Well, for starters, I hate those white, cheap-looking cast-iron (???) columns.
However, my son, a poor grad student, would love the kitchen, especially the multi-functional island, a foosball table with a chopping board on top?

It does remind me of a grad student pad, just oversized.

Eclectic is my style. This is a miss, imo. Even eclectic has a vibe of eclectic continuity. This is a mashup of disjointed stuff.

I have to agree, none of the rooms seem well put together or special to me, not my taste at all. It's a shame too because the space is really lovely. Love those floors.

Nope! The dumbest thing is the bathtub sitting in the middle of the bedroom....surrounded by wood floors no less.

I think the cast iron columns are probably original. They allow for a finished ceiling if you want.

Overall I think it looks "cobbled" but that's what most "true lofts" looked like to me. Of course the true loft used to be a relatively inexpensive way to live in NYC so cobbled seemed appropriate. My friend's loft had the bathroom and kitchen built up on platforms so all the plumbing could be run above the floor.

To me the main issue is the layout of the furnishing. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for where things are put. It looks to me like the movers dropped off the stuff and it's waiting for someone to put it in the right place.

Well, even if they're original, I hate the columns. What bugs me is their "freestyle". Or yet another revival....

They aren't really a recognized style. no. There's no historical column with egg and dart on the capital. Some sort of Victorian eclecticism and not one that I care for. I actually tend to like the big concrete mushroom columns, but I think NYC was more heavily into cast iron.

What a mess. I love eclectic too and that's just not it. The kitchen looks builder grade in a mid-priced condo. The floor really bothers me and, while I'm sure they are not, the furnishings kind of have a cheap feel.

I would expect more based on the location.

I like it overall. If
it were me though, I would do away with the open rack clothes storage and would
do a creative contained closet. The columns
would look better in a not as bright color. Some sort of cool eclectic partial screen/room
divider would look great around or near the tub. Also, some hanging plexus
glass artsy partial room divider would look great somewhere in the open living
area. Easy fixes! I think it’s nice.

As a said, it looks like a grad student pad --- except for the price tag.

I kind of like the columns with the beams. The architecture isn't the problem. Do you really think a decorator/designer is involved here? There are stupid window treatments. That wall paper yuk! Those giant sock darners....why place them right next to the columns? I get eclectic and don't even mind the stuff they have; I just want to do some serious rearranging. The TV room is ok. I just like the artwork and pillows.

The price tag is location, location, location. What is left after the 'eclectic' is moved out, is a bathtub in the middle of nowhere, a kitchen gut job and I hope they used sizing under the wallpaper.

I wonder if this is really how the homeowner had the place furnished because the rooms don't look livable at all. It could be the pictures, but that looks like a poky kitchen for such a large apartment.

I pretty much like it, and I even like the bathtub in the bedroom. However, it still seems a bit overpriced to me, especially the condo fees. I hope they get regular in-house massages for that price! Does the building even have a gym?
I would have hung the bicycles, since the ceiling are high enough for that to be a possibility. They are pretty much in the way where they are now, and the office looks cluttered.
I like the kitchen, and it seems to have a fair amount of storage. I especially like the overhead cabinets. No reason to change anything there.
I also like the art work, although they seem to have space for a bit more.
Lars

Leaves me cold ... it looks like they used leftovers from some ritzy design studio that went bankrupt. In a real eclectic decor, you can get a sense of the residents past and their present life.

I think it is boring and junky. Someone has taken the "high/low" thing to a new....height? Depth? The table and benches look like they were bought off the roadside at a furniture stand in north Georgia or NC or Tennessee. Fine, in context. But they're paired with baronial chairs that look almost medieval, and the combination is beyond silly. All the skin rugs on the floor (Hugh Hefner wants them back), the ikea looking study, the bargello print ----lol!---- wallpaper....it is all a big collection of high/ low junk.

In related news I am mourning the loss of Home and Garden as its own section :-(

I think the columns throw me off the most. There is not much to the decor that references the same neo-Victorian period, thus nothing ties back to such a major architectural element. It is also hard to combine animal print, black, and pink neon and not bring up a bit of the tawdry (which may be an intentional reference)

It feels a little disjointed and some rooms seem kind of empty. I wonder if some stuff was pulled out on advice of a real estate agent?

I don't want to take a bath in the middle of a huge open room.

It's hard to imagine spending any time in the sitting area of the bedroom. It's a 3 person sitting area, what with a loveseat and two chairs. I can't come up with a scenario in which it would be utilized.

At that price ....I think I would be looking around! I do not like the columns. Period.

Too much "juxtapositioning" going on. Living edge table and bench against a formal chandelier. Columns against an exposed wood beam against exposed plumbing. (the columns are just wrong). Zig-zag wall paper against detailed columns. I don't mind some visual tension in a room because it can lead to interest but there is nothing cohesive going on here. Bedrooms are bedrooms and I tend not to be critical of them but the master bathtub needs a screen around it - I think.

Blfenton, I think you are right. It is, over-juxtapositioned!

It's possible a decorator was not involved, but some of the items look to-the-trade to me, and it would be unusual at that price point to not use anyone at all.

