Apartment Therapy Archive: Apr 2017

Name: Johnny Matcham Location: Tower District — Fresno, California Size: 650 square feet Years lived in: 3 years, renting Johnny grew up surrounded by vintage. His father collected vintage radios, cameras and old advertising signs. His mom had a large collection of cookie jars and vintage kitchen decor. His grandparents had a house full of kitsch treasures: tiki mugs, risqué lady figurines, and novelty bar ware. Growing up, Johnny’s bedroom was filled with vintage art and toys.

The Seattle-based artist responsible for creating some of the world’s most exceptional colored glass sculptures has bestowed his talents upon the New York Botanical Garden for the first time in over a decade. According to Architectural Digest, Dale Chihuly’s vivid display of artistry is helping the city come alive in spring time by way of his CHIHULY show, which showcases more than 20 of his signature captivating glass pieces.

When you’re bored at home or feeling stuck in a rut, what’s one of the first things that pops into your mind to fix that situation? I’m willing to bet you’re tempted to slip into some shoes and head out the door to a restaurant you saw in the paper, or out to a movie with your friends. But that requires money and when you’re constantly consuming, your bank accounts start to feel the effects.

Is it appropriate to ask my landlord to pay for an appliance that broke in my new apartment? My window A/C unit was fried because a previous tenant decided to DIY some of the electrical wiring in the apartment without notifying the landlord. Here’s a little background: I installed my window A/C unit in my new apartment. I bought the unit two years ago, having saved up and researched the most cost and energy efficient model. The unit fried as soon as I turned it on.

Name: Anne, Dave, Pascale and Liam Lowell Location: Orinda, California Size: 2,000 square feet Years lived in: 5 years, owned After living in San Francisco for 20 years, Anne, her husband and two children moved north over the Bay Bridge to Orinda — a small town in the lush hills of the East Bay. It was the better schools that convinced the couple to make the move over the bridge. They found and nestled down in a beautiful house surrounded by leafy trees.

In truly tiny apartments, it’s not uncommon for renters to forego the traditional coffee table simply to squeeze in a little more seating. An extra chair or two means more room for friends, but once everyone’s there, where do you set down your drinks or serve the popcorn in a coffee-table-less room? To solve your insufficient surface area woes, DIY one of these ledges, c-tables or shelves that tuck into areas you didn’t even know your living room had.

Lauren Singer has a pretty famous jar. The jar itself is nothing special—just a regular pint-sized glass one—but if you’re an average American, what’s in it is mindblowing. The jar holds all of Singer’s trash from the past four years—yes, every last bit of it. Singer began living a zero waste life nearly half a decade ago, and started the blog Trash is for Tossers to help others do so as well.

We always say that your home should reflect your interests and hobbies—so if you happen to be a caffeine-loving espresso guzzler, it only makes sense to devote some space to your favorite pastime. Each one of these DIY refueling stations is guaranteed to perk up your home’s style and save you from that afternoon slump.

Name: Shelbie Engelgau, Blake Cox, MJ Tantingco, Myles Huff (and fifth roommate Brian, who isn’t featured in the tour) Location: Oceanview — San Francisco, California Size: 1,000 square feet Years lived in: 4 months, rented Shelbie’s move into this San Francisco apartment required no driving: She and her roommates only had to schlep their furniture up a small flight of stairs from the unit below into this newly remodeled four-bedroom upstairs unit.

What happens to your body during barre class doesn't seem to make sense, but that's part of the charm—and it totally works.

Name: Elle Ruhstaller and Alex Ristevski Location: Piedmont Avenue — Oakland, California Size: 1,200 square feet Years lived in: 3 years, renting Elle can’t really pinpoint a specific style for the Oakland apartment she shares with her partner Alex. “It’s a mash-up of what I like most from many different eras,” she said of her apartment’s decor.

Whether you subscribe to bohemian style, or just love living surrounded by natural materials, these DIY projects can help you bring the outdoors in. Plus, going on a nature walk (or just searching your front yard) for supplies is way more fun than standing in a never-ending line at the craft supply store. Organizing buffs who have a bohemian bent will love this branch-turned-coat-rack by The Effortless Chic. Paint it or leave it natural depending on the room and the look you’re going for.

Arranging furniture in a small space is always a bit of a challenge—and this is particularly true if your space is a bedroom, living room, dining room, workspace, and kitchen all in one. If you’re looking for inspiration for the layout of your studio apartment, look no farther than these five diminutive spaces, whose owners came up with five very clever solutions for one-room living.

When Chloe inherited her grandfather’s house she knew it would need some tender loving care. Working with her family to rethink the layout and rid the space of the less than desirable ’60s elements, she came up with a shockingly stylish space on a budget. From Chloe: I inherited this home in 2009 from my grandpa who built it in 1965.

Depending on where you reside, car ownership may not be necessary for day-to-day life. For Bay Area residents who want to swap out their big ol’ hunk of metal and four wheels for something that consumes less space and gas, a bike shop in San Francisco is here to serve your carbon footprint-reduction needs. As Inhabitat reports, The New Wheel bike shop allows patrons to trade in their cars for an electronic bike.

As much as we love spending time on social media, some of the unexpected burdens it brings kind of make us want to log off permanently. Just kidding – that probably won’t ever happen, but while we’re sharing, we shouldn’t allow ourselves to become so blinded by the likes that we stop prioritizing the need to protect ourselves online.

Like turning geodes into air plant containers and etching glass jars.

It’s been really inspiring to me how much we’ve all embraced spring cleaning this year. Even when I’ve given you permission to take a day off — like when you’ve recently cleaned your kitchen cabinets or because you don’t have a dishwasher — I’ve seen you chiming in, finding something else to tackle that day in the name of a cleaner, refreshed home for the sunny season.

When you live in a small space, you face two major challenges: First, how do you make all your stuff work in such a tiny home? And second, how do you keep it from getting messy the second you use any of your stuff? For some—looking at you, minimalists—this is an easy task. But for others, learning to adapt to a tiny apartment can be a struggle. If you’re the latter, how do you deal?

Name: Eva, Jack, their 3 year old Eleanor and Robin Williamson the cat Location: Dorchester — Boston, Massachusetts The basics: Four years, owned 1,100 square feet Eva and Jack’s space is like a cozy and welcoming art gallery. After bouncing back from a fire that destroyed most of their belongings, they’ve created a home that feels stylish and exceedingly personal.

Turns out, there’s more than just 36-roll packs of toilet paper and giant muffins at your local warehouse store. We’ve recently discovered that you can also snag an authentic Eames Lounge chair at Costco, for quite a discount. Earlier this week, we were tipped off to the designer deal via a Facebook group for mid-century modern fans. The photo was of the iconic chair and its ottoman next to Herman Miller boxes stacked on pallets in the warehouse. The price for both pieces? $3,899.99.

Last year I came across a video of a young woman repeatedly wrapping her hair into a specific bun style — a nautilus bun — and securing it with a single hair stick. It was transfixing, and it seemed to promise an old-fashioned solution to the modern-day I-don’t-have-a-hair-elastic problem, as well as a potential solution to the hair-elastics-have-been-tearing-my-hair-out-for-decades problem.

The president was here. The Brooklyn brownstone that, thirty or so years ago, was home to 44 is now on the market for $4.295 million. In the mid ’80s, post-Columbia (and pre-Michelle) Barack Obama lived at 640 2nd Street in Brooklyn’s Park Slope. At the time, the property was split into multiple apartments—Obama and his then-girlfriend lived on the top floor.

Whether you are prone to dust allergies or will just rest easier knowing the area you spend 8 (okay, 7?, 6?) hours sleeping in each night is clean as a whistle, your bed zone is well-worth a half hour of your time this weekend. Clean Your Bedding: Strip your bed of blankets, comforters, sheets, pillows and mattress pad and give them all a good wash. If you haven’t done it recently, now’s a great time to flip your mattress.

Having an outdoor kitchen is nice, but, in my opinion, what’s even more nice is having a kitchen that morphs into an outdoor kitchen whenever you desire. From awning windows to disappearing walls, there are plenty of ways to open up your kitchen to the out-of-doors — here are some of my favorites. This inviting outdoor patio, from Three Birds Renovations and Adore magazine, features a particular kind of awning window called a gas strut window.

