In case I don’t say it enough, I love these guys. Even though they bark every time they hear the elevator open (and every time they think they hear the elevator open, too). I love them even though they put up a struggle every time they have to go out for a walk. And even though they take up so much bed space that I sometimes wind up sleeping with one leg on the floor.
Bruno and Fritz are the best. How I ever existed without either of them in my life is unfathomable.
Our little apartment has three closets, all quite generously-sized. Since we don’t have lots of clothes or need excessive amounts of storage space, we decided to turn the largest of them into an office. We don’t watch much television these days, but this setup meets our needs in that area as well (no need to miss episodes or Project Runway or American Idol just because we’re in the city!). We have a Slingbox connected to our cable box at the house, so anything we watch up there can also be viewed through our computer in the city. Nice, huh?
Plus, when we’re not using the computer (for work or TV-viewing), we can just shut the doors, return the chair to the kitchen, and the whole thing disappears. It’s nice to be able to shut out technology sometimes.
Check it out—I have a white painted floor in my apartment! Okay, so it’s just the closet floor, but still. All of the closet floors are painted white. They had already been painted previously (the same grotesque shade of flat mayonnaise yellow as the walls, which was badly chipped and extremely dirty), so I’m not breaking any “rental rules” here. (Hah.)
The desk itself is cobbled together out of 3/4″ plywood that was already in the apartment (the building super had attempted to build some sort of closet divider with it). I painted it black to match the wall (that’s the same color as in the kitchen: Benjamin Moore ‘Soot’ (Aura Matte finish). It’s resting on two plywood cleats attached to studs on either end, and gets extra support in the middle from two diagonal braces (pieces harvested from these IKEA trestles). A $10 pull-out keyboard shelf completes the desk. It’s a bit of a Franken-creation, but it works, and the total investment was less than $30.
(And yes, we have wires just like anyone else! They’re all running through this nifty cable organizer which hangs on the back of the desk, and are then attached to the wall with cable clips completely out of sight. I loathe visible power cords and wires, especially in a working environment.)
Oh, and did you notice the Componibili storage unit? That’s the same one we scavenged for $29 back in August 2008. It gives us all the storage we need here. Perfect.
The cute Asteroid bud vases are designed by Koray Ozgen (the creator of our matching Asteroid lamp).
I’m still trying to find just the right place for them, but right now Martha McQuade‘s beautiful “Dipped Horizon” and “Marfa Path” prints have taken up temporary residency in the closet office.
My desktop wallpaper is made from a picture of Michael Jackson in photographer Todd Gray’s INCREDIBLE book Before He Was King. (Raindrops added by me, of course.)
I keep opening and editing this post with the intent of writing something—anything—to commemorate the loss of Salinger from all of our lives, since I suspect many of us are feeling the same thing right now.
J.D. Salinger is the writer who made it okay for me be a reader. It’s hard to be a cynical kid. The sense of mistrust that accompanies early tendencies toward cynicism (and loneliness, and arrogance, and…) makes it difficult to take anyone’s word on what books are good to read, but I’m glad that I listened to my dad when he gave me his battered copy of The Catcher in the Rye. I must have been 10 or 11 years old, I guess. I read the whole thing in a weekend, which felt like a monumental accomplishment at that age.
Next up was Franny and Zooey, which I devoured with a similar ferocity, followed by Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction shortly thereafter. I was a bit older (16, perhaps) when I finally dipped into Nine Stories. I was beside myself with teenage glee when I discovered the source of inspiration for not one, but two songs by my then-favorite band, the Cure, within its pages.
When I was 18, I got my first pet ferret. I named him Salinger.
I try to read The Catcher in the Rye at least once a year, and the rest of Salinger’s (small) cannon of published work whenever I feel like I need a reminder of the enormous impact the characters he created have had on my life—and the total development of my personality. (I’ve always thought of my family as being more than a bit Glass-ish, after all.) This letter, written by Salinger in response to yet another request to acquire the film rights to Catcher, perfectly sums up the reasons why I admire him not only as a writer, but as a man of artistic integrity. J.D. Salinger never gave us more than he wanted to, and I respect him immensely for that.
