between windows a bookcase-- desk instead of dining?
http://www.pbteen.com/products/oxford-desk/?pkey=e%7Cfrench%2Bstyle%2Bdesk%2Bchair%7C89%7Cbest%7C0%7Cviewall%7C24%7C%7C71&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_-NoMerchRules


don't laugh, but this instead of other rug?
http://www.jcpenney.com/for-the-home/area-rugs-accent-rugs/washable/hampton-rectangular-rugs/prod.jump?ppId=pp5002480198&N=1407 4294966719&Ns=PLH&pageSize=96&searchTerm=area+rugs&topDim=Color&topDimvalue=brown&dimCombo=Color%7CIntended+Room%7C&dimComboVal=brown%7Cliving+room%7C&currentDim=Intended+Room&currentDimVal=living+room&catId=SearchResults&_dyncharset=UTF-8&colorizedImg=DP0715201417223183M.tif

showed up under 'industrial':

http://www.jcpenney.com/gift-registry/wedding/add-our-gifts/furniture/kitchen-dining/chairs-barstools/industrial-backless-wood-top-adjustable-stool/prod.jump?ppId=pp5004660269&searchTerm=industrial&catId=SearchResults&_dyncharset=UTF-8&colorizedImg=DP0912201417051810M.tif


http://www.jcpenney.com/fulton-backless-adjustable-wood-stool/prod.jump?ppId=pp5004660271&cmvc=JCP|SearchResults|RICHREL&grView=&eventRootCatId=¤tTabCatId=®Id=&rrplacementtype=item_page.dpcontent1

but some of us are Leit on money!

Just a thought but tin ceiling tiles on the bar and over the cinder block portion..painted or in metal colors ..might look pretty good.

as one said 'if you can't see the whole, don't be too bold' or did I say that? anyway, I recall several kinds of materials and that's why I favor putting brick red/then paint color across entire wall.... don't chop chop the place up....

drop-down desk

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Paterson-Collection-Oriental-Medallion-Red-Area-Rug-79-x-910/7660387/product.html?refccid=SMYUSOKJVNZYWNSPFXKISQE6MA&searchidx=23

I may be alone, but I feel that the pictures of the room suggest a grungy style off green room, that could easily become an attractive historical styled room, unifed by strong lighting like this 100w Arco Lamp, http://www.manhattanhomedesign.com/arco-lamp.html On the wall itself I'd add a tall fireplace, complimented by a gold framed mirror and some arm chairs in two tones similar to the wall itself, thus bringing it to life. Choose warm woods for the coffee table and furniture such as bookcases and a credenza with a nice pair of vases, a clock and other curios that might bring the theme to life.

Alternatively keeping with the colour scheme use the wall to hang pictures and frames to create a minature gallery that shows off paintings and artistic ideas you may lean towards as well as showcasing your loved ones. As with any wall you have an exciting canvas to create on as you choose, good luck :)

I saw this in one of the House ideabooks and thought of your situation.

Why not use reclaim wood paneling to cover up the right side of the wall? Recycle pallet wood.

I would agree brick veneer. Give the look, is still made of actual brick and isn't too expensive!

re claim so wood pallets use the wood to put on the wall then the shelving in front of that. i have to say i am a total fan of it just the way it is. change the pendants to something more like the sconces you have those just seem big and not really flowing with whats going on now. use some conduit feed and run the lights behind the sofa on the wall.

It's been a while since I have last posted, but there isn't much to report. Have been lazy and haven't had the construction worker back in since I'm undecided if I want shelves, but I'm keeping the wall.
Been trying to find an oriental rug to replace the one in the living room, but in the meantime I just picked up a vintage medicine cabinet today off Craigslist. It was only $300 so I was pretty excited about that. Going to move the couch down closer to the window and am going to put the medicine cabinet in front of the most prominent cinder block section.

I’m with Dar - what I suggested way back in the beginning. How about an interesting wall hanging? I suggested a Persian (great with the brick) and she posted a pic of an Native American (maybe?). Don’t cover it up - celebrate!

Pbar, that medicine cabinet is a great find ... enjoy! My dentist has a very similar one in his waiting room, only his is white.

I'm with the reclaimed wood wall on the right side and keeping the brick on the left. That will be a show stopper.

