The bedroom in the new apartment is coming together much faster than I thought it would, and it’s looking pretty cute. Well, at least I think so. I haven’t hung anything on the walls yet because I still have to paint over the existing glossy white paint with a softer, flat white, but it’s definitely getting there.
The only new thing we’ve bought for this bedroom is the dresser in the corner. It’s the gloss tall chest from CB2, and I’m super happy with it. The cutout pulls (which are actually backed with a recessed metal panel, though that’s hard to tell from these photos) and proportion are reminiscent of Asplund’s classic “Snow” dresser, but with a much glossier finish and a much lower price tag. This is the first thing I’ve bought from CB2 that required assembly and has movable parts, and it’s made a good impression. The quality is much better than I’d expected it to be.
Also, can I say how nice it is to have proper clothing storage? We have a really nice setup at the house (Holy cow, that’s an OLD photo! The dressing room looks like this now, but you can’t see the PAX wardrobes—I guess I should do an updated dressing room post…), but in the apartments we’ve alternated between stuffing our clothes into a fauxdenza in the old studio, and stuffing our clothes into a couple of tiny RAST chests inside of our closet since there was no space for a real dresser in the bedroom at the last place. Wow, that was a long sentence. Shorter version: YAY DRESSER! YAY SPACE!
Check it out, there’s a SOFA in our BEDROOM! I can’t get over how huge this room is. Our last two apartments have been pretty tiny, so we’ve been using a small KARLSTAD loveseat from IKEA in lieu of a full-size sofa. It’s perfectly fine, but two people plus two dogs on a loveseat gets a little too cozy after a while! Now that we have a bigger living room (pictures to come, I promise), we decided to put the loveseat in the cavernous bedroom instead. I’m not sure how likely we are to actually sit there, but it looks nice and the dogs are always excited to have another place to nap. Bruno sometimes gets annoyed by how much space Evan, Fritz and I take up in bed at night (I know, how dare we!), so now he can walk off in a dramatic huff to sleep on the sofa without even having to leave the room.
I love this little arrangement. That neon pink-toppped vase from ¿adónde? has been on my wishlist for a while now, but for $250…I just couldn’t do it. I hit the jackpot at the DWR Annex last week, though, and brought one home for $50. Yay! That little black vase is from CB2 (discontinued), the little “Fire” candle holder (a gift from my mother) is by Iittala, the perpetual calendar (also a DWR Annex score) is by Massimo Vignelli, and the cross vase is the most awesome thing I’ve ever found at the Goodwill for $3. I love that thing.
The last bit of bedroom updates is the addition of bookshelves. We don’t keep many books at the apartment (I SWEAR I HAVE MORE THAN 20 BOOKS! They’re all at the house!), but inevitably a few do wind up not making the journey to Newburgh. This is really all the space we need for that kind of thing. When I mounted these shelves in the last apartment, I predicted IKEA would discontinue the wonderful steel EKBY OXIE brackets, but it appears they still carry them! I still think I should stock up. They’re good-looking, strong and cheap. Like me! No, not like me. I’m just cheap.
Still on the apartment bedroom to-do list:
✚ Replace that horrible light fixture we’ve agreed to not discuss
✚ Paint the white walls and ceiling BM Moonlight White
✚ Hang art
✚ Make the closets nice inside (FLOR tiles?)
✚ Figure out if I want some kind of window covering
✚ Obsess over finding the right rug
73 Comments
That Goodwill vase reminds me: have you seen the spring collection from VOZ Collective? https://www.etsy.com/shop/vozcollective?section_id=13140504
Yes! Cute stuff…I love Voz. 🙂
Love.
Anna, what are the geometric shapes on your bookshelf and floor? I feel like you’ve mentioned them in the blog before, but I tried searching and couldn’t find them!
I want to give them a big hug. Is that strange?
Tallin, the floor lamp and the bud vases (those are the little ones on the shelf) were designed by Koray Ozgen for Innermost. I think the vases have been discontinued, but you can still get the lamp if you Google around for it. 🙂
http://www.innermost.net/wp/asteroid
(And hugging asteroids? Totally normal!)
Thanks Anna! Sad to see the bud vases are gone, might have to console myself with these votives: http://theshopinel.com/products/ajw-creations-geo-candleholder
Your new place is looking really nice! I love the white geometric…things. Are they lamps? Or…just little knickknacks?
The little ones are ceramic bud vases, and the big one on the floor is a very cool lamp (see my reply to Tallin above).
I love it!! If feels sooo big and airy and full of light!
and by the way, that’s a kick ass radiator.
Looks great! What colour did you paint the legs of your sofa? Love it.
