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February 28, 2005
Do It Yourself.
Don't forget about the contest! You've got five days to send me anything you've got. Ideas, crafts, photos, even just a few paragraphs of the things you love about your bedroom or your bathroom or your closets, seriously. Just impress me with your enthusuiasm and the book pictured above will be your very own!
Again, all details can be found here.
Tomorrow: I will discuss some DIY and/or inexpensive wall art.
In the meantime, hit me with your best shot at Lara@apartmentalist.com!
Posted by Lara at 02:22 PM | Comments (2)
February 25, 2005
What Wood You Do?
I'm always acquiring furniture in different shades of wood. Is it cool to mismatch them, or only if they are stark contrasts, or only if they're close in color? Or should I spread them out in different rooms? When I buy things I never think how the color is going to fit into the rest of things I own, I just judge the piece individually. -CS
Hi CS-
It totally depends on the look you're going for. There really are no hard and fast wood-mixing rules unless you are a very strict decorator who likes things very uniform. I personally like to mix it up a little.
First off, I know that I totally hate matchy-matchy furniture sets. No offense to places like Rooms-to-Go, or to people who buy the entire window display rooms from Pottery Barn, but you need to inject your taste and your personality into the space in order to feel comfortable there, in order to feel that it's really your home. Buying sets/suites that come all together is fine, and can look quite lovely, but I find it so impersonal. Sometimes the bizarre things that match nothing else are the objects that make your house warm, unique, and 100% you.
I like to use different woods to distinguish spaces. Like, my whole living area is full of dark cherry-stained wood pieces, but just a few inches from all of that, I have a pale, pine wood dining table (it sort of matches the shade of my hardwood flooring) and bright red-stained dining chairs (these match other red accents throughout the living space). So I have these micro-rooms within a room, and because everything in there sort of goes with a few other things, it doesn't clash or look too busy. It works.
And our bedroom is mostly pale wood, but my boyfriend's desk is metallic veneer. It really divides the space somehow, into office and boudoir. And the dialogue is maintained by other silver accents around the room, in frames and lamps.
However, mixing can be done poorly too. You do want your room to hang together cohesively, and you want each piece to have dialogue with the other elements in your room. Nothing should stick out like a sore thumb. If you can justify its inclusion by ensuring that everything in the room corresponds somehow to a few things without clashing horribly with the other stuff, then you've succeeded.
If you have a menagerie of different woods and textures and finishes with no common theme (similar shapes/styles), your room could just wind up looking like a furniture store. There are a few solutions to this:
- Sand & repaint a piece or two to look more similar—be creative here, use red lacquer or even a crackle glaze if that is in keeping with your overall style
- Sand & repaint clashing pieces into neutrals like white or black or beige
- Keep things in one or two shades of wood, and weed out/replace the rest
- You can always re-stain items, too, or have it done for you by a pro
- Unite clashing pieces with creative accessories, like new matching metal hardware/drawer pulls, or twin vases and photo frame arrangements
- Like paint, but faster and less labor-intensive, fabric is a great cheap equalizer... Depending on your style and the function of the furniture you want to cover, you could do some creative draping with cool fabric here and there to unify the room
- Decor is all about balance, and balance is pretty intuitive... If it feels warm and balanced to you, it works, period
In the last sentence of your query above, ("When I buy things I never think how the color is going to fit into the rest of things I own, I just judge the piece individually."), you have totally hit upon the #1 reason people like me have a job. Of course you just buy whatever strikes your fancy... That is how we shop for anything else. The thing is, most furniture is a commitment. It's usually pretty expensive, and you'll see and use it every day, all the time. It's not like a shirt you can hide in the closet and wear occasionally when you're in a purple kind of mood, you know?
I see furniture and home accessories in shops that I really LOVE and WANT really BAD, but I have to literally force myself out of the store if I know that the object just will not fit into my space or a client's space. This requires so much control and discipline, it sucks. And sometimes I so regret walking away from wonderful finds.
If the desire for a non-matching piece is eating away at you, try not to do any impulse buying. Sleep on it. Do you love it enough to go back for it? Would you consider redesigning a room around it? Will it fit anywhere else in your world, like an office or a bathroom? Hell, you can also just throw it into the mix and see if it works. If you love it that much, who cares if it matches perfectly? The look of your living spaces evolve over time, and someday it might be the centerpiece of your entire aesthetic, the hub around which everything else flows.
Ask Apartmentalist is a weekly advice column. It'll appear here every Friday. Do you have a question about crafts, decorating, or your living space? Email Lara@apartmentalist.com.
Posted by Lara at 05:11 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
February 23, 2005
Little Room.
