Sam Kraus's Profile

I agree... This is not a makeover. Take into account that it is 1. A set and not a real room. 2. It is taken with professional lighting at the perfect angle. 3. It's not showing any inventive way of changing your furniture in a DIY way it's just showing you how to buy more ikea products.

You could paint it white (which always gives it a certain look). To me though the real problem is the countertops/floor which you're replacing and the cabinets. I honestly think painting the cabinets a different possibly quirky? color or even a chic color would change the whole look of the brick wall.

Yeah I'm thinking I really need to start moving in that direction. I was actually VERY close to selling my kind of bland WEst Elm couch for the Urban Outfitters fainting sofa I've almost bought for years....Then I looked it up on flickr and saw that while it is very cute it is VERY small. In UO pictures they put it in a completely empty room so you have no idea what the scale of it is. You see the lengths but you dont see that the length includes the giant arms...

Anyways I suggest ESPECIALLY when buying from Urban Outfitters you really look on flickr, the pieces end up looking cheaper in person.

I know my problem is: 1 my West Elm is outside the city and I dont drive. 2. The places that I can go to in the city to look at furniture are outlandishly expensive.

I agree with so many of your comments. I have been horrified enough that 80s fashion has been in for like 4 f*ing years now and now we have to deal with it in interior design too! UGH!

There are some good pieces but as someone who is such an expert as she is the entire look is what matters and it just DOES NOT WORK. PLEASE do not let this become a trend PLEASE do not let this work be called "trendy and hip"

It's not, it's been done--it was ugly then and it is ugly now.

I always suggest this but a muted teal blue would look awesome in here. It would give it a pop, and in my opinion it would make some of the more traditional items in the room feel a bit more ironic rather than just traditional. Perhaps even paint the doors another color, like white against the teal, or a different shade of teal.

WOW. I am so shocked. Urban has great design and great prices but this makes me so nervous. I have been going back and fourth on buying one of their fainting sofa's and really want to see a picture of it before I buy it. I know a lot of urban stuff ends up looking smaller and cheaper in person.

Wow...That is just SO unfortunate. How difficult would it have been for UO to put wood slats on the back? Or even imitation wood...

I think this looks absolutely AWESOME but I have had the MOST difficult time with floating shelves haha. Mine look absolutely horrible. I can hardly put anything on them, they sag, and they are just a complete pain in general.

If anyone plans on doing something like this to be honest I would suggest hiring a handy man to put the shelves up...It's worth it!!!

I mean beyond the fact that we all hate that there is a tiger on the wall that room is just plain tacky. There is no way around it. Without the tiger even if it were fake the room is really really ugly.
The other rooms are mediocre at best.

I think with Shabby Chic the MOST important thing is not too go into the cutesy cutesy zone. I went into this Shabby Chic store in Chicago and as cute as a lot of the items were their main decorating scheme was pale creams and pastel pinks and it just looked like a nightmare in my opinion.

I really find it interesting when people do shabby chic with a pop of color on the walls. I love the toned down teal someone posted. Also I saw this beautiful feature in Domino where someone did one wall in a very deep midnight blue. Also a light grey could be a nice contrast to the frill.

I think something you have to keep in mind with shabby chic is to remain modern, don't go for the cliches or its going to look froo froo. NO PINK! NO PASTEL!

Good luck!

As beautiful as this carpet is the reason its probably marked down is because it would look like a rag in about a week. Can you imagine? A furry white carpet! EEEk the dust alone would make it gross.