posted
I signed a lease on a one-bedroom apartment recently. I don't move in until March, so I have some time to think about *gasp* décor.
I will be acquiring some surprisingly nice furniture along with the apartment -- notably, a black futon (bracketed by mahogany end tables) and a black Lay-Z-Boy in the living room, as well as a black TV on a black entertainment-device-holding thingy. Additionally, there is a varnished (but not painted or stained) two-seater "dining" table at one end of the living room, accompanied by the aforementioned two (matching) seats. The kitchen corner holds a small square table and a couple of stools, wood but stained darker than the stuff in the living room. The bedroom we can worry about later. Also, to be clear, this furniture comes with the apartment. It's already there. It belongs to the guy who lives there now. And he's parting with it for next to nothing (yes, the agreement to exchange furniture for money on the day he moves out is in writing).
Right. So...
(Dear $diety, I'm such a terrible person.)
I like my posters, but aside from the set of six Matisse prints and the black and white shot of two female models kissing none of them are swanky enough to match the mood that appears to have been set in my living room... not even my treasured "failure: when you're just not good enough" poster. On the other hand, actual paintings such as those my mother is offering to donate to my cause seem too grown up. I seem to have inadvertently backed into wanting the sort of décor I used to love hating or not caring about: "post-modernistic dead-tek bull#*$@" is what Al Pacino would call it, stylistically speaking.
It's how Raven would decorate his place. And as I type this, I am wearing a sweater that looks remarkably similar to the one Raven wears in that strip. I am also typing this on a potent Macintosh, which I own. I used to hate people who wore sweaters like this, until my aunt brought me one from Paris (where she and her fashion sense live) and I discovered how wonderfully comfortable it is. I'm such a horrible person.
In any case. I like the combination of black, mahogany, and *sigh* brushed metal.
*shakes fist at Steve Jobs*
And indirect lighting. Which means bendy-necked brushed-metal lamps from Ikea. I had a blast browsing through a French Ikea catalogue with my mum tonight. Mum will probably help with my decorating, at least to the point of offering suggestions which I may or may not accept. Also, when the time comes to replace the bed in my bedroom, that too will come from Ikea -- but that's literally a matter of chemistry. In its squishy products, Ikea is the only company I'm aware of that does not use a certain class of carcinogenic fire-retardant additives, related to the infamous PCBs.
Does that make me a better person? Or even worse?
Anyway. A chunk of the living room is going to be occupied by the beginnings of my recording studio -- and don't think I haven't already visited the Yamaha shop down the street from my new apartment and chosen a keyboard to purchase when I move in -- but the rest is free to be swankified in much the same way that my cousin's living room in Toronto screams "I drink lattés!" (Just so we're clear, I don't even know what a latté is. I suspect it is related to coffee, and I despise coffee, so I've never bothered to find out.) I think my cousin is gay, hence the thread title. In any case, his taste in interior decoration is very good; his place looks both fantastic and spotless. I do not wish to pursue interior decoration to quite the same extent, but I'd like my living room to be... nifty.
Yeah, "nifty" is a good word. But university student posters (for instance, a big FotR movie poster, the one with Frodo holding the Ring) seem like they would clash with the preexisting spiffy furniture. Mum suggested I get the six Matisse prints mounted and stick them up in two rows of three, which doesn't sound like a bad idea. I've always wanted to put those prints up but never had anywhere for them.
Perhaps the student posters should be confined to the area near the computer/recording studio and/or my bedroom?
Hm.
So. Is decorating your own place fun? I guess I'll be finding out in a couple of months...
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
I am in love with my living room. My decor includes framed LotR posters, Escher(?) pictures, pictures I've taken, a drawn picture of me, a picture of a lake from mack ( ), etc. And this is all around terribly ugly hand-me-down furniture. My "secret" is to use only black or white mattes, black or silver frames, and black accesssories (lamps, entertainment stand, video shelves). I figure they go with everything, especially since I move alot. Another thing is that you can have (I think) more than one "theme" within a single room. For instance, my LotR posters are above a white settee between two black floor lamps, and the adjacent wall has the really ugly couch, above which is a "couch" (in other words, big) painting. One one side of the painting is a serious of flower pics I took, and on the other side is some pics of my dad from WWII and one of the Escher drawings. Oh, one other thing, the room is wood-paneled (not the cheap sheet-type stuff, but real wood), and the top half of the walls is a somewhat sickly pinkish burgundy. Maybe it's not as cool as I think it is, but it is certainly my happy place (as long as my neighbor isn't home). It's all about making do with what you have, tying it together as best you can, and not worrying about what other people think. And it sounds like your room is multi-purpose. Using diffeerent "themes" for each area is ok IMO. I don't think it's necessary to make everything match everything else.
