On Apartment Therapy, we often post about ways to make your house a home. Whether it's tips on how to make a cozy home, creating your home's flow or finding the natural light in your space. When we walk around our home, we find that certain items make us smile and make our house feel like a home. Check out our newest inspiration after the jump...
New lighting in our bathroom! We had a dated light fixture in our bathroom and for two years we had wanted to do something about it. Since we live in a rental unit, we had to consider our options but the fixture had to go...it was less then happy (to say the least). We had been coveting Tord Boontje's Midsummer light and thought this would make a great accent in the room. A simple swap of lights and now we smile when we walk into this room. This small change really affects our mood and inspires us!
What makes you smile in your home? Is it a picture frame you purchased on a trip? A large piece of furniture that you saved your pennies for that you will own forever? An old family heirloom that has a new home on your bookshelf? Local flowers you treated yourself to last weekend?
Let us know your inspiration! Send us a note and load up your pictures to the Apartment Therapy LA Flickr pool.
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I am a little, ok, more than a little daffy about my Icarus lamp, also by Tord Boontje.
I designed my whole living room around that lamp, my husband , who could not care less about design, got me the lamp because I wanted it , then he really liked it and that dank dark BUGGER of a room now floats, peaceful and blue and full of light.
Thank you Tord!
This will probably sound cheesy, but I love looking at my ikea kitchen from the living room (semi-open floor plan). It's such a 180 from what was there before, but I take pride in the fact that I did 95 percent of the work in 2007, including plumbing and minor electrical, myself, and it ultimately turned out much better than I had envisioned, even when I thought I was taking a risk with the black rubberized flooring.
david - that is awesome! and I though swapping out the lighting fixtures on my own was something to be proud of! :) Congrats on your Ikea kitchen renovation! Load some pics up on ATLA's flickr pool.
- The incredible sunlight that comes in
- Eating lunch with my sunglasses on
- My azalea
- The stuffed dog we have lying on some floor pillows between our couches.
- The sound our capiz chandelier makes when the breeze comes in
The sunlight here. My darling, evil kitties. The smell of the pomanders I'm making. And the cheery orange of my mixer against the bright teal of the shelving it's on.
Old photos of my parents on my mantle. I love the photos of my mom, she was so beautiful when she was young. It makes me wish I could go back in time and retrace her travels to Europe in '67 and '69. 6 weeks of living out of a tiny suitcase, including a full set of wire rollers! What a time to travel!
Several things.
- My new Room & Board couch... and the way it mixes up with my antiques. And the kitties sleeping on said couch (I know someone is using the new couch when I'm not home)
- Lounging around in rooms that feel great
- the new paint color in my bathroom and the towel/rug color combo. I nailed it just right!
- all the little DIY things I did, like dimmer switches, light fixtures, floating shelving, perfectly hung art collages
- A pair of Robert Abbey lamps that were a splurge
I'm a fan of my Icarus, too, witchdoc!
But seeing my fluffy cats waiting for me to get home.. that is the best.
The cat :) And my books. Those two things always make me look around with a smile. Besides that, a particular decorative arrangement on my wall. Born of necessity, but it turned out very pretty.
our new bed
fireplace
our cute fat hamster
our cozy throw on the couch
Its not much but I've lived in 3 apartments so far, and never painted, mainly because I never could. This current one I've lived in for a couple of months now and about a month ago I took the plunge and painted two opposing walls, Benji Moore Forest Green.
What a huge difference a little colour made to my space both physically and mentally.
My birds, inside and out.
My perch in the woods above the creek.
And I have a smiley rock...2 dents for eyes, and a big smirkey grin.
600 thread count sheets on my new mattress and fibre bed - like sleeping on a cloud!
Kids' art on the fridge. Minimalism be damned.
The sight of a royal blue focal wall, looking from the family room, thru the living room....with a large framed print of Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party...(think Amelie); this has been there for 10 years and I never tire of it. It makes no difference how my style whims change...it always fits in...Also, the seasons out the windows...particularly now, that the trees are bare here in the Northeast...the eastern sky at evening is beautiful. Also...when my daughter comes home.
I'll chime in on the cats
My dog makes me smile every time.
BUT
" . . . now we, literately, smile every time we walk into or by this room."
Damn that is some seriously awful grammar and punctuation.
The people at AT seem intelligent . . . why aren't any of them capable of simple proofreading?
Yeah yeah, I know it's a decorating/design blog, but if you're going to use words . . . why not use the correct words? It's not that hard.
Griffin, I was wondering if anyone had mentioned that.
The "literately" bothers me the most.
Every post made me smile
Except those last two
literally
I love this thread!
We bought our house 2 years ago and for one reason and another it's taking sooooo long to overhaul that sometimes it feels like we are waiting forever to have a nice home.
But this thread made me look around my space and realise how many of the things in it make me smile...like the Ercol sideboard, table and chairs that used to be in my granny's, and the beaten up Ercol daybed I got to with them that must have come from someone else's granny's, and the lamp my boyfriend bought me from habitat that has gone through 3 house moves and still has its paper shade, and the beanbag his mum made in 1976, and the paintings I did at school, and the retro alarm clocks from ebay that look like modern looked in 1963, and the little Japanese dolls and the bright red spud guns he gave me last birthday...
and now I can't stop smiling!
I dunno... the two grammar threads made me smile a little.
But what really makes me smile is sitting in my new (rescued from brokenness) Eames lounge chair and looking from my living room to my kitchen. The doorways between each room are framed by Simpsons style smooth archways. Its such a silly little feature that it makes me smile.
my kitties!!
the artwork in my apartment. i love every piece.
a few things stuck to the fridge/magnets - i think THIS makes a house seem lived in!
opening the blinds and letting the sunlight in - and the view of the park across the street!
My grandfathers homemade chair in my living room