So, I'm closing on my condo in a couple of weeks.

As I mentioned in an earlier thread, there's an insane mural covering one of the walls and I hate the paint in the rest of it. So before I even move in, I need to paint the whole place, top to bottom, every single room.

I'm a little overwhelmed at the prospect. I've only ever lived in apartments. I have had white walls for, like, ever. I have no freaking clue what to do.

So - I need help! Post pics of rooms you really like. Maybe I'll get some ideas...

oh - and no blues or beige. I hate both of those colors.

2 ideas:

go to barnes & noble. look through their home magazines - Nest & Wallpaper are hip and fun to look at, but look at stuff like Elle Decor, too. Find a couple of magazines that have several ideas you like and buy them. Go home and mark the pages you like.

go to homo depot and just wander through the home decor/housepaint department. you will get ideas just wandering. get paint chips and color strips and all the free brochures that look good to you.

i bet between doing those two things, you'll work out what you want to do with your new pad.

and for god's sake, GO WANDER IKEA!!!!

Anxiety said:

Yay!

These are perfect ideas!

B&N will be easy. I can go tomorrow on my way home from work. I'm gonna have to figure out how to get to Home Depot on the bus, though. Maybe I'll leave that one for the weekend...

Anxiety said:

Yeah, I will eventually. I'm just trying to figure out the paint thing. I have enough furiture to get by when I move in (though I'm gonna want new stuff quite soon after, as soon as I can afford it). But I need to figure out a color scheme. I just don't even know what to do. It's SO BIG. It's really overwhelming to think about.

a friend of mine in chicago had a really cool idea for painting the walls of his apartment...well, actually, did you ever see the walls of MY apartment in chicago? the green and putty colored stripes? he did that. but he also did something far more subtle: he got cans of matte & gloss of the same color paint, then did nice, thick vertical stripes on his walls. it was very subtle, very elegant. he did it in white, but i'm sure you could go with just about any color.

it's just an idea of the kind of fun you can have with this.

CarrieMpls said:

well, i was thinking ikea more in terms of lighting ideas, unless that's already worked out. but also, it's a good place to get ideas for placement of furniture, decorations, blah blah blah.

Anxiety said:

I actually saw a pic of a condo with a pale yellow and off-white striped walls and I thought it was lovely. Though I'm not big on yellow. But perhaps a pale pink... Like, REALLY pale. And white...

And I've got a pillar to figure out what to do with.

I'm also a bit freaked cause it's a loft, so other than the bedroom and bathroom it's one gigantic room. I'm not sure how to make the kitchen and dining and living areas all different, but still complimentary, ya know?

CarrieMpls said:

ikea is good for that though, like what anxy said, lighting and even flick through the catalogue, they do colour on walls in there, and it always looks great!

Anxiety said:

ahhhh... yeah there is track lighting already installed. And it's quite nice. I may need to move some of them around, but I shouldn't need to purchase anything other than maybe a nice table lamp or two merely for fun.

ZombieKitten said:

yeah, good point. I will have to make a visit there soon!

CarrieMpls said:

I'd love to do a complete overhaul of a new place!

ZombieKitten said:

I love the idea of it, but it stresses me out a little too. I have to buy all appliances for the place as well (it was a foreclosure and they sold them) and I really will need a new couch, a dresser for the bedroom and my tv is quite old and sad, as well as the little table it sits on. My new condo is so awesome, this stuff just doesn't GO with it. So I'm gonna have to get tricksy with trying to make it nice while staying on a serious budget.

I bet I can find some DIY tips in magazines as well.

CarrieMpls said:

Go on their website and order a catalog. That way you go there with an idea of things you like.

The new one came in the mail today.

CarrieMpls said:

Do not feel overwhelmed, it will take some time for it all to fall together. I've lived in my place 13 years, and just when you finish one thing, it leads into another thing that needs fixing.

PaisleyPark5083 said:

Yeah, I know how that works. I mainly just need to get it painted before it can even be livable. It's honestly hideous right now.

Don't try to do all the rooms at once.
Be sure to give yourself "living" areas first and go from there. If you watch tv/hang out in your living room, then I'd start with that and the bedroom, or the bath. So that even when other things are in progress you have someplace that feels complete in which to unwind comfortably.

johnart said:

It's a loft. So there are only 3 rooms. There's a bedroom, a bathroom and one gigantic room that has kitchen on one end and big empty vastness for the rest of it. I pretty much have to paint it all at once as it makes sense to me to paint before I move in (so there's not stuff everywhere). I know I'll probably make changes over the next year or so but I need to start off with a fresh coat of paint everywhere.

This is the floor plan:

http://www.thechicagoloft...ans_m.html

(I don't have the optional wall - it's all open.)

CarrieMpls said:

Ace said:

It's so you!

CarrieMpls said:

How about not painting too many walls in colors, but picking and choosing accent walls for "punch". Also keeps it easier to change the color when you might feel like a change later on.





Tips:
http://www.myspacedesigne...design.php
http://www.myspacedesigne...ctures.php

johnart said:

ooh! Nice idea! And thanks for the links!!

Ace said:

alternative: if you need a chair or a table...

(Tadao Ando)
[Edited 8/4/09 20:51pm]

Black and white furniture accented by a black and hot pink wall.

if you keep the walls nuetral, off-whites and such, you can put up some dramatic looking paintings and wall-art.

all white

All of my current furniture is black. (Except my kitchen table and chairs are red and black and my computer desk and an end table are light pink.) I could continue with that only maybe one bright bit of color. I've been leaning towards lime green...

And I'm thinking the pink will go in the bathroom. Ya know it had to be somehwere.

i like this one. very hip, but very homey, too.

I like rustic over modern...but that's just me...
and I suppose modern would look better in a condo...but I dunno.
like this

and this (bit grand but..)

this is just a drawing but...love the style