Then again, there's a reason I'm no expert. Good luck and have fun.
Posts: 1090 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
I'll also suggest flea markets and "antique" stores as good places to get wall art that might be more what you're thinking of, usually pre-framed. Less grown-up than what your mother might offer, more so than dorm posters. You can go as funky as you want.
My favorite art I bought at a silent auction of amateur stuff. Still haven't gotten it framed, though. Studio crawls and co-op galleries are also excellent resources. Or, um, e-bay.
Perhaps you need a series of black-and-white photos of guitars, both close ups of hands playing and just arty shots of the instruments alone, in brushed-metal frames. Just from the description you've given us so far.
A latte, by the way, is a shot or three of espresso and steamed milk, with a little foam on top.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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quote:Perhaps you need a series of black-and-white photos of guitars, both close ups of hands playing and just arty shots of the instruments alone, in brushed-metal frames.
posted
Well, I took them . I took a photography class in college and one of my projects was "Hands playing instruments." One one hand, it would take some effort and some time to get the right kind of shots since I pretty much only have negatives and no darkroom, but on the other hand, they could be whatever size you want/can afford, and you could frame them yourself. Let me know if you want more details.
Posts: 1090 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Really, though, you should go with fiazko's sectioning theory, and put those near where you'll be setting up your keyboard and stuff. Kinda to delineate the space. And at least one has to be blurry. We're being pretentious here, remember.
posted
Well, it wasn't really a contest. I just use that expression when someone says something I really agree with or, as in this case, wish I had thought of myself...
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
While your taste is the only thing that will ultimately dictate your decor, a few tricks I learned when decorating my apartment are pretty simple rules that help significantly. First, try to match your metals. If you like brushed silver, try to have all of your hardware be brushed silver or a metal that closely matches it. Things like curtain rods, candle holders, picture frames, etc... If you match them then they won't be fighting each other for attention.
Also, pick a couple of colors you like and try to find accents of these colors to put in every room of the apartment. If you like red but only want one room predominantly red, then make sure the color of the next room at least matches the tone of that red. Throw a pillow of the red into the non-red room. It adds a flow to the entire house that I find pretty soothing.
Paint is an extremely cheap way to change the entire look of your place. Find out if they'll let you paint a non-white neutral. More than anything, I've found that paint makes a huge difference.
posted
I was toying with paint but after living in a maroon room for my last eight months of university I'm uncertain of my ability to resist dark colours Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
Oh, but getting cool original pictures offered to you should be something you agree with, no? So maybe we both win.
A note on Ralphie's post... I read recently the ever-so-dubious statistic that women buy something like 97% of all candles purchased. So if you do make sure your candleholders match the rest of the metal in the place, you'll be well on your way to meterosexualdom.
Um, the rest of her post makes a lot of sense, too. We're gonna hafta quit this mutual-admiration society stuff soon, or we'll make people sick. Maybe I'll just go to bed.
I actually toyed with the notion of candles (though not candle-holders) for the bathroom; I like showering in the dark, especially when I'm sleepy. But the smoke factor is driving me toward low-powered night lights instead.
Also, the Ikea catalogue offered 50 candles for not very much. Mum and I were surprised.
It's after 3 AM. I can't seem to muster the will to head for bed despite being massively tired... one more try!
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
I highly recommend soy candles for bathrooms. They don't smoke nearly as much. So if you had, say, half a dozen or so lit while you were in the bath and then blew them all out when you were done, you wouldn't get soot all over the tiles like you did in your first apartment out of colleg... um, nevermind.
But if you get candles, do get candleholders. Looks much better, plus is safer.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
twink - I totally hear you about the dark walls. I have a nook that I painted as blood red as I could get it, and then painted even darker-toned stripes within it. And they're my favorite walls in the apartment.
Still, a light beige beats white in my opinion any day.
ElJay - I'm only saddened that Lalo isn't here to make vague and forced references to us hooking up. Still, he would have wanted us this way.
