Scott, Ikea, Home Depot and I spent this three-day weekend gaying up my apartment. I mean designing my apartment. My place in New York was on the shoebox side of cozy and so I decorated it in a lot of mellow tones, so as not to make my visitors feel like they were in the middle of some sort of claustrophobic acid trip. Sage, burgundy, taupe. Cool, calm, peaceful.
“I call it blah,” Scott said. The man pulls no punches.
So, in an effort to expand my horizons, I let Scott lead the decorating charge. Which turned out to involve a lot of paint. In colors that normally belong on jewelry store boxes and fat kindergarten crayons. Grass green. Tuscan yellow. Tiffany blue. It also involved a lot of me pacing in and out of the room as the paint dried asking, “Are you sure that it’s not… too much?”
“Go bold. Trust your gay! I won’t steer you wrong.”
Today I tried to get some shots that show just how right he steered me, but the very reason we spent a three-day weekend inside my house playing Trading Spaces was that the weather has been just plain gross. Rain. Clouds. More rain. But since I know the Interweb is very forgiving and has a keen imagination, I’ll show you what I got, bad lighting and all.
Here’s a little (poorly shot) before & after of my office area:
My now super duper kick-ass dining room, and the holy-shit-this-is-bright bedroom:
Oh, and I also finally threw some shit up on the walls.
I decided that I wasn’t going to decorate my apartment with art made my strangers. Instead, I chose to put up photos of the people I love, and the photos we take. My friends, their babies, the weird and wonderful things we see on vacation together. Oh yeah, and my cat. But that’s to be expected.
Not even Scott the design diva and his magical colorfan are a match for a cat lady in training.
Looks great!! I painted my entire apartment with the Nickelodeon and Disney paint colors when I moved into this place 4 years ago, and I still love it. Love that you went with the blue, too – the big wall in my living room is bright turquoise, and I love walking in after a long day. It makes me feel relaxed and happy. Hope your place does the same for you!
While I liked the look of your original room (it does seem calming and peaceful, good qualities for an office to have), I gotta say, your boys did an excellent job of bringing the glitz of the city to Texas. It’s gorgeous!
I love it. I want your gays to come to Cali. a) Because the Scotts are so artistic and b) Because they seem fun to hang with.
Will you share? 
HA! I’ve been waiting to see pics of your red couch!
THe place looks awesome! Man, I need to do that in my place. I have far too much beige. I love the green.
Can I borrow your gays?
There’s Hal, the poser.
Beautiful! I definitely need a Scott.
Does each room have one bold wall or is the bedroom that color throughout?
LOVE his work!
Oohh, lurve all the pretty colours! And SirHal looks pretty interested too!
It looks great! When I finished decorating my new place and posted pics of the results, my kitty Winston was also in every pic. Cat ladies unite! (I especially love the darting-through-the-dining-room shot)
The RED! couch is fantastic!
Looks fabulous! Please send Scott to my house ASAP.
It’s lovely! Sounds like a fun way to spend some rainy days.
It made me think, too, because I live in a studio and it’s filled with all kinds of bright colors. Ha! I’m probably burning the retinas of all my friends. Good times.
Oh my god that looks AMAZING! Go with the gayness!
Well done!
Oh the colors are FAB!
Trust a gay, they always know.
Love that sofa – where did you get it?
Women and your paint anxiety. As a married dude who just bought a condo, I must say I’d rather deal with 30 days of PMS thank 2 weeks of paint anxiety. I just don’t get it.
totally awesome. love the bold, beautiful colors.
p.s. do the scotts know about your bloggy-blog?
1. The couch is from Rooms to Go (the pillows are from Target).
2. Yes, Scott knows about the blog, but I’m not sure he reads all that often.
I think it looks awesome! Love the colors!
Always follow your gay; they never, never steer you wrong!
Your place looks fabu, dahling! Love the mirrors in the dining room. I think Scott stole that idea from me. Yep, I’ve got mirrors in my dining room too.
One word…. FABULOUS!
Great job! Can I fly you out to California to spruce up my place?
Very nice! I agree with the rest of your commenters. Trust your gay! But I hope that not all 4 walls of your bedroom are that blue. That would even keep me awake LOL!
Gotta jump on all this stereotyping. While I suppose extreme design skills is a nice stereotype as stereotypes go, plenty of gay men are dull, pedestrian fellows with no particular visual/dramatic flair. Also, there exist black people with no rhythm and Jews living below the poverty line. For realz, yo.
That’s not to say that the new Fish Bowl isn’t lovely — it is — but just that Scott’s design talent isn’t a result of his homosexuality or vice versa. BTW, Sir Hal is one long thin dude. How do you not overfeed him? Has he not mastered the “please feed me twice as much as the recommended daily allowance of kitty kibble” meow? What brand does he eat?
As fantastic as the new digs look Fish, your gays totally got your weekend project all wrong. Building an Ark would have been much more practical right now and imagine what they could have done with all that space! Picture it: Trading Biblical Spaces! And there would be two Sir Hals to go with your two Scotts! (Sorry, got carried away with the !’s.)
Very chic, Fish, Looks fantastic!
I love, love, love that green accent wall!!
the blue bedroom, however lovely the colour (and it is indeed a lovely Tiffany blue colour), is un peut trop for this girl – I can’t sleep in any room that’s not white or some variation thereof. Yes, I am in therapy
Ooh, very nice. The gays did a great job.
