Virginia’s Florida Home With a View
Name: Virginia Location: Maitland, Florida My husband, Garrett, and I live in an 816 sq ft condo that we rent in Maitland, Florida. What we loved most when Garrett first came to view the condo and continue to – is the incredible lake view we have from our living room window. We are on a gorgeous Central Florida lake and the sunrises can’t be beat. (Check out our #goodmorninglakemaitland !) The condo complex was built in the 1950s but our unit has been updated.
Sep 30, 2015
Becca’s Bright & Free-Spirited Loft
Name: Becca Kannapell Location: Noble Square; Chicago, Illinois Size: Approximately 1,400 square feet Years lived in: 1 year; Rented When Becca and her boyfriend moved from New York City to Chicago a year ago, they were amazed by their new-found apartment options. Both of them lived in tiny 400-square-foot apartments in Manhattan, and now they have all this space to create in — and Becca has been taking full advantage.
Sep 30, 2015
Partner
Design Blogger Challenge: Vote Now for Your Favorite Room
If the experts at Loloi Rugs have taught us anything, it’s that a beautiful rug can seriously elevate your space and create an instantly chic and inviting home. Their new Anastasia Collection is inspired by high-end silk rugs, but has a cool, contemporary sensibility, and is much, much more affordable (and word is, they feel amazing). To celebrate their new line, Loloi partnered with eight of our fave design bloggers. The design challenge?
Sep 30, 2015
International IKEA Alternatives? UK, Germany, Singapore & Beyond
Q #1: I am getting ready to move from a furnished flat to a 3-bedroom house. We have almost no furniture (only a desk and a couple of random tables). I recently saw a post from way back in 2013 where you had a list of 10 budget-friendly but stylish companies as an alternative to IKEA. I am begging you for a UK edition! Please help. -Sent by Lindsay Q#2: I’m a longtime Apartment Therapy reader about to move from the US to Singapore.
Sep 29, 2015
Use Ketchup to Clean Copper and Brass
From Apartment Therapy → Can You Really Use Ketchup to Clean Copper and Brass?
Sep 29, 2015
Signy’s Well-Curated Condo
Name: Signy Roland Location: Yorkville; Toronto, Canada Size: 712 square feet Years lived in: 2 years; Rented After spending nearly a decade living in the great cities of Montreal and New York, Signy recent returned home to Toronto. Condo development has skyrocketed in the city, making it one of the more popular residential options in Canada. At first hesitant to make the move, Signy came around to the idea and really enjoys living in her one-bedroom condo.
Sep 29, 2015
Feeling Blue and Seeing Red: Links Between Color Perception and Emotion
Annie’s Color-Splashed Home We use color metaphors to express our emotions all the time. We feel blue, see red when we’re angry, turn green with envy, and others may call us “yellow” when we’re afraid or lacking in bravery. Are these metaphors just that—metaphorical—or do they have some basis in biology?
Sep 29, 2015
Before & After: Finding the Brick Again in a Converted Firehouse Bedroom
Aaron and Heather are no strangers to Apartment Therapy, they’ve shared their converted St. Louis firehouse home with us before. Their latest project? Making over a guest bedroom they affectionately call the Captain’s Suite. It was painted this bright orange shade with accents of royal blue, probably inspired by a sports’ team as Heather suspects this was the previous owner’s “man cave.
Sep 29, 2015
How are You Going to Celebrate International Coffee Day?
(Image credit: Apartment Therapy) From The Kitchn → 9 Easy Ways to Celebrate International Coffee Day
Sep 29, 2015
4 Easy Ways to Improve Any Kitchen
Sep 28, 2015
Simple Ways to Turn Any Space into a Sanctuary
Home is supposed to be a calming place. But with the movement towards open floor plans, things are only getting more complicated. Same goes for anyone living in a studio apartment: When most of your life takes place in the same sweeping room, where do you go for a moment of serenity? Answer: Anywhere you want. Start with a corner, or a bedroom, or the bathroom, or even your closet.
Sep 28, 2015
Nutella + Sugar Cookies = Eternal Happiness
(Image credit: Apartment Therapy) From The Kitchn → Stuff Nutella in Sugar Cookies, Find Eternal Happiness
Sep 28, 2015
3 Easy, Instant Ways I Made More Room in My Tiny Kitchen
I moved into a small, 500 square foot apartment with real wood floors, tall charming ceilings and a spunky little kitchen that can’t be more than a few feet wide. Yes, WIDE. We’re talking can’t-open-the-oven-unless-you’re-standing-on-the-side small. But I managed to fit everything I needed in my kitchen snugly, in a way that functions well enough that I can easily pull things out as I need.
Sep 28, 2015
Erica & Dave’s Balanced Home
Name: Erica Feldmann and Dave Wells Location: Somerville, MA Size: 1,100 square feet Years lived in: 3 years; Rented Like many millennials, Erica and Dave were drawn to Boston by grad school, and their life path is similar to that of current and past generations: move to a new place, meet somebody, start putting down roots. What is different is this: their apartment doesn’t feel like it belongs to a couple in their first place together.
Sep 27, 2015
Emily & Ian’s Home with a “Splash of Whimsy”
Name: Emily & Ian Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan Our house is old—about 120 years old! It is in Heritage Hill, which is one of the largest and oldest urban historical parks in the country. Living in an old house has some quirks—our stairs are super creaky and the windows are heavy and made gasping sounds in the winter, but overall we love all the little unique parts of the house and the neighborhood.
Sep 27, 2015
Fernanda’s Design Dream
Name: Fernanda Location: Brasília, Brazil I have always been a design lover and always felt this was my talent, but I ended up graduating in journalism. One day in 2011, I was writing an article about affordable design with a work friend when we encountered the site (we did an interview with you guys). I became really obsessed with the house tours and did my own blog on house tours in my city (Brasília, Brazil) inspired by the Apartment Therapy idea.
Sep 26, 2015
Erin & John Paul’s Stylish Studio
Name: Erin Lyons and John Paul Doguin Location: Georgetown; Washington, DC Size: 525 square feet Years lived in: 3 years; Rented Meet Erin and John Paul. Erin’s a writer and JP works on a design team at a federal agency. I shot their studio one week before they moved into a larger one-bedroom apartment downstairs; I had seen their place for the first time a few days earlier and insisted we do a House Tour before they packed up! I’ll tell you why.
Sep 26, 2015
A History of New Yorkers’ Love/Hate Relationship with the Fire Escape
They’re a refreshing escape. They’re a terrifying safety hazard. They’re an eyesore. They’re a beloved part of the urban fabric. For as long as there have been fire escapes, there have been mixed opinions about fire escapes. The zigzagging metal stairs that many people associate so closely with the look of New York first started to appear in 1860, when a revision to the state code required buildings to have them.
Sep 25, 2015
Hannah’s Cozy Family Farm Home
Name: Hannah Location: Tupelo, Mississippi I am incredibly lucky to live in my great-grandparents home on the land that used to be our family farm. My house is a converted 4-square home that my grandmother, Rooney, was born in. We don’t know the exactly age of the home, but it was definitely built before 1936 (Rooney’s birth year.) My green little house is completely surround by a white picket fence and directly behind it is our family lake.
Sep 25, 2015
Ken’s Eclectic Red Hook Retreat
Location: Brooklyn, New York I live in Red Hook, Brooklyn. I have been in this apartment for 4 years. It is a small 2 bedroom apartment with a really good sized back yard. I live here with my 10 year old Golden Retriever, Duke. The negative of being on the ground floor in a flood zone is that I was flooded during Sandy. I have since re-built and am happy to be back! My style is modern & eclectic. I am an avid thrift store, flea market and craigslist shopper. I love mixing styles and patterns.
Sep 25, 2015
The Best Ways to Tone Down a Too Spicy Dish
(Image credit: sarsmis) shutterstock From The Kitchn → 6 Ways to Tone Down a Dish That’s Too Spicy
Sep 25, 2015
Lauren and Shawn’s “Beautiful and Bright Retreat”
Name: Lauren and Shawn Location: Toronto, Ontario Lovers, builders, crafters and believers that a Shared Life is truly a beautiful thing, our latest home renovation was a basement conversions from a dark uninviting space to a beautiful and bright retreat that we are renting as a B&B. Each detail was daydreamed about, hunted for and brought together to create a space for our guests to truly unwind and indulge in.
Sep 24, 2015
Use Your Lifelines: Shopping Helpers Inspired By Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
It was a game show in the ’90’s, but these lifelines can really work anytime. After a recent re-watch of Slumdog Millionaire (holds up!), I started remembering a few of the ins and outs of this gameshow. Turns out, all the lifelines they offered contestants to help them field trivia questions work in real-life situations too, especially when it comes to the one major area where we face tough choices every day: shopping.
Sep 24, 2015
The Best Furniture to Buy When You’re a Renter
Why do you need to think about furniture characteristics when you’re a renter? Well, if you’re the kind of renter who moves around a lot or could potentially move around a lot in the future, you might want to consider your furniture’s characteristics so they last through moves as well as are flexible enough to fit into a lot of different types, sizes and styles of future homes. So what kind of furniture characteristics should you look out for?
Sep 24, 2015
3 Renegade Ways to Shake Up Your Home and Hone Your True Style (Without Spending a Dime)
You’re sick and tired of looking at the same old, same old, but it’s all you can seem to see. You’ve surfed and pinned until your fingers bled, but you can never seem to translate those ideas into real-life change. Never fear. These three steps require you to get off the couch and take some action. Doing this stuff will get you going, we promise.
Sep 24, 2015
Partner
Simple Solutions: Painted Headboard
If you think the secret to a making a grand statement in your bedroom is buying an expensive, clunky headboard that takes up too much space and time to assemble, we have good news for you. There’s a seriously easy and chic way to transform your bedroom in a single weekend. The simple solution? Paint your headboard.
Sep 24, 2015
The Kitchn Taste Test: Instant Oatmeal
(Image credit: Kelli Foster) From The Kitchn → The Instant Oatmeal Taste Test: We Tried 6 Brands and Here’s Our Favorite
Sep 24, 2015
Ford & Hillary’s Houston Rehab
Name: Ford and Hillary Location: Houston, Texas In 2011, when we were ready to buy a home, we chose a very affordable (ahem sketchy at the time) neighborhood knowing that things in the area were changing and it was only 2 miles from downtown Houston. We purchased a 1910-ish home that had been a rental for the last 20 years and paid $85,000 for it.
Sep 23, 2015
Block Scheduling Versus To-Do Lists: How to Budget Your Time
To-do lists, while necessary, are the minutiae of what we do with our time, and mostly detail the things we have to do as opposed to the things that are most important. Block scheduling, on the other hand, is the big picture, category-level view we need to pay attention to in order to truly be in control of our time. Budgeting time is very similar to budgeting money: you have a certain amount of it to spend and you’re going to decide before it’s gone where it’s going.
Sep 23, 2015
Molly & Oliver’s Creative Haven
Name: Oliver and Molly Hatch and daughter Camilla Location: Florence, MA Size: 750 square feet Years lived in: 3 years; Owned I first came across Molly Hatch when I worked for Anthropologie. Known for her cheeky sense of humor that cleverly combines contemporary concepts with classic designs, Molly created ceramics for the retail chain that were distinctively whimsical.
Sep 23, 2015
4 Easy Things You Can Do to Make Any Size Kitchen Better
Looking for easy things you can do to make your kitchen better, look nicer and feel more comfortable? You want it to be an inspiring space you want to use. There are lots of improvements you can make; these four things are easy and work with any size or style of kitchen. What are those things you use everyday? The things you’d have to open a door or drawer to get to (or maybe even dig out of some container)?
Sep 23, 2015
These 5 Tiny Investments Will Take Your Baking to the Next Level
(Image credit: Christine Gallary) From The Kitchn → 5 Tiny Investments That Will Elevate Your Baking
Sep 23, 2015
The Invisible Things Around the House That Are Worth Spending Money On
These are not your sexy showstopper purchases. In fact, no one (except you) will probably even know these things exist. But that’s okay. Your life will be miles better if you spend some bucks on this stuff. Money spent on setting your space up for organizational success will never be wasted. What these helpers costs in cash (which, ahem, can be very little if you recognize the simple power of a recycled shoebox), it will make up for over and over in time saved.
Sep 23, 2015
The Most Important Step of the Closet Cure
Congratulations! You made it to the end of our inaugural Closet Cure. We started out a little less that two weeks ago with our eye on the prize of a pared down wardrobe, filled with things that make us look and feel good, stored in clean, uncrowded closets and drawers. Whether you have reached that goal already or are still working through the assignments at your own pace, I hope you feel like your efforts have been paying off.
Sep 22, 2015
High & Low: One Fresh Home Office Look, Two Budgets
Now that the kids are back in school and life is slowly getting back into a regular routine, it’s time to think about getting your own work and routine back in order. For some (like me!) the excitement of getting new school supplies never really fades and this time of year is a great time to rethink, reorganize, refresh your home office or perhaps create one from scratch.
Sep 22, 2015
Jo’s Understated Retro Rock Style in Melbourne
Name: Jo Walker Location: Coburg; Melbourne, Australia Size: 75 square meters (807 square feet) Years lived in: 1 year; Owned I was so excited when Jo Walker, the editor of the award-winning Australian magazine Frankie, said I could photograph her home and share it on Apartment Therapy! I had fairly high expectations of her at-home style, and it seriously did not disappoint.
