Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with decorating

How to hang heavy items from walls & concrete ceiling w/o holes?

mprove — Thu, 09 May 2013 11:30:23 -0800

I recently moved into a loft in a really nice building. One issue I'm up against is that I am not permitted to drill any holes in the walls or concrete ceiling. I have been using the 3M Command strips and hooks and they work well for small things. However, even the hooks rated for 3 lbs failed to hold my very light-weight surround speakers. I also have a display case for my shot glass collection that weighs 21 lbs before even adding the glasses to it. I am thinking that may just have to live as a resting, rather than hanging, display. But I would also like to hang a lightweight pendant style lamp over the area I've set up as my living room. The ceiling does have some concrete protrusions that extend down from it. Would some hardware like a C clamp be solid enough to hang something like that from? Other suggestions? And recommendations for hanging artwork besides the Command products?

"Old Reliable" by Sherwin Williams

A Terrible Llama — Tue, 07 May 2013 08:10:47 -0800

Can someone recommend a specific pleasant white-ish or neutral shade of paint that I can use on my walls repeatedly for like, forever? I'm looking for a basic white/neutral shade that I can paint various rooms and hallways that are not otherwise an actual color. We have only painted a few rooms selected colors, and for the rest, I think I'd like to go with "white".

I'm hoping I can find something like 'Sherman Williams - Linen' (I made that up; also it doesn't actually have to be Sherman Williams) that will be around for years to come so that five years from now, I can decide to paint a room the exact same white (it doesn't have to be 100% the same -- 90% the same is good enough.)

I'd like a white that's a little on the warmer side, maybe a bit more cream-colored. Parts of the house are extremely bright and if it's too white-white it'll be like having a near-death experience in an Apple store.

Art framing question - drawing a blank.

cellura p — Sat, 04 May 2013 16:17:56 -0800

What are those plastic clips called that are used to hold together a very simply framed photo or drawing? There's a simple and inexpensive way to frame art that doesn't actually require a frame. It is possible to use little plastic clips that I believe are attached by tension with string to the edges of a piece of glass or plexiglass. It's possible to sandwich a photo or drawing between a piece of mat board and the glass, then hang the piece on the wall. I'd like to shop for those little clip things online. I have no idea what they are called or what this type of framing is called and my google searches aren't getting me there.

Looking for practical suggestions about adulthood (laundry & furniture)

htid — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 21:17:24 -0800

There are a couple of things that I have problems with: laundry, and getting my home looking furnished and decent. Especially my bedroom. Can you help? 1. Laundry problem -- it piles up and I get super daunted. I get a massive wave of tiredness at just the thought of it. It takes me a long time to sort then I have to lug it to the machine. I can easily spend most of an afternoon or day, longer if it's piled up. I know, first world problems, but can anyone give me some help to make this part of my life work better? It's actually a problem that extends into a lot else, because I'm embarrassed to let people into my room, don't have enough clean clothes, can be late getting places if I am hunting for something to wear that isn't wrinkled, etc. I welcome any and all pointers, or new perspectives.

2. Furniture / house problem -- getting my living space looking like a decent adult place takes SO much goddamn time and money! And I keep messing up. E.g., I bought some furniture off Craigslist today and thought, "What am I, some kind of wizard?" However, it ended up being much more broken/rickety than it looked, and it smelled too nauseatingly awful to keep in my home. So I had to get rid of it and start over. I sometimes think of doing a project, like painting the walls, and I get halfway and it takes a lot longer than predicted. In my last THREE living spaces, the apartment never really got furnished. The only times I'd make real progress was at the last minute when a significant other was coming over... even that involved a fast trip to IKEA for random lamps and shoving a lot of stuff into the closet. Now (as of today) I'm trying something new, which is extending my budget by a lot so that I don't waste time on DIY and Craigslist. However, I don't know if this is a good approach. Can you give me tips about how to make this all work? I would like to have a functional, adult, nice looking living space and it seems I can't get it together.

Your pointers -- especially things that have worked for you personally -- would be much appreciated!

Un-Depressing a small grey lounge

you're a kitty! — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 10:20:01 -0800

Suggestions for greening up an indoor space when I can't use real plants. I'm trying to decorate an interior lounge area in an academic building to make it friendlier to humans. It gets almost no natural light and the artificial ones won't be on a lot of the time, so houseplants are out, and in any case there wouldn't be anyone reliable to water them. I was thinking of using vinyl decals to help bring in some color (such as these or these), but it would be nice to add a touch of nature. I was considering sculpture, or maybe dried branches... Do good fake plants exist? Any other ideas? Thanks!