(Image credit: Susanna Hopler) From Kitchn → Love LaCroix? Tell Us Your Favorite, and We’ll Tell You What to Drink Next null

Despite not being an outdoorsy person, I love nature but I love it more indoors. I regularly bring home little bits of the outside. On my desk is a tiny bowl of sea urchin shells I painstakingly brought back from a scuba diving trip. In the living room hangs a sculptural (and broken) tree branch I dragged home from the neighborhood park one day.

First off, I want to thank all of you for your patience as we have been preparing this fabulous collection to present to you in all of its styled glory. After teasing you with the inspiration last week and party pics earlier this week, I am so excited to present the OFFICIAL introduction to the new line of upholstered furniture designed by Christiane Lemieux and Meganne Wecker of Cloth & Company and available through Amazon.

While fitness trackers help count your steps and sometimes make for chic wrist candy, they actually do a lot more than people give them credit for. If you’ve grown bored with yours and thrown it into a junk drawer, the reason might just be that you haven’t used it to its fullest potential. Read on to learn about the cool and not-so-obvious ways you can use your fitness tracker. Every activity is more fun when you have the chance to kick butt, including your daily steps.

Name: Danielle Walsh and Greg Brownstein Location: Laurel Heights — San Francisco, California Size: 1,200 square feet Years lived in: 1.5 years, renting Traveling is fun, but can also be hard work — especially when you’re a senior editor at a travel magazine. So your home needs to be something you love coming back to; a place you can take a vacation from vacation.

More and more of our favorite outlets stores are doing something (amazing) many are unaware of: popping up online to sell a larger expansion of discounted items (cue the celebratory horns), and considering it’s far easier to scroll, click and buy from the comfort of your desk chair/sofa/mattress, this is really exciting news.

Vanessa’s second floor den space was a bit of a puzzle. The layout was a little odd and they didn’t need anymore general space, but she tried it out as a den and then an office. One day her husband had a stroke of genius and decided to flip the place into the kind of walk-in closet storage dreams are made of. From Vanessa: Our home has a second floor den that I could never render useful.

Let's face it: If you're going to have a conversation with someone, a traditional sofa probably isn't the best place to do it. But this is.

The $35 unfinished pine dresser from IKEA is a blank slate for your creativity. To show how it can be customized to match any decor style—no matter if your signature look is understated or over-the-top—we hacked this dresser two ways. Keep it simple with some paint and a bit of patterned gift wrap, or embrace elaborate bohemian details with bone-inlay stenciling. Either way, you’re going to get extra storage with serious style.

(Image credit: Eva Deitch) From Kitchn → This Is the Last Thing You Should Do When Spring Cleaning null

We can imagine the difficulty of being surrounded by so much beauty in the desert if your living space in the house you purchased just does not compare. Drawing inspiration from natural elements and the beauty of the desert, Lindsay infused her dark and uninspiring spare bedroom with, as she says, “as much white, natural wood, and stone as possible.

Our spring cleaning journey has been about turning over some lesser-cleaned leaves and refreshing your space to feel brand new for the season ahead. So in many ways, today’s assignment is symbolic of the whole shebang. We’re going to be flipping and turning, revealing a fresh new face for some of the most-used and much-loved parts of your home. Your sofa and bed see a lot of action day to day.

From Apartment Therapy → I Tried It: Goodbye Gross Disposables, Hello Silicone Sponge null

The coziness of a small space — or the closed-in, cramped feeling of one — isn’t always due to how few square feet it is. What you fill a small room with matters, for sure. But another vital element is the color you coat the room in. Conventional wisdom has always advised to use lighter colors to make walls recede (and a room feel larger) and to avoid darker hues (which might make the walls feel like they’re closing in), but that’s just not always the case.

If you’re obsessed with watching charming and talented amateur contestants compete on The Great British Baking Show, it’s not a stretch to say you’ll enjoy another UK export—and starting in May, you’ll be able to stream it here in the US. Now that Mary Berry has left and Mel and Sue have been replaced, I know I’m going to need a new addictive, yet soothing British competition show.

Name: Mark Shapiro Location: Venice, California Years Lived In: 4 years, owned For podcaster Mark Shapiro, the house hunt was daunting — and long-lasting. It took 12 months of scouring the city for him to find this “tree house” in Venice in 2010. And..it was love at first sight. When Mark opened the front gate to the property, a majestic coral tree immediately caught his eye. Inside, a slanted wood ceiling and tall windows reminded him of the ski chateaus from his childhood.