May 23, 2005
All Apologies.
Tons of projects going on in my world, I am just too busy/drained/preoccupied to post about them. I'm afraid the site's on an indefinite hiatus. I hope to budget some time and energy soon.
I really miss writing and hearing from you guys.
Posted by Lara at 09:26 PM | Comments (0)
April 07, 2005
It Might As Well Be Spring.
Does anyone else have insane Spring Fever? I can hardly sit still! I can't wait for all the events and excitement and inspiration of the coming months. Summer is my favorite season, no matter how hot it gets, and it's especially intoxicating and wonderful in New York.
Now, I know I've promised you some tutorials and updates on projects, but I'm having some technical difficulties with my ISP and photo program, and hope to have that (at least temporarily) resolved over the weekend.
Here are a few neat links and tidbits to occupy you while I iron out the kinks:
- PropertyShark enables you to dig up all sorts of dirt on your apartment building. Mine is worth about 700K (the whole 8 unit building?!) and was built in 1931. Awesome.
- Kate's Lazy Meadow is a bed and breakfast in the Catskills owned and operated by Kate Pierson of the B52s. I am kind of desperate to spend a few days there this summer. Tour the rooms, they are insane!
- Design Without Reach. Fun/innovative/nearly free DIY design. This is getting blogged and linked everywhere, and ooh, I want to make the lollipop Nelson clock and maybe the paperclip Breuer chair. Oh! And the Eames cards!
- Speaking of Eames, a friend of mine is thinking of getting this chair, which, at $379, isn't really all that hard on the wallet. Especially for such a classic. I hope he chooses the light blue, although the orange is nice.
- I recently bought this bathmat for myself and I think it is the most lush and luxurious thing ever. It almost makes me want to nap on the bathroom floor. I got it in kiwi.
- I also got this awesome red cookware set pretty recently, but there is no photo on the page. Let me assure you: it is awesome.
- I recently took a trip to Horseman Antiques in Brooklyn, and it was really really something to behold, if somewhat overpriced. That block and a few blocks west of Horseman boast great big and little shops to poke around in. Lots of treasures waiting to be discovered. Highly recommended.
- This exhibition is the coolest thing I have ever seen. Ever. Period.
- I've been browsing a lot of sites like this in search of a new pedestal table for my breakfast nook. I like the size and shape and durability of the tables I see in restaurants, so I figure a trip up and down the Bowery may be in order soon.
- I'm hostessing a party this weekend, and it looks like my tiny place will be bursting at the seams. I'll be taking notes, so after I recover I will share hints and advice about successful party-hosting in tight spaces.
One final, but very crucial announcement:
- I got a new job! You're looking at the site of a brand spanking new assistant designer for a great architecture and design company in SoHo, which shall remain nameless. I start April 18, and the hours are flexible enough that I'll be able to devote a chunk of every morning to Apartmentalist. I'm really excited!
Enjoy the lovely warm weather while it lasts! Is anyone taking bets on at least one more New York snowfall before summer?
Posted by Lara at 10:45 AM | Comments (3)
April 05, 2005
Walking Backwards Looking Forward to Getting Done.
So now my apartment is 100% Lara, 100% of the time. It is clean and gorgeous and organized and rearranged and feels like a beautiful, peaceful haven. I only have to pick up after myself and I revel in the fact that I will no longer find random papers or socks or ANY OTHER BOY STUFF invading my nest. Until I find some other man who tricks me into living with him in the VERY VERY DISTANT FUTURE LIKE DECADES FROM NOW. Living alone? Rules.
I have several new projects on my horizon, and I'm slowly but surely finishing up the old ones. The stripes in my hallway are nearly done. Answer me this, why did I want to do any red? Red has never done me right. I've done four coats on the one teeny red stripe and it's still not looking very solid or consistent. Tomorrow or Thursday I hope to have a "How to stripe your own stripes" tutorial and Q&A post. I've gotten lots of comments and emails about my technique, and I'm happy to share.
Coming up soon I'll also have a little photo essay about the transformations and new additions to my place, a goods and services wishlist, and a few goals for the future.
In the next few weeks, after he finishes his thesis, my good buddy Chad will be writing a guest spot for Apartmentalist, regaling us with stories and tales and photos and descriptions of his 100% manly, eclectic, and somewhat hilarious bachelor pad in Brooklyn. Now, I know that I have some male readers, and I am also aware that much of what appears on this site can be a little on the girly side. This guest spot is for you, gentlemen. Mantics will ensue.
Also upcoming: the sexy canopy project that's been ongoing in my client Dora's bedroom, as well as the fantastically BRAVE paint project results of Suzun's (another client) bedroom.
Thanks again for sticking with me, and for all your great supportive comments and emails. Great things are brewing at Apartmentalist!
Posted by Lara at 10:33 AM | Comments (7)
March 22, 2005
There Is Less to Say.
First off, as much as I despise it when other bloggers do this, I must apologize for my sporadic posting lately. I'm still here, and I'm still problem solving for myself and for others. I'm just not writing about it. Why is that, you might ask?
Well, I don't really want to make this a personal blog in any way, but there has been a pretty dramatic change in my living situation, and this change affects Apartmentalist whether I like it or not. My now ex-boyfriend and I are amicably parting ways, and I guess I've been pretty preoccupied with all of the implications of that, and the impact it will have on my life and my home. It's not all bad. This bend in the road gives me all sorts of new challenges to conquer. And closet space to fill. And even some new furniture/art/etc. to make and acquire.