The red couch is…awesome.
Love it! As a new college grad, I can’t wait until a couple years down the road when I, too, can buy a place and decorate. Maybe by then I will have a “Scott” friend like you…
im a big fan of photos of my friends and art by my friends as well. my fridge is COVERED in photos.
Love that dining room. Paint is our friend. I repaint my living room and dining area a different color ever year just because it’s fun — of course then I have to get new pillows and accessories, but it’s fun! Never fear the paint.
Pretty!!! I have to second that “not hanging art by strangers” — I love how my apartment looks with pictures by/of the people I love!
Whoa! Love the place! THAT is some GREAT decorating. I’m going home this summer and my parents have practically torn down my bedroom and it’s up to me to fix it up and redecorate, so thanks for being my inspiration!
Looks like the Scotts are a hit – as is the redecoration process! LOVE IT! Love the walls, love the accessories, love it – love it – love it!! If the Scotts decide to take their show on the road, please give them directions to my house, too!!
Oh my god – it’s fantastic! I love it! Color is so great. I grew up in a house with all beige carpeting and white walls. It was like a freaking museum. So boring. I had no idea how nice a home can look with color. Gay guys are the BEST!!
Wow, I really love all those colors! And the decorating is understated but sophisticated.
After a year in my studio, I’ve finally been wanting to paint. So thanks for the extra inspiration, though I doubt mine will turn out as well. Unless you have a NYC gay you can recommend.
You mean your “holy-****-this-is-amazing” bedroom? Because that color is brilliant. Like, to the point of me wanting to run out and get a bucket of “tiffany blue” to paint my room.
And, also, I kind of want to jump on your couch.
It looks beautiful. Hats of to you and the Scotts. I love the colours beyond belief. I wish I could get my hubby to agree to some of those colours for our house. *sigh*
Funny thing is, my gay’s name is also Scott, but he is the most non-gay gay I have ever known. The man lives in cargo shorts, t-shirts and baseball caps and has zero decorating ability whatsoever. I love him dearly though.
OOOO. I just looked at the picture gallery in the dining room – where did you find the frames? Because a) those look fabulous grouped together like that, and b) they seem to be the perfect size for those new photo sizes Ritz camera is touting on the radio….
From This Fish: They’re actually mirrors, not frames. And I got them at Ikea.
I love love love your dining room. That green wall looks gorgeous against the dark wood of the table! speaking of which, WHERE did you pick that up from? Its beautiful! I need to find myself some gays!
I’d love to know the brand and color name for the tiffany blue bedroom as I’d like to paint my bedroom that color but can’t seem to find the right color. Can you please divulge the name?
Hey, weird thing… I totally got an email addressed to you asking for some sort of link exchange for a law firm. How weird is that?
It says “We believe that your site thisfish.com audience will
take advantage of the information McFarlinLaw.com provides.”
From This Fish: What?? That’s so bizarre. Not only is their spam demon way off, but This Fish readers are law abiding citizens. They don’t need no stinkin’ law firm.
Cute! Tell the guys to come to my place in Iowa & spice things up
Where is the plastic slipcovers for the couch? Kitty is gonna barf up a hairball on it.
Okay…. I can’t believe I’m the only one to point this out, but, you do realize what acronym C at L ady I n T raining makes, don’t you?
“From This Fish: They’re actually mirrors, not frames. And I got them at Ikea.”
Cool!! Thanks!
You need to check out my best friend’s apartment. I’m trying to send photos…not sure if it will work on this though. She’s in Orlando and it’s uncanny how much her apartment looks like yours (her green paint is called Atomic Vomit Green). If you can’t pull up pix, just email me if you’re curious. Her apartment is CUTE!!!!! Same fugly beigy carpet though…I mean, what can you do with beige carpet?
So when does Hal’s house get some redocrating?
Okay – Scott(s) have never lived in NYC, so they don’t know the fun/hell that trying to make a hallway with a bed in it look “homey” that is Manhattan decor.
But I love the colors in you new digs! This is coming from a gal wth a honeydew green bedroom – bold is beautiful baby. Your place seems much more a home now.
You’re one stylish lady from inside to out
You’ve got a design background, yes? Graphic design,right? Maybe one day I can use my design skills also to paint over the dull white walls. I’m tired of apartment living.
Wait, I thought you were moving?
oooh! Beautiful! Can I borrow your gays? Seriously – it looks gorgeous.
You should check out this new book that just came out last week: “Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys: True Tales of Love, Lust, and Friendship Between Straight Women and Gay Men.”
Hi there… where did you get that little bookshelf on the left of your sofa? i’ve been looking for something like that!!
Love the color in the dining room. It looks so pulled together and peaceful. Your bedroom color is similar to the color in our guest room.
I think you need one of these
I have the same IKEA mirrors on my living room wall above the sofa. Although, the accent colors in the room are vintage green and chocolate brown… the mirrors are on a white wall. Yours looks much better. KUDOS to the fish!
looks good. really god, but you know that by now. Just wanted to say hi…stop by and say hi yourself sometime
looks great…
America is such a colorful place.
what color did you use for the tiffany blue in the bedroom? I love it!
Behr’s Sweet Rhapsody