puigirl's Profile

Ditto threechordme. We have the Karlstad sofabed in dark sivik gray. <3!!! All out guests ask where we got it and are shocked when we say Ikea. They're even more shocked to find out it's a sofabed with storage below.

We also have the Karlstad loveseat in our home office. I love cozying up in it to do some work at home.

We have the curved one. Love it. Got it at Home Depot. Though it's rusting already after a mere 6 months. So perhaps get a curved one from someplace else...

My apartment is painted every color in the rainbow....yet I immediately think "Bright Crisp White" when I see your hall...no beiges or taupes. Something like Benjamin Moore's Decorators White or C2's Architectural White.

I, for one, love your floor. Keep it!

If you do want color, I'd go with turquoise -- either a historical one or a bright, modern one depending on your taste.

I like the person's idea who said do the accent wall. Then do your throw pillows in a color scheme that coordinate with your accent wall.

When I see your sofa, I immediately thing orange. But that may not be your taste. Green would be lovely too.

Oh, I used to live across the street from the Robie House when I was a student at the University of Chicago...so lovely to see it featured here.

I'd just do a cozy armchair and maybe an ottoman. It looks too claustrophobic to me.

Go for C2paint's "Curry" -- it is as the name suggests -- the color of yellow curry. It's a bit of a deep gold, but more exotic. The shades of blue you discuss other cool tones look fabulous. Grays, browns, and blacks looks great against the curry paint as well.

I like the idea of curry or some other deep gold better than chartreuse (and I say this when we have chartreuse in yet another room)

At the end of the day, it's how you mix it up that makes a home your own. Doesn't matter where you buy the item (sustainability not withstanding)

I ditto Astur's comment on Bed Bath and Beyond Everyday White dinnerware. We get lots of compliments on ours at every dinner party. People are surprised when we tell them the "brand". Also much less likely to break than some other brands we started out with.

In my 20s, I lived in a 200 sq. foot (if even that big) studio in NYC. After September 11th occurred, I adopted a puppy from a shelter to assauge my grief. Named her Anna. Trying to be a good, responsible dog owner, I hired the neighbor boy to come over every day after school to walk Anna and keep her company while he played on my computer and such. This worked well and meant that Anna would only be alone for a few hours in the morning every day.

However, the company I worked for closed its New York office and I was forced to take a job with much more demanding hours. Anna could not handle being alone for additional hours a day and started digging a hole in the drywall to try and chase after the neighbor boy when he left. It was like she was the prisoner in the ShawShank Redemption. Each day, the hole got bigger and bigger.

To stave off her loneliness, I had a brilliant idea of getting *another* puppy to keep her company.This actually worked quite well and the hole digging stopped -- except the two became such great friends that they started to collude on how best to destroy our tiny living space.

One night, I came home to discover that they dug a gigantic hole in the twin bed mattress that all 3 of us slept on. This hole was big enough to fit my entire rear in. For reasons not worth going into here, it wasn't feasible to replace the mattres, so I flipped it over and the 3 of us (myself and my 2 60 lb mutts) slept on the sunken, hollowed out mattress for next 15 months until we finally left NYC for more spacious pastures.

This story was only the most extreme example. Mutt #2, named Sophie, also ate (not chewed, but ate) 1/2 a set of bookshelves. Anna is quite adept at stealing at my now-husband's breakfast off the table. Etc, etc. But 8 years and many world travels later, these 2 mutts are absolutely my best and most loyal friends.