Well you're in your little room
and you're working on something good
but if it's really good
you're gonna need a bigger room
and when you're in the bigger room
you might not know what to do
you might have to think of
how you got started
sitting in your little room
-The White Stripes
It's "convenient theories for me" time! And also a contest!
As you may have noticed, I find little spaces very inspiring. The constraints and challenges force me to think really creatively about design and problem solving, and maybe everything else too. If I somehow got dropped into a mansion, or even a real house with rooms larger than 14'x14', I think I'd have more trouble decorating and filling the space well. And I posit I'd be less able to express myself creatively overall. Just a theory, no way to really test it. Unless you really want to give me a mansion to decorate. In which case, I probably won't stop you.
And I have Edna St. Vincent Millay to back this theory. She was a fabulous New York poet, and the first woman to ever win the Pulitzer. She lived in the city's narrowest residence for a year (1923-1924). Actors John Barrymore and Cary Grant also paid the rent at 75 ½ Bedford Street. Coincidence? Um, maybe not!
I've brought your attention to this already, but my two favorite magazines recently had special features on small spaces, and this site is really focused on nothing but small space living. I'd like to believe that there's a bit of a sprawl backlash movement on the rise, and more and more citizens will grow more conscientious about our consumption of resources and space.
Anyway, I'd like to share another big inspiration of mine with all of you:
There are tremendous ideas in this book. Some of the apartments may not be your style or mine, but every space includes a neat idea or five for storage, for creative use of color, for furniture, for lighting. I've read it a hundred times, and every reading unearths a great new detail I'd never noticed before, or helps me solve a new design problem.
THE GOOD NEWS:
I have an extra copy of this book.
THE GREAT NEWS:
I want to share it with a lucky Apartmentalist reader.
THE CONTEST:
Email me at Lara@apartmentalist.com and (in 1000 words or less) describe your favorite room, tell me about a unique solution to a design problem, share a cool DIY project, whatever. You can attach photos and drawings to the email (in fact, I'd love that!), but just write anything you think will interest Apartmentalist's other 200+ readers.
Please include:
- Your name/How you'd like me to identify you
- Your mailing address (this is for prize-mailing purposes only, and I will burn it once the contest is over)
- Your essay
- Any photos and drawings you'd like to show the world
THE PRIZE:
The winner will receive their own copy of the incredibly cool Living Large in Small Spaces: Expressing Personal Style in 100 to 1,000 Square Feet by Marisa Bartolucci and Radek Kurzaj, and their submission will be featured on this site on Monday, March 7th.
THE DEADLINE:
Entries are due at Midnight, EST, on Friday March 4th, and they'll be judged by me and a panel of design savvy friends, possibly over a bottle of wine. The winning entry will appear here on the morning of the 4th, with a byline and everything. I'll send the book to you via media mail shortly thereafter.
THE DISCLAIMER:
Adherence to the guidelines increases your chances of winning, but please also be creative. Your submission grants me explicit permission to publish it. The copyright will remain yours. I will credit you however you like. I will not give out any of your personal information ever, to anyone, for any reason. I reserve the right to edit or excerpt your essay pre-publication.
Any questions?
Please submit!
Posted by Lara at 02:01 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 21, 2005
Put the Book Back on the Shelf.
After I posted about kitchen and clothing storage, one reader asked me something like "Oh, but what about the books? The books are everywhere!" The written word is taking over so many of our spaces, I know.
My favorite books sit atop our television in a tidy stack, like art:
I majored in English Lit, and I've been in the book business for something like eight years. So yeah, I'm a terrible bookhoarder. I pluck them out of trash piles, I buy them on the internet, from libraries, regular bookshops, and even from stoop sales. I take friends' castoffs. I have a ton of my old college textbooks, gathering dust where they sit on my shelves.
This is the smallest of three bookselves in my apartment:
I use every available square inch of this shelf, as you can see. For a while, right before my last big book purge, the top shelf was stacked two deep.
Like I noted with clothing storage, purging is essential. If you have a book just to have it, or if you're filling your shelves just so everyone will know how smart and well-read you are, well, there you have your priorities. Priorities you'll regret next time you move.
There is something so freeing about setting books free to circulate, and choosing favorites for your all-time, desert-island collection helps you to better define your tastes and beliefs and personality.
I don't mean to sound like a broken record here, some austere minimalist shouting "Throw it out!" God knows I don't follow this advice all that often. I have loads of clutter, and stacks of books I don't really like, books I've never read, books I may never get around to reading. But man, it feels amazing to send books on their way, imagining the hundreds of other hands they'll fill. At least once a year, get rid of a few. You'll feel lighter, more free, and you'll thank yourself the next time you must pack them into boxes and carry them down the stairs.