Winchester Mystery Rancher

julthumbscrew — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:28:37 -0800

Manic Pixie Dream Architecture: please point me towards any websites/books/magazines/blogs/etc. which show weird/cool/unique/interactive design features (e.g. secret/hidden doors) in non-mansion homes. Mr. JulThumbscrew and I will be looking to purchase our first single-family home pretty soon. We're both excited about the idea of buying a cozy little house and cramming it full of all sorts of interesting design features... creating the Wes Anderson film of houses, I s'pose?

Our aesthetic is very simple and clean (think Arts & Crafts, "The Not So Big House"). We've already thought of secret/hidden doors, permanent ladders in addition to staircases, walk-in closets transformed into tiny guest rooms, wooden-paneled ceilings, and cozy little nooks for curling up and reading. We need more inspiration, though... what resources are out there to help us transform an average house into McQuirkington Manor? Thanks, Hive!

Which kitchen appliances/gadgets do you keep on the counter?

mudpuppie — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 09:12:33 -0800

Which kitchen appliances/gadgets do you keep on the counter, and which do you store away in cupboards or a pantry? My partner and I are house hunting for a real, live, grown-up house. One of the results should be vastly increased counter real estate, and it is here that we've had our fist difference of opinion.

One of us wants to designate a countertop spot for ALL THE THINGS (Soda Stream, coffee pot, electric kettle, blender, food processor, soy milk maker, toaster oven, juicer, and more!) so that they are each accessible at all times, while the other is looking forward to having uncluttered counters, even if there IS space for all of the above.

What do you keep out, and what do you store, and what was that decision based on? And since I am obviously the latter person in the description above, how do I make a case for less stuff on display?

Posters to finish my coworker's office makeover

Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 19:21:33 -0800

One of my developers just had got an "office makeover" (mostly a much needed paint job), and now has about a half dozen Ikea RIBBA frames on the walls. Unfortunately, he hasn't figured out what to put in them. Fortunately, we're all here to help him out. I'm looking for suggestions on what I can print out and stick in there when he's gone this week. We're an e-commerce company selling flower bulbs and gardening products, so anything that's either over-the-top geeky or over-the-top flowery would be perfect.

Bonus points for images that work well in the square aspect ratio, match the blue walls/b&w frames, and/or give the frames a theme. Additional bonus points for anything wide format that fits into 4 of the frames that are all in a horizontal row.

Paint my kitchen!

1066 — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 10:20:46 -0800

Not literally. But I'm stuck on picking a color. Special snowflake details inside. (Possible triggers for mental health issues) Hello beautiful people of AskMefi. Thank you in advance for you help.

TL;DR BACKGROUND:
Due to a very contentious divorce, a beloved relative with a home business and large pets needed a place to live/work with no notice. I moved in with my parents, and let relative have my home for a year. (Not really a hardship, parents and I get along well. And they were very grateful that I was in a position to help.)

My relative fell into a major depression, culminating in a week of involuntary in-patient treatment, and my home turned into a place that could have starred on "Hoarders".

I had to throw out ninety percent of everything in my home and scrub it down ceiling to floor. I had to buy a new fridge and tear out all the kitchen cabinets. This was traumatic for me. I was redoing it step by step and only when I could afford to pay cash for it.

But it's all been worth it because the relative is doing very well now, is very appreciative of the help I gave and has been helping me fix my home back up.

So, the reason for my question. We've installed a new kitchen and I seem to be having a mental block about picking a paint color and backsplash for it. I'm usually pretty decisive, but cannot seem even narrow down ideas. Also budget is limited as I was still paying mortgage/bills for that year and relative's business has (understandably) not brought in recently what it has in past years. The total for paint and backsplash will hopefully be under $1000.

On to the kitchen:
My kitchen is a galley with a tall 34" wide window at one end and a door to a laundry closet at the end. It is just off the entry and has a pass-through to the dining/living over the stainless sink.
(Dining/living is painted a deep, deep gray with large white baseboards and maple laminate floors.)

The kitchen appliances are black.

