Apartment Therapy Archive: Oct 2014

Alright, this is it: your room transformation is about to REALLY begin. The time has come for the weekend cleanup and clearout. (I know, sorry! But, just as I’m sure you knew it was coming up, you also know you’ll feel GREAT when it’s off your list.) Taking some time this weekend to do a really good, thorough decluttering and cleaning of whichever room your are curing can be a big job, but it’s absolutely a key moment in the Cure journey. You can do this!

Drawing up a proper to-scale 3D floor plan was a revelation. My usual method is to drag furniture around the room shouting things like, “Yes, it’ll definitely fit there! It will! It’s going to look amazing! Okay, so it’s bit tight, what about over there…?” Until everything has found a home and I have discovered new arm muscles I didn’t know existed. I used Autodesk Homestyler to make a free floor plan for my daughter’s new bedroom.

Lately it seems that I’m hearing the word “downsize” everywhere. From friends buying their first bijoux apartments after years in shared and spacious rented accommodation, to my parents’ generation selling multi-bedroom suburban houses and moving into city condos, to articles about living more minimally, owning less is trending. Obviously, downsizing is going to be different for everyone.

(Image credit: Faith Durand) From The Kitchn → How To Make a Candle Out of a Pumpkin

“No food in bed!” I’m sure we’ve all said it at one point. And yet, here are some bedding options that let the impossible be possible: food on the bed, without the mess! 1. Designed by Joy Cho of Oh Joy, could this Sundae Best Crib Quilt be any cuter? From Land of Nod, who incidentally, also have other ice-cream themed goodies in stock. $129.00. 2.

From Apartment Therapy → Before & After: A Functional Update for a Cramped Kitchen This inspiring renovation turned an oddly-shaped kitchen into a bright and extremely functional space!

Here is my floor plan for my sun room/family room/lots of other functions. It primarily will be a family room and an office area though, so here are the main pieces I’m thinking: A. Sectional sofa. B. A couple of tables that can easily be moved around. C. An area rug with some pattern and color. D. A media cabinet/console. E. Side chair. F. End table. G. Ladder shelf that my husband built.

50 ways to add texture, color, and interest to your walls! These are all easy to make, won’t cost much, and don’t take a lot of time.

Name: Jennifer Perkins and husband Chris Boehk along with daughter Tallulah (five years old) and Baxter (three years old). Location: Shady Hollow Neighborhood — Austin, Texas Size: 2,900 square feet Years lived in: Owned 1 year We shared some of the great Halloween decor ideas we spotted in the home of Jennifer Perkins (crafter, business lady and really rad mom) earlier this month.

Tiny closet? No closet? If you’re scratching your head over where to put clothes in your bedroom (or where to hang coats in a foyer), consider one of these DIY clothing racks. TOP ROW: 1. DIY Garment Rack from Smitten Studio 2. Gilded Clothes Rack from Style Me Pretty 3. Pipe Clothing Rack, DIY from Instructables 4. Copper and Concrete Clothes Rack, DIY from Shelterness 5. DIY Clothing Rack form Love Aesthetics BOTTOM ROW: 6. Multiple-Way Clothing Rack from Love Aesthetics 7.

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.

(Image credit: Martin Turzak) shutterstock From The Kitchn → Avoid These 5 Common Mistakes When Making Scrambled Eggs

Well before fall even arrives, garden centers, big-box and grocery stores already have their shelves stocked with an abundance of chrysanthemums. And if you were one of those individuals quick to get a jump on decorating for the harvest season, then you’re probably living with some pretty sad looking mums right about now. So what should you be doing with all those mums that are past their prime?

There won’t be much moving or rearranging happening in our kitchen this year. We’re updating on a tight budget, so we’re not replacing the cabinets or splurging on new appliances. We’ll be painting the lower cabinets (we painted the uppers white during last year’s Style Cure), switching out the dated laminate countertops for butcher block, adding a wood plank backsplash, and installing an inexpensive apron-front farmhouse style sink from good ol’ IKEA.