In the meantime, I love these shelves right here.
(Thanks for bearing with me during this past week's brief hiatus.)
Posted by Lara at 10:08 PM | Comments (16)
February 14, 2005
When You Notice the Stripes.
The hallway striping endeavor was sadly back burnered due to some more pressing client projects and general winter ennui. But this weekend I got to taping and painting, and here's a bit of a progress report:
I scaled down the original stripe plan a bit, as the original would have been an overwhelming five feet wide.
The red stripe could use another coat, as red paint is the biggest pain ever.
Now I'm thinking that I'll scatter a random stripe or two throughout the hall, just to add interest and keep things balanced. Then I'll cover the remainder of the walls with beige, and repaint all the doors in eggshell.
I can't wait to peel off all the tape! I'll show off the results, of course.
Posted by Lara at 09:43 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
February 11, 2005
Honey Put on That Party Dress.
Lara-
I love your new site!
I'm interested to know your solution for clothing storage. I'm always amazed my NY friends have great wardrobes and no closets. I live in a good sized house and I am drowning in clothes—3 dressers, a closet, a coat closet. I'm a proud clotheshorse, but how do I keep everything from overwhelming the bedroom?
Thanks!
Heather
Thanks Heather!
Man, do I know your pain. I am also a clotheshorse and a SERIOUS shopper. I can’t even begin to tell you about the shoe situation. It’s intense. Ideally, I’d have an extra room I could convert into a huge walk-in dressing room, but alas, I have not yet won the lottery.
There are the standard solutions:
- California Closets-esque setup (Ikea has terrific inexpensive solutions, so does Lowe’s)
- Dual rods (upper and lower, a cheap way to have two closets in one!)
- Several plastic under-bed boxes (Target!)
- Plastic or cedar boxes of any size for stashing in an attic or up above the kitchen cabinets (see here)
- Skirt and pants hangers that hold multiple garments
- Those sweater-holder things and other similar stuff from Hold Everything or The Container Store
- Creative shelving/cabinetry (any hardware store)
- Over-door hook systems (Target, Wal-Mart, Lowe’s)
- The occasional footlocker/trunk/chest; this makes a lovely end-of-bed bench or low console elsewhere in your home (Ikea’s "HOL" is so reasonable at $69)
- Space efficient folding/rolling of clothing
- Vacuum seal bags are incredible! (look here, or search on Google)
- Fill your unused, empty luggage with bulky, rarely worn items
- Dressers with spacious, functional drawers
- Look at your hallway, if you have one... Can it hold a narrow dresser, wardrobe, or cabinet? This is a great place to stash stuff, and you really never spend time hanging out in the hallway, staring at it
- Look elsewhere in your home, too, and think about using some non-clothes-holding-type-furniture
- When all else fails: look into a storage facility
I stash my out-of-season stuff under the bed in big Rubbermaid boxes as neatly as possible. I hang rarely-worn dresses in the way-back of the coat closet. Valet hooks inside the closet door really help me get dressed without making a mess. Our utility closet (which is rarely used/fairly invisible to guests) has over-door hooks, so the inside of the door is covered with all of my lighter coats and hooded sweatshirts and rarely used purses. I also keep unused extra hangers in there.
That all sounds well and good, but here is one of my dirty (literally) secrets:
This hamper looks great, holds so much, makes sorting easy, and each compartment is roughly the size of a large wash load. When all my clothing is clean, my drawers and closets and boxes bulge, but during the in-between times, this hamper totally bails me out. Not that I’m advocating laundry laziness, but hey.
Most of all (and you won’t like this), it helps me to be a really hardcore editor. In RealSimple’s new The Organized Home, I read that women only wear about 20% of the clothes they own, and that rings so true to me. I hang onto tons of stuff that doesn’t fit me, clothes I’ve never worn, dumb old outfits that hold sentimental value, fantastic bargains that never really flattered me, I could go on. My tiny space makes careful, strict editing imperative. Every few months, I take a good realistic look at my clothing.
I give unwanted clothes to a friend, donate them to charity, or sell them to a consignment shop if:
- I haven’t worn it in two years (classic formalwear may be exempt)
- I am holding onto it in the vain hopes that I contract malaria and shrink to a size two, even though I was a flat-chested high schooler who ran eight miles a day the last time these things fit me
- The fit is unflattering
- It’s uncomfortable
- It’s horribly made
- It’s a hassle or too expensive to clean
- The silly trend has seriously passed, and won’t be back
- It matches nothing, or looks bad with all my shoes
- It’s impractical for my lifestyle (Those five-inch heels? Are just not a good idea for me anymore.)