I agree the K looks highend builder-grade.

"Plein air" bathtubs don't bother me in master bedrooms and I would use one. I mean, it is for lounging not routine hygiene. My tub is in my "her BA" and it is in a part of my bathroom that is open in the sense that there is only a glass french barn door between it and the MBR. And it is on a wood floor.

I love the columns against the raw beams against the living edge DR table and chandelier. I like the neon sig and the wall paper. Even the coffee table. Not much else but TBH I stopped looking. Too much that didn't work for me. I liked reading all of the differing opinions.

lol Java!

By contrast, I love love this house, esp the room show in slides 9 and 10. The Japanese prints!

Another NY Times Property, this one i think is great

Yep, that house is gorgeous. Interesting touches all over.

I love the second house. The first one gives me the shivers.

I hate the columns. I think they look stupid, but I assume they're needed to hold up the ceiling. I don't really like anything about the place.

I like that house for a variety of reasons. Slide 6 - love the doors and how they frame the foyer. I think I was drooling on that one..

Slide 9 and 10 - slide 9 has the Japanese prints of braided knots and slide 10 shows a good use of mirror by reflecting something interesting - the same prints. What I also noticed reflected in the mirror but you can also see it in the forefront is the gorgeous chandelier which quickly reminded me of Japanese fishing floats. I certainly don't know if that was the intention but for me, it was very cool.

I just like that house.

Blfenton, Yes, yes, I was swooning over those Japanese prints in the second house too. Hadn't thought of glass floats, the chandy looks original so I didn't notice it much, but now that you mention it. I also like the LR in in slide 5, the non-decorated look of it, and I like the gray of the wall and trim in the DR.

Yes, the Japanese prints are droolworthy. I've never seen woodblock prints like these.
On another note: I'm amazed that people can have a baby/toddler and off- white sofas, not to mention Schumacher fabrics. At that age, my kids puked (or worse) all over things.

I am too cold all the time to take a bath in the open. I close the door of my tiny 5x7x7 high bathroom and crank up the wall heater full blast.

The second house is great.

Who remembers the kitchen a couple of years ago......I think mirror door fronts, a chandy that I don't recall but suffice to say, I didn't want it. Feathers? I think the paint was high gloss black. Something going on with the floor that I don't recall. Did it have a lot of hot pink or am I just dreaming?

As for this one. I like columns but not in this place. It looks like they decorated with every item they liked. Get rid of the metal clothes rack!! The kitchen doesn't go with the rest of the hodgepodge. It's probably the only room I could sit in for 15 minutes. As a whole, It's a miss.

Pal. that is actually a very good point. I don't find that too much of an issue with a bath because I can keep adding hot water. But it is a problem with very large shower stalls, shower rooms, and even rain shower heads. In my shower for example, I have a wall mount shower head, a hand held, and a rain shower. I never use the rain shower, because the water is not as warm as the other two. I swear that the extra distance makes the water cool off (they are run off the same thermostat).

I had made mention of wanting a screen around that bathtub and that's because when I do have a bath which isn't all that often, it's all about the cozy cocooning. It's kind of tough to cocoon in that cavernous bedroom.

MtnRdRedux - we had heard that same comment about rain shower heads which is why we didn't put them in when doing our renos. And besides, I live in rain country and from October to May I can step outside into a rain shower, don't need one in the house. :).

In the first link, those columns look fake. Like there are metal posts underneath that they wanted to dress up, so they went out and bought those plastic post covers. They aren't fully structural, since most of the column is not touching the beam. That's what gives the impression of something being covered up.

And yes, the kitchen is boring builder grade.

The loft is just silly. The Brooklyn place is just lovely. It is quiet and comfortable and livable and timeless.

I hate the second house - it just goes to show that taste is a personal matter. I much prefer eclectic over traditional, and I would never be comfortable in the second house - way too boring and predictable - nothing innovative in it that I can see. I am aware that I do not have popular taste, however.

The loft is so sad. It has so much space and potential, but it's just dark, unfriendly, and overwrought.

The second house is such a relief to look at after the loft. It's so simple and pretty, especially the family room/library.

I don't think it's really fair to compare the 2 spaces. One is a loft with a modern vibe, and the other is much more traditional style rowhouse.

While I think there are problems with the first one, I'd still probably choose it to live in over the second. I could fix the issues. Whereas the second one is less to my taste, and making it more my taste would probably ruin it in the opinion of others.

Even eclectic needs some forethought. It's obvious not much was given to 'achieve' the homeowner's idea of a decorated room, or maybe it was over thought.

Amber, you are right it really should be a different post as they have nothing in common except they are two houses I recently came across and found noteworthy,. Certainly both the raw material and the aims were very different, so it does not make too much sense to compare them, and I personally didn't mean to.

Other units in the building

and one of the penthouse units

The columns in the apartment in the OP are also in the "Other units in the building" link but aren't nearly as obnoxious. They aren't played down or up but are simply there - part of the environment.

How do you see the other units in the building?

I'm not sure if you're asking me or nosoccermom. I clicked on the links in nosoccermom's post.

Ah, I missed nosccermom's post. (smacking myself in the forehead now. :)