So I'm keeping the apartment, and he's moving out this coming weekend.
After the dust settles, I'll have lots to say about the evolution of the apartment from ours to mine, living alone, and oh god, more low-budget discussions than ever before.
Thanks for sticking around.
Posted by Lara at 10:07 PM | Comments (4)
March 07, 2005
Winners Never Quit.
We loved the place from the start -- tons of palms and yuccas in the courtyard, crazy married resident managers, 50s bright blue tile and checkerboard flooring in the kitchen... And lots of white walls and no furniture.
This is actually my second apartment (had one in college), but the first one I could paint and really make into a home. And since I'm a nest-er to the nth degree, the idea of a paintbrush and some red paint was heaven.
We painted all the walls in Classic Taupe by Behr -- except for one accent wall in the dining area, which got covered in California Poppy. Rrrred. That alone warmed the place up completely and made us feel like grown-ups.
The furniture was from the old apartment -- with a couple exceptions. We got a floorlamp from Ikea, but thought it was a little too sleek for the retro/vintage theme we had going on. Solution? Some $4 trim from Michael's and some Elmer's glue. I glued it in vertical stripes around each section of the lamp and instantly it went from something cold and mass-produced into something unique and fun to look at.
I repeated it again with our chandelier -- three cheap lampshades and some more trim made a nice echo in the dining area.
My coffee tables were from Pier One Clearance -- and they looked kinda cheap. I got some gorgeous silk (on clearance, $2 a yard!!!) from JoAnn's Fabrics and just draped it over each. Instantly added some texture and an interesting accent to the mostly-solid fabrics in the rest of the room.
Took your suggestion re: the torchiere lighting! An $8 shade from Target COMPLETELY changed the look of an otherwise yucky lamp. Very grateful to you for that one.
One of the walls was a real problem. It's huge. And tall. And wide. And . . . huge. And we didn't have much to cover it. And even less to spend on frames. Michael's to the rescue. I'd had a box of 6 pin-up prints that I'd received as a Christmas present. I bought some red duct tape and some 39-cents-a-sheet white posterboard, taped the prints down on it, cut them out, and voila. Looks as though there's red matting around each print. And $3 for duct tape for 6 prints is cheaper than any frame I could dream up.
Bordering these prints are some poems I found at Dutton's Brentwood Books on the 99-cent shelf. "Bad Boy Poems." They're hilarious. I took some of my favorites, tore them out, drew cartoon illustrations on them with a black Sharpie, and stuck them in $2 frames I found on sale at Michael's. Dirt cheap and really fun. I love looking at them.
I'd also found a couple of really gorgeous silver frames on sale for $5 each (complete with REAL glass) at Michael's. (Starting to sound like an ad for them, I know.) Took some funny postcards my mom had picked up at a book stall along the Seine when my parents were in Paris last year, stuck them in the frames -- instant character.
And just as a last little thought -- though I haven't taken pictures of it yet -- in my bedroom, I've actually wound up hanging *fabric* shower curtains from Target over my windows instead of drapes. Cheaper, rrrrrrrreally cute, fun pattern, easy to hang.
Anyway, there you have it. All done on a shoestring budget within a 4-month timeframe, but it comes together to create a living space that I'm really proud of. Thanks for reading!!
-Andrea H.
Los Angeles, CA
Grand Prize Winner of the first ever Apartmentalist Impress Me Contest
Thanks to all who submitted, you really blew me away! Andrea's aesthetic isn't all that much like my own, but she stayed 100% true to the spirit of Apartmentalist: brave, stylish ingenuity on a super modest budget. Congratulations and good work, Andrea! You will receive your book soon!
Posted by Lara at 01:34 AM | Comments (5)
January 07, 2005
Genesis.
We live in windowless studio apartments. Or we share personal space with several smelly roommates. Sometimes our landlords won’t allow us to paint. Above all, most of us spend about half our paychecks on rent. It’s a bit of a travesty, but it’s a fact of city dwelling.
Urbanites are generally surrounded by fabulous design. We tend to dress ourselves with flawless style from head to toe, in any weather. Our favorite bars, restaurants, and shops have cutting-edge interiors. Some of us are lucky enough to work in great-looking offices, every streamlined desk and decorative fixture perfectly in place.
As a result, we know what we like.
We drool over the $7000 couch in the window of that store on Madison, but then we slink home and leaf through the Ikea catalog. We look around and see our crappy hand-me-downs, that old futon from college, the one cool chair we found on the curb/through Craigslist/on eBay, and a sinkful of dishes.
It so doesn’t make sense.
Your home should be a comfort. A haven. An escape. A refuge. And above all, it should meet your needs both practically and aesthetically. You want your apartment to correspond with your great taste, in spite of your small budget. You want it to hold everything you own in spite of having no closets. You want people to love visiting. You want it to provide comfort. You want it to make you happy. You want it to be easy.
Fantastic, customized, personalized design can be accessible to everyone, even those on a budget. And when you have space and wallet limitations, it is all about innovative, attractive problem-solving.
Everything in life should be both smart and beautiful, and this ideal is very attainable.
I created this site to meet the design needs of my friends, my clients, and my fellow city dwellers.
My name is Lara Murphy, and I do budget design and DIY consulting for homes all over the five boroughs, for people whose taste is beyond the reach of their wallets. On this page, you will soon see photos charting the progress of my space & my clients’ spaces, DIY project ideas, interior tips, low-budget finds in the tri-state area and on the internet, and advice on every kind of apartment-living quandary.
Welcome to Apartmentalist.