apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Seriously, why is this featured...? There is nothing about this place that is remotely interesting, clever, or well, cool.

Boo

Zdravstvuite.
Thanks for the glimpse into your Moscow apartment! That shower stall is crazy (in a good way), but those wooden floors are gorgeous!

I think the reason is to show you different lifestyle and desing that is appreciated there. you would probably have to live there to understand. i did for a year. it's different (not bad or good ) different ethnicity and style appriciation. i grew to love styles that offered here and i like more than the one i did there (when i was there, if i would be there i would still do)
Anyways thanks for the post.

Beautiful wood floors. Amazing.

comeon.. you have a bad attitude. The idea of this post is to stir our own gratitude for what we have... It's Thanksgiving you know!

Josh: I think the space is beautiful. I especially love all the wood. Gorgeous.
Count your lucky stars. (:

Viewers: Try not to judge the space through the eyes of well, a priviledged American, lets say. Learn to appreciate the space relative to its *location*. There are so many cultural differences in this world, and people need to appreciate the fact that design comes in many different forms and styles. Beauty, afterall, is in the eye of the beholder. Learn to let go of your judgments and biases, and look beyond what you are seeing on the surface level...

Have any of you ever checked out the site, Space for Living? (www.spaceforliving.ca)
Explores the spaces people live in all over the world. One can see (and APPRECIATE) the myriad of cultural *similarities* and *differences* in this world...
Kinda cool. Or, pick up a National Geographic... that should broaden your horizons.

By Moscow standards, this is a nice place! The wood is lovely; the bathroom looks pretty good also (decent plumbing is nothing to take for granted in Eastern Europe).

Given the ungodly crime rate in Moscow I'm sure living next door to the British Embassy is sweet relief indeed.

FYI, it's the Soviet Union, not the Soviet Republic (unless you're talking about one of the republics that was part of the union).

Josh,
It was lovely to see you last week in Moscow....
I think you should get a few comrades together and get that place painted, how about painting all wooden details on door and window frames BLACK....ta da and immediately this would make it chic!!! ( The big wall unit could be better in black as well...think about it)
The floors are great ! The curtains need to go NOW....no wonder you are in a bad mood, if I had to look at them I would be as well....go to a fabric place and buy some nice grey flannel, labour is enexpensive and you could find somone to sew you new curtains easily.....
Miss you
Do Svidania
Barbara

This was interesting. A glimpse into a Moscow apartment and the design mindset is educational. I agree the floor is beautiful. And its CLEAN.

Come On apparently doesn't get the point. But then, people who don't post their real names shouldn't be taken seriously.

I've lived all over the US and frankly, Josh's apartment looks better than many here, and its not all that bad anyway. We should all be grateful.

Thanks to AT and thanks to Josh. I would think living in Moscow would be an incredible life experience. You don't need anyone's criticism.

definitely need to get rid of those curtains...but the problem is, how long will you be there and will it be worth it to do that. but it looks overall very nice and modern...much much better than the apartments in uzbekistan! it looks like you live like a rich westerner...besides, it all just adds to your mystique!

beautiful floors

I love that shower! Cool space, thank you for sharing :)

Do I see the Queen Mum? Fab!

Aw! I was all ready for some totally outlandish, never-before-seen shower...my best friend's parents have one almost identical to that one (from what I can see) in their basement in a suburb of Seattle.

Maybe I just never appreciated their international taste in shower stalls...

I love all the wood in this apt. too. Nice!

Thanks for the lecture Susan. Still people are entitled to their opinion including you.

Beautiful herringbone floors.

ok, so i live in warsaw, poland (my floors are herringbone too, btw), and i've never been to moscow, but this looks like your avarage cheap eastern-european rental from the past you just don't see that much anymore. i'm positively surprised by the civilized comments in this thread, but it seems to me a bit unfair to those people on AT who post pictures of their less then perfect northern-american rentals and get slammed.
i don't know why it's always expats who end up in places like this, i can only guess they just don't care.

cheap eastern-european rental? cheap? do you have any idea how much the rent is on a place like this in moscow?

alyosha
i bet it's superexpensive, as everything in moscow is supposed be (as i wrote, never been there). i meant it's relatively cheap, and cheap as in decor, right? i don't know anybody here where i live that has an apartement furnished like this one (well, apart from the floors which are classic), and i can only assume that there are more interior design resources in moscow than there are in warsaw (not to mention IKEA and vintage).