The ceiling light looks like an old school light. This, but light gray:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/95963793/ceiling-light-fixture-industrial-metal

The floor is a black faux-marble tile.
http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/591657167/natural_black_marble_tile.html

The base cabinets are Ikea Nexxus brown black with white Ikea counter top and stainless sink. (10th from top)

http://www.ikeakitcheninstalation.com/ikeakitchenpictures.asp

The top cabinets are the Ikea horizontal uppers with frosted glass fronts, also in the Nexxus brown black.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jgsearls/223296806

The living room is dark for movie watching. I like things to look neutral, with minimal visual distractions, but not cold. I usually reserve colors for things that can be thrifty to change out, dishes, towels, etc.

Ideas?

Help me spruce up a coffee table in a magical way.

melodykramer — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 08:21:29 -0800

Bought a cheap wooden coffee table. Want to decorate it in a weird way. Any suggestions? It's your typical rectangular shape, nothing special. Some scratches on top. Design style: eclectic. Things that I’ve thought of:

Mosaic Scrabble board on with tiles
Ask everyone who visits to sign it/thumbprint it/do something else to it
Decoupage postcards/Monopoly money/old 50s pictures/comics/??? on it.
Paint it in some ridiculous way
Poster+Glass covering.

Anything you’d recommend? This was my cheapest furniture purchase ever — it’s worth a good redo.

Removable wallpaper to cover hideous apartment detail.

annabellee — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 05:28:19 -0800

What do I need to know about using removable wallpaper? I am plagued by how ugly and dated the pine trim around the doorways and windows is in my rental apartment. My landlord said he didn't want to paint over it, so, after researching a million options (paint it myself then somehow strip the paint, DIY fabric wallpaper, etc.) I've settled on Sherwin Williams EasyChange removable wallpaper (link to EasyChange currently broken, which does not inspire confidence). I would love it if I could have found plain white, but I've found a white with a faint gray vertical stripe that should be better than the log-cabinish pine trim.

Has anyone used removable wallpaper before? I'm looking for tips (are there any tricks specific to removable wallpaper?) and the tools I'll need--what's the best tool to cut? Can I do better than a fresh box cutter? Do I need a special straight edge or a roller? I'm using the wallpaper on just the trim, which is about six inches wide and about one inch in thickness from the wall.

I want to make covering the trim as simple as possible and as professional-looking as I can.

How to relax a Christmas tree

leafwoman — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 21:14:57 -0800

How to relax a Christmas tree. It has been unwrapped now for two days and the limbs aren't relaxing much into a tree shape. It looks like it is preparing for re-entry rather than lights and decorations. What do we do? Our Christmas tree came from far up north. It is a fraser fir and came tightly wrapped in red twine (just like our last 20 or so.)

We kept the cut base in a tub of water outside in our balmy weather for a week and have now brought it inside. It has been unwrapped for two days and the limbs aren't relaxing much into a tree shape. It looks like it is preparing for re-entry rather than lights and decorations.

Do you have any suggestions to help our tree relax?

Beyond UFYH?

wansac — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 12:43:11 -0800

I'm looking for blogs about homekeeping (cleaning, organizing, keeping up on housework, design/decorating, and that sort of thing with maybe some cooking or gardening thrown in). I like Unfuck Your Habitat and I used to read Apartment Therapy before moving into my own house. Are there any other blogs out there that offer inspiration/motivation to keep up with housework and/or design ideas? I'm very DIY and craft-oriented, and appreciate frugal living ideas, too, so blogs that incorporate those things are good, too.

Help me create the best grade 6 classroom ever!

peppermintfreddo — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 21:35:08 -0800

Help me create the best grade 6 classroom ever… with a budget of $200. My brother, in his quest to be everyone’s favourite teacher ever, wants to have the best classroom ever, and has enlisted my help. The class is grade 6 (11-12 year olds) in a not-so-rich suburb of Melbourne, Australia.

What he already has:
- Musical equipment: drums, keyboard, guitar, etc.
- Our old tan leather couch, brown rug, cushions
- A bookcase with books
- Brand new chairs on the way, in red, blue and light blue

Things I have:
- $200
- Enough time to order things off the internet and have them posted
- A sewing machine
- Enough time and patience to make things myself, I’m not put off by projects that are time consuming or fiddly

Some vague ideas I have:
- Basketball theme
- Music theme
- World map/world flags/map of Australia
- Some sort of roof decorations
- Different biome themes around the room – beach, desert, rainforest
- Some sort of interactive artwork that the kids can work on during the year
- Some way to display work that the kids do throughout the year

I’m hoping for some ideas for a classroom that looks great, and also has some sort of educational merit, and on how to get the most impact on my budget. Please throw any and all ideas at me!!