(By the way, did you know that Salinger had a lifelong design clause in his contract that stipulated his books covers could not contain any imagery? Fabulous.)
(EDIT: If you’re into the whole book cover thing, check out this great essay by Michael Bierut, “The Book (Cover) That Changed My Life”.)
When someone dies at the age of 91, it’s a bit of a stretch to be surprised. I think I thought J.D. Salinger would somehow live forever, though.
As you can see, I am upholding the grand NYC rental apartment tradition of painting over wires and cables.
The bed is the now-discontinued green wool GRIMEN from IKEA. Also from IKEA is the enormous-yet-outrageously-well-priced HOVET mirror. The floor lamp is an Asteroid by Koray Ozgen for Innermost.
The long-haired Chihuahua is from Mars.
You know those brass-and-glass sconces that always wind up in apartments? The ones with a cluster of grapes etched into the frosted, fluted shade? Like these. Gross, right? Well, there are four of those suckers in our apartment. FOUR! You can see two of them in this photo.
Not wanting to get too spendy with hardwired light fixtures in a rental (but being completely unable to live with the sconces as-is), I did a little brainstorming and came up with a solution. I removed the shades and put them in storage (we’ll put them back when we move out), then spray-painted the brass glossy white. Happily, they came out looking like porcelain—very much like the ceiling fixture in our bedroom at the house.
Rather than mess around with shades, I ordered four silver-tipped round glass bulbs and called it a day. Not bad for a total investment of less than $20!
And before anyone asks, NO, I don’t feel badly about painting the sconces. They were grimy and had multicolored spatters on them from years of sloppy paint jobs. They look a million times better now. As I’ve said before, the day I encounter a landlord who puts care into their own renovations and maintenance work is the day that I start caring about whether or not I’m “allowed” to make my own real improvements to the space I’m paying to live in.
Yes, we’re still working on the apartment! Everything takes three times as long as you feel like it should, of course, but we’re getting there. The little dining area in the kitchen is now complete, and last night we ate our first dinner (roasted red pepper soup, tiny boiled potatoes with dill, and a salad) at our new table.
Two and a half years ago, I mentioned swapping out the original stacking bases on these vintage upholstered Eames shells for dowel rods, and I just now got around to it. (I bought the bases on eBay.) They look great. I should have done this sooner instead of just relegating the chairs to the basement for so long.
The flip-down table is the NORBO from IKEA in birch. I had originally planned to paint the entire thing black, but the wood is nicer than I had expected it to be. I opted to just paint the bracket to make it blend with the wall so that the table looks like it’s floating.
p.s. For those who like to know, the paint colors are Benjamin Moore ‘Soot’ and ‘Simply White’ (Aura Matte finish). The Stendig calender is by Massimo Vignelli, and the ceramic ‘Fire’ candle holder is by Nathalie Lahdenmäki.
p.p.s. Here’s a before photo of the same part of the kitchen, taken when we first visited the apartment:
We bought Luca Nichetto’s Hook Box several years ago, without any idea of where we would install it (we did consider it for the downstairs bathroom in our house, but it didn’t fit nicely). We just both loved the design, and knew we’d eventually put it to good use.
Anyway, I finally hung it up last night! It’s in the entryway to the apartment, and will work perfectly for hanging dog leashes and stashing keys, sunglasses, and mail when we walk in the door. There’s no room for a little table since there are doorways everywhere (five of them in the tiny entry area!), but this is just right.
(Oh, and by the way? I refuse to use to term “landing strip” in reference to anything in my home. It’s right up there with “water feature” and “window treatment” on my list of cringe-inducing décor-speak.)
The Alexander Girard canvas is from Urban Outfitters. I was a little twitchy when UO released their line of licensed Girard good last year. He’s one of my longtime design heroes, and, well. You know. But then I got over myself and ordered this canvas, and I must say…the quality is very good, and I’m happy with it.