We all know the role that clutter plays in our households. To varying degrees, it’s a nuisance, or it distracts us, and —in the worst cases — totally overtakes our lives. Here are some of the underlying reasons why you’re reluctant to let go of physical objects, and some steps to take towards living a life less burdened by stuff. What if you threw it out and missed it later?

(Image credit: Erika Tracy) From The Kitchn → What Is Natural Peanut Butter?

We’ve all been there: pressed for time (pun intended), forced to use our iron with a dirty plate, nervous that the precious few minutes we are taking to actually iron out the wrinkles might set us even further behind by the transferring of gunk to the garment, forcing you to choose a completely new outfit altogether. Maybe you haven’t been there, but I’m speaking from experience. Good news: If you’ve got 10 minutes, you’ve got a clean iron!

Luckily there are plenty of outlets for affordable art these days and one of them may be in your own closet. That wrapping paper you drag out 10 minutes before your friend’s birthday party—take a second look—perhaps it’s beautiful enough to frame. Wrapping or decorative papers can be a wonderful stand-in for art prints, especially if you’re on a budget.

Have you ever considered bringing your favorite natural scene into your own space to enjoy all year round? Wall murals and huge scale nature art can be a bit tricky, since there’s a wide selection of options of varying quality. If you’re inspired to create a beautiful indoor retreat, check out these examples of the look done right. These examples include art, murals and tapestries — and some are even from hotels (so you can book now and see how you like living with it first).

Today’s assignment is a quick one. Five minutes of reading and you’re done, but the color concepts you’ll learn will start you thinking in the right direction when it comes to color for your room. It’s time to gain some confidence for your upcoming design choices – you can do this AND you’ll do it well – but it’s important to feel prepared.

If you’ve been sidelined with a cold or the flu and you’re finally (finally!) feeling better, then you just want to get your home back to normal asap. Bookmark this advice to make sure that when your brain is coming out of a cold coma, you’ll remember to do (or not do) these things. • Change the sheets — Sweaty sick-day sheets will NOT help you feel better. A fresh set will feel like a new start and help you get the rest you need to fully recover.

We regularly ask readers to share how much they spent on a given item, service, project, or upgrade in the home. We hope this information proves helpful to anyone needing to get a basic sense of how much something costs, and how much you can expect to pay. How Much Did it Cost to Install Your Concrete Floor? If you can, let us know how many square feet you installed, and specify materials vs. hired labor. Since costs vary, your region of the country is always helpful too!

Today’s tour is the newest in a collaborative series curated by Jeanine Hays and Bryan Mason of Aphrochic for Apartment Therapy. They handpicked homes from around the world to share that capture the culture and style that they celebrate in their book, Remix: Decorating with Culture, Objects, and Soul.

My old vacuum just bit the dust so it’s time to make a big decision about a new purchase. C’mon, let’s crowdsource this! Are you in love with your vacuum? I want to know about it. Here’s my deal: I live in a 700 square foot, one-bedroom apartment in New York City. I have hardwood floors with area rugs in the living room (shag), the bedroom (low pile) and the hallway (Flor squares).

My house is full of children’s books, both on the shelves and stacked next to every chair, couch and bed. More and more of the recently acquired ones seem to be of the interactive kind, which usually equals flaps, pockets, pop-ups or compartments. There is one interactive book that has none of these but still manages to find its way to the top of the piles (yes, it somehow moves from one room to the next, I suspect my daughter has a hand in that). Mix It Up!

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.

(Image credit: Leela Cyd) From The Kitchn → 5 Easy Ways to Make Chicken Breast More Interesting

Welcome to my parent’s spare room, soon to be Man Cave for Snoring Father, or Respite for Tired Mother, depending on which way you look at it. Dad’s official take on the room’s “before” status? “Too much basket.” There’s not really that much “basket,” just a woven chair, laundry basket and tiny basket on the bedside. For a mother and daughter team who love all things woven, is that really too much?