Posts: 7600 | Registered: Jan 2001
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Put the computer somewhere that it's easily accessible and you don't have to face the rest of the room. Then stay at the computer all the time. Problem solved. That's what I always do!
Edit: And you can get any desktop wallpaper you like much easier than decorating the room. And change it every now and then. Who needs reality when you have virtuality?!
I think it's vitally important to keep this in mind. I'm very familiar with the "Oh, this is the kind of thing that would matter to the kind of person I should hate" -- so as long as you PRETEND to be pretentious, and set out to decorate your apartment in the style of someone who is more pretentious than you are, you can wind up with an apartment just a bit more pretentious than you secretly fear you are. Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
Leave it to Tom to remind me that I'm a terrible person.
The ideas for the living room seem sound to me so far. If I leave the black stuff at the patio end of the living room and the "other" stuff (music stuff, eating stuff) at the kitchen end of the living room, it would keep the pretentiousness confined. Letting it run rampant throughout the entire apartment would be overkill, I think.
Besides, my bedroom lacks black furniture, and also my bedroom is where I presently plan to hang my full-size Palestinian flag (as well as some sort of NZ flag, or silver fern, when I can get my hands on one). My treasured failure poster can go on the wall above my computer!
This could work. Pretentious, but not so pretentious that I wind up hating myself. Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Here is a rough layout of my apartment (doors not shown). I'll update it later today when I have time with 1) doors and 2) tentative furniture locations.
Speaking of pretentiousness, one of the things that keeps me from hating myself is that I don't wear shoes -- sneakers only, no matter how designer the rest of my attire may be. And while I own two pairs of sneakers, they are the same make and model (New Balance cross trainers, great for tennis in the summertime and very comfortable), one pair is just a year older and grubbier.
I pretty much only wear shoes with my suit, and those are dress/dancing shoes. However, lately I have been coming under fairly intense pressure from various sources (parental, for instance) to acquire a pair of day-to-day non-sneaker, non-dress/dancing shoes. Shoes of the type that people who put gel in their hair on a daily basis would wear. My view has always been that I wouldn't be caught dead in such a pair of shoes, but dad in particular continually reminds me how much time I waste tying and untying my sneakers every day, and I have to admit that he's starting to wear me down.
My question is: is there any conceivable way I can cave but somehow save face on this one? Or am I doomed to wind up hating myself?
quote:the black and white shot of two female models kissing
Oh man. If this is the one I think it is (sold by the people in the Student Life Center), I recommend designing everything else as a shrine to that poster.
Posts: 148 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Okay, so I'm moved in (still need to buy a bit more furniture, though), and I have some things to put on my walls (I left my posters at home, but I'll be bringing them with me next time).
Here are the items that will adorn my walls. Three Matisse prints, a mounted poster, pictures of my mum and dad, and that cropped thing is a print of Ophelia with the flowers and whatnot from Hamlet. I also have my degree and the etymology of my family name, but those are going to go in my office, I think.
This is part of my living room. Dark, I know, and I apoligize, but it's bright today and I also lack lamps. This picture is a bit better.
Similarly, I have twopictures that show the relevant portion of my bedroom. I'm sorry they're so dark. Maybe on Sunday night I'll be able to take better ones.
Finally, this is a closer shot of the future site of my home theatre system. With, um, me in it. The TV behind me doesn't have component video inputs, so it's going to have to go. Sadly I'm not sure I'll be able to get a black replacement...
Right now I'm not sure what to do with the Matisse prints. I'm leaning toward putting them in my bedroom because my living room has these green highlights (green curtains, some green on the side tablecloths, a bit of green on the futon) and not very much blue. However, that leaves me with massive amounts of unoccupied wall space. I suppose there's my posters (I have a nice FotR movie poster, for instance, that could go behind the futon). And the pictures of my parents seem like they would look pretty small on my big empty walls... maybe I should start putting up picture-sized bits of paper in various places to get a better feel for that.
I know I have the negatives of that shoot in my bedroom somewhere...probably in my box o' negatives. Anyrate, I did a shoot of one of my friends with his electric guitar and played around with the lighting and shadows from his window. Lemme know if you want me to dig anything out.
I really want to see fiazko's pics, too!
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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The styling is just for today, I was testing a new kind of gel to see if it would work (it didn't; I had to resort to what little was left of my old ubergel). I do this maybe once a month. Normally it looks more like this.
