellow, furniture is black white and red (white & red wallpaper as mentioned) - would a red couch be too much? Our old couch was lost to the move, it was one inch too big to fit through our stairwell.)

My top decorating tips, from back when I had to stage a rental in a hurry. (n.b. these are all cribbed from every design show ever):

#1: HOUSEPLANT. A plant says "a together person lives here." Easiest houseplant is a ZZ plant. Looks good, hard to kill.
#2: PAINT THE WALLS A COLOR. Any color. Easiest, literally idiot-proof, house paint is Benjamin Moore Aura. Dripless, total coverage in one coat you can do in one day.
#3: PUT PICTURES UP. Any pictures. My fave are dark frames + white mat against a colored wall.
#4: ROLL THE TOWELS INTO A CYLINDER: Like a hotel.

that is a nice plant! i shld have one! i have a jade and a vine - they are also hard to kill! i have tried!

ugh painting
yaay pictures
that is true abt towels - i have never folded them

i did nothing in the way of home decor yesterday (which was a holiday) except wash dishes. i am thinking abt new curtains.

also i am on a mission to replace my desk with a table

this is what my life has become courtesy of new house

as impossible as it seems to me, i still have too much stuff, but largely because onmoving day i looked at all my shitty alley-harvested bookshelves and 86ed them. oops. now i have shitty cardboard boxes full of books.

on the positive side, it is amazing how good it feels to actually buy furniture for a room all at once

oooh i bet. i can't wait to do that!

also i am on a mission to replace my desk with a table

-- rrrobyn, Wednesday, June 25, 2008 4:50 PM (Wednesday, June 25, 2008 4:50 PM) Bookmark Link

Ha, I'm trying to replace my table with a desk.

The old desk was too big and cumbersome, so it got put out in the yard. Since we've moved, I've got my home computer on an old nightstand and I have to crouch down on the floor to look at it.

Which is fine. Keeps me in the company of my family more now instead of holed up in a room reading zingers.

Muji has some really cute household stuff. It's on sale now but still pricey.

i need to go there. ppl keep talking bout it!

yeah i would totally give you my desk if we yknow lived in the same town, pp - it's pretty nice but way too big for my place. i somehow think it might fit in my storage closet tho. for future use. which of course means cleaning out the storage closet... scary.

the thing about having a desk instead of a table in a small apartment is that i end up eating while sitting on the couch or eating at my desk - there isn't really anywhere nice for two or more people to sit in a civilized way (not that sitting on a couch isn't civilized but yknow what i mean.) anyway, tables, tables are good. i kind of want one with a folding leaf.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3209/2616035756_16d4c4b757.jpg?v=0
I haven't painted my removable shelves but I'm off to a good start, I keep stopping while walking through my apartment to admire my handiwork! Heh.

Lovely!! I have a big raw pine bookshelf that I want to paint two colors, one on the outside and something else for the back wall. Not got around to it yet, though, predictably enough.

yeah, it was kind of a bigger ordeal than I thought because I sanded them, primed them, and then painted two coats of black - but I'm very satisfied, this picture does it no justice whatsoever.

so i did in fact get a brand new fridge on wednesday! amazing. they delivered it some time in the morning (i was at work) and i arrived home v late that night to find it all shining and white in my kitchen wowee. so i gave it a wipe down inside and plugged it in and went to sleep and woke up early the next day and was gone all day, and so yesterday evening my building manager drops by to give me the food i'd kept in her fridge during the fridge-changing operation, and she tells me, in a very sweet and kind way, that not only did the fire inspector guy (who was in the building last week checking all the alarms etc) tell her the following but also the building co-owner or whatever who bought the new fridge (and i guess helped move it in?) said the same thing, which is: this woman's apartment is a fire hazard.

i am not embarrassed or anything b/c i know i have a lot of papers and books and crap piled up in increasing piles that really need to be dealt with but that i haven't had time/energy to deal with, but HOLY SHIT! anyway, this news is some serious freakin incentive to address my Department of the Interior Terr0rwatch situation.

i might pay someone to help me. srsly.