I try each questionable item on, I walk in it, I sit in it, and I observe it from all angles in a full-length mirror. I hold onto the classics, the stuff that always makes me feel like a million bucks. I keep a few irrationally sentimental, never-wear items, but I get rid of as much as I can stomach. This gets easier with practice. At the sales, I try (oh, I try) to ask myself sternly "Will this be in the 20%? Will I really wear and love this all the time?" It helps to have honest, practical shopping buddies who will drag you back down to earth if necessary.
Whew, that was long. Have you all read this far?
Ask Apartmentalist is a weekly advice column. It'll appear here every Friday. Do you have a question about crafts, decorating, or your living space? Email Lara@apartmentalist.com.
Posted by Lara at 01:08 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 09, 2005
Under My Feet.
Rug shopping is such a trial. They are so freaking expensive, and I can never ever find exactly what I want. Most rugs are too loud/busy (and if not, they'll show every little crumb), a lot of them are poorly made, many are too rough. I could go on.
When/If I actually do stumble upon a decent area rug, it's usually priced in the four digits. What's up with that?
So many designers settle on a standard, classic, timeless oriental rug, and I guess I can understand why. They're virtually indestructable, they're comfortable, they can be cleaned fairly easily, and they look luxurious and rich.
But simple and contemporary, they are not. I just don't like how they look. Picky, picky. Not to mention the expense. So, so pricey.
I've gotten around this in several ways over the years:
- Remnants (some professionally edged, some frayed and unraveling)
- Wal-Mart (shudder)
- shady suburban strip mall rug liquidators (double shudder)
- Urban Outfitters sales (sage faux chenille for $25! 5'x8'!)
- warehouse wholesalers (places like Costco and Sam's Club occasionally have some nice stuff, decently priced, seriously)
- and then there was the roommate who was fond of straw mats from Chinatown (they weren't that bad looking, but totally horrible to clean)
But! One need not resort to these tactics any longer!
After hearing about them for months and months, I finally comprehend the wonder that is: FLOR.
Inexpensive! Durable! Washable! Eco-Friendly! And! So! Freaking! Stylish! I! Might! Faint!
Tiles are about 21 inches, and are priced from $9-$14 apiece. Available in tons of colors and textures, tiles come with special removable-yet-hardy adhesive. FLOR can be purchased online or in person at Design Within Reach (not a misnomer, for once!). The website has tons of photos and interactive features so you can customize your own FLORplan. Ha.
My favorite style (and incidentally the least expensive, for once) is "Housepet." I can customize it to coordinate with my room & fit my narrow living room, and for about 5'x6.5' feet worth of fancy mix & match action, the total cost is about $108. $108 for a fancy rug!
Sold!
Posted by Lara at 03:48 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
February 08, 2005
And Quiet Is the New Loud.
Please check out the January/February issue of Dwell Magazine, still on newsstands.
It includes tons of inspiring small spaces and empowering philosophies for those who rebel against the trend of sprawl & development and choose to live their lives on a smaller scale. Like you, like me.
There's a great, versatile, elegant one room dwelling, an amazing eco-friendly little (700 square feet!) house in Houston, Texas, and a piece on revolutionary methods of urban farming.
Look here for MoCo Loco's comments on the Optibo project, featured in this issue.
Also! Free trial issues of Dwell are available here.
Posted by Lara at 04:33 PM | Comments (0)
February 04, 2005
Cover Me.
Can you possibly post a tutorial on how to make a slipcover for a chair? I have an odd shaped oversized chair that is upholstered in faded denim fabric and I would love to update it with maybe some chocolate brown suede-ish material. Thanks!
- Jenn (a military wife on a budget in Atlanta)
Hi Jenn,
Sure, I can point you in the right direction. I’ve made a few slipcovers, and every piece of furniture is different, every type of fabric is different. There are ways to do it cheaply and quickly (draping! staple gun! upholstery tacks! duct tape!), and there are more expensive and complicated (sketch, pattern-make, sew, and tailor; aka "croquis," thank you Project Runway.)
The cheap and quick way is best done on the fly, draping and tacking as you go. But if you want a more professional, finished look (and if you’re thinking suede-ish, you’re thinking professional) the best online chair-slipcovering tutorial can be found on HGTV’s website, right here.
Ignore the fringe, please.
Also, if you’d rather outsource your labor, fantastic slipcover options in all sizes, fabrics, and price ranges are to be had at Surefit. They even have suede fabrics!
Ask Apartmentalist is a weekly advice column. It'll appear here every Friday. Do you have a question about crafts, decorating, or your living space? Email Lara@apartmentalist.com.