Sep 22, 2015
Partner
Simple Solutions: Half-Painted Wall
It seems like we’re always looking for an easy way to add a little color and contrast into our homes without sacrificing too much money or time. But finding the one color that is the right one for your room can sometimes take more energy than the job itself. The simple solution? Half-painted walls. We’re loving this super easy, personalized, and colorful way to change your home in 24 hours. Still split in two as to how to get started?
Sep 22, 2015
12 Fall Friendly Alcohol-Free Drinks
(Image credit: Emily Han) From The Kitchn → 12 Non-Alcoholic Drinks to Sip All Fall
Sep 22, 2015
Ellen & Matt’s Fun, Creative Home for a Growing Family
Location: Los Angeles, California Katie is a photographer and submitted some gorgeous photos of her friends Matt and Ellen’s home! From Katie: “Ellen has a brilliant design mind and works at Sugar Paper LA. Matt is a writer/director/actor. They just received their two foster kids – the most precious twin boys. I asked Ellen to answer a few questions about her home and this is what she said. . .” My husband Matt and I have lived in our home for a little over two years.
Sep 21, 2015
Can You Really Use Ketchup to Clean Copper and Brass?
From the knocker on your front door to the extra-special necklace you brought home from the craft market, brass and copper goods are showing up everywhere. Over time, these shiny treasures will start to tarnish, and we heard that ketchup can help get them back in shape. But does it really work? we gave it a try… Ketchup Small bowl Buffing cloth Small brush 1. For small, dainty pieces of jewelry like chains and earrings, it’s easiest to submerge them and let them sit for a while.
Sep 21, 2015
Living in the Past: Homes that Embrace Vintage with Open Arms
Dawn’s Fabulous 50s Suburban Home Most people interested in decor know the power of vintage items. They’ve studied the classics, or they’ve got a couple of storied items in their own homes. But there are some homes that don’t just dabble in vintage or mix it in: they embrace it in its entirety, throwing themselves full-on into previous eras. I already had this post planned before the recent hubbub surrounding this Vox article, in which Sarah A.
Sep 21, 2015
Danielle’s Modern Vintage Industrial Home
Name: Danielle Location: Hochelaga-Maisonneuve; Montreal, Canada Size: 750 square feet Years lived in: 3 years; Owned When I first entered Danielle’s condo, I immediately noticed the calm and peaceful ambiance. Maybe the cooled air inside had something to do with it, on a can’t stand the heat and humidity sort of day! But regardless of temperature, Danielle’s place is seriously awesome. Although the condo is a garden level unit, it remains lit all day by the large windows.
Sep 21, 2015
Kristine Renee’s “Pink Palace” Oasis
Name: Kristine Renee Location: Sacramento, California After spending a couple of years working in Southeast Asia, relocating to Sacramento, CA was a big transition. Home has always been my most treasured oasis and I knew that in order to be content with my new geography, I must create a space that reflected me; my travels, stories, studies and adventures.
Sep 21, 2015
Waste Not, Want Not – The Condiment Edition
(Image credit: Jessica Goldman Foung) From The Kitchn → 9 Ways to Stop Wasting the Last Bits of Jam, Mustard, and Tomato Paste
Sep 21, 2015
Danielle’s Bright & Multi-functional Top Floor Apartment
Name: Danielle Levy Location: Mile End; Montreal, Quebec Size: 700 square feet Years lived in: 3 years; Rented A born and raised Montrealer, Danielle is an avid supporter of her local community which is a defining feature of her lifestyle from food to home design. Much of the artwork and décor Danielle owns has a personal connection, either having been created by a friend or local artist, found at a thrift shop or collected from her travels abroad.
Sep 20, 2015
Forget About Work-Life Balance and Try This Instead
The pressure to do it all, have it all, be it all, and still have a perfect home to throw Pinterest parties in is pervasive and leads inexorably to talk of multitasking and time management. Balance, to me, is finding a way to spin all the plates on all our appendages. But if minimalism is a counterpoise to physical excess, then taking things out of our schedules must be the antidote to busyness and the key to being present. Here are some ways to practice presence in your daily life.
Sep 20, 2015
5 Important Measurements to Take Before Shopping
About to hit “purchase” on a new item for you home? Wait! Make sure you’ve thought to measure these things first. They’re measurements people often forget to consider before they buy, but they’re measurements that can really muck up your design if you don’t take them into consideration first.
Sep 19, 2015