The only thing I liked was the floors!

The whole thing is ghastly but the kitchen is incredible, and NOT in a good way. Just nightmarish. I can't imagine the person who would want to live in that place.

Smells like new money.

It's like exhibit A of -- just because you fall in love with lots of beautiful objects and can afford them, you don't need to shove them all into the same 15x20 space. That kitchen could induce seizures.

The most appealing spaces were the wine cellar/humidor -- mainly for the contents

Qaddafi called. He wants his aesthetic back.

OMG

How.....ornate! And, as a positive, at least the entire home flows design wise with their aesthetic. Even if that aesthetic is Versailles on acid with extra gilt. Every choice is appropriate within that context. No, it's not to most people's taste. But it took consistency and a definite point of view to create all of that. Maybe they used a mood board? You think?

They did have a Kohler Karbon faucet, and mostly drawers below..... think they hang out here?

It's SO homey!! You can just hear the patter of the children running through!

Nancy

It's horrid. The whole thing.

LMAO at your wit (all of you!!)--made my morning :) :)

Blech! Unspeakably vulgar.

I disagree, and think it's a beautiful apartment IF you like that aesthetic. I think it's beautifully furnished and detailed for that style of decorating and far from a disaster. It's not everyone's cup of tea but that's why there are so many styles of decoration. I don't think it's a horror, but tastefully done for that period look. I prefer a lot more modern look, but that doesn't mean I think this is terrible. It isn't for THAT look!

I think Joan Rivers has excellent taste in clothing and jewelry and her line does very well at QVC. Her forte is a quality, higher end, more classic elegant look for less. Her apartment is in the same style though as the one you are mocking, and is just as lavish. This is just another style of decorating and there are plenty of people who appreciate it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Joan Rivers apartment

I wouldn't say plenty of people but some people yes.

Apparently she had it listed before at $25 million and it never sold back in 2009. Now she's got it listed for yet more yet. Perhaps she's been told the market has increased or perhaps she believes that for how beautiful it is, she expects to get top dollar. The problem is, the pool of people with that kind of money, and like things that ornate are far few and in between. Here's one of the comments for ones that don't want to read it further "Prospective buyers with even one iota of taste, however, know that this place needs to be gut renovated: the leopard-print carpets rolled up and burned, the gaudy gilded moldings stripped to evoke something less".

Here is a link that might be useful: Joan Rivers Relists Ridiculous Apartment

To me the Joan Rivers apartment feels a world apart from this. Personal, airy and and Versaillesy in that 'kinda tacky but kinda really awesome because eff it, I'm a queen' kind of way. To me it reads quite beautiful!

I would love someone who is good at design to deconstruct the listing above however. What feels off about it and what would be done to make it more livable?

To me one thing that feels a little off is the combination of honey wood and red wood in the space. And on the floors a combination of tans and reds as well.

Actually the kitchen is probably one of my favorite rooms - at least the color palette is restrained! All those sharp edges on the island look really uncomfortable though.

Agreed that the floors are uh may zing.

This post was edited by robotropolis on Thu, Feb 14, 13 at 9:12

Oh lord, I just googled black kitchens. Why did I do that to myself? My (cheap as heck) cabinetmaker doesn't have that option!

I think the Joan Rivers apartment makes more sense than the Canadian apartment. The Rivers place seems to have rooms with dimensions of the right scale (not too large, but high ceilings) for that type of decoration. And it's done in a light finish with gilding. The Canadian apartment is sort of a big open plan with heavily ornamented, heavy contrast dark walls tethered out on the horizons of the room. It's just too much of everything.

I guess I can be the outlier here, but I like it! I think the flooring and the trim molding is beautiful. I don't like kitchen at all though. Go figure.

The place reminds me of the pitti palace in florence without the froufrou.

And certainly a lot better than that monstrosity that woman is building in FL...supposed to be the largest home in america, but it isn't...That is BAD taste.

This one isn't bad taste, but specific taste....very italian.

I like the floors, and the bedrooms don't bother me. I agree that it is fine for what it is. If we saw it on a tour of a castle in Venice, we'd think it was amazing.

I don't care for the kitchen, and I don't understand it, either. Do people with that kind of money cook for themselves? I would think they'd want a functional, professional kitchen to be used by the cook. I guess that it is in there, under all the trim, but I would not be able to think in that kitchen.

Also, I noticed that the "library" didn't seem to have any books or book shelves, unless they were behind those doors that also housed the filing cabinets.

I agree, however, that it is not exactly a "family" house. Now, if I could have Carson and Mrs. Hughes and the gang, and a bunch of tweenies to clean all that trim and wash all those floors, maybe it would be OK.

The kitchen is shocking because everything else in the suite is browns and golds. Then you walk into the black and white kitchen. Just not a good fit. And they said it was comfortable -- definitely not.

I thought it was mostly just kind of boring, except for the kitchen, which was simply hideous.

Looks like an apartment for somebody who goes to Les Mis and thinks they've heard Prokofiev.

I'm not sure what style this is supposed to be. The voice over says Baroque, but it isn't that--way too flat, not Mannerist enough. More like rococo, but without any of the light airy delicacy mandatory for the style. Nor is it Neoclassical, lacking the stout and stolid massing of that style. It's what someone comes up with when they don't actually know what the differences are between these and other, similar styles. You can't expect Shakespeare from someone who hasn't mastered a high school vocabulary.

I think the problem is with "modernizing" the style, which the narrator mentions. The idea of modernizing baroque or rococo is inherently absurd. I suppose it could be done in some interesting eclectic way, or in some Robert Venturi-esque '80s way. But whatever you did, you'd have to be very good at it. Here, by contrast, modernizing appears to mean "whatever the designer vaguely remembers about ornate old styles." There are lots of missteps, where we aren't supposed to notice cheap-looking modern cop-outs right up against old world ornament.

That living room upholstery, on the other hand, just looks like balloon animals gone wrong.

Oh dear. Ghastly is a good description.

I agree that it is consistent throughout (except for the kitchen) - I could hardly tell one room from the next. And hey, if you were a man, you could hang out with Brad Pitt and George Clooney in the man-cave.

It's totally not my style even if I could afford it... but I found the kitchen to be downright scary. Just too dark for my taste....

..and not one cat in sight in the kitchen.
If cats don't like it(you know they choose their own homes)neither do I.

I thought you could turn it into a drinking game. Take a drink any time they say "pilaster."

I cracked up when they said "man-cave." Such a contrast to the rest of the flowery description. Man-cave evokes a neanderthal drinking beer and watching ESPN.