Apartment Therapy Archive: Aug 2018

Autumn is a time for earthy hues, rustic touches, and an overall calming feel—three elements that Magnolia Market brought into their space for the upcoming fall season. Earlier this week, Joanna Gaines revealed details of Magnolia’s new displays inspired by the fall issue of their magazine. Fans can now get an inside look at the design process and witness magic unfold at the shop, one decorative statement at a time.

There are many remnants of the early aughts.

When it comes to finding the luggage that’s right for you (and your next trip), there are a few questions you should ask: How will you be traveling? How long will you be traveling? How much stuff will you actually bring with you? The answers to those questions can help determine what kind of bag is right for you, whether that be a weekender, a carry-on, or a more substantial check bag. Of course, no matter which style of luggage you land on, not all bags are created equal.

Moving is expensive enough as it is, so nobody wants to get the bad news that they aren't getting their security deposit back due to a dirty apartment.

This renovated apartment in the City of Lights is full of light.

We recently wrote about things at home you don’t need to worry about. But that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. For every ahh, it’s not actually that big of a deal item on the list, there’s—sorry—something waiting to take its place. And it’s not always the stuff you might think about. So, just in case you need something to keep you up at night, here are five things that you should be worried about.

It’s no secret that Amazon is a great source for budget-friendly home decor. They carry a seemingly neverending array of furniture, accessories, and tchotchkes, many of which are available with two-day shipping for Prime members. And no matter what your personal style—Scandi, mid-mod, boho, minimalist—there’s bound to be something that catches your eye. But with thousands of items to slog through it can be tough to know where to start.

While autumn doesn’t officially start until the equinox, Labor Day is often the last hurrah of summer, one more long weekend before school, work, and life resume their hectic pace. It’s also a chance to indulge in some retail therapy before heading back to said responsibilities. If you’re looking for a deal, we rounded up the best on the internet for your home and beyond.

This sweet green and pink bathroom is 63 years young, and though it had received a few updates 25 years ago, “It was just time to modernize and freshen up the old bathroom,” according to its owner. Let’s see what a difference 10 days can make in the long life of a vintage bathroom… Ooh, this looks so great! I love how the newly restrained palette—goodbye, pink, ivory, oak!

Store-brand products aren’t usually something to get excited about. They’re cheap and … that’s about it. But Costco’s Kirkland Signature brand of products are a bargain-hunter’s dream because they are not only economical, but also often top-of-the-line.

Great news, Potter fans: You no longer have to attend Hogwarts to feel like a wizarding student. Following the success of last year’s PBteen Harry Potter collection, Pottery Barn has announced its official home decor expansion that involves the company’s entire trifecta (Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, and PBteen). The new whimsical products have us spellbound, to say the least.

In a small space, every inch counts. There’s quite literally no room for frivolous decor items that don’t also provide a function. But the items in this post—spotted in real homes from recent house tours—are hardworking and good looking. Melina Peterson’s 300-square-foot New York studio apartment is not just small, it’s an odd shape.

It will never be not true that solving a problem when it’s small is much easier — and, when it comes to home maintenance, drastically more cost effective — than solving a problem that’s grown. While we’re outside grilling or sipping on something relaxing this Labor Day weekend, we’re going to take a little stroll around the perimeter and see if there might be a little problem we need to address now, before it gets bigger.

Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle company, goop, may have a reputation for suggesting and selling items so expensive most of us could only dream about buying them, but its newest collaboration is a departure from the site’s extremely affluent roots. The new goop x CB2 furniture collection just launched, and it’s surprisingly on the affordable side.

Chip Gaines is looking to make your dreams come true… again. You may recall that last October, the “Fixer Upper” alum/home renovation king launched a new platform called Chipstarter (you know, like Kickstarter) to help a few lucky folks achieve their wildest dreams. “There’s no dream or goal too big.

First things that come to mind upon seeing this cabin: modern, striking, sustainable. That’s exactly what Finnish designer Robin Falck wanted to embody when building the Nolla cabin, an eco-friendly tiny house in Helsinki. The urban camping experience was built in the middle of woodland on Vallisaari, an island in Finland’s capital city.