Thanks! It’s just fluorescent pink spray paint.
looking good! and seriously – SO BIG. we have a pretty large apartment in bay ridge, but i can only dream of having a small sofa in the bedroom!
I spy Junot Diaz, my personal JSF! xoxoxoxo
Fan girl moment over.
It’s going to look amazing with the Moonlight White and the artwork. Speaking of artwork, are you so-sad that IKEA no longer has the RIbba in maple? I am. I don’t like any of their other colors. The gray is 80s glossy, the white is just okay, don’t talk to me about the aluminum, and the black has a strange sheen. Out of desperation I bought the medium brown, which somewhat matches the vintage furniture in the boys’ room, but still.
#firstworldproblems
Yayyy, the bedroom is looking so great! I love the shelves there. You always work it out so right.
And hey…I still have those FLOR tiles, if you want them back! Let’s just swap those same 8 tiles until the end of time.
) ) > < ( ( Back and forth. Forever.
DEAD. I’m dead.
Love the way it’s all coming together. Where did you get the wooden vase (or is it a candlestick holder?) in the lefthand bookshelf?
It’s a candle holder! From Bo Concept…not sure if they still sell them.
I’d say this is a little more than just “some” progress. You’re doing great! Keep up the good work getting your apartment figured out.
NOW I GET IT. I thought the whole room was going to be that grey color!!! It looks smashing with the white and I love the bedding. Gold star.
We bought the glossy low dresser from CB2 and we were thrilled with the quality – it looks great. I think it’s the matchbox dresser. I love your new dresser there – and everything on it.
Looks great – love the Pia Wallén blanket
I bought those bookshelves when I saw them in your last apartment, I still have not mount them… and you move and clean the whole place and did a whole (very big bedroom). I feel inadequate right now(I know it not your intention), I will just say they don’t sell the wood shelf in my Ikea, so I only have the brakets, wich mean I have to drive to a home depot!! A one year operation in my book!
I love how you use the space, the pretty pink legs, the asteroid and the art you have beside that new dresser, wow! Yeah for Anna! (and Evan, I guess he helps?!) Actually it is a question I meant to ask you one day, does Evan have a creative input in your decorating or does he pretty much leave that to your capable head and hands?
Oh, Evan and I talk about everything we do in our house and our apartment. There’s rarely any real debate, though, because we have pretty much the same taste!
Wow, you really made this into an instant success! (Forget the orange wood, It’s just background warmth now.) Love your Goodwill vase and the angled love seat position. Congrats.
Looks awesome, Anna! Where’s the cute little white dresser from? I have so much black/dark furniture, I’m dying to get more bright/white items in my place.
Thanks! The dresser (it’s actually pretty huge…maybe the scale of the room makes it look little!) is from CB2—all the details are in the post. 🙂
Never mind, found it! 🙂 I had to re-read through your links.
What happened to the cover for the radiator? I have those same radiators in my house; however, mine have the metal covers.
Love that color!
I’ve only been living here for two weeks, but I doubt there ever was one. The radiators were probably moved from another location.
I like those asteroids, I recently forged some from steel to become finials on a rocking chair I made
picture
That room is huge but looking good. I have always wanted this Ikea rug that shows up everywhere but it’s probably too small for your room. One of these days I’m pulling the trigger and buying it.
http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/50168285/
that bedroom is MASSIVE!!! i’m so jealous. i don’t think ANY room in my tiny jersey city apartment is as big as that and it’s just your bedroom! love it.
I just can’t get past how much I like that wall color. And the patterned blanket on the bed – well done!
Can I just say, painting your sofa legs was (is?) GENIUS. I also want to steal your black scull off of your bookshelf! Yup, awesome.
When you’re on the search for the perfect rug, anything with texture like a synthetic shag would be quite jazzy, and super soft on the toes! Also, random, but a faux cow hide would also look excellent sprawling from beneath the sofa!
Great work so far 🙂
-Rachael
Wow, you are amazing! If only I can get my apartment to look half as nice as what you’ve done here. And hasn’t it only been a few weeks since you moved in?
Love this room. It’s so nice to see dark colors on the wall instead of white everything. I love the white accents you use, instead to maintain a clean look. Amazing! And love your blog!
Ok this looks so good! Love the way it’s coming together!
The space is looking amazing. There are so many little things that just work. The stool/little table next to the dresser is so nice and its legs mirror the legs on the love seat. The vase and the blanket. That although the room looks black and white it isn’t; there’s lots of colour but to my eyes its not a ‘styled’ space, it’s a real space.
The shelves look brilliant against the dark paint – it makes them look more graphic – and I’m browsing Ikea UK to see what they have and rethinking the room we somewhat grandly call my study. I was thinking about one dark wall and the rest white with shelves on two white walls but maybe a bit more dark paint will need to be purchased!