It’s warm and soothing for your body, but did you know you can also use black tea to clean your hardwood floors? Tannins in the tea add a light, warm “stain” and help to bring out the wood’s natural warm tones. In addition to it’s beautifying qualities, black tea derived from the Camellia sinensis plant contain polyphenolic compounds that prevent microbial growth.

Ok, here we go, getting down to business. Today’s assignment will take a little time but it DOES help move you forward in several areas. One, it’s easier to be objective about problems and issues in your room when you go through the process of simply reducing the space and items in it to a 2d plan – it gives you some emotional distance. Two, it will be helpful to have all your measurements recorded in one place.

When people talk about organizing their lives or cleaning up their homes, they don’t often mean their digital lives or their tech spaces. So much of our effort when simplifying our lives gets dedicated to the kitchen, living room, closets and bedroom, but if you think about it, we spend much of our time online and that’s a space that often gets ignored. Here are some things you have probably never done to your digital life that you should totally consider: 1.

If you wear stockings or pantyhose, don’t let runs and snags ruin your day. And definitely don’t throw old nylons away. Because, while they might have fallen short in their promise to keep your legs looking smooth, they have a whole other future existence as versatile household helpers. Turns out nylon is pretty handy, so check out these twenty ways to reuse all your worn out hose: Locate small objects on the floor by covering your vacuum nozzle with some hose.

(Image credit: Angela Andrews) shutterstock From The Kitchn → 10 Ways to Use Up Leftover Celery

Home staging is a tricky thing. It’s not just about making a good impression. It’s about helping people visualize themselves happily living in what is currently your own home. Do it well and you facilitate the sale of your property. Do it poorly, and you alienate potential buyers, and fail to sell when you really need or want to. Here are eight errors and pitfalls to avoid in the process… Forgo Cleaning: Your own dirt and dust is one thing.

Tough time at work? In a spat with your partner? The stress we feel in these times is the body’s fight or flight hormones kicking in. Though you may just want to curl up in the fetal position or eat spoonfuls of ice cream from the carton, doing something physical is a better release for those stress hormones.

I don’t know about you, but Halloween kind of snuck up on me this year. We’ve done some of the requisite Fall activities — apple picking, Fall festivals, and corn mazes, but we haven’t gotten really in the Halloween spirit around our house. But don’t worry, there’s still time! Here are fifteen of my favorite late-minute Halloween crafts, activities, and printables from around the web: 1. Easy Honeycomb Ball Halloween Decorations: A Lovely Lark 2.

Halloween for the three- to five-year-old set is obviously an exciting time, but not without a few pitfalls. One of them is finding appropriate books to share. The stories need to be savvy enough to respect their intelligence but not so spooky that you will find a trembling child in your bed at two in the morning.

Name: Esther Hahn, Brendan Cooney, and Timothy Hahn Location: Pacifica, California Size: 1,610 square feet Years lived in: 1 years; Owned The home that Esther and Brendan share (along with her brother Timothy) is colorful, vibrant and full of energy. Esther works as an editor for Racked, is an avid surfer and rides horses, and she and husband Brendan are often out together with their two (adorable) cattle dogs.

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.

I’m fairly certain that I’m going to go ahead with my plan to finish the kitchen for this year’s Style Cure, but I’m still not guaranteeing anything! I have a bunch of “before” photos to share with you all, as if you’ll remember I “Style Cured” my kitchen last year. This year’s Style Cure will hopefully be phase three or four (I’ve lost count) of our kitchen update.

We want to make your experience here as part of the Apartment Therapy community as productive and enjoyable as possible. We’ve got a long wishlist of goodies we’re working on to improve reader communication with each other and the editors and we’ll be rolling them out as soon as they are ready. Once a day we’ll check if there are any new replies to comments you wrote, and if there are we’ll send you an email to let you know.

(Image credit: zkruger) From The Kitchn → Here Are 3 Reasons Why You Should Preheat Your Baking Sheet

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.

(Image credit: Andrew Forcier) From The Kitchn → October Maker Talk: Kelsey Nixon’s Kitchen Confidence