Amazon went from being an online bookstore that can sell you everything to an everything store that has started selling its own private label goods. While some, like home brand Rivet, sell surprisingly design-forward items, others are more basic. Such is (literally) the case with AmazonBasics, a line of no-frills items that range from batteries to cast iron skillets. Not everything in the line is so boring, however. In fact, some items manage to be both useful and (dare we say it?

Who says New Years should have all the glory when it comes to resetting things? Not us. We’re all about finding ways to revamp and re-calibrate throughout the year. (See: our 15-day home organization challenge, the September Sweep.) And there’s no time like the switching of the seasons to take stock and make some changes. Of course, that change can be a routine, a closet de-clutter…. or a really awesome new bar cart.

Name: Nicole Balin and two pups Location: San Anslemo, California Size: 1,200 square feet Years lived in: 4 years, owned I moved into my bungalow/ranch style home in 2015 after living in LA for 15 years with my two dogs. My hobby and passion has always been interior design and I started and run my own boutique PR firm for interior designers, product designers, and musicians. My mother was a decorator in the 1970s and design is in my blood.

It’s common knowledge that owning a home is cheaper than renting (at least in the long term), but anyone who has ever sat down to try and figure out the numbers knows that finding out how much you’ll save is harder than it looks. There are so many factors to consider. To try and help you come as close to the real number as possible, we’ve outlined three ways your rent-vs-buy math might be wrong — and how to straighten things out to give you the best picture possible.

Thank you for being a friend, ladies.

Just when you mastered your home’s most menacing decor challenges (lack of storage, too little light, too much light…), it’s time to move and do it all over again. You may feel like you’ve been saddled with an interior design Rubik’s Cube–you’ve got all the pieces (the dressers, the side tables, the lamps), but can’t quite work out how to arrange everything seamlessly.

Sneaky homeowners used to fill bowls with fake apples, grapes, and bananas—but don't you dare take a bite.

Come move-out time, getting every penny back of that rental deposit is the name of the game. Chores like replacing the stove top drip pans and spackling the walls where your TV once hung can certainly help. But the move-out cleaning ritual I’ve found to have the biggest impact, while requiring the least amount of effort, is done with a dollar store find: A melamine foam pad, or, if we’re talking in brands, Mr. Clean’s Magic Erasers or Scotch-Brite’s Easy Erasing Pad.

Name: Nora McInerny, her husband, four kids, and dog Stacy Location: Golden Valley, Minnesota Size: 3,500 square feet Years lived in: 1.5 years, owned There’s no lack of information on the internet about writer, speaker, wife, and mom Nora McInerny‘s life and work. The obituary she and her first husband Aaron wrote before he died went viral, and she’s since written a book, “It’s Okay to Laugh (Crying Is Cool Too),” as well as beautiful articles.

Earlier this month, TLC’s Trading Spaces announced a casting call for season two of the reboot where the show’s beloved host Paige Davis put the call out to homeowners in the Los Angeles or Charlotte, North Carolina areas. Now, Davis is dishing more on the upcoming season and what goes on when the cameras aren’t rolling.

Dropping your luggage off in a luxurious space and belly flopping onto a crisp bed after a long day is one of the most satisfying life experiences (next to having children and watching videos of people frost cakes, of course). High end hotels know how to make you feel your best and send you on your way refreshed the next day. If you can’t afford to spend every night in a swanky hotel, why not bring that sweet satisfaction to your very own bedroom?

Talk about a grand entrance.

At this very moment, the sky really is the limit. Now until Wednesday, September 5, Norwegian Air is having a sale on flights to several European destinations from U.S. cities all around the country. (So no matter where you live, you can reap the benefits on these deals.

This is a cute kitchen. It’s petite, efficient, seems to have ample storage, and its white palette is bright and conveys cleanliness like a spotless chef’s coat. However, this kitchen’s tenant was sick of its “bland and boring hardware and countertops” and took an afternoon to do something about it. And now? “It’s so glam and bright!” exclaims Chelsey Brown of City Chic Decor, and I have to agree. The changes are subtle but crucial.

​I have a cautionary moving tale for you that (thankfully) didn’t happen to me.

Talk about the name that keeps on giving to its Muggle fans. Just in time for Halloween, Insight Editions is releasing new Harry Potter books that will add to the ever-growing brand. However, these aren’t just any ordinary books (as none of them are), but unique reads that you’ll love to make room on your coffee table for. Amazon Harry Potter: Creatures: A Paper Scene Book 29.