But can I ask one thing… can you slow down… please. I like reading your blog but its starting to make me feel like the only thing I’m good at is procrastination. I’m only doing up a small house and I’ve done nothing for six months. Or is it nine. It might be a year. Oh, boy… i need to get on.
(PS I have the Snow dresser – a splurge when we saved on other stuff. It’s nice. Very nice. But your dresser looks great and having seen the price I’m super impressed.)
where did you get that bed from? looks awesome
It’s from IKEA, but sadly it’s discontinued! It’s called GRIMEN if you want to try looking on your local Craigslist. 🙂
Listen. I know this question is going to come off as accusatory and malevolent. Sadly that’s the society we live in. Stereotypes and all. I think you are a very interesting person and you seem to live a very passionate and exciting life. I wish you nothing but the best. However. I have thoroughly read your FAQ and I must ask, as it is never directly addressed, although I’m sure you get it all the time. How do you react to the fact that you are an archetypal example of one of the most hated groups in America (if we ignore minorities altogether)? Are you completely at peace with yourself that you are a hipster, does it not bother you? Are you aware of it? Is it a conscious decision or something you happened upon in the throes of a cultural movement. I’m not trying to be disrespectful, I just can’t read a single entry of this blog without being reminded of “Stuffwhitepeoplelike” or Portlandia. Your house is beautiful and I wish you nothing but happiness in future. I seriously do.
“I’m not trying to be disrespectful…”
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA. Yes, that’s exactly what I say to people right after I reduce their entire existence to a moronic cultural stereotype perpetuated by TV shows. Good one!
So wait, I thought “hipsters” were those people with weird pants who ride bikes to work at internet start-ups. Or are those geeks? I’m so confused. It’s so hard to keep these things straight! And here I thought I was just a middle-aged woman trying to live a nice life. Silly me! I guess it’s pretty important to figure out what what to call myself beyond designer, aunt, daughter, wife, woman, New Yorker, renovator, Humanist, animal lover, preservationist, reader, collector and thinker, huh? OK.
Why don’t you tell me what the word “hipster” means to you, Swan, since I have yet to hear that word used with any real consistency. As far as I can tell, it’s just used to belittle people—both the ones it is used to describe and the ones who are excluded from its definition.
Oh, and by the way…
“How do you react to the fact that you are an archetypal example of one of the most hated groups in America…”
You ARE talking about Jews here, right? Just making sure we’re on the same page!
I like the way you respond to asinine comments, Anna. Respect.
-Long time lurker, first time poster.
Haha, thanks Gabby. Hopefully I’m OK at responding to the non-asinine ones, too. 😉
Of course! Actually, one reason I like this blog so much is because I think you’re one of the more patient and gracious “responders” out there, full of tips, helpfulness, and all-around good nature! It’s awesome!
It’s just that sometimes there’s a comment that makes my jaw drop. I would be tempted not to respond with as much grace 😉
That’s really nice to hear, Gabby, thank you. 🙂
Ever try reversing that comment? The fact you would follow an interior blog and ask or presume to know a person er umm makes you seem a little fundamentally nuts!!
Hmm, watch it with the built up intros; it tends to give away something nasty is coming up next.
guess so far for my belief that blog posts tend to attract people with similar views or interests.
Anyway, Anna, the remodel is splendid. I would never have guessed that the dark paint color diminshes the wood overload to such a degree (or dared to take the risk to actually paint) .. but it does totally work !
PS: I am really smitten with those lovely black & white pieces (collages ? prints ? posters ?) in wooden frames, leaning against the wall in the first picture. Would you mind sharing who made them, or where you got them ? It would be much appreciated …
Built-up intros? Do you mean the previous post about having started painting? I guess I could have combined them into one post, but I was excited about the paint color and wanted to share! I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to get to the next stage. I tend to blog about projects in a few stages rather than all at once or as constant progress updates. Sometimes it takes me years to finish things!
The poster on the right in the first photo (“The more I know people, the more I love The Smiths”) is by Wasted Rita:
http://society6.com/wastedrita/THE-MORE-I-KNOW-PEOPLE_Print/
I can’t recall the name of the artist of the work on the left off the top of my head, but I can try to do a little digging if you’re really interested. 🙂
Holy large Brooklyn bedroom! At first I thought you bought a special mini addition of the Karlstad sofa. Beyond cool and lucky you! Yay!!
Hi Anna,
Thank you so much for the info ! I’m on my way to check it out.. Yes, please, if you could find the artist of the larger piece, that would be super .. :o)
I was actually referring to the akward built up intro of swan above. my first two sentences were about the previous comment – i should really start to add @name of commenter if i want to make sense – and i do !