Edit:
I like this one, but I'm not sure if it fits with the other pictures. *ponders*
posted
Farmgirl (and twinky I guess) that picture makes me laugh. I think it's the combination of the electric guitar playing subject and the pink flowery curtains and the Bilbo poster. It's... kinda funny.
Anyway: I'm guessing you can't paint your walls, since they're not technically your walls. You need some colour on those walls, because beige walls are... yech. (I strongly dislike beige walls. Strongly.)
SO if you're going to frame the giant guitar pictures, I suggest you frame them in coloured frames, like those ikea frames that come in red, blue and green, or something. Black and white on beige... eeeew. Not exciting.
Anyway so red frames is my suggestion. And hide your computer wires with something. Something about beige walls and wires and technology is also repulsive.
I think that getting spot-lighting is also a good idea.
EDIT: I was thinking the red would go in the mahogany/black/silver room... but if that's not the case well, whatever. Just make those beige walls more exciting. PLease.
posted
So, we're all just talking about twink's pics, and not actually commenting on where he should put the art, right? 'Cause if that's the case, I really like your glasses.
About the art, however... The far end of the living room, with the patio doors, just cries out to me to have equally-sized pictures on either side of the door, for balance. If you decide you don't care about the blue/green thing, that could be the two vertically-oriented Matisse prints. I think they're the right size that the "small vertical rectangle - large vertical rectangle - small vertical rectangle" pattern would work quite well. Then I'm assuming that there is a partial wall somewhat behind the viewpoint of the picture, between the living room and the kitchen? You could put the third Matisse print there, which would kinda tie it together. Alternately, if it's open to the kitchen, I'd put the third on a perpendicular wall near the entrance.
If you don't want to mess with the blue/green thing, the pictures of your parents would also serve on either side of the patio door. They're smaller, though, and have different colors of frames and mats, so it wouldn't create the effect quite as well. Whichever way you do it, if you do that you'd want the mid-point of what you hang to hit about 2/3 the way up the patio door.
Hey, what color's the recliner? If it wouldn't clash horribly you could just pick up a blue futon cover while you're at Ikea. That might be a bit too much blue, though...
So, lessee... with the pics of your parents, you really need a third, of the two of them together or the three of you together, the same size as the two you have. Then you could hang them in a staggered diagonal either over the couch or over the entertainment center. Since you have other pics on top of the entertainment center, I'd go with over the couch. Over the entertainment center might end up looking cluttered.
Where-ever you end up putting the prints, the poster and Ophelia should be in a different space.
Also, are you still going to get fiazko's instrument pics? If so, I'd save over the futon for them. I'm picturing five or seven smallish pictures in a randomish grouping, that could look really cool. In that case I'd put Mom & Dad next to each other either in the "dining" area or near the entrance. In a smaller visual space you wouldn't need a third picture, and you could put them closer together.
(Yes, Noemon, I'm putting this much thought into your landscaping. More, actually, it's a bigger job, and harder to change if you don't like it. )
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), etc. And this is all around terribly ugly hand-me-down furniture. My "secret" is to use only black or white mattes, black or silver frames, and black accesssories (lamps, entertainment stand, video shelves). I figure they go with everything, especially since I move alot. Another thing is that you can have (I think) more than one "theme" within a single room. For instance, my LotR posters are above a white settee between two black floor lamps, and the adjacent wall has the really ugly couch, above which is a "couch" (in other words, big) painting. One one side of the painting is a serious of flower pics I took, and on the other side is some pics of my dad from WWII and one of the Escher drawings. Oh, one other thing, the room is wood-paneled (not the cheap sheet-type stuff, but real wood), and the top half of the walls is a somewhat sickly pinkish burgundy. Maybe it's not as cool as I think it is, but it is certainly my happy place (as long as my neighbor isn't home). It's all about making do with what you have, tying it together as best you can, and not worrying about what other people think. And it sounds like your room is multi-purpose. Using diffeerent "themes" for each area is ok IMO. I don't think it's necessary to make everything match everything else.![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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. I took a photography class in college and one of my projects was "Hands playing instruments." One one hand, it would take some effort and some time to get the right kind of shots since I pretty much only have negatives and no darkroom, but on the other hand, they could be whatever size you want/can afford, and you could frame them yourself. Let me know if you want more details.
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