I like this living room  

What I see
in the photos (granted, taken in late-day sunlight) is a lot warmer and richer than beige -- more like the amber of camel leather and aged fir. The floor (which has so little texture as to be mysterious) carries out this theme, and is a nice background for the black-and-white "rug." It is rare to see a lounger so colored as to sit as a completely integrated part of the furnishings.
Yes, it's crowded, with things the owner wants around, presumably -- a real room as opposed to a model or a set ?
Well, it's all a matter of preferences, of course. But bland ? I wouldn't say so . . .

Camel, tan, butterscotch, fawn, sand, cork, buff...
It's all beige to me.
But as you know, my taste is still immature. I haven't yet developed an appreciation for anything but bright primary colors and black.

I guessed the floor to be cork too--
the seams are just barely perceptible in the second photo.
I like the subdued color palette, it's the setting sun that's giving the trapped-in-amber effect.
Don't quite understand the furniture layout, though-- the placement of the lawyer's bookcases confuses me.

Oh how funny - I know the...
Oh how funny - I know the fellow who owns that apartment. Very nice guy!

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Is he single?

I think so -- I could...
I think so -- I could ask...but aren't you in Australia?

hahaha...
Anyhoo, I...
hahaha...
Anyhoo, I really like those planters he has for those plants of his. I have been searching for some nice modernish planters for some largish plants but everything around here is fugly and most definitely not modern. Mind asking him where he found them? And any other suggestions for larger modernish planters would be much appreciated.
And I quite like the room too. I don't mind the color palette that other people find blah. I usually find that much biege blah too but it works here, IMHO. And I agree with SDR. The rooom looks lived-in. It's a bit cluttered but that comes with the territory of actually using a room on a daily basis.

Planters
The bullet planters look to me like these from hip haven:
http://www.hiphaven.com/Pages/HH_Products.html
Their website seems to be having problems at the moment, at least for me. Here they are at another site:
http://www.velocityartanddesign.com/retro-bullet-planter-c-1085-p-1-pr-2...

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Try getting two plain glazed pots, cone shaped, flipping one upisde down and bolting them together through the drainage holes, Guhl on the cheap.

That sounds like an...
That sounds like an interesting design...any pics of something like this where someone actually did it?

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A house in Palm Springs used the classic stir fry woks, handles off, attached
to metal rods, and used them in a group as outdoor planters.
The classic bullet planters come up on e-bay often. Some interesting shapes
and bases exist as vintage examples. The HipHaven ones are easily had and
are now everywhere. Suffers the reproduction overload but still nice.
Most of these pics take you directly to the HipHaven link.
http://www.google.com/search?q=bullet+planters&hl=en&client=safari&rls=e...

rockland, what do you mean...
rockland, what do you mean bu attached to metal rods? Are you meaning something like those bullet planters with the metal rods that make up the base? That is an intersting idea...using stir fry woks.

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I like the posted living room. Looks comfortable. Some nice
pieces chosen for a beginning collection. A much larger rug would be nice.
No crappy thrift store finds or ikea. No trinket collections or wordy framed posters.
Looks to me like a comfortable place to come home for a busy, social,
and talented single guy. Handsome room.

like
don't love

rockland/cloudburst
I'm in the process of figuring out how to do something along the lines of what you're talking about. I want to make planters on rods like you see in the first picture (I actually took this picture in a house in Palm Springs). I found the cone shaped planters in the second picture and now I'm trying to figure out what type of rods to use and where to find them. I'm planning to drill a hole in the bottom of the pots and attach them to the rods somehow.