You’re doing a great job on the new apt. – i can’t wait to see what’s next. Also really love the green bed with the neutral white & grey background – it looks very sculpturesque that way..
OH. Haha, sorry, I completely misunderstood. Yeah, I think Old Swanee up there has some issues s/he has to work out. I’ll just keep living my life in the mean time! I find that kind of stuff pretty tiring and dull, personally. Onward. 😉
Unfortunately, I cannot find the name of the artist behind that drawing. I’m sorry! It was something I bought on impulse while I was buying something else, not an artist I was familiar with already. It’s not signed, and I can’t find any record of it in my PayPal transactions or on any of the sites I frequent when buying prints. I even tried doing a reverse Google image search, but all I found was a band on MySpace using a tiny thumbnail of it as their userpic. No dice! Maybe I didn’t buy it online at all? I don’t remember. Sorry I can’t be of more help! 🙁
HANG ON!!!!! I suddenly remembered where I bought it from right after leaving the last comment!! Funny how that works.
The artist’s name is Anze, and the work is called “Leak”:
http://www.inprnt.com/gallery/stru56/leak/
A little more info! Anze is also known as Andzrej, and he has a blog of his more recent work here:
http://andzrej.blogspot.com/
Wow, perfect ! Love some of his other work as well. Thank you so much for the info Anna :o)
What I love about your apartment is the bed. I think it is very comfortable to sleep in. That kind of bed is actually what I am thinking about buying for my kids’ rooms, but not that big as the one in this post. Just the right size to fit their not-so-wide rooms, you know. Can you tell me where you bought it?
Hi Maria, the bed came from IKEA, but it’s discontinued. It probably wouldn’t be the best choice for a narrow room anyway, though, since the padding and upholstery add an entire 12″ to the overall width.
It looks great, your style never ceases to amaze me. Also some commenters……
I do think the space is ripe for some more vintage items.
Cozy! Gonna have some neon spots in my new bedroom, too!
I’m sure you addressed them in previous posts, were are those little tables/stools from?! Nightstand/lamp stand..lol!
I love the transformation. You have a keen eye for esthetics.
The stools next to the bed are from IKEA (I think they stopped selling them, but the name was FROSTA)—very similar to Aalto’s Stool 60. The side table with the lamp on it came from West Elm.
I’m excited to see how you finish this room off. That dark charcoal wall looks like it’s perfectly framed by the architectural bump-out (surely not what it’s supposed to be called…) and it seems to soften those wood tones. Looking good!
Very envious of the huuuge and gorgeous bedroom, and looking forward to seeing more of the new apartment and the neighbourhood.
I’m not sure if you have mentioned this recently, but are you still as happy with the Cross blanket?
I’ve only seen it in pictures, and I really want to buy it, even though I prefer to see (And touch!) things in person before buying.
Have you washed it yet? What’s the texture like? “Flannel” sounds like a smooth fabric, but I envision it being more like a high quality version of Ikeas “Vilmie rund”, if you know what I mean.
http://www.ikea.com/se/sv/catalog/products/60174950/
Oh yes, I’m VERY happy with the Cross blanket! I’ve had it for more than a year now, and I’ve probably washed it 5 or 6 times. I machine wash it in cold water with Woolite on delicate and let it air dry.
The texture is nothing like the IKEA blanket you linked to (which I also own). It’s a heavyweight, double-nap brushed cotton flannel, similar in texture to a thick, wool blanket but without the scratchiness. It’s incredibly soft.
Thanks for answering so quickly!
I couldn’t get my head around what “flannel” could entail, but your description really helps.
The fact that it holds up well when washed several times really made my mind up. I’m so ordering it!
I can’t imagine anyone being disappointed by it! 🙂
I love the new place! That charcoal color is amazing.
Did you buy the wood to go with the EKBY OXIE shelves? Or is the wood also from Ikea? I might have to pick up some of those brackets. You make them look really good.
Thanks, Brooke! The shelves are EKBY TRYGGVE, also from IKEA:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30094629/
where is this art from? and the picture franme-is it ikea? thanks!
Yes, the frames are from IKEA. If you scroll up to previous comments, you can find links to the artists behind the prints inside them. 🙂
anna, first of all amazing stuff, second is your Pinterest widget working that kitchen splash back and tutorial needs shared with renters, just to ask?
Now this room the 3 legged stool? Where from and have you considered the screens for windows. Your very handy and sheer framed screens seem perfect without disturbing the window…..have you seen these?
Hi! I’m so bummed IKEA discontinued those shelves. 🙁