Help me live in a Wes Anderson movie

aaanastasia — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 18:06:34 -0800

How can I decorate my room to look like a Wes Anderson movie? I moved a few months ago, and haven't gotten around to decorating yet. I need to fix this! I want to give my room the feel of a Wes Anderson movie (leaning more toward Life Aquatic / Darjeeling Limited / Moonrise Kingdom than others).

Things I have now: Nothing. (well ok, all of the walls are blank except for one thin panel of wall, which I put these mirrors on going all the way up). I have basic furniture (the IKEA birch colored bed & dresser & bookshelf) and am not interested in getting more.

Things I want: Color (lots of color!), a floor lamp (or wall lamps hanging OR possibly using these as lights and decoration in some way). Cool other details? Possibly more mirrors?

Constraints: My walls are white right now. Our landlord doesn't let us paint them. One of my walls is really cool & curves, but that makes it a bit hard to decorate. I've also never really decorated any room or apartment I've lived in before, so this is all new to me and I have no idea how to even begin to approach it. I would also like to stay under $300 total on this.

I live in DC, so anything that I can buy here (or get on Amazon Prime) is ideal!

What should I do to make my "aquarium stand" look nicer?

xyzzy — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 08:34:25 -0800

I'm in the process of setting up a planted aquarium and I'm trying to figure out what to do with the furniture it will be sitting on from an aesthetic standpoint. I live in an apartment that I've done my best to decorate to my somewhat quirky taste given its rather outdated trimmings. [Pic--please forgive my bad photography. You're free to make fun of my stuffed owl pillow.]

On a lonely wall I have an old (Queen Anne?) desk that belonged to my parents that has nice lines but is currently finished in a deep cherry stain that I'm not fond of. [Pic--sorry for the flash, I live on a glacier in Central New York with shite lighting.]

On this desk will be the 6.6 gallon aquarium with black substrate, green plants, a rock or two, and tiny red fish (Bororas brigittae, if you're curious.) On the wall above the aquarium I will be hanging a Moby Dick postertext.com poster with a white matte and skinny black wooden frame.

The obvious solution would be to paint the desk black, but I've got a lot of black going on in that room and I'm looking for opinions on alternatives. I don't want to distract from the aquarium, which I'm envisioning as the focal point. My only other idea is to glaze the desk with a silvery finish over black, but I'm not convinced.

Save my home from the 1980s!

Anonymous — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 07:16:05 -0800

I recently moved to (West) London from overseas and have to do some reasonably major renovation work on a 2-bed flat. This will include re-doing the floors, removing the dreaded "woodchip" wallpaper and therefore possibly re-plastering, replacing or fixing Artex-ed ceilings and possibly some dated/inefficient windows, and re-doing a kitchen. I am not sure what type of professional to call to get an overall plan and estimates or where to look for such professionals. The flat as purchased is in great condition so this isn't an emergency-homelessness-avoidance thing - there are no structural issues at all and its been surveyed and given an electrical safety certificate. This is basically a really extensive re-decorating job to make the flat more liveable and modernise it and to preserve our investment, since the flat was frozen in approximately 1982 when we moved in. If I were in the US or Canada, I would know who to call, but here...not so much.

It seems that all of the "Interior Decorators" or "Interior Architects" around will only look at large houses and really huge budgets, as opposed to the flat and reasonable-but-not-Beckham budget we've got. I am not sure a painter-decorator is qualified and don't know how to find a good one if that's the right way to go. Most of this is not stuff we can even try doing outselves - we can't mess with the ceiling or floors and woodchip, though nominally wallpaper, was meant to be permanent and is very difficult to remove without professional help. Please don't suggest DIY.

What we really need is someone to do what a good "contractor" would do in the US or Canada - come look at the place, help us itemize a list of jobs, and give us an overall quote for work he/she would then supervize. No one here seems to call him/her-self a contractor!

I know such people exist - I have seen them on UK shows like Homes Under the Hammer! - but don't know the first thing about where to find one or even what search terms to use on Google. Help...

How much green is too much green?

A Terrible Llama — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 06:30:11 -0800

Would it be weird if I painted three out of five upstairs rooms the same soft green color, if they were given different treatments? The green in question is a light, soft green. The rooms and the treatments would be:

A kid's bedroom with green walls, and layers of orange and yellow and turquoise through bedding and furniture (it probably sounds horrible, but she's four, and I think we'd wind up with a fun court-jesterish look.)

A small bathroom with light green walls, dark brown shower curtain and towels, a few small plants with dark green leaves (like a few snake plants or something.)

