Melissa Elliott Great article agree i with all your points!

Below are images of my current rental that I have tried to make as homely as possible whilst we build our forever home.

Benjamin Living in a small house (1277 sqft) means the living room serves as guest gathering area, tv watching area, game space, and just all around lounge space. So I guess our living room is actually used for living!

margal I typically use water based adhesives which is good for interior projects only. The product can't be frozen so you may have to wait as some companies wont ship it in the winter. You can find supplies for small projects like yours online like: gildedplanet.com. I get my products from a dealer who sells in large quantities and would be way to costly for you to get in the 4 gallon bucket. You can also purchase the leaf (aluminum or silver) as well as sealers there. The site is pretty good at suggesting required items. Any soft brush you buy at a craft store is suitable for brusing off the leaf. I would practise on some scrap pieces of trim prior to doing your project and take note of the 'tack' time. If you miss spots, just apply the glue to the area and add more leaf. Wait a few days before using the sealer. I use a brush on as opposed the the spray as you get much better control.

writerly Thanks again Margal for the good advice. And thanks Jason for creating such a fabulous ideaboard. I love the ideas and all the comments!

Randi Crawford I'm not the biggest fan of modern houses, as I find them somewhat cold and the Arts & Crafts too dark. (Although I love the details in the woodwork and stained glass artistry of A & C.) I have seen some gorgeous modern homes and I can appreciate the design innovations. I think what some are failing to grasp is that most of these houses were "laboratories" in which architects were putting into 3 dimensions ideas that they had visualized and that had not been done before. From my reading, it appears to be true that Falling Water has trouble with dampness and the Glass House gets hot in the summer and cold in the winter, but consider what their creators did and don't judge them as livable houses. Instead I think they should be regarded as concentrations of new ideas and in some cases, works of art, which were then disseminated through world culture and subsequently modified to be more practical and efficient.

Shane Hood 33% of the homes shown are from outside North America. 6 of the architects are non Americans.

felixgrantham The FRICK! http://www.frick.org/visit It's a house, built around turn of the century, taking up a full block next to Central Park with the family's fabulous Art Collection. Absolute Magic!

Cathedral of St. John in Harlem http://www.harlemonestop.com/organization.php?id=275 is also fabulous if time allows.

Also - Chinatown for food and great decorative accents!

If you're going, check out 1/2 price theater tickets the day of the show at TKTS TKTS (the line is long, but it only takes about an hour) - second location on Wall St. has a very short line if you're staying anywhere near.

cynthia scarlett Thanks so much for this post! Great ideas and it so helpful to have the address, where and how to enter some of the more obscure sites, and fantastic array of not so common sites!

mikamoo I would like to know where the pendent lights over the island were purchased.

Georgia Blum So gorgeous...to the point that I would not want to visit there as I would feel underdressed. (What does one wear with 18th century limed oak?)

thebsquared01 Durban South Africa and Maputo Mozambique both have beautiful and interesting Art Deco buildings. There is a lot of movement to restore the Art Deco buildings in Durban to their former glory, and I love seeing the true colours being recreated.

Laura Gaskill Drool, drool, drool! I wish I could visit each and every one of these places! :)

ploefff Since the headline says "designer hotels" Hotel Fox in Copenhagen is worth a mention. Each room is decorated by an different artist and no 2 look a like. They have good service and a nice breakfast buffet - I know because I chose to stay their for my honeymoon.

mugsy1703 Just my opinion, but the Gehry Hotel in Spain is a blight on the landscape.

Pangaea Interior Design, Portland, OR sashalize -- I loved those too, and oh dear, they will set you back $$$. They are made in France by a company called Bleu Nature and being distributed here in the US by Four Hands. I have a few more from this French manufacturer that I will show when I write my Ideabook on my personal favorites. Watch for that this coming week.

olldbobbi -- it is hard to narrow it down, but at least for this IB I was looking for things I began to see repeatedly for the trends. That helped a little.

marmarmish -- Well, I'm not a design historian and will probably get this a little wrong, but will take a stab at it. I think it would be correct to say that all Kilims are flat weaves, but not all flat weaves are Kilims. Kilim is a word of Turkish origin and is generally used when referring to these reversible rugs made in various Persian, middle Eastern and central Asian countries. When I see flat weave rugs in classic Western European patterns or modern patterns, I just don't think of calling them a Kilim. Wikipedia has a good definition of Kilims, but I liked this one:
http://revelationimports.com/history-of-kilims.html
I hope that helps.

Deborah Ingersoll -- As to your question about wall colors, keep in mind that I was in showrooms where they are going for the dramatic effect. I saw lots of dark, charcoal gray, even black. Also saw many shades of turquoise, some dark like in the 3rd photo, and then lighter, muted shades of blue-greens. In more than one showroom I saw a medium plum or amethyst, which was very beautiful. Personally, I've had deep stone gray walls for 7 years now and I'm about to paint most of them stark white. I have light wood floors and my most recent art (which I paint myself) is in jewel tones of fuchsia, orange, turquoise which just aren't looking great on the gray walls. In all cases, you just need to go with wall colors that work with what you have and like.

midmodfan -- Kitties do know a comfortable spot when they see one, don't they? All 6 of mine would be lined up on that bench.

raccoon52 -- Well, I hope you weren't wearing leather shoes when you made that comment. ;0) Anyway, if I had my way personally, it would all be faux. Technology is helping us get better and better at producing high quality faux fur, and resin is duplicating the look of bones. Unfortunately, we still haven't come up with a material that rivals the durability and beauty of leather, and for now, the faux Mongolian lamb's wool is a poor imitation of the real thing. Hopefully that will change sooner rather than later. I was glad that the one vendor told me how to spot faux vs. real shagreen, so you can choose the one that gives you a clear conscience.

jaxsue -- Haha! Tribbles. Funny. A pet brush is not a bad idea. That and a vacuum cleaner.

glider3 -- You are making me blush! People are going to think I paid you to write that. Thank you for the kind words. Your project has been so much fun!

sweetlove3xs -- Not sure whether you meant the ones from Emporium Home or NOA Living, but keep in mind that this is "market" where brand new introductions are made. We see lots of things at market that have not made it on to the vendor's websites yet. In fact, some prototypes were just finished and delivered to the vendor literally a couple days before market. So, several of the items above are not on the vendors websites yet. Usually within the next month or so, those items will be added. However, one thing that also happens at market is the vendors are looking to see how well the products are received and then making decisions from that as to what to add (or not) to their permanent lines.

Lofty Ambitions -- I hear you. It is overwhelming, even for those of us who shop for a living.