apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Kudos! That apartment has wonderful detailing, and the gray walls look terrific with the bright white woodwork. That gray-with-dark-wood-floor scheme is exactly what I've been wanting to prod a neighbor to do with his apartment.

We do get an update when it's more furnished, right?

absolutely - jill will be coming back when it's more furnished.

Why is this a compromise? It looks great to me.

Is your new bed custom made? Where did you purchase it? I have found it really hard to find attractive beds with built-in drawers (unless you don't mind a twin-size; lots of kids options out there).

And I love the grey in the bathroom and kitchen; what brand/color did you use?

Congrats and looking forward to updates.

thanks jennifer -
the bed is custom - it was the only way to make it work. there's nothing standard out there that would have worked. paint is benjamin moore - i think it's called barren gray. but i will check.

Yeah, I'm not sure why it's a compromise. It's lovely! I love all the architectural details. The desk/bookshelf is great. Who built it? Also like the painting on the mantel.

Oops, sorry. I see that you posted about who built the desk. Beautiful!

I *love* the last photo!

I LOVE the introduction of the more eclectic pieces and accents into the mix. It adds so much to the room. It really looks like Alberto has made all of the right decisions so far. So much to like about this place!

Maybe you've had this going for a while and I haven't seen it, but I love the new slide show format.

i love what my son Alberto did with his apartment. now he can make furniture decisions

It all looks so lovely and fresh. I'm envious.

what shade of gray did you use on the walls? I've been a big fan of warm grays lately.

Wow. This looks so much nicer than it did! I'm curious about what exactly was done with the walls. What is "skimming", and who can I get to do it? Was it horribly expensive? Your walls look great now, Alberto. I really like the paint and floor choices, too.

One person's take on how to skim coat:
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050915/RAGE1102/509150344/1232/RAGE11

skimcoating is basically plastering -- of course, with all the modern compounds out there the material used is often not really plaster, but it's the same technique.

Just curious as to why, with all that work, you didn't replace the windows. They look like wooden windows with single-paned glass, right? Isn't that kind of uninsulated glass chilly in the winter?

LOVE the wall colors. Could you confirm both colors?

place looks great. please imagine the kitchen without the white extension cord...i am taking full responsibility for its presence. i am the delinquent brother who hasn't been able to get around to wrangling it yet...will be dealt with pronto i can assure you all--especially alberto.

That link was interesting, Wende, but I've always been told that good skimcoating is VERY hard to do well. Is that right? I'm sure I'm going to need it done to my kitchen walls (which currently have wallpaper) and will DEFINITELY need it on my kitchen ceiling, which currently has--wait for it--yes, a dropped ceiling.

A contractor I was talking to a few months ago, who worked on our electric and came highly recommended, said that many people cannot do it well. (And I got the impression that his crew does everything but skimcoat.) He said, "It's almost an artform." Maybe he was exaggerating, but that stuck with me.

This is a nice adult bed with storage.

You can't directly link so go to

http://cityschemes.com/
go to sleeping

and it is the second bed in the third row, the cometa

really lovely start...and of course he kept the windows!
Old windows are part of the character of old buildings, and have perfectly fine energy efficency when maintained.
Looks like it might be a landmarked building.

How fun to be picking the rest of the furniture . . .
great job, Alberto!

Fiona, if you want a smooth, flat, hi-we-have-new-plaster surface over a large area, I'd agree that skimcoating requires a professional. When the husband skimcoated our kitchen back in Troy, it was a good thing we were looking for a sort of handmade, Craftsman look, as that's what we... um... got.

yes - you need a contractor who knows how to skim-coat. in new york, most contractors know how because there are so many old buildings, plaster is still the most common material for walls...as for the colors - i'm terrible with this! i'm pretty sure i chose benjamin moore "barren grey" - but to be certain, the mix number is 2111-60...as for the color in the bathroom/kitchen, i don't remember the name. but on the color swatch, it is two shades darker from the barren grey. does this help?...as for the windows, they are old and not as insulating as they could be. but they are what i love most about this place - could never change unless i could closely approximate -and i just couldn't afford that...one way to stay warm (as i discovvered last winter) is to close the shutters...

On Benjamin Moore's Web site, their Personal Color Viewer lets you search by mix number! (This is my Discovery of the Day.)

2111-60 is Barren Plain. The color two notches up on the strip is Taos Taupe. It's an interesting color strip: the lighter shades look gray, and the darker ones are definitely brown.

Old windows are one of the most charming things about an old place (besides the sound insulating plaster walls). There are plenty of energy efficient options for winter that still let you keep the old beauties. They run the gamut from shrink wrap insulation from 3M to storm windows installed in the winter and taken down in the summer.

Gorgeous start and very inspiring!

regards,
trillium

this isn't about the apartment (sorry Alberto), but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new format for the slide show, especially the all-at-once option. The old all-at-once seemed a bit awkward, trying to cram everything into a normal AT-format page, and I hated not being able to manually move ahead or backward in the timed slide shows. Please keep this slideshow format!

If I may offer just one slideshow suggestion, though? ... maybe left-align the pages instead of centering all the content? ... would make it much easier for us lazyboneses to just let our cursor sit on the "next slide" picture and click, click away at our own pace, instead of having to find its new location whenever the pics change size or portrait/landscape layout

danke!