A guest bedroom with light green walls with purple accents, like a quilt, curtains, whatever. Probably some white.

The other two rooms are going to be offices but don't have any decor or plan to them other than that.

This is just coincidence -- I'm actually not intentionally aiming to use gallons and gallons of this green, but it wouldn't be an inconvenient thing, either.

So would this look lazy? Weird? Or would it even be noticeable to anyone else? Am I over-thinking this or under-thinking it?

paint chip paralysis

elizeh — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 11:59:18 -0800

Our new house has awful walls, so we're getting it painted. Help me identify best practices and rules of thumb for choosing interior paint colors. So, I know this much: Eggshell for the walls, gloss for the trim and cabinets. Same trim color throughout the house, if possible.

What about the kitchen? Should those walls be eggshell too, or glossy (and therefore easier to clean)?

I'm doing white trim throughout the house. If I want white walls, should it be the same white as the trim, or just a smidge off? Or a lot off? I'm trying to get away from the generic beige-wall/white-trim look.

Is there anything else I should think about? Please feel free to recommend design resources....

If it matters, it's a 60's ranch and our style leans towards the sort of casual/organic/modern. (We don't have an Ikea where we live, but we like a lot of the designs we see in the catalogue.)

Choosing between sectional couches

AceRock — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 07:23:38 -0800

Please help me decide between two couches: a chaise sectional, and a two-piece sectional! My SO and I are trying to choose between two sectional couches (image here). Neither of us have owned either type of couch before. What are the advantages/disadvantages to each? The image in the link above shows the dimensions of the two couches and the room in which one of them will ultimately reside.

Our basic arguments for and against each are: the chaise takes up less space (and may take that space up less awkwardly) but seats fewer people and the two-piece may sit awkwardly in the middle of the room (one of the two backs of that couch would not be against a wall).

Do you have experience with either of these two styles of couches? What aspects are we not considering? Which one should we get? (For the purpose of this question assume we will get one of these two and other arrangements (a normal couch with two separate chairs) is not an option).

Thanks!

How to decorate a new marketing department?

honkeoki — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:09:44 -0800

How can I create an amazing work environment for my employees? Moving to a new building and I have a blank slate for office layout, design and decor. I'm a senior at an online marketing company. My department is currently at 12; will grow to 45 in the next 2 years. Our corporate culture supports collaboration, free communication and open doors. Our unofficial motto is "We work hard and we play hard."

My company is moving to a new building and the owner has asked me to provide a floor plan, furnishings, etc.

My group handles all marketing including SEO, ad creation, advertising, copywriting, ecommerce optimization, etc. I want to create a fun, vibrant setting to stimulate communication and great ideas.

What's important to you? What stands out in your own workplaces, good and bad? I'm particularly interested in decorating and design, but other ideas like "A basket of toys in the conference room" are welcome too.

Bonus: tell me where to look for ideas?

Thanks in advance for your help with this.

Next up: how can I, at 5' tall, put up wallpaper without suffering a nervous breakdown?

halogen — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:50:15 -0800

Bought a house, hence the DecorateMyBedroomFilter! DYI: how do I put up a curtain rod for a window whose corner meets a slanted ceiling? Décor: what kind of wallpaper should I put up on a single accent wall of my otherwise very white and neutrally furnished bedroom? What is the best way to put up curtains on the big window in this picture? There is no room for a rod bracket on the left side (plenty of room to the right, including enough room to pull the curtains out of the way). There will be cream roller shades mounted on the inside of the frame – I just want to add an extra layer of white/ombre/gray? curtains to soften up the room and add texture, but I don’t see a way to put up a bracket on the left other than drilling a hole in the ceiling and letting a curtain rod rest in it on the left side. Is that a terrible idea?

Regarding wallpaper: the walls are textured and painted a very bright white (hard to make out in the photo) which I like. I do, however, want to put wallpaper on a single wall, the one behind the headboard. The staging furniture and art will be gone, the reading lights will stay; this is my bedroom furniture. I don’t like bright colors in bedrooms and will most likely repaint the balcony that can be seen on the outside in a blue shade (indigo? go bold with cobalt?).

So far, my favorite wallpaper is Spiro by Kreme, but (a) it is very expensive and (b) it might not look that great with the very white walls, which I do not want to repaint. Since the floors are so dark, I should probably stay away from dark wallpapers, right? On the other hand, the space is not small at 15x15’ with vaulted ceilings and there is additional daylight on the other side of the room, so I probably shouldn’t worry about making it look cramped or busy? But would anything but a subtle-ish design that incorporates bright white (Curves Ahead by York) look good there? Any suggestions at what I should be looking for?

Thanks!

Bright and modern.

zvs — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 09:01:02 -0800

I'm renovating my office, which is currently a monument to 80 years of bad decor. Help me modernize and brighten. Overview. Many details within. I'm brainstorming how to decorate my office, which is currently a nice-looking 1928 room that has been augmented with a fiberboard ceiling and ten layers of moldy wallpaper. The wallpaper (and probably the ceiling) are going away.

I have a few pieces of nice modern-y furniture that I like and want to center the room around: this sideboard, this desk (2), and this rug. I also have some black-and-white photo prints I'd like to keep. (All other pictured furniture is disposable.)

As for the rest, I'm at a loss. The room is currently very dim. It's about 16' deep, 12' wide, and lit only by these not-very-bright windows. It has original doors, baseboards, and crown molding (2) that I'd like to keep. I also have the lamp visible in that last photo, which I like but isn't very bright. Some previous inhabitant punched a hole in the wall so they could mount a plug-in feature and run the cord through the hole -- the darkness is a problem.

I'm thinking of painting the walls a tan color to complement the rug, but I'm worried it will be too dark. I also don't have much stuff in here (a couple guitars, somewhere for the stereo to sit, and maybe some lockers for computer equipment), so I'm looking for a way to make it less sparse. I'd like it to look modern without sacrificing the original elements, but I'm not sure how to do that.

Your suggestions appreciated as I muddle through the problem of being an inept designer. I'm willing to try most things.

Affordable ideas for covering a very large window?

JoannaC — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 18:12:29 -0800

What is the cheapest way to attractively curtain a very large window? I just moved into a place with a massive window that is partially 'curtained' in very run-down venetian blind type stuff that is broken and doesn't completely cover the window. It does not have enough string to lower and cover everything and the rods to lever it are missing. It is also a huge eyesore. I want to improve it, but money is really tight.

The window runs from about half a meter off the floor straight up to the ceiling and spans an entire wall of a room about 10 metres long. I am worried that proper curtains for a window that large will be really expensive. Is there something I can look for that is cheaper? Or alternatively is there a DIY I can do short of covering it with white poster board? Anything at all that will be affordable here?

Boyfriend doesn't care; he is not into decorating. So I am on my own both in terms of money and effort. There may be an IKEA gift card from my mother in the future, but I am not sure what they would have. I just really need to narrow it down to what I should look for in the somewhat affordable category.

Pic here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/92471558@N00/6790805890/in/photostream

How to create warmth and hominess without a lot of stuff?

JoannaC — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:34:20 -0800

How can a minimalist and a less-minimalist set up a homey and comfortable apartment together? Moving in with the boy next week. Yay! It's been a journey and I am thankful to everyone who has talked me through some previous mefi questions. Now that we are taking this next step, I want to set up a homey-feeling, comfortable home for us. He has said he does not care at all about the decorating and it's totally up to me, but since I know he is very minimalist in style and comfort level, I want to make sure I don't over-do it and that I set up a place that works for both of us.

Before he met me, his sole furnishings consisted of a bed, a couch (which we are replacing with a nicer one my sister in law is giving us), a large television with a stand and several video game consoles, and three framed Star Wars posters. MY belongings consist of a fairly substantial collection of hand-me-down IKEA bookcases, two lamps, a table and chairs, two decorative but not as functional living room chairs, a set of coffee tables, a microwave stand and numerous hand-me-down framed art.

When pushed on where to put things and what we still need or don't need, his statements have been as follows:

1) Overall, he would be happy with a living room consisting of a couch, the television and nothing else. But since he recognizes that 'decorating' matters more to me than him, he will 'accept' whatever I do and that he really doesn't care about it

2) He does think the quantity of framed art needs to be reduced. To him, the height of what he doesn't want would be my mother's place, which has a table in it that was purchased solely to house picture frames and which serves no functional purpose other than this.

3) He believes that carpets and throw pillows and other such decorative but non-functional items just collect dust and irritate his allergies. He will accept one throw rug in the living room if I feel I must, but he doesn't want a lot of other 'stuff' around.

So, any advice for putting a place together that is sufficiently homey to me but suitably minimalist to him? I do have a carpet I want to put by the couches for now, and he shrugged when I told him. But there has to be some colour and warmth in there somehow, doesn't there? How can I create that without just putting *stuff* in there?