Posted by Lara at 07:37 AM | Comments (2)
February 03, 2005
Up, Up, and Away.
I promised a reader I'd share more kitchen storage ideas for tiny places, and I aim to please.
Our closets are teeny and overpacked. One houses a huge water heater, a boiler apparatus, and a vacuum. Another houses a lot of shoes, sweaters, and luggage, and the third? It holds an ironing board, three guitar cases and all our coats, even though it's not even deep enough for the entire width of a hanger. Who builds a closet that shallow?
So we look for alternatives. There are the usual places, mostly under furniture.
But I am a woman who needs a lot more than under-bed-boxes. My boyfriend has an old computer he won't throw away. There's a carrying case for my sewing machine. We kept the heinous medicine cabinet that came with the place (we plan to rehang it upon leaving, taking our nice new one with us). I have a big bag of potting soil. He has a huge home brewing kit. I've got more than eight gallons of paint to hide. We have all of this crap, crap we sorta need, crap we definitely don't want to look at on a regular basis.
Any guide to living in a small space will tell you the following: Look up. Think vertically.
Ladies, gentlemen, I now present my garage:
If you have a large space between the tops of your kitchen cabinets and your ceiling (and many of us do), you can stash tons and tons of stuff up there. It's easy to rig a screen or curtain to hide it all, as I have above. Fabric, string, cup hooks. It's not my best work, but it's totally functional. It holds everything that won't fit elsewhere, and it's not out in the open.
You could make it more permanent if you like, with shelves and real doors with hinges, or a screen that slides on a track, but hey, I'm a renter on a budget. Cup hooks and string it is!
Posted by Lara at 06:11 AM | Comments (4)
February 02, 2005
A Lid for Every Pot.
I must apologize in advance. I'm going to mention Ikea for the second day in a row. I know you get it, everyone gets it. Wow, what cheap stuff! And some of it is designed and made pretty well! Fancy that. Now shut up about Ikea. I know.
A second preface: our kitchen is freaking miniscule, about 10x3, only slightly larger than the bathroom.
Here's my floorplan:
That's 10x3 including deep counters an enormous full-sized fridge, oven/range/hood, and dishwasher. We also have 2 tall garbage cans somewhere in there for trash & recycling. It's um, snug. At best.
Hey, designer of my kitchen? You suck.
So I bought an Ikea Rationell pot lid rack for about $6 this past summer, thinking, ooh, this will help out with storage in our tiny kitchen. Plus, pot lids are a pain to store. What do you do with them?
But the space was really too narrow to accommodate it on the wall, and I didn't really want to detract from the stripes or make the room look more crowded than it actually is. And oh, it is.
So I stashed it.
Anyway, last night, in a frenzy of cleaning and organizing in preparation for some houseguests, I found it again.
And thought, hm, hey, wait, forget the wall. Will this fit inside a lower cabinet?
It did.
Now all the oddly-shaped, unstackable lids are out of my way, and easily accessible.
These racks are available elsewhere too, and they will change your kitchen's life.
Posted by Lara at 11:30 AM | Comments (3)
February 01, 2005
Tiptoe through the Tulip Tables.
I have this friend who somehow, magically, stumbles upon fantastic vintage furniture. Yards sales, thrift shops, curbs-- he scours them all, and you would not believe what he finds. Amazing Knoll look-alike sofas from dental waiting rooms, futuristic lamps, glass & chrome coffee tables, authentic midcentury chairs, you name it. And all for next to nothing.
But by far his greatest finds to date (in my opinion) are by designer Eero Saarinen. He somehow snagged an original Saarinen dining table with matching tulip chairs, and one perfect blue wool Saarinen side chair. While he was still in college, and broke. Imagine!
I don't have that kind of karma. In fact, I may even have the opposite luck-- I hone in on the most expensive stuff in the store, every time. Like radar. I miss the curb and go straight for the museum, then head home empty-handed.
One way around this: knockoffs. I've said it here before... But oh, how I love the knockoffs. They're not as great or well-constructed as the originals, don't get me wrong, but I also need not take out a mortgage to buy a table I can be proud of.
A table, for instance, like this amazing, amazing bargain from Ikea:
Another great dealer in (slightly more pricey) reproductions: White on White.
And then there's Two Jakes, carrier of real, fake, and reproduced designs.
Do any of you know of other knockoff treasure troves? Or places that deeply discount the originals?
More importantly, do you know anyone willing to sell me a mint-condition bent plywood Eames chair for under a hundred bucks? Anyone? No?
Damn.
Posted by Lara at 02:04 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack