Apartment Therapy Archive: Oct 2014

Jean and Ruthie bought these chairs nearly 20 years ago from a mother-daughter duo who were selling the entire contents of their home. The creepy house was filled with an assortment of oddities and at one point they noticed piles scattered throughout the house – only to realize later that they were, in fact, piles of hundreds of wigs! They say, “The whole situation was a bit Grey Gardens.” When they went back the next day, the house was deserted.

This Verner Panton cone chair surfaced as Andrew’s friend was cleaning his garage. It had been rained on and was in danger of disintegrating beyond repair. Not if Andrew had anything to say about it. In fact, this graphic transformation was also a surprise to Andrew! From Andrew: I rescued the chair, putting it in a dry place until I had the time to restore it.

If you’re in a rental apartment, the last thing you want to do is pay a lot of money to make it livable. Perhaps the only thing worse is pissing off your roommate(s) while you’re having loud — ahem — relations, or blasting Gregorian chants from your bedroom on Sunday mornings. Which means you need to find an easy, reversible and affordable solution for privacy, while respecting thy neighbors.

Beth says, “I love a good challenge.” She would have to! She bought this mess of a desk from Craigslist for only 15 bucks. It had been sitting out on a balcony and the wood was in shambles. From Beth: There was no way to save it the bottom portion. The top was stained beyond recognition and the drawers were beat to hell and back. Why did I buy this? It’s how we learn, people! So feast your eyes.

Project by: Jacqueline Wheeler Interiors Location: Charlotte, North Carolina Clients: Candice Langston and Felix Von Uklanski This family room has one big virtue: its large size, but, as you can see, not a lot of effort has gone into making it an appealing space for the family to spend time in. Jacqueline Wheeler was hired to brighten it up and and bring it to its full potential.

Product: Brookstone’s Tranquil Moments Bedside Sleep Sound Machine Price: $129 Rating: Strong Recommend* Sleep machines have been around forever without much change or evolution. For years, I swore by sleep machines, especially when traveling.

Karen found this table skeleton on garbage day and dragged it home. Creative soul that she is, she came up with an unexpected (and free!) solution to make it whole again. We can’t believe we’ve never thought of this one! From Karen: We are lucky enough to have a neighbor who is a flooring installer. He had leftover pieces of hardwood flooring. We chose a variety of wood grains and pieces. My husband helped me attach the flooring boards to the table top.

What to do when you’ve got a spare bedroom on the boring side and are looking for a creative place to work? You tackled it stylishly like Marie and her husband did with their extra room, creating one seriously dramatic, contrasting space to get creative in! From Marie: Our renovation started off quickly because, four days after moving in, a pipe burst in the bedroom’s ceiling and flooded the entire floor and closet.

With the holidays almost on the way, you might be looking for ways to add both extra seating and storage in your small home. You’ll love this DIY project that turned a plain cocktail table into a modern ottoman with concealed storage! From Pam: I came across this sad little cocktail table made from cheap blistered laminate in a second hand store. Its only redeeming quality was the octagonal shape, which I thought would make for a cool little ottoman.

Project by: designHARMONY Location: Bothell, Washington From the designer: This busy family of four had a disorganized, uninspired office space. We transformed it by updating pieces the family already had, turning a former closet into a desk space and created a masterpiece with all of the kids’ artwork. Bright paint and accessories round out the now creative, family-friendly space.

Project from: Joy Location: Boston When I moved in with my husband two years ago, our condo was a blank slate of cream colored paint, bare walls, and uncovered windows. We set to work infusing the space with personality, working first on our main kitchen/dining/living space, then the home office, and finally the bathrooms. But we dragged our feet getting around to the master bedroom, since we’re really the only ones who spend any time in there.

When Ian found this antique baluster oak armchair at a thrift store he could see it had been hastily reupholstered around 1950 (see that lumpy seat and vinyl?). He bought it anyway. From Ian: Instead of adding jute webbing and hand-tie coils for the seat (like I eventually did) the previous owner just dropped in an ill-fitting box spring system from another chair, added some foam and some ugly printed vinyl, and that is how it spent the last 60 years.

Carlos and his wife are two architects living in an old house where “everything is very big and brown.” Well they fixed that particular dilemma, at least with this cute console. See it now. From Carlos; We have gradually been transforming the inside of the house, trying to do so by spending the least amount of money possible. We have focused on using all elements that already exist in the house so we’ve tried to reuse most of the furniture and make it more fun.