The Latest: 2019

Pilling on fabric is no good. It makes clothing and furniture look worn and tired, like it needs to be replaced. I certainly felt that way about this yellow chair before the most epic fabric de-fuzzer showed up on my doorstep. Friends, here me when I say this: This is the most satisfying $12.99 you’ll ever spend on a home-care appliance. I knew this type of tool existed, but I didn’t know how amazing the results would be when used on upholstery fabric.

I can get behind a design trend just as fast as the next person. Exposed brick? Sliding barn doors? Reclaimed wood? Check, check, and check! I dream of a farmhouse sink and a subway tile backsplash and am about to do the all-open-shelving thing in our kitchen. But there’s one seemingly mandatory design decision that I have zero interest in making: adopting the open kitchen. In our 1890 home, the kitchen is at the back of the house in a textbook-style late-Victorian floor plan.

In its previous iteration, the bathroom in Meredith and Jason’s Chelsea home was the epitome of late ’90s truck stop chic. A fancy truck stop, mind you, with a stone countertop, fancy mirror, and mud-colored shower tiles in a staggered configuration. But it just wasn’t working for them.

Jennifer’s new house was definitely move-in ready, but she was still eager to make some key changes to better suit her style, and quickly put all her collected Pinterest inspiration to good use. We featured her bathroom renovation already, and today it’s all about the changes she made to the kitchen. Again, the old kitchen wasn’t horrific, but it wasn’t ideal either.

This kitchen is great on paper — granite countertops! Stainless steel appliances! But in reality, it didn’t suit the homeowner at all. In just weeks, the kitchen went from black, tan, yellow, and brown to . . . well, you’ll just have to see! Wow! We see so many whitewashed renovations —which I always love, to commenters chagrin —so it’s fun to see a room that’s been redone in bright white and a bold, unusual color.

It’s rare we get a makeover project from a renter, with all the complications and limitations that entails. Wendy Carwardine has helpfully provided the budget, timeline, and logistics behind her awkward bathroom’s “weekend facelift.

Hannah was stuck in an impasse familiar to many of us: “For the seven years we’ve been in the house, I’ve always wanted to change the kitchen but thought it would have to be a massive, expensive project that would leave us without a working kitchen for months.” When she finally decided to tackle the room, she did it in stages with creative budgeting and a strong DIY spirit —all of which made the renovation much more approachable than originally predicted.

The bathroom in Katie and Lance’s Park Slope home was not without its quirky charm. But it also had a few odd and even irritating features, like the pedestal sink placed between two tiled storage cabinets, the storage niche with ill-fitting saloon-style doors, and the icky, perma-dirty grout on the floor. When, suddenly, a giant water leak joined the list of less than desirable elements, the couple decided that their bathroom was due for a serious overhaul.

Warm, earthy wood is such a beautiful material to have in your home…until it’s not. There are no rules about how much wood a home can handle, but you know it when you see it. When Carina Romano bought this cabin in the Catskills with two friends, Amanda Jaffe and Kate McCann, the location won them over, but the amount of ’80s-era wood-paneled walls was overwhelming.

We are pretty big on homes here at Apartment Therapy, and nothing makes us more excited than helping people create happy and beautiful spaces that support them and their goals. Around the holidays, it feels especially poignant so, when we recently heard of one young woman whose apartment needed a little care and kindness, we jumped at the chance to help. This holiday season, we worked with City Living NY, a non-profit which helps create homes for young people aging out of the foster care system.

There’s no doubt about it: Induction stove tops are convenient. They boil water faster than electric and gas stovetops, allow cooks to control heat quickly and precisely, AND they cool down almost immediately after cooking is done. But, before you replace your existing stovetop, there’s one downside you should consider. Regular stoves use thermal induction—either a gas flame or electric burner transfers heat to your pots and pans, which in turn warms up the food inside.

We don’t often see hallway/stairway renovations—especially ones as fun as this one. These dingy, mustard stairs — and the dark landing spot at the stairs’ base — are about to get the makeover of a lifetime… WOW! That is so incredibly fun and unique! Natalie Jacob of Arsenic Lace has turned a stairway from a functional necessity to a stunning part of her home.

Sure, attics are known as musty, dark places, but with some imagination, they can be beautiful, inspiring rooms. Depending on how steeply it’s sloped, there might be a lot of square footage hiding right under your roof. For a little inspiration, check out these examples of attics that were transformed into beautiful and useful spaces.

I’m old enough to remember when a black, grey, and silver bathroom with shimmering wallpaper was the very height of style, and while there’s still a lot to love in that look, it is a bit dated—especially when there’s a brown tile floor involved! Let’s see the makeover which involves plenty of tile and zero brown… WOW.