The Latest: Jul 2015

Dread your upcoming move all you want, but it’s going to happen. Make moving day less painful with this series of clever and easy tips and hacks that are simple, but will make the whole process faster and easier. And then maybe, just maybe, you won’t go insane after packing your 99th box, and will enjoy the first night in your new home.

You’ve probably heard it a million times: for the best results, test your paint colors in your room to see how they work with the light sources before committing to a full room (or even a full wall) paint job.

How do our house tour subjects cram such style into such small spaces? Like this! These tours are all between 200 and 500 square feet but they manage to pack a punch. Have your own small space? See how these folks did it and get inspired to take advantage of every inch. Evan’s 295 sq foot Manhattan studio has so many different zones (including an outside space!) it feels much, much bigger.

Feeling like a relaxed home is an unattainable goal? It doesn’t have to be. Let go of the big picture–a totally serene home that’s potentially a 180° from your current lifestyle–and zero in on the little things you can slowly change to create your peaceful place. Looking at rooms that get it right, you start to see the little tricks that style-savvy designers use to give a room tranquility. Here’s how you can get the relaxed look on your own.

Name: Echo Kao Location: Toy District; Los Angeles, CA Size: 870 square feet Years lived in: 1 years; Owned I knew that Echo was a talented industrial designer, but I was still surprised to learn that every night when she went home she was carefully crafting her own furniture. Her life and her work go hand-in-hand, which is reflected perfectly in the fact that her home has three(!) work spaces for her to spread out in.

When you live life in only a few hundred square feet, a home must become a very fluid thing. Tiny apartments actually exist in four dimensions, and without capturing “time,” it’s impossible to truly reveal what it’s like to live small. Thankfully for all of us, the internet has adopted GIFs as a form of animated photo currency, and we can all see how real people make small homes work.

When you’re feeling like the rooms of your home are design islands — lovely spaces by themselves but not necessarily connected to the architecture of your home or the entire home itself — you might want to try out this trick in the designer’s toolbox. This idea of echoing elements is NOT putting two of the same pieces of something in two different rooms. It’s not having carbon copies of the same art adorning walls in all your rooms.

A few months ago I decided to paint my laminate countertops as a temporary solution to a very ugly, very burnt orange problem in my kitchen. I was a little hesitant to do so since our actual counter space is minimal and sees a fair amount of traffic, but forged ahead because the price and risk (those countertops are coming out this fall either way!) were low. Here’s how they’ve fared… They have unfortunately acquired quite a few battle wounds!

Name: Timothy Location: Bed-Stuy; Brooklyn, NY Size: 1,680 square feet Years lived in: 3 years; Owned A home with global flair doesn’t necessarily have to mean a visually noisy space or an overwhelming, over-the-top collection of knick-knacks. Nomad-inspired homes can be tidy and effortless, and I can tell you that after this house tour you’ll want to book an around-the-world ticket to source beautiful material and wander in some faraway markets.

Name: Ricky & McCary Location: Carroll Gardens/Gowanus; Brooklyn, New York Size: 800 square feet Years lived in: 6 years; Rented What do you get when two people with great taste move in together? A beautiful apartment like this one, where two design sensibilities (she loves prints and patterns, while he’s a bit more minimal) merge seamlessly to create a new, completely unique style. Ricky and McCary are also the stars of the sixth episode of Apartment Therapy’s A Line video series.

Name: Amanda Holstein and her dog, Auggie Location: Greenwich Village; New York, NY Size: 400-450 square feet Years lived in: 1 year; Rented Amanda lives on a great street in Manhattan, full of life and energy. When you walk into her apartment, you are immediately transported from the iconic Greenwich Village neighborhood to somewhere calm and relaxing. She has fit her colorful, laid-back style into a classic New York apartment beautifully.