Moscow apts! Oy! geez this apt brings back memories.

It's fascinating to look into the history of the urban Russian apt. Rambling, "gracious" apts were chopped up into communal multi-person dwellings during the soviet times. (Check out Dr. Zhivago, the omar sharrif flick, for the anguished loss of a fab place one doctor had to face.) They're dark, cramped, unrenovated (although there's been a current reno craze similar to ny). Most people can't afford to renovate. DIY supplies are EXPENSIVE. I've heard stories of ridiculous mark-ups and scams (misrepresenting what, say, the polyurethane is best for because the buyer trusted the seller to translate what is written on the can). It's beyond the common American pale what goes on there. Moscow and Petersburg are like bizarro world analogs to NY (and whatever other large, cosmopolitan city with a history fits the bill), eerily similar and yet not.

And yet people go on living and loving and even developing design sense, becoming artists even.

If my mother hadn't taken me out of Moscow 30 years ago, I wonder what type of dwelling I would be presenting to the AT community. Thanksgiving, indeed!

Like my extended family gathered around the table yesterday commenting on some inane american consumerist practices said, "well, it's still better than Russia." Or at least the Soviet Union we all left behind.

Thank you Jill and AT for bringing the world into our homes, one dwelling at a time.

Oh and Susan:

that's really funny, the Ikea show, is that a tv show in canada? It's actually great to see the ikea stuff reinterpreted, we love that here, a la ikeahacker.com.

Anyway, I fell in love with the NOSA children's bench and can only find it online in Finland :(

http://www.spaceforliving.ca/episodes/26/exchange.
aspx

check out how different artists decorate or re-design one simple bench. Nice.

NOTE TO COME ON + OTHER WHINGERS:
(sorry to everyone else for responding to a negativista)
the contest is over.
please take yer joyless design policing somewhere else.
some of us find the write up most humorous, and the warm woods + occupant's back story to be compelling.

oops, tried but fialed in time to stop that first post w/ link to defunct blog (diff't terminals @ work have the user ID saved diff't ways)

Space for Living is a great Canadian show for Ikea lovers, since it's pretty much all about Ikea. Each episode they show a cool home that's not done up all Ikea, they re-do a room in someone's place with ALL Ikea stuff, and then they show what 3 designers can do with an object from Ikea.

SPASIBO Jill for sharing my place -- and thanks for those of you who seem to understand the adventure of picking up with no more than three suitcases and moving overseas, finding a place to sublet that may not be ideal, and call it SVOI DOM, your home, for what very well may be for years.

It is a challenging canvas to work on the apartment stock here (gefilte above with his/her rather PODLII comment, i think NE IMEET PRIDSTAVLENIYE). I have been here a month now, really busy at work, but have finally had the chance to check out Ikea and take some actions (got rid of the curtains, made peace with the velvety sofa, began discussing with the landlord removing the wall unit). This is not my first time in an ex-Soviet country, living a few years in a furnished sublet and challenged myself to draw out whatever beauty can be found until one feels proud to call a place one's own. I'd be happy to show pictures of some of the changes as they happen -- and am really open to suggestions. Except for painting everything black, thank you Barbara for the suggestion -- the landlord didn't go for that at all.

VSYEGO DOBROGO,
Josh
moscowjosh@hotmail.com

One update a few hours later.

The wall unit it history! It has been broken up into smaller pieces that can be hidden behind doors, etc.

wow! Josh, POZDRAVLAYOO ... you've probably just gained an inordinate amount of space by liberating the wall unit.

You should set up a flickr account for posting progress pictures. I'd love to keep track.

Thanks for sharing!

i second that (olga)

DOROGOYA OLYA, VOT IMENNO!
I am finally celebrating Thanksgiving this evening. The liberation of the wall unit is yet another thing to give thanks for.
Love the idea of setting up a flickr account. S'DELAYU NEMEDLENNO.

darn, I kind of liked that wall unit.

Me too, Shannon. In the photos, it has a certain Art Deco charm...

Hey, I'll admit, I didn't (still don't really) understand why this was posted. I do find it interesting however, that folks were quick to defend it's merit on the site due to it being in Moscow, but if a similar space were posted from say, Iowa, I doubt it would receive such support.

Russia is a special case Hanifa, that's why. No place is more cursed, but on the other hand so magical. Well--maybe not Moscow.

