bkdesignfreak's Profile

I say try it out! If you hate it, you can move. If you love it, you can stay. The best thing is you will have tried it out and you'll never wonder, "what if?"

I grew up in rural Texas and now live in NYC. As a kid I HATED IT. There were no other kids to play with and I watched TV for hours every day after school. The benefit was that I became an avid reader. I read a library-full of books by the time I went to college. Since then, my parents retired even further into the countryside 20 minutes to the closest grocery store and coffee, etc. I love to visit -- it's absolutely beautiful and utterly peaceful and it's nice to go for long runs along wildflower strewn rocky roads and it's lovely to sit on the porch and watch the red birds feed on the bird feeders. The downside is you really have to plan what you are going to do when you make your daily jaunt into town. You have to like to cook.

I find the mix of city and country is most optimal: Have a small apartment in a great city like Brooklyn and a bigger house in upstate NY to get away to on the weekends. You really appreciate both places when you can escape either. But that's hard for people who aren't LOADED.

Absolutely gorgeous. I really love the flow of the space and the huge doors to the yard. The island arrangement is perfect, too. The only thing I would have added is a gas fireplace on the wall where the TV is located, although you live in Ventura, so you probably wouldn't use it too much. I think fireplaces warm up a room so beautifully.

I live in Brooklyn, in arguably the most livable neighborhood in NYC -- Park Slope. I can walk to the park, to awesome coffee and any number of wonderful restaurants. The city is 15 minutes away by subway. The beach is 15 minutes away by car. I grew up in rural Texas near Austin and have lived in Colorado, New Mexico, Seattle and Manhattan. I have loved things about each place and hated things about them, too. What I have learned is that no place is perfect and no matter where you live, there are pros and cons.

I like to tell the story of myself about 3 years ago when I went freelance, was unattached and was seriously thinking about moving back to Seattle. I told my plans to my friends who were visiting from there.

"Why would you want to live in rainy Seattle when you live here, 15 minutes away from the greatest city in the world?" they said.

Ok, I thought. They're right. Maybe I should stay put.

And then I ran into my neighbor. "Why do you live here? If I didn't have a wife and 2 kids and a mortgage on this brownstone, I certainly wouldn't live here," he said.

Where would you live? I asked. He thought about it for awhile. "Hawaii!" he said.

So I said to my friend who lives in Hawaii, "Wow, you live in an incredible place. You must be very, very, very, very happy, tan and Zen-like."

"Actually," he said, "I feel land-locked. If I want to go anywhere, I have to fly."

Where would you live, I asked. He thought about it, "I would travel the world!"

So I asked my friend who was in the middle of an epic 2-year round-the-world trip, "You must be the happiest person in the world, free to travel anywhere she pleases!"

And she said this, "Actually, I am tired of living out of a suitcase. Every day I dream of my little house in Seattle and planting a garden and watching it grow."

Lesson learned. I stayed put and met the man of my dreams. If and when my fiance and I get priced out of Brooklyn, maybe we'll move to Seattle. What's most important to me is being near friends and/or family. People we love and adore. Everything else is gravy.

You have a great room with fun things to work with. The fireplace and couch are fine. Start by removing everything, including the TV from above the fireplace. Brown walls can be blah, find a wall color that will make your white mantle pop. Pick a main color for the walls (gray? Teal?) and a different color that will be your "pop" in the throw pillows, perhaps in the rug and maybe a bit in the curtains. Buy or find a big plain square rug to center everything on. All furniture must fit on the rug or it will look too small for the room. The couch should face the fireplace. You could put a long table behind the couch that's as high as the couch to put lamps on. Balance this square out with those 2 high-backed chairs on either side of the couch facing each other. Maybe find circular tables to put next to them (I believe one should balance a room full of square furniture with circles). Put the bookshelves (you should have everything out of them at this point) next to the fireplace. Better yet, those bookshelves are too small for the space. Find 2 bigger bookshelves that go floor to near ceiling to flank the mantle. Find a new, lower, bigger coffee table. The one you have is too high (IMO). Now fill in the holes by adding fun stuff, warmth and texture: Put a big, ornate gilt mirror above the fireplace. You can find an old wooden ornate mirror and spray paint it in a high gloss in a wonderful pop of color that is NOT the color of your walls but complement them: teal, orange, gold or even just black. Fill the bookshelves with hardcover books and a few precious, standout items that you love. Create a tableaux atop the mantle. Maybe add height to the mantle by putting a vase with branches with holiday decorations hanging from them this time of year, during spring, put cherry blossoms in the vase. Find a low table to put the TV on and place it to the left or right of the mantle and bookshelf so it's no longer the center of attention. Even better, if you get a big bookshelf, the TV can be placed inside it. Add pops of color by buying gorgeous new throw pillows for the couch. Hang cool artwork on the empty walls. Old black and white family photos mixed in with modern pop art. I like a mix of old and new. That big display case needs to go somewhere else.

good luck!
JD in Brooklyn.

For the spring and fall, it's an absolute blast to head to the Round Top/Warrenton antique festival in Texas. I've been going twice a year for years and it's miles and miles of vendors set up in quaint towns and on pasture lands. The weather is usually gorgeous and the vendors tell me it's "better than Brimfield." Fly into Austin or Houston and rent a car for a few days. It's about 1 1/2 hours from either city. Totally unique and totally worth it.