Wanted: Smaller room with less light

Literally 91% of our bedroom walls are covered in mirrors. We've hated them since before we even moved in. (Sean & Lily at the open house: "Nice room. Those mirrors have to go.")

Yes, yes, mirrors make a space feel bigger and add natural light. But honestly, it's an 8x10 room... do you need 80 square feet of mirrors? It doesn't exactly fool your eye into thinking the room is bigger.

So how to remove them? You have to smash them. Not for us. Most contractors won't even take the job, and those that do... charge a lot.

We thought about painting them to look like walls, (Our neighbor did this) but we never got around to it because we hate our current wall color. We'd also thought about covering it with something like a lattice, or reeds, or bamboo or something.

Last weekend we went into the new CB2 in SoHo. Out of nowhere, a set of lovely linen curtains jumped off the shelf and said "I match your bedroom and can cover your mirror! I am 8 feet long and can run floor-to-ceiling! You will love me, and I am on sale!" Not to disappoint the aggressive product, we bought 8 panels and 2 curtain rods on the spot.



We installed them wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling (only one day before Sean's siblings came over for the thanksgiving day parade!) They look great!!



Ghetto Penthouse... a little less tacky, one day at a time.

I love it when a (floor) plan comes together

Before



After


We've lived here for 18 months and never really set up the living room. Well, there was furniture, and it was sort of arranged, but we never actually took the time to see if it was a good use of the space. Actually, we knew it was a terrible use of space. A quarter of the room was "dead space", and became filled with junk we wanted to get rid of. And the main sitting area didn't have any natural light, and was crammed in the middle of the thoroughfare. Which meant that walking from A to B (anywhere) required you slalom between the coffee table and ottoman. (Resulting in many a bruised shin.)

So last week, Sean took it upon himself to rearrange the room. Viola! More space. The new layout has the added benefit of allowing us to peer up at the sky while lounging on the couch.



Yes, it's very very messy. We still have a lot of boxes and furniture to get rid of, but at least they're offensively standing in the middle of the room instead of hiding behind the sofa being forgotten about.

Floor plans by the incomparable Google Sketchup