RichardinLA's Profile

I am all about the Fresh and Easy stores at the moment.

I was very skeptical because the stores are smaller, nicer, and more specialized than a traditional grocery store and that always translates into pricey, but it turned out the prices were absolutely the same or less than my local Ralph's/Krogers.

For bargain purchases, I go to the 99 Cent Only store and treat it like an easter egg hunt. It's kind of dumpy and sometimes, given the wacky crowd, it feels like I am grocery shopping in a mental health clinic, but you cannot beat the prices.

Between the two stores, my entire food bill (three meals a day plus snacks and beverages) comes to about $50 a week.

A pair of large leaning floor mirrors to reflect back the light from the windows will make the room brighter and feel larger and will break up that large expanse of wood.

In terms of the style, you don't need to get too precious with the period vibe. It doesn't need to look like it marched straight off the set of "Mad Men" to work with your other mid century pieces.

The entire Samtid is $40 which is far cheaper than the price of a custom lamp shade. I would suggest purchasing a new Samtid, searching for an old Samtid on Craigslist (to salvage for just the shade), or purchasing a new and different lamp all together. As your lamp shade uses a very unique attachment method (screws) you are not going to find anything "off the shelf" that will fit properly. You will need to go custom. A custom shade will run you north of $100 and perhaps much more. I know because I had custom shades made for a couple of Ikea lamps.

Also, keep in mind that your shade probably warped because you used a bulb that was too strong which melted the plastic. So if you replace your current Samtid with a new one, go with a lower wattage bulb to avoid this problem in the future.

Love those chairs, but the DVF room has such a weird energy. Nothing cozy about that set up. Everyone to their respective corners. No cozying up in that room. It looks like it is built for polite arguing.

I would suggest looking at pictures of stylish hotel suites for examples on how to utilize the space. Hotels are, by necessity, incredibly efficient about space and the suites or junior suites of a nice hotel are expected to accommodate guests and entertaining as well as sleeping. In Los Angeles we have a company called Hotel Surplus Outlet where you can essentially purchase a very nice hotel suite of furniture in pieces or by the room (recently they had the Kelly Wearstler's furnishings from the Avalon Beverly Hills and Maison 140 and the posh digs from the Peninsula Beverly Hills available for sale). Everything is scaled in such a way as to be very space efficient and coordinated. Given all of the nice hotels you have in Manhattan, I would imagine you have something similar there.

I love minimalism. But I kept looking through the pictures and wondering why I wasn't flipping for it. I love almost all of the choices, particularly in the living area/dining area. And then it hit me. There are no rugs. There are no curtains. There are no window treatments. And so the effect becomes a bit clinical and institutional. Spaces just seem to run one into another.

Take a look at the work of Christian Liaigre. He definitely has a minimalist, asian inspired vibe, but he always finds a way to ever so slightly soften the effect with a simple floor covering or floor to ceiling linen sheers. He takes those hard angles and with some subtle additions creates a very warm, minimalist space. And it makes all the difference in the world.

You guys are 98% percent there. It just needs a few adjustments to make it feel less showroom and more living room. Something as simple as a black sisal rug under the dining room table will keep the monochrome, low contrast effect going while still softening the space.

I went through the same thing when I needed enough yardage for curtains and decided to use overstock and discount fabric to save money. My only advice is to limit yourself to fabrics that have sufficient yardage in stock. I found lots of things I loved, but ultimately very few things I loved that had the large yardage. Also, keep in mind that there can be a color shift from one bolt of fabric to another. So even if you find the exact same fabric somewhere, it may not match perfectly. You don't say how much fabric you need, but there are plenty of places that sell discounted overstock and large remnants. Try eBay or modern-fabrics.com (spelled with the hyphen).

Also, I find it helps if you know exactly what you are looking for. The best way to do that is to go to the trade only showrooms, look at what they have, and then search for those fabrics specifically. That is how I found the $200/yd Pollack mohair velvet that I used to upholster my bed for $30/yd on eBay. I used a service called LAdesignconcepts.com which can provide access to trade only fabric showrooms and allow you to purchase from them at a discount.

#1 looks like a set and the matching books look like a decorative affectation. Fake.

#4 is the only one that looks like it is both about an authentic desire to read (in the tub) and a creative attempt to store the reading material conveniently and attractively.

@kylala - if Flor doesn't ship to Canada, you can use a service like myusaddress.ca to either collect the shipment at the border in the US or have it transported into Canada and to your home.

I second the Stolmen idea for a couple of reasons:

1) It is cheaper and more flexible than the wardrobes. The big cost with the wardrobes is the doors.

2) When the time comes to move and sell the wardrobes, you will get a better purchase price on the Stolmen relative to cost. It is also easier to move and, because they are metal, harder to damage. With the wardrobes, you risk damaging the units when you move them or take them apart, and that could impact the resale value.

I hated the idea of exposed clothing, so I built a curtain wall to hide the storage in my bedroom. It was much, much cheaper than buying Ikea wardrobe doors. The wood storage next to the curtain storage area in the photo are actually Ikea kitchen cabinets, not wardrobes:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28955208@N05/3455293186/in/set-72157617367542131/