You can do a really easy reclaimed wood paneling. We make t&g reclaimed barnboard that can look like this: And I'm sure there will be someone near where you are that could do something similar.

My very first thought is to embrace the different types of brick. I would paint the cinderblock in a vivid white and treat it as if were art. Paint only the cinderblock. If you hate the white after, then distress it to make it part of the reclaimed everything on that wall. I love the to embrace the challenges and make it work. The "oh what am I going to do now" moments, sometimes, are the best things to happen.

Cannot wait to see the end result.

Well it's been a long time, but I hope everyone is doing great! Between work and never being at my apartment I ended up getting lazy and I sadly haven't made any further progress. The good news is that I'm motivated and going to get this done finally. After living with the cinder block/brick combo for some time now, I have no desire to either change it or try to hide it.

As you can see I did pick up a new oriental rug that I absolutely love, a side table, and new recliner this week. So in addition to the new furniture, I am also going to get the below done:

- crown molding throughout the apartment
- (4) recessed lights installed in the living room
- entire apartment repainting

Let me know if anyone has any suggestions, but below is my plan for how to arrange the living room:

The black wine holder by the window will be sold and I am going to move the teal medical cabinet in between the two windows.

The tv, couch and side chair will be moved closer to the kitchen with the sofa still being flush to the wall and the recliner being on the side of it.

The plant will be placed on the gold end table with the lamp being placed on the other end table.

With the additional space I am going to get a drop leaf table to place by the window so I can have somewhere to eat. To create some shelving, I am going to place a couple wooden shelves with piping on the wall where I can put some pictures.

In terms of paint, I am thinking about paper white which is the color in between the two greys. I think it's a good choice since the furniture is dark so I need to have some light paint.

Since I need to get new window treatments, this is an area where I have no idea and definitely need help.

Some additional photos - sorry about the place being a mess!!

Do we think all of this could work or will the crown molding be a bad idea?

Pbar - if I were you I would start a new dilemma on this room. Put a link to it in the comments here. Otherwise, you will get a few hundred more ideas on what to do to your wall because a lot of people do not read the entire thread before commenting. I like what you have selected so far. This is going to be a great space!

I don't think I would do crown molding on the brick wall, and it does not look like you have much room above the windows for a crown, so I'm not sure where that leaves you as far as crown molding goes. It's great to see that you are back at it with renewed interest. Post a link in this thread if you start a new one.

Even with a new window treatment do we still think it would be too small? I know it's a tight fit, but in the attached photo from an apartment in my building it doesn't look bad. I do 100% agree that it would have to be a very thin molding due or the size.

Regarding the brick, do u think it would just look bad putting crown molding rather than just filling the gap?

I just had a look at your original picture of the brick wall and although I wouldn't normally think of a crown molding being very logical on a brick wall I can see that you have a pretty ragged edge that needs to be covered. So, .... perhaps it is the way to go. Th first comment in his thread from Darzy has a picture of a veneer brick wall with a crown molding which does look pretty good.

Yea - I agree it's not what you would expect, but that big gap in the ceiling definitely needs to get covered!! I just looked at that photo and the brick with the crown molding does look really nice. I wish the window wasn't such a tight space, but I think I can make it fit still. I took a photo of my bedroom window and as with that other apartment I can have the molding be flush with the top.

This is probably a stupid question, but assuming I do the living room, I should do it throughout the entire apartment right? I

You could build a squared valence at the top of the windows which would then allow you to put in larger crown molding and it would cover the top rail of your current or future blinds.

Obviously you could do the bedroom also with the crown but it's certainly not a must, even if you have it in the main space.

Really interesting idea about the square valences. The beauty of this site is that the community is such a great think tank for ideas that you would never even think of. It's good to know that I don't necessarily have to do the molding in the bedroom since that will be a decision I can delay for a couple of weeks since that is when I am able to get an carpenter to my apartment for quote. I will just have to start doing some research on some good crown molding options.

Picked up some 4" LED recessed lights 2 days ago and am hoping to get those installed next week. Was going to put one in the each corner.

I guess the good thing with the absurdity of the New York real estate market is that whatever I end up putting in the place I should get close to getting it out when I ultimately decide to move. Now that I have the fire reignited to get this done, I'm actually really excited to get everything done.

