Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

Here's the scoop, guys.

For the first time in my time in Korea (11 years), I don't have to furnish my place with trash treasures.

I have 3 bedrooms. This is an embarrassment of riches.

My kitchen has turned out to be decorated in white and yellow. For the first time, things kind of match. Maybe not up to Martha Stewart's standards, but it will do. Better than having a fire-engine red electric skillet next to a chartreuse anything.

The living room is in browns and tans and beiges. This was not planned. I already had a discount couch that was in browns. The only book shelves available are in that white (pine?) wood stuff.

My bedroom is in purple, because the clothes rack is purple (you have to start somewhere) and the pretty nifty sheets that HomePlus had are purple. The really nice dark purple is not available in a set, so I took the medium purple as opposed to the blue.

One bedroom is now my pantry. (I'm a hoarder from way back.) I keep that door shut.

THE QUESTION IS: What do I do with my computer room? So far, I'm sitting in a bare room on the floor with a square Korean table (dark brownish), yellow floor (ho hum) and pale green wall paper that would not have been out of place on "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest . Crap on the floor from moving in. (Yes, I will eventually move that crap.) SO what are some decorating ideas? I like bright colors. I'm sitting here on the floor, looking at an institutional-looking room and need some ideas. Be practical. We are in Korea after all.

[whatthefunk]

uhhhh.....yataboy...if youre looking to turn your computer room into a romp room for the korean gay population, you may be looking in the wrong place...

[KiteOperations]

huh, it's not an orgy. you fool me.

well, I need to see the room to make it fabulous. I think I'm free this saturday and I can travel.

[Qinella]

Print out some pics and plaster your walls. Koreanically economical, and inspirational.

[krats1976]

From a Female with (ahem) taste...


Buy a bunch of that cool, cheap traditional Korean paper at Insa-dong and put it up on your walls with wallpaper paste.

[tzechuk]

I think it depends on what kind of a look you want to give it. Modern? Traditional western? Traditional Korean?

There are many things you can do with it.....

[JongnoGuru]

Open to questions & suggestions from straight guys?

How much can you spend? How long, at most, do you see yourself living there?

What is the size of the room? I'm guessing 3-4 pyong if it's a 3rd bedroom.

Large windows? Much sunlight?

Are you looking to change only the wall colour, or will you cover/replace the yellow floor?

What colour are the windowframes? Bare plastic, plastic w/wood-pattern film? Metal?? Wood?!!

Although the green you have may look sickly, you might try a different shade. "Khaki Olive" (Mozel, No. 9203-5 (ī�� ������) looks decent in most any light conditions, and even better if you have any dark wood furniture in the room. Something more formal would be "Herringbone Stripe" (Mozel, No. 9216 �ظ�����Ʈ������) and that comes in various colours. Mozel, along with DID (sometimes written "D&D") are mid-range domestic brands, and every shop should have their sample books. They cost about double what low-end stuff will, but since you're only doing the one room, you might want to splurge on better quality. The labour is the same whichever paper you choose, so your total cost won't be anything like double for having gotten nicer, longer-lasting paper.

About the floor.... I doubt anything you do with the walls will leave you satisfied if the floor is ugly. So you should probably do them both at the same time and get colours/textures that match.

[Martha S.]

Between fabric dye or bright curtain fabric and the lovely mulberry paper available in Insadong, you can come up with some remarkable combinations.

Anchor your colors to a piece of artwork: I have a dear friend who used a single Impressionist painting as the color palette - I believe it was some Renior sidewalk scene. She put the same blue on her walls, the orange on the carpet, and the red for the curtains. Ordinarily, I wouldn't recommend such daring ways for home decoration, but if you have a piece of artwork that can pull it together, it really brings out a "theme" to a room.

Start with the artwork: It's like getting yourself dressed -- Start with the jewelry, shoes and handbag, and the rest will follow.


Anchoring. It's a good thing.

[JongnoGuru]

That's it, Ya-Ta. Book yourself a flight up to Seoul and take a leisurely stroll down the alleys of Insa-dong in fabulous JONGNO-GU and buy a cartload of mulberry paper to stick on your computer-room walls. If time is tight, just grab any Renoir you can live with and use that as your colourwheel.

Or if you're the nautical type, search the junkyards down south for a rusty old anchor as your centrepiece and just go where that takes you. Anchors are way cool.

[Ya-ta Boy]

There are some pretty decent ideas in there. Thanks, folks.

As to how long I'll be living there...if I have another day like today, I'd say about 26 more hours are my limit. I'm not optimistic about making it all the way to Friday.

[JongnoGuru]