I'm Finally Decorating Again . . . DD's New Apartment!
Decorating has been truly a lifelong passion for me. But, our home is done, and has been for a number of years now. Unlike some people, I have no desire to redo rooms anymore. I like them the way they are, and living in them makes me happy. But, I've been wanting a new project for a long time . . . and now I finally have one: DD's entire new apartment, and I'm loving every minute of it! As I mentioned a while back, she graduated from the University of Oklahoma (OU) this past December. She's been working there since then, but is headed to grad school in early-June at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS). We had to look for apartments online, but have found a really nice 1-bedroom in a fairly new complex close to UCCS. Top floor (3rd) , end apartment with a smallish balcony that faces north with a mountain view. The view was important to DD, as she was born and raised in our New Mexico mountains and has missed them a lot.
Anyhoo, she has most of what she needs for her bedroom and bathroom already, as she's been sharing a 4 bedroom house in Norman with 3 of her sorority sisters for the past three years. Now, though, she needs furniture for her living room, as well as a LOT of kitchen stuff. Up until now, pretty much all of her furniture, other than her mattress, box springs and desk chair have been garage sale or consignment shop finds that she and I have redone when needed. I can't handle buying upholstered furniture used unless I know the person, plus both my kids are very allergic to cats, so we're buying her this new sofa and chair. BTW, she wants to (wisely) go with neutrals, with accent colors of aqua and coral. Those are the colors already in her bedroom.
She'd been looking online for coffee tables, but a friend suggested we try consignment shops. Great advice because I found and bought this one last week at a local consignment shop. It's in perfect condition and I love the practicality of the two deep drawers that roll out, one from each side. I paid $160 for it, which I think was a fair price. It had just been reduced from $200.
She has 2 end tables, painted aqua, in her bedroom now, that she is going to move to her new living room. We're just going to have to redo the hardware from white to a bronze. I am totally NOT up to redoing the finish on the tables themselves at this point in time, though! And, because she's my daughter, she already has a great art collection (LOL). Nothing very valuable, but all make her very happy, which is most important IMO. The piece below is one of her birthday gifts from us last month. I think that it's going to work very well with the rest in there. I made a mock-up of that part of her living room for her to see, and she loves it so far:
To the right will be her chair and a floor lamp tray table. And then the door to her balcony. Directly across the room will be her credenza that will hold her TV, it's paraphernalia, and her DVD collection. With more art above it, and a nice lamp on it. Off to the far left is her eating bar and kitchen. No room for a kitchen table, but we're giving her these two bar stools of ours:
My friend and I are recovering the seats in this "faux crocodile" upholstery vinyl, which I've already ordered:
Anyhoo, thanks for letting me share my newest project with you all. It's fun creating this, but also fun sharing it, as well.
Comments (30)
Related Professionals
Clinton Township Interior Designers & Decorators · Washington Interior Designers & Decorators · Framingham Furniture & Accessories · Greenville Furniture & Accessories · Chino Hills Furniture & Accessories · Eureka Furniture & Accessories · Fountain Furniture & Accessories · Highland Park Furniture & Accessories · Millburn Furniture & Accessories · Carpinteria Furniture & Accessories · Arlington Custom Artists · New Bedford Custom Artists · Aurora Window Treatments · Sacramento Window Treatments · West Des Moines Window Treatments- 8 years ago
Thank you! It feels so good to be decorating something again!
I found 2 (new with tag) lamps at a local consignment shop that look very much like the ones in my mock-up pic. I'm hoping they'll work ok on either side of her sofa.
Dilemma: She has this black credenza in her bedroom (here) that she's wanting to use in her new living room, on the wall across from the sofa to hold her tv. It's 40" long by 31" H and 17" deep. I'm not crazy about it, and would prefer finding another one that would work better with the sofa and coffee table, although my DH is starting to balk at how much I'm spending with all of this stuff. Do you think that it would work ok as is . . . or paint it? Her flat screen tv will take up the majority of space on top, with perhaps a nice, skinny buffet lamp next to it, and more of her art hung above. I could look for a nice runner that would hang down some on each side in aqua or a print that has both aqua and coral. Something classy and not cute or froufrou. The shelves will hold her DVD player, maybe her many DVDs, etc. The clutter down there would drive me crazy, but she seems to be ok with it. And, yes, those are aqua glass knobs on there (did I mention that aqua is her favorite color? At least it looks good on her, as she's a natural light blond with green eyes-LOL!). So what do you think? Leave it black? Talk her into painting it? Replace the knobs with some "big girl" ones? She says the aqua will work great in her new living room. My vote is to replace them with larger metal ones. Some that echo the ornate metal work on her coffee table, perhaps. I honestly don't know if I'm up to stripping and staining it. We painted the black over it's original beat-up white paint, and heaven only knows what was under the white! What about adding some wood trim around the drawers and on both sides? I'd have to repaint it all then, as this was painted at least 8 years ago.
So, what do you think?????? 
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoCould you do a rub -n-buff bronze, teal or antique brass or other on it then spray a clear coat? That would be cheap, fast and easy.
Or, a bronze or brown rub and spray the drawers high gloss light lacquer. It wouldn't look like this but I'm using for inspiration.
Heres a before and after with metallic rub n buff.
Or mix me and add a high gloss spray.
I think a tone close to the coffee table on the body and a high gloss lacque spray close to the sofa color would look nice especially after a knob change. Micheal Gold was selling stuff like that for a lot of money.
LynnNM thanked just_terrilynn- 8 years ago
Some good ideas, Terrilynn. I'm going to run down to my local Home Depot and look to see what they have as far as paint/glaze/antique options. Also to Hobby Lobby. Oh, and I just found these great drawer bin pulls there online for $5.99 each. By themselves, they might be too ornate for the credenza, but I'm also looking at wood trim for the drawer fronts and sides. Stripping just the top and staining it a medium brown, leaving the rest black might also help it.
- 8 years ago
- 8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
And, at World Market, one of these runners to top off the credenza. Both are 16" wide and 90" long, so they'd hang down 25" on each side. Doable, and would bring in a bit more of the exotic she likes, as well as the coral or aqua accent colors. I especially like the coral.
And then Mom won't have to paint this credenza again (LOL!) - 8 years ago
- 8 years ago
- 8 years ago
Yes, the lamps are oil rubbed bronze, but so are the bar stools, and, yes, they can be seen easily from the living room. Below is her apartment layout.
- 8 years ago
User