LOL jesus find a box and throw everything in there as an interim storage/cleaning method, when you get a lot of the crap into one relatively contained pile it's easier to "start" cleaning and tidying.. and then you can use that money to buy pretty stuff! and um, a filing cabinet? :)

oh i have tried these methods
also it is more like 3 boxes
also it is not that my place is 'dirty' just that it is 'cluttered' - i mean, i keep things clean, i vacuum, i mop, i dust, i clean everything on a regular basis. except for the piles of papers, books, cds, blah, etc.

the key here is throwing stuff out
tho i wld prefer to take it somewhere and burn it all
but yeah the issue of being overwhelmed by it and so not doing anything abt it and then it just gets worse is obv the issue to deal with by yeah at least starting with filling a box up u r rite

and i am still suffering from 'what if i one day really need this photocopy of 10 random pages from raymond williams' culture & society' syndrome
BONFIRE NOW

oh God I know I have boxes of papers from high school... my boyfriend and I got really critical one night, spent three hours and threw away about... 1/3 of what we should have tossed. The rest is now sitting in a couple of boxes in our closet :P

I hear ya about decluttering... I don't think I will ever have a clutter free existance. Hence the tons of bookshelves in my apartment :)

apparently bookshelves are ticking timebombs! at least in this town

I loooove that green velvet.

My friend has a low profile recliner from room and board. She loves it. She's had it about 8 years. It has a butt indention in it now though.

Room & Board’s Dalton recliner is one of the two greatest pieces of furniture I have ever owned

The problem I have with the more low profile recliners is that I'm really tall and those don't come up high enough to support my shoulders and head when reclined :(

tombot what is the other greatest piece of furniture?

I think this is the green chesterfield i almost got http://www.rogerandchris.com/zoom/higgins-chesterfield-sofa-green-leather-sofas/102/1

but ended up getting it in a different dark brown leather. I had to order swatches at the time and did a scratch test with my dog's (boxer) paw to make sure I got one that didn't show scratches that well. I love it. It's 8 feet and deep and both me and my 6'3" spouse can lay on it relatively comfortably together.

and it was the Dalton Recliner.

the other one is my old LL Bean Mission Futon which is now basement furniture but has moved with me like 7 times over 17 years and remains phenomenal for naps

I have heard (from some friends) some of those Article sofas are very uncomfortable. I need sofa updates. I think I am going to commit to a green velvet sofa next year when I move.

Turns out we may have to redo a bathroom sooner than we'd like. Where do I go for snazzy, classy, non-ridiculous bathroom design ideas? I feel like a lot of American bathroom design has become bloated and absurd.

Get some contractors to come out first to get measurements and give you a generic estimate, they should hook you up with a local showroom to check out what parts and finishes you want.

That’s what we’re doing with our kitchen sink & countertops

Pinterest imo.

Idk what the contractors are like where you are, but contractors do the same thing they always do, with whatever "standard" materials are in demand from other customers + cheap to the contractor. If you want something different, you're going to have to bring that vision yourself.

This is what my parents have found to be true multiple times of trying to build non-standard/historical bathrooms & now a whole house.

Pinterest search "minimalist bathroom" and go nuts.

our contractor is actually telling us to go to a showroom to pick out stuff. I guess we’ll see how boring the showroom is

Good luck and have fun!

What's the showroom called? Do they have a website?

Houzz is what i used to look at to get an idea of what i wanted and then i sourced the toilet, faucets and sink online, tiles were local. I did not ha'e the patience for showrooms.

We found these guys through a friend who are excellent but non-licensed and they are probably not going to send us to a showroom, just do what we ask (although one of the guys designed a bathroom for the friend and it was quite nice). They are also apparently really good at finding cheaper ways to do stuff without actually cutting corners on the quality, e.g. they will source materials with vminor cosmetic defects and fix the defects. So I kind of want to go to them like "this is the style we're going for" and let them have at it. But I don't really know where to start.

Pick out your own stuff and have contractors install it, otherwise you will end up with a home depot bathroom

I survived major renos by deciding on some brands I liked and then just sticking with them i.e. hansgrohe for fixtures, villeroy & boch for vanity, Y Lighting for light fixtures.

There are things I really hate in bathrooms, so maybe you should start there and budget to get to where you make decisions. Like, if you don't really care how it looks just get all standard white e'erything with nicer lights, faucets, toilet etc. otm quincie hansgrohe is what we ha'e used a lot.

I still really want a toto toilet seat but no outlet blues.

Nice fixtures and good lighting make the biggest difference, rest of the shit can be white and who cares

Cheap shower doors are awful, better to just go with a curtain

weirdly the bathroom has always been pretty much the most important room for me, in terms of designing it right? More than the kitchen - it's got to be practical, easy to clean (and look clean and fresh) yet I like an interesting design/colour pallette.

