apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

This is the type of decorating and design we need to see more of on AT - thoughtful, creative, and interesting. Its too easy for "editors" to post the latest junk from Designer X. This place has turned into a virtual link mall for consumer consumption. If AT needs to exercise a little more editorial restraint - replace quantity with quality in its content. This is a great example of what we should see. Dig a little deeper here.

I normally don't like cutesy cutesy design. But this is very cool, in a true retro-mod sort of way. I think what really helps make this space are the colorful accessories to complement the bold dots, in particular, the bright yellow cappucino (?) maker.

Just in case people missed it -- the letters by the sink ("eau") spell "water" in french. Too cute!

I can't imagine a kitchen with a big window like this didn't look cheerful before, now it looks cheap.

Just remove those God Awful purple/red circles and it would be really sweet.

The yellow espresso maker is truly delicious, wish I had that. Were does it come from. Who manufacturers that?

The espresso machine is a 'FrancisFrancis!'. 900 smackers.

I love the sense of humor... and priorities. Remodel on the cheap and get the cadalliac espresso machine. Watever works for you.

This is from the girl who's coworker was teasing her about driving a crappy car when i have a decent salary untill i told her i'd be financing a trip to europe for the cost of one year of her lease.

i really like the whole sink/dishwasher/counter combo. any idea if these are available in North America?

Actually, besides the espresso maker, what I like best is the table and stools, with the counterweighted lamp. I've been searching for just that sort of slightly battered vintage table for years. But maybe it's not vintage?

As for the other stuff, well, if an English speaker had put letters spelling "water" next to the sink, we'd think it was silly. But, hey, it's French, so it must be chic...

ange_lune,
the sink/dishwasher/counter etc. are IKEA!

Bolder,
The table is described as a "bistro" table -- which probably means it is either vintage or second-hand from a restaurant that remodeled or went out of business.

Also: The funny thing about the "EAU" in the photo is that the more usual trendy thing people are doing with their letters in Paris these days is to write words in English -- like LOVE, HOME or KITCHEN. You see this all the time in home decor -- but you never see any French people with AMOUR or MAISON plastered on their walls or pillows.

I've got "Petit Boite de Bijou" on the wall of my little 1940's Cape Cod. I think that's correct French for "Little Jewel Box" (anyone who knows better--please, correct me!)

I have to agree with southernwayfarer -- less $3000 bent plywood coffee table porn, more real-world decorating and design posts like this would be great for this site. This is inspiring and not in a way that encourages me to rack up more credit card debt.

I love the French.... even though they don't love us.

blech.

@Kuroneko,

I don't mean to be rude to anyone who wrote that but "Petit Boite de Bijou" is actually incorrect. It should be "Petite Boite à Bijoux" or "Petite Boite de Bijoux" ... Sorry, but I couldn't not say it, the french teacher in me was telling me I had to ;)

But you were right, it means little jewel box or little jewelry box.

Hope it helped!

while this isn't what I'd do, I do agree it's a great way to spruce up basic cabinets and appliances that have little to no style, however, I'd put color on the walls instead and paint the concrete floor like she did and leave the rest as is and it'd cost just as little to do, perhaps with a bit more time involved due to the walls being painted.

I find all white to be a bit too sterile IMO and part of it is that it's often a failsafe fall back that I think is relied upon a bit too easily for many when it comes to decorating and there is nothing wrong with some white, especially true if you live in a warm/hot climate where it's sunny much of the time, white and a touch of blue will help visually "cool" the room a bit.

I will say that her technique just stops short of being overly cutesy and I'm not a fan of cute for cute's sake.

BTW, I think the sink/cabinet/dishwasher combo was achieved through a single cabinet, an end piece and a long counter w/ the sink in one end, creating the opening for the dishwasher to slide in and is not a onepiece unit like it kind of looks like.

It looks like this is where the kids do their homework.

Nice. I like the dots and the birds on the backsplash. Perhaps I need to add some mod dots to my fridge.

ciddyguy - it is a one-piece. outside of North America this kind of thing is quite standard.

kristin - maybe in European Ikea, but not here!

oh wait - is this the Bravad free-standing kitchen series from Ikea?