apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We’ve been meaning to blog these for a while but we wanted to try them out for ourselves first and see if they worked and our Trader Joe’s (apparently the most popular TJ’s in LA) has been out of them. We finally hit an alternative Trader Joe’s and grabbed a pack. Although they don’t have the fabric softening properties of dryer sheets, we definitely like them to add an extra dimension of luxury to our laundry.

Along with some of our colleagues, we're off to NY for the ICFF. We always looking for tips to making our trip easier so we've rounded up 11 posts from AT, from packing to pets to cleaning before you go, to help you out as vacation season approaches.

Last week, Gregory blogged a folding grill. To complete your summertime entertaining kit, pair it with this folding bar cart and quench your guest's thirst while the smell of barbequed food whets their appetite for your smoke infused fare...

White carpet plus dog equals...trouble. Or so we thought the other night when our friend's dog very gently tossed his cookies (and whatever else he'd gotten into while rummaging through the garbage and the garden) on the white shag carpet. Luckily for us, our hostess had a bottle of Get Serious around.

We love baskets. Their woven texture and light airy look says summer to us. And with their many colours, weaves and sizes, they're versatile. Here are some ways we use them around the house.

[Image via Zara Home]

At a baby shower we attended recently, one of the gifts was this amazing and amazingly soft fleece blanket. We never knew that our friend was so handy with a needle and thread. Turns out she's not. This blanket's completely no-sew. All you need is two pieces of fleece and a scissor. You can also make a pillow or a scarf using the same method. How-tos after the jump...

Yesterday we asked the question, do you clean before the cleaning lady comes? We have to confess that we no longer have a cleaning lady. We gave her up when we realized that our apartment wasn't clean, it was just temporarily tidy. We had to find a way to do the real work ourselves and not in a crazy "I'm going to alphabetize all my spices" way but in a way that meant we could keep it clean ourselves and pocket the increasingly large chunk of change the cleaning lady was charging us. Now our apartment really is clean. The spices are not yet alphabetized...but almost (okay, they're arranged by cuisine). If we can do it, you can too. Our four part method after the jump...

Pets are cute, lovable...and hairy. Do I teach my pet to never get up on the couch or recover everything in vinyl or leather? We've blogged some ways to live in harmony with your furry friends. Now, with 3M's new Fur Fighter Hair Remover, you'll never again have to yell, "Get off that couch!"

Now that the weather’s getting warmer, we like to throw open the windows to let the fresh air in. Living in an older apartment complex, our building’s shifted due to earthquakes and not everything works the way it’s supposed to. Take our windows for example. Our double hung window in our bathroom won’t stay up no matter how many times our handyman tweaks it. We’ve used a block or a nail to hold it up and then we found this solution…

A few weeks ago, Maxwell's weekly email rounded-up best small sofas. Hmmm...there was one that resembled a daybed we've been coveting at a friend's house...could it be? Yes it was! We emailed her the good news. It made her day, especially since she'd paid a pittance for it at a thrift store (yes, she's one of those people). And no, neither of us, design addicts both, had known it was a Hans Wegner, the designer of some of our favorite chairs.

Okay, it’s spring in LA but the nights are still chilly and, with the impetus to spring clean our homes and our bodies, at the end of the day, we’re a little achy. We saw this homemade heating pad while watching Martha, The Martha Stewart Show the other night. Filled with dried cherry pits or buckwheat hulls (we’re thinking that rice or dried beans might be another filling option) we thought we’d share the how-tos here. (Please excuse our pictures. They were taken off our television)

Callbob's comment yesterday when we asked about your biggest clutter spot, about not wanting to have the cleaning people over 'til the house had been cleaned, made us laugh out loud. We've done that ourselves, many a time. We know it's crazy. After all, isn't that what we're paying them for and, really, do they care? With the "Sex and the City" movie coming out, we're reminded of Miranda's tussle with her cleaning lady over her...umm...private gadgets. So, today's survey asks, do you clean before the cleaning lady comes?