Just wanted to update everyone that work officially began today. By the end of Tuesday I should officially have crown moulding installed, holes patched, and the apartment painted.

I ended up going edge comb grey for the living room and grey owl for the bedroom.

Go with the thin brick veneer, even a tumbled thin brick. The old bricks are most likely hand made and will become chalky over time. Have your mason install thin brick and incorporate some mortar vein lines in it like what is in the old brick wall for character. Also, many walls of the day where the uglier brick, seconds even since they where not meant to be seen. That is why you see lots of colors. Mason's would use other colors in these walls. Do not leave the block wall! There are bare block walls in homes all over the world. Just move to one of those places if you leave it. Also, nothing can cover up or hide a plain block wall. Painted or decorated it still looks like a prison wall! I like your wood/pipe shelving idea but I front of brick. Opinion of a Remodeling contractor.

They have an bunch of painting and touch up work to complete tomorrow, but slowly were getting there.

Hi, thanks for the updates.

So I'm happy to say that the work in the apartment is finally done for the time being. Let me know what you all think, but attached is the final product.

I'm going to need to buy some art to jazz up the walls a bit, and in addition I'm going to build the wood shelves in the photo and hang those by the wall by the window.

The only screw up that is getting fixed was in the bedroom they used semi-gloss paint by accident for some of the touch up work. The bedroom is the next fun thing for me to figure out since other than the king bed everything is getting replaced.

Pbar, so glad to see what you've done. and I actually do love it -- as long as you get your art up there! Promise? However, it makes me slightly sad to see what looks like a miniature dead moose ... large goat? ... draped over the sofa in the last pic. Ah well, chacun a son gout. :-) Or maybe that should be chacun a son goat?

I LOVE that wall.. So glad you decided to keep the wall as is, and love the new rug and furniture choices. I am green with jealousy.. Please keep us posted!

Thank you for the kind comments - now the fun part is deciding what art stays up and what leaves. The girlfriend doesn't love the mike Tyson pop art so that might be a goner.

Thinking for the next purchase I might get an small dining room table so I could actually have some people over for dinner. In the meantime I am going to get rid of the bar and replace it with the medical cabinet in the corner since I have been storing my liquor in there for an while.

Could also consider a built in bookshelf over cinder blocks right to the wall similar to this (excuse the mess, still under construction!)

It must have been a bit of a disappointing to discover the cinderblock... It certainly steals the beauty from the natural brick, and there is just too much of it to make a feature of it. My recommendation is to stay away from fake veneer brick, (the new/old contrast will not be good). Instead, go for reclaimed lumber or a natural plaster or a combination of both. Check out some ideas for natural finisheshere

Just a little update to everyone but I recently got some neat art that I think looks good over the brick. Besides the painting I am also waiting for a new could go come in which will be the same green like color of the medicine cabinet. When my gf moves in the furniture will move around a bit since she has a dining room table that we will put by the window and am going to move the recliner to the other side of the room. Will eventually get a desk for the corner of the room so we can both work from home if needed. The rug is something I picked up this weekend.

I was looking at this ....thinking....

Love the art, but thinking it needs to be hung lower...4 or so inches above and centered over couch. Nice job!

Will just move the couch to make it centered and will check out moving the painting down a little.

That USA painting on the brick does actually looked pretty good. You guys amaze me at the stuff that people think about. Very happy how the place is coming out so far - my next project that I need to start next month is the bathroom. I'm a little scared.

There is an art form called drip art that stems from the streetart faction of artists. It seemed to flow with your semi industrial vibe. These are done mural size and normally semi transparent.

If you want to experiment or just have it removable at a later date you can actually paint with crushed chalk and sidewalk chalk.
Otherwise a very watered down latex and it won't be to difficult to remove later.

lucidos' idea is the city vibe! Could be cool done well..........

It must be a bit disappointing to find cinder blocks...It would certainly steal beauty from the natural bricks, and too many of them would not do their job. My advice is to avoid using fake tiles.Instead, it recycles wood or natural plaster or a combination of the two.Check out some ideas for natural grooming here

4 year old post Peter.

Luc what did you end up doing?