apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Name: Kathleen & Chet
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Size: 1300 sq/ft
Years lived in: 4

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Kathleen is currently working in the fashion world. As a director of copy and music for a major brand so she is constantly surrounded by all sorts of varying styles and trends. Yet, she is solid and sure of her own sense of style when it comes to decor - she loves the patina of age and the history inherent in vintage pieces and makes room for them in her home (and the homes of her clients, as she recently has added "designer" to her resume)...

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Name: Nicole Ziegler
Profession: Graphic Designer/Art Director
Location: Wicker Park, Chicago
Type: 700 sq ft rented 1 bedroom brick townhouse
Years lived in: 9 months

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A lot of Nicole's finds come from family and near her Scranton, PA roots, creating what she calls her "vintage comfortable" apartment. We imagine the spotlight on great finds from past eras tends to rotate, similarly to how things rotate on Nicole's DIY living room clipboards which display whatever she feels like, whenever she feels like it...

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Name: Lindsay Segal
Profession: Wardrobe Stylist and Interior Decorator
Location: West Loop, Chicago, IL
Size/Type: 1250 sq ft 2 bedroom soft loft; Rented
Years lived in: Moved in Oct. 2008

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Lindsay is not only new to her West Loop loft, she's new to the business of interior decorating (www.lindsaysegal.com). At home, she practices what she preaches about the importance and fun that go hand-in-hand with decorating on a budget. The thrill of the hunt, the pride of DIY, and the ambition of quirky additions and colorful vintage collections are all at the core of Lindsay's work and design mantra: anyone can do budget-friendly in style.

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Name: Kim Johnson of Desire to Inspire
Location:Ottawa, Ontario
Size: 926 sq. ft.
Years lived in: 15 months, Owned

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Kim Johnson, co-creator of design blog Desire to Inspire, has been busy. After finding a liveable house in Ottawa’s Little Italy within her price range, she has begun a complete overhaul of her new 926 s.f. home. While the home, built in 1915, was move-in ready, most of the rooms needed complete redos. So, she and her six cats have set off on a voyage of renovation and decoration one room at a time. With daily inspiration coming from her research for her blog, Kim is no stranger to great style and has a knack for the DIY...

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Names: Tonya & Brian
Location: Tennessee

Tonya and Bryan have pulled together a great looking home filled with vintage pieces. They write: Our home is 2 bedroom, 1200 square feet and was built in 1936. We like the older style of the home so we have made no major modifications, only paint, new flooring, light fixtures and new windows. When we bought the house it had holes in the walls, torn wallpaper, old light fixtures, a moldy basement, loose parquet flooring you could move around like puzzle pieces and dry rotted window frames. We corrected all the cosmetic issues and then the rest was just decorating to our taste....

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Sleek and contemporary to warm and woody, spacious to small, urban to suburban - these kitchens run the gamut but have a few things in common - they are all from the Midwest and have all been part of an Apartment Therapy: Chicago housetour in the past year. Check out the kitchens above and then jump below to link on through to see the rest of these homes...the kitchen is just the start of the tour!

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Name: Emily Ballard
Profession: Gallery Assistant/ Appraisal Supervisor
Location: Lincoln Park, Chicago
Size: Roughly 300 sq ft rented studio
Time lived in: 7 months

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With solid bones and some interesting history, Emily has been able to make her Lincoln Park studio an open, light, whimsical yet thought-out home in just a few months. In a building that used to be a hotel, the (small) floor plans of each unit replicate those of vintage hotels. Beyond the great details we find dotting her home life, Emily created a layout drawing for us to get a better overall sense of how her space flows...

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Names: Tina and Brian Trost

Location: Oak Park

We got an email from Brian about sharing the wonderful home he and Tina have made for themselves in Oak Park. They bought an eighties home that had lines with possibilities and gave it a modern makeover through a mix of creative thinking...

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Name: Steve
Location: Uptown
Size:1650 sq/ft
Years lived in: 16

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Steve's style shines through in every corner of his place - he describes it as a "quirky" mix of contemporary new and classic modern. It is a treat to see such a singular personal vision come through so strongly in interiors - the artwork, furnishings, collectibles and lighting all are integral pieces of the design puzzle that make up his thoroughly contemporary home.

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When you think of Wisconsin, a few culinary things come to mind (cheese, beer, sausages). But today, Wisconsin is full of home tours! There's everything from traditional Tudor homes, modern lakeside homes, Log Cabins and Mid Century homes with some color! Click through the jump to find out more about these five great upper-midwest homes!.

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Name: Jack + Carla Fahden
Location: St. Louis Park, MN
Size: 2,000 sq. ft.
Years lived in: 3 Months

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Before moving just 3 small months ago, Jack and Carla Fahden spent their spare time digging through home decor magazines, websites, and homes on TV and in movies. After months of collecting items and purchasing furniture in advance, they finally moved in and got to see the fruits of their labor quickly come together...

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Click on the Thumbnails to View all 8 Projects

Many of the homes featured in our housetours have included clever decorative DIY projects - ingenious solutions from the simple to sublime. We pulled eight of our favorites from over the years, such as Summer's wallpaper panels and Dana's gold ceilings to Shannon and Emmett's recycled stair tread shelving and Alan's leather fireplace surround. Check out the photos above and jump below for the links:

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Name: Beth Jansen
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Size: 3500 sq. ft.
Years lived in: 1

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It's unusual when someone completes their house tour survey and lists the same response for both their favorite element AND biggest challenge, but that is exactly what Beth did. Her answer to both? Color. Which is fearlessly great - she loves it and rather than being intimidated by just how big of a challenge it can be, she goes for it and achieves wonderful results...

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Names: Chuck and Holly
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Size: 1369 sq.ft.
Years lived in: 7 months

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Can you imagine living at high school? While it may be every sixteen year old's nightmare, Chuck and Holly were able to fully embrace the unique character of their new home. It is located in an old high school building originally built in 1872 which was converted to condos in 2005. The conversion was done with an eye on the past as the space retains some of details from the original use - their wood floors are from the boys gymnasium!

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