Hmmm...Barren Plain looks more blueish to me, and Taos Taupe doesn't look as brown as the bathroom. Alberto, is it just the lighting?

Regarding the new photo format--glad many of you like it. One tip for viewing the slides at any size (small, medium, or large) is that you can just use your right arrow key to move forward. You don't have to click on "next slide." This way you can view them at your own pace--not as a slide show--and you don't have to move your cursor all around.

it is the lighting - the grey is a soft grey and the taos taupe is definitely a brown-ish grey.

alberto, you have excellent taste. i'm very into the bathroom paint color. and the EAT sign is fun. can't wait to see what the colorful accents turn out to be.... xoa.

Great looking apartment, Alberto.

Was wondering if you could put me in touch with your carpenter, Nick D'Ambrosia (there is no contact information listed above). I hope to undertake a similiar project in my place.

Many thanks,
Brian

i love the desk unit -- where did you get it made?

I like the under bed storage idea and minimalistic approach to the living-room area!

I love the bathroom paint color, I never would have thought of doing that. Can't wait to see it furnished.

What about cord issues? I have major issues with that myself, I really dislike it but DH has different ideas (i.e. he could care less about having them strung all over the place), so I usually loose that battle. Does anyone have thoughts about cords here, and suggestions for taming them?

What a beautiful apartment. I love the windows and the floor and the architecture.

I like the paint colors that were chosen, and I can see this coming together. I'll be awaiting the final photos.

Excellent taste, Alberto

Beautiful! The ceiling in the kitchen is a really nice touch.

I find that the cords hanging around on the desk distract from the beauty of the desk/shelving unit. If they are long enough, I'd secure them along the right or left support rail. If they aren't long enough, I'd replace them. :)

Skywaykate, Ikea makes a great little cord management kit that I rely on for getting my cables up off the floor, but you could accomplish the same with hardware store supplies: plastic zip ties, velcro ties and those little nails with plastic clips that tack cabling to a wall or floorboard. I don't recommend the 3M "Command" stick-on cable managment products - they are expensive, only stay stuck 50% of the time and are a bit conspicuous.

That desk/shelving unit is super-cool. This place rocks... Alberto should celebrate by having his friends over to help him drink all that liquor on his bar cart!
Show us photos when you do more to it (not that it really needs anything else)

Thanks Bethany for the tip. Distracting is the word I couldn't think of to describe it, because the place is quite beautiful in so many ways.

And I LOVE the bar cart, would love to find something like that but I don't think I'd want to spend the money required, nor do I really need it with a built-in buffet in my 1911 apartment. But if I could, I would get one like this!

Oh those walls are beautiful. I'm painting my rental apartment right now, and I am so tired of the peeling, cracking, gummy, dirty layers upon layers of paint that cover every surface. Not to mention the places where some dumb ass spackled and then proceeded to not sand the (large!) rough areas smooth, but just painted over them. I'm yearning for the days when I own a place and can make my walls look like these!
That dove gray colour is inspired as well.

this is interesting because my floors are grey, and my kitchen cabinets too, and i really don't like the color. but the walls in your apartment are not offensive to me. maybe it is a cool/warm thing?

Alberto:
ahh, guys with good taste.....
I need one.

Man, that apartment is incredible. I can't *wait* to see it when it is done. Makes me want to shovel all my stuff into a bin and start over:-) Which of course is what I am doing.

I love how the black plexi in the kitchen echoes the tile in the bathroom. You did an excellent job with all the black, grey and white. The geometry is really understated and masculine, and beautifully complimented by the rich white moulding. It's all beautiful and inviting.

Bravo on a job well done! I love the restored arctitectural detailing...the old-world craftmanship really shows through. Very classy. And those high ceilings! Just curious, how high are they?

Love the dark colours on the walls

One thing I couldn't understand though:

replacing chrome with nickel-plated - they are both silver coloured - they will look exactly the same!!

Gorgeous! You have the beginning of a wonderful new home. I love the before & afters ... it's great that you had such vision about what you wanted — it clearly was executed exactly as you explained it.

Also, to violet ... they're not the same. I actually have this exact same color of gray walls/ceiling in my bathroom with crisp white tile and trim ... and replacing the chrome accoutrements to (brushed) nickel toned them down and the slight warmer silver hue mimics the color of the walls very well.

Plus, if you go with brushed (don't know if he will) you don't have to worry about smudgy fingerprints!

another fan of the gray! AT inspired me to choose gray for my new bedroom... the landlord is renovating before we move in and let us choose paint colors for the professionals he's hiring (because he's completely amazing!) and this quells any anxiety that is bubbling up about the jump to gray walls!

I really like that Alberto is taking his time with his space. Love your decisions! Good job.

Jessica, there are lots of guys out there with good taste.

I love the floors! If you refinished the floors, can you please pass along the info for what color/stain was used.

Too many cords at the desk area, and too much clutter in the kitchen. All the colors chosen are nice.

I can see how it is compromised.

BTW, I haven't seen any AT house tour with that many owner's photo op. What's that about? :-)

Hmmm... It looks like a very ugly version of an Ikea "we live in ...ft^2" corner.
And to accompany phase2phase, how come this post is revived after three years???

I like a place that has a well-stocked drinks trolley and only the necessary pillows to sleep (who invented the seven rows of pillows which get dumped on the floor every night?)

So what's happened to the update??