apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Name: Gretchen & Brad Hendricks
Location: McLean, Virginia
Size: 2,500 square feet
Years lived in: 11 years

We began remodeling our 1959-built house in northern Virginia at a 2001 pre-construction New Years' Party. In keeping with Hendricks family tradition (Brad’s parents did the same in the late 80’s) we designated a wall for friends and family to write and draw on during the party. The pictures and messages turned into a mural that told a story of our history and relationships. This was a great way to send off the old house and prepare to put our heart, soul and savings into our new dream.

In my recent search for throws, I remembered that my favorite blanket of all time is one that didn't require a ton of money or a lot of time to make: my giant fleece blanket. It's like a Snuggie, but a smidge classier. Here are four ways to make your own, and one to buy.

Get your Christmas tree inspiration from DC-based designers: from a southern Magnolia-inspired tree to a vintage-looking "wish tree." Check out these trees, part of last year's Georgetown Jingle charitable event, and then go see this year's at the Four Seasons on December 13.

The Obamas chose Simon Doonan, the creative director of Barney's New York, to decorate the White House for Christmas this year and he starts today. Will there be a fake Madonna? Probably not. Lots of Jonathan Adler stuff? Maybe. What do you think? We rounded up past holiday window displays at Barneys for inspiration.

For a chair that's relevant during the holidays and beyond, look to the Antler Chair by Nendo. Distributed by Cappellini, it's sold for a steep price — but we all know design trickles down, or is imitated, right? Anyone want to design a less expensive version for us?

We looked high and low to bring you stocking holders that weren't kitschy, truly, but except for one Pottery Barn style that sold out presto! we were left fruitless. The owners of a favorite Seattle store, Click! Design That Fits, came to the rescue with these snazzy guys.

Ahna Holder make and sells wonderful felt stockings in fresh designs &mdash and friends, if you want one this year, get yours now.

Look no further than these 19 options from our archives for unique and tasteful gifts. Of course, the problem with giving home décor is that you have to have some sense of the giftee's taste, so we aimed for objects that transcend style — to make a friend, family member or coworker happy.

We only want to decorate our table with Chilewich placemats and runners (okay, maybe with a dash of DwellStudio thrown in), because we love the organic simplicity. So we're happy that Chilewich has created seven inspiration tabletop settings to take you from a earthy fall theme for Thanksgiving to an icy white theme for the New Year.

Black Friday is this week, and unless you like to troll the mall with a latte in hand (confession: we do!), maybe online design stores are your best bet for stylish gifts. Or, maybe you live far from great design shops. Check out our list of favorite online design stores, or go to our Marketplace, where we have a database of 580.

A friend gave us a guest book for our wedding, to document all that come through our apartment — whether for long-distance visits, dinner parties or impromptu get-togethers. It's an unique, non-scrapbooky way to record memories. You still have time to buy or make one for this year's Thanksgiving and start a new tradition.

Formal ice buckets always take parties a good three steps above picking cubes out of trays with your fingers &mdash they even make three-buck Chuck glamorous. Sleek ice buckets are almost cliché, so we rounded up creative and whimsical ones for a less-serious bar.

We like free things. So when we heard of FreeFroot.com, where you can register and then enter giveaways for items such as Modern Twist placemats, a Le Creuset skillet and a FLOR rug, we said, sign us up. Plus, if you choose to buy anything from the site, a portion of the purchase may go to charity.

You may be planning your Thanksgiving decorations, but I'm already mapping out my Christmas glitz. Here's one of my 2009 must-haves: a mini-version of Crate & Barrel's window ornament display. It's a genius way to display treasured ornaments, especially if your tree is overburdened &mdash or, if you don't have a tree at all.