Oh boy, am I busy! Between an overload of covers at work and many, many, many trips back and forth between the house and the apartment (while still commuting every day—we’re still not sleeping in the apartment), I am run ragged. Thank goodness I have a stretch of days off coming up so I can get things in order and relax. (Relax?! Hahaha. As if. Unless if by “relax” I mean clean the house. Actually, I kind of do mean that. I find cleaning very relaxing, at least once I’ve started.)
It’s been exactly one year since I posted an office bathroom photo, and I figured it’s time to do another one even though I wear pretty much the same thing (or a variation on the same thing) just about every day. I enjoy having a uniform. It makes things easier.
Sigh. Enough chit-chat. Gotta get back to work! I’ll have more apartment photos over the long weekend, though, I promise. We’re on the last room (the bathroom) now, and the puppies are going to check out the digs on Sunday.
p.s. Yes, that IS the bag, and yes, it IS fabulous. It was a Hanukkah gift from Evan, and a huge surprise!
Yeah, I know. AGAIN WITH THE WHITE FLOORS. I’m sorry, but much like black walls, I can never get enough painted white floors in my life.
Enjoy these photos over the weekend—like indoor snow! Only cozier and drier.
Home of David Delfin & Gorka Postigo (via Apartment Therapy)
From RUM magazine (via emmas designblogg)
From Dos Family
From Alvhem
In my office
From Hus & Hem
Styling by Sasa Antic for Residence magazine
(See my previous posts about white floors from June 2008 and March 2009 for more inspiration! And if you want to paint your floor white here’s how to do it.)
HAPPY WEEKEND!
Wait…it’s 2010?! Wow. I completely missed entering the future while we were busy cleaning and caulking and making trips to IKEA and painting. And painting. And painting. And painting.
Last night was my first night sleeping in the apartment—not really a cause for celebration, considering the present lack of a bed or shower curtain. I was up until 3:30 AM (yes, more caulking…and more painting), then curled up in a little ball on the floor to sleep for a few hours. The magical part of the experience was leaving for work at 8:40 AM, though! Normally at that time of the day we’re already an hour and forty minutes into our commute.
Anyway, the kitchen! It’s coming together, and definitely starting to look as I had envisioned it. (What was that about finishing the whole apartment in six days? Um. No.)
The SNODD knobs from IKEA are so cute I can barely stand it. They really make the kitchen. I love the cabinets, by the way. I was overjoyed to find an apartment with a kitchen that hadn’t been renovated in about 20 years, and with frameless doors. Solid wood with a maple veneer, too. Nice.
I love how perfectly the microwave fits in the VÄRDE shelving unit. If I have to have a microwave in my life at all, I need it to be below my line of sight. We still have to hang the shelves above the unit—that’s where I plant to keep all of our pantry-type goods in glass jars.
(Do you like how the entire food-related contents of our kitchen currently consist of two cans of coffee, a jar of raw sugar, and a hilariously over-sized pepper mill? Oh, and I think there’s an apple and a little carton of soy milk in the fridge. This says a lot about us.)
Uh-oh. You can see my grubby paint brushes! And the Chinese delivery menus on the fridge, the vacuum cleaner, paper towels, and caulk. (Yes, and my beloved Keep Cup!) Are you happy now? I didn’t have the energy to move them for the photo. The important thing to focus on is the black wall! It’s painted with Benjamin Moore ‘Soot’ (Aura Matte finish, for those of you who like to know these things). The white walls and trim are are Benjamin Moore ‘Simply White’ (Aura Matte and Satin Impervo, respectively).
We’re going to hang the Stendig calender on the black wall, right above our flip-down table for two (which I will be painting the same black as the wall).
One more thing! I need to sing the praises (again) of IKEA’s ENJE roller blinds. They are inexpensive, well-made, look great, and they really do filter light beautifully.