As the House Tour editor here at Apartment Therapy, looking at a wide range of homes is a requirement (and a delight!). And while many of those spaces I see online, I still have a penchant for flipping through the pages of a good coffee table design book for inspiration.

Meryl Streep’s home, like Meryl Streep, could be or do anything. It could be a designed in the Grecian bohemian styled laid back vibe like her persona in Mamma Mia, all the way to the more proper and posh digs of her character in Florence Foster Jenkins. In actuality, the Tribeca home—a penthouse in the River Lofts at 92 Laight Street—is somewhere in between, and it’s been listed for a whopping $24.6 million.

I love moving in and decorating quirky, irregularly-spaced rooms, But taking measurements? Not so much.

If you’ve ever loved a new purchase as much for its appearance as for the story behind it, Of A Kind may be your new shopping destination. Highlighting the makers almost as much as the items they make, the site is the brainchild of longtime friends Erica Cerulo and Claire Mazur. Cerulo brought years of working in print, including the dearly departed Lucky magazine, to create a different kind retail experience.

[Be warned: Spoilers for the ending of Sharp Objects are to follow. Do not read if you still plan to watch the August 26 finale.] Twitter lost its collective mind on Sunday over the series finale of the HBO eight-episode adaptation of Sharp Objects, Gillian Flynn’s spooky 2006 novel. For eight episodes, we watched reporter Camille Preaker (Amy Adams) try to track down clues to reveal the identity of a killer while she also struggled to reckon with her own trauma.

Moving more often than most people has taught me to be smarter about the whole thing. And in honor of me moving—again—next week, I'd love to share my biggest moving secret.

It’s been a few years since washi tape first came on the scene as a non-permanent medium for decorating all sorts of things. Since then, washi tape DIYs have saturated the internet like the most bedazzled page in your Aunt Linda’s scrapbook. We’ve waded through the rhinestones and glitter to find 10 chic examples of washi tape in the home that will put your craft store sale bin raids with Aunt Linda to good use.

If you haven’t been furiously refreshing Zillow for the past couple of months, here’s a bit of news for you: It’s a seller’s market right now. Even if you’re not pining over a dream home currently, you might know that, well, because the thought of buying a home hasn’t even popped into your head anytime recently.

This is what culinary dreams are made of. From now until mid-November, Williams-Sonoma is going on a hiring spree to bring on thousands of seasonal customer service associates who will be working remotely. Although the process started in the beginning of the summer, roughly 200 workers are expected to be brought on every week starting in October, according to Flexjobs.

Name: Janet Varney, her boyfriend Brandon, and dogs Scott and Whitley. Location: Hollywood Hills — Los Angeles, California Size: 1,000 square feet Years lived in: 14 years, owned Colorful with patterns and textures, actress Janet Varney‘s home is also airy and relaxing…surely a much-needed respite from her busy career. She was the voice of Korra in the animated television series “The Legend of Korra.

If, like I do, you spend a lot of time looking at stylish homes on Pinterest, or on Instagram, they can all kind of start to look… the same. The ubiquitousness of trends is something we’ve even poked fun at, with our Millennial Apartment Bingo, but the question remains: how do you create a home that’s stylish and unique?

Get a brand new-to-you sofa or chair for college-kid prices.

With the cold weather season fast approaching, it’s time to finally address an age-old debate in the decor world: Are there really any differences between flannel and plaid? The answer, simply, is yes. So to further breakdown the distinction, we called upon textile aficionado Annie Selke, CEO and President of The Annie Selke Companies, for help. We asked her what really made plaid and flannel all that different and she spelled it out for us.

The Duchess of Sussex and (queen of our hearts) left behind a treasure trove of tips to achieve a life well lived. Self described as “a hub for the discerning palate–those with a hunger for food, travel, fashion & beauty,” The Tig was Goop, without the jade egg stuck up its you-know-what. But alas, after becoming a member of the British royal family, The Tig had to go.

I don’t know about you, but after this grueling hot summer, I’m feeling so ready for fall. I’m ready to bundle up, sip something warm, and make myself a permanent spot on the sofa. But before we all hibernate for the season, we need to channel some of this end-of-summer energy into making our homes the calm and in-control sanctuaries they ought to be. An organized home looks different for everyone.