BTW I have done two bathroom renos, not from a showroom etc, so ordering various fixtures online, and sizes can be quoted incorrectly, surprisingly often.

It's pretty much my last priority as long as it's not old and gross. H probably cares about it more. We have this hilarious faux-greek stuff right now that I call A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Bathroom. Our other full bath is pretty bad tbh -- original 50s with pepto bismol pink toilet and shower tile/tub.

I kinda love the old pink stuff!

I have a week off work and the plan was to finally make some decisions about schemes for the house. What actually happened is that I now follow ~50 more Instagram accounts and have added ~500 more items to Pinterest, and next time I have a week off it will be even harder to decide.

I see a lot of bathroom design stuff I don’t like. Subway tiles. Uncomfortable looking freestanding tubs. His and hers sinks. Floating vanities. It’s hard for me to think of what I do like. I guess I want it to feel relaxing and for the design to get out of the way.

Eventually we'll redo both our bathrooms, though I may miss the green-and-purple wallpaper + brown linoleum in the master bath.

Since we're retired and planning to stay here as long as we're able, universal design features are going to be important (grab bars, shower bench, non-slip flooring, etc.)

Way too much modern bathroom design looks like it belongs in a hotel and not a home. Still having a really hard time finding a vanity we like.

lol I'm in a "home decor" facebook group now -- it's basically a bunch of suburban moms and me. Absurd amounts of grey everything -- grey walls, grey flooring, grey rugs, fucking miserable and depressing. Grey needs to sit in the penalty box for a while.

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/136359269_10157957161851570_9097127924713946090_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=2&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=D3i68NwTdXQAX9-2Y8f&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=e96b75de2eb9f5d04c5a643b3a66f4c6&oe=60205B7C

ugh looks like a dentist office

wait is that a picture of somebody's idea of home decor?

tbf I think it was a picture asking advice on what else to do, not showing off what they've done

But like, you have grey blinds, grey walls, a grey rug and a grey top desk

i mean they should probably throw out everything in that room and start over

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/134978305_10164428794060462_6140353959736137135_o.jpg_nc_cat=107&ccb=2&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=2iZDP7ngJ3MAX9LlJhu&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=98ad1635f4e21b4975b9e269eabdb134&oe=601EF10A

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/133623793_10164428794035462_8564038184899694283_o.jpg _nc_cat=103&ccb=2&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=BODm3eoGd7YAX9ou69Q&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=77af815fe3d574836ea62fa55e3eb5a4&oe=601F6B13

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/133205262_10157933583801570_7694334741345639786_n.jpg_nc_cat=105&ccb=2&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=8ed5JbBftDoAX9Xc062&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=b127e9c4806107d30f7b111dfc64badb&oe=60208CAF" class="noborder">

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/132170038_10160608371864972_4457200671869250084_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=2&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=15M1BKdfbSYAX_Wa-1c&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=4c571e8f7190eeef8b9552743885442b&oe=601EAD94

dangit

whatever, lots of rooms with grey everything, idg how people don't find this depressing

idk, it's a balance and interiors are hard and take skill to do well. i have friends that were out on neutrals so they painted things super-saturated colors and then they lived in clown houses. gray walls are a great jumping off point if you know what you're doing.

A good antidote to this is following ppl on IG like @colorful_kimmes

Her aesthetic is way too intense for my own personal tastes but each of her rooms has so many elements that are fun and interesting and good design inspo

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHqPU14D25F/?igshid=12dx87xuwfd65

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHx-4MPDl-O/?igshid=ym94vsbwbdpw

Living in those rooms would give me an anxiety attack, although I acknowledge the artistry. ;)

The grey bedroom cell has definite barndominium vibes.

A good grey can be a great backdrop for colour. Not more and more grey though!
Two years ago we moved into the most 'neutral' house ever. Painted two rooms so far. The living room somehow has neutrals that clash with each other and even worse with our browny-grey sofas. It's sort of 'tasteful' though so not hard to live with until we work out what we're gonna do with it.

https://www.instagram.com/sophierobinsoninteriors/ is a good follow for colourful design.

I also follow a paint brand called Clare on IG, which is iirc Black-owned and zero VOC! Their aesthetic is IG-ish admittedly but sometimes also bold! https://www.instagram.com/clarepaint/

Hill House Vintage (@hillhousevintage) is also amazing for more of that refreshed Victorian profusion vibe in a person's real home.

does anybody here use LED strip lighting at all? It seems like it could be wonderful if you put it in the right places but absolutely awful dorm room vibes if you do it wrong.