Yesterday, we blogged decoupage. It’s a technique that doesn’t have to be confined to furniture. In fact, an easy way to try out this project is by transforming a detail that’s often overlooked in many homes: light switchplates.

Here's the funny thing about blogging. It's the crazy intersection where luck meets imagination, where an experience -- a conversation, a place, food, the way someone's dressed -- sparks an idea that excites me to write about something that in turn will inspire you, dear reader. Sometimes that will fire across the whole website leading me to blog something that may have already be blogged on another part of the website...

Despite doing our due diligence with Catalog Choice, we’re still on a lot of mailing lists. Guess they know who they’re dealing with. The latest catalog to come sailing through our mailbox is Canopy, via Wal-Mart, a retailer we usually try to stay away from. We found most of its offerings dull and generic. Except for their dining room tables. Traditional and serviceable, they offer a few features that made us sit up and take notice.

There's a spot near our telephone, on top of a built-in shelf that divides our kitchen from our dining room, that's a convenient place to put down our mail, the contents of our handbag, receipts. Unfortunately, it's also easy to let it pile up there.

When you have a small space, the option of opening your home to overnight guests can pose a challenge. An Aerobed must be stored in its off-season. A foldout sofa often demands that you rearrange the furniture before your guests can settle down for the evening. So, we're always on the lookout for a new idea. One thought is the Westport Sofa from Gradin Road.

Jonathan's post last week on The Palihouse Holloway Hotel's corkboard got us thinking about decoupage. A decorative art form made with collected images, it's simple; if you can cut and paste, you can decoupage. We're definitely tempted to try it after finding these beautiful pieces of furniture on Swampdragon's Flickr page.

Every possession is a responsiblity - Anonymous, via Real Simple

There's a part of us that feels that if you're storing stuff on the ceiling it might be time to recognize that it's time to start tossing. But, if you live in a small space, sometimes it's the only option. If you have stuff that needs to go up, especially if it doesn't need to be accessed on a regular basis (back taxes, holiday decorations and camping equipment fall into this category for us), ToteTrac is a practical and easy way to do it. We like that it uses containers you may already own.

Unfortunately, just because you have a great window doesn't mean you have a great view. In our own apartment, our big window looks out onto...the street. Nice but not in anyway breathtaking. It's in this kind of situation that sheers can come in handy. We can open our curtains, let the light in and filter out the non-existent view. They're also great for offering some protection from the sun and, perhaps staving off the fading of our furniture and curtains for a little bit longer...

Not small, and we'll leave the cool judgement for you guys to weigh in on, but we have to admit, when we came across the spread of this house in Forbes, we were curious as to what a billion, make that 2 billion dolllars, can buy you. We're not surprised that this home looks very much like a hotel; we're sure that the job of maintaining your status as the fifth-richest person goes hand in hand with entertaining enough people to fill a...well...hotel. We'd love to take a close-up peek. With the dictum to repeat no plans or materials from one floor to the next and the use of India's finest craftsmen, we'd like to think that what could be mistaken at first glance for a generic hotel space is breathtaking in person. Or should be. What do you think? We'd love to hear about your dream house.

The thing is, though the weather is LA is great, sometimes the sun is, well, too sunny and definitely too hot. We need shade! We need trees! We need to access our inner Kelly Wearstler and put up this pavilion.

Even if you don’t work out of your house, you need a place to take care of running your home: paying bills, dealing with mail, handling repairs. You don’t need a dedicated room or a large footprint but you do need a flat surface and a space for supplies and pending items. We carved our own office out of one narrow end of our living room: a console table, storage ottomans and access to a nearby closet which stores our reference materials. In our last apartment, our office was in our coat closet. We agree that creative thinking, organization and vigilance is involved when your office doubles as your living room, bedroom or dining room. Some ways that work for us, after the jump…