Yes, the author is absolutely right. When being in Moscow, I've seen several awful places there. Yet at the same time there were some worth staying for a long.

you showed this already,,,,,months ago.

I've seen a number of repeated house tours lately. How come?

"Seriously, why is this featured...? There is nothing about this place that is remotely interesting, clever, or well, cool."
_________________

Why? To remind me that my EV walkup (chopped out in a devastating post-war, Soviet-style "renovation") isn't all that bad! But the wood in the Moscow apartment is BEAUTIFUL; contractors tear down houses for trim like that.

To anyone questioning the merits or value of this post, please save your breath and stop wasting our time. If you don't have anything of value to add or good questions to ask then we don't need your negativity. Go start your own blog and post only what you want to see there. But, AT is written for everyone, not just you.

This apartment looks very familiar, as my husband and I have lived overseas part time for the last 5 years. While we are lucky enough to be in Western Europe now, we did spend a year in the former East Germany. And this apartment looks pretty much like 80% of apartments there. You have to make do with what your given, as an expat, and make the best of it, really make it your own. Even if it's just adding fresh flowers, lighting some candles, getting rid of hideous textiles... It looks like Josh has taken advantage of what he he has been given (gorgeous floors), and has done his best to better his place. Getting rid of that huge wall unit will be a big improvement! (What is it about huge wall units over here? And usually in black or white laquer, with brass accents, of course. Ick!) I think it's nice to see places around the world once in a while. Expands our horizons I think...

Wow, I just really don't get it with this one. This is absolutely horrific in every way. So many of the comments above have really fought hard to come up with something positive to say about this disaster when all that really needs to be said is that this sucks and without a doubt not worthy of this kind of exposure... like, it's not even funny how awful it is. The floors?? High-gloss verathaned cheap wood??? All the wood, even... just dreadful. WTF?

well done .

And this is being posted again ... why?

pizdets, nu i hibara.

this is definitely one of the worst apartments i've seen, and i graduated college not to long ago...

i've been to Moscow and many many many other cities in Eastern Europe, none of them look like train car with hard wood floor, even the cheep apartments i've rented for travel.

I wasn't going to comment on this at all. But just kept coming back to this post.
Josh, thanks for sharing your home with us, but I think you are rightfully getting negative posts here. There is nothing valuable in your comments. The way you described crystal filled wall units and ceiling molds (which I gather you don't appreciate), upholstered sofa and walls covered with rugs sounds rather judgmental. You can't expect to see the same decorative styles as you are accustomed to. Now, I don't see you putting in any effort to bring your own style into this apartment. If you really wanted to show the best of your home, you could have taken pictures during the day with more natural light and maybe a couple of DIY projects that you've finished to make this more livable...
I also think that your idea of putting Soviet Propaganda posters on the walls in this particular apartment will not add any "charm" to the place.
Come on, put a little more thought into this. Combine the traditional cultural aspects and your own experiences.

Moscow isn't Eastern Europe.

if Moscow is not in Eastern Europe, then where is it?

Oi, blya... Sovuvstvuyu...
Some of the comments are nasty, but, let's face it, so are the landlords' ideas of decorating. (Josh, this is in no way meant as a slight to you. Ne v obidu ni v koem sluchae, ok?)

See those knotty wood panels/trims/doors? These are sickeningly common in "renovated" Moscow apartments owned by people with a bit of income and zero taste. And the faux marble in the bathroom? Oh my, does this bring back memories!

Bear in mind, these widespread monstrosities have nothing to do with Russians' traditional cultural aspects. They are a result of imitating what some Russians think is modern Western style of decorating. Some of the un-renovated Soviet-era apartments, with their vintage floral wallpaper and traditional wooden bookcases loaded with hardcover classics are so much more charming, in my view.

But decorating in Moscow is tough, tough, tough! The city has a decent array of upscale design and furniture stores, including some familiar western chains/brands. (Did you know there is a Bo Concept in Moscow, for instance?) And I recall a lovely shop with gorgeous fabrics, antiques and modern pieces straight from Japan... But did you also know that prices in Moscow are at least twice as high as those in the U.S.? And often they are three to five times higher. And sales are virtually non-existent.

I lived in Moscow as a kid, and much later I worked there for nearly a decade (late 90's to mid-2000's), and I rented there, and I even owned an apartment there. And I decorated there. And I think I did a passable job. But looking back at it, I know I would never get into such a project again. It's just too much pain.