The Latest: 2020

Last week, you got to see the updates and tiling work we did in our kitchen. However, we also had a very fun time doing some updates to our bathroom. This before photo (taken quite a bit before we started the project) doesn’t show the vertical angle, but allows you to see the most important elements: the old, dingy, salmon-colored tile, and original toilet and vanity. Fast forward three days (we were on a tight schedule) to our brand new bathroom!

It’s funny to remember how large, bulky, yet sometimes stylish televisions were before the era of HDTVs took displays from the floor onto our walls. We still remember our childhood 80’s RCA floor console TV taking up about the same amount of room as 40″ HDTV flat panels all lined up. Sometimes you’ll still find one of these wonderful relics of TV’s past in basements, garages or thrift stores, many not in working order.

Atmosphere is the je ne sais quoi ingredient to interiors. You can’t really put your finger on it and it’s not really something you can buy in a box to add to your home. But it’s the thing that differentiates a great home from just a good one, and it’s the thing that makes guests want to stay and linger in your home as long as possible. How do you get it (or make your existing atmosphere even better)? Well the answer to that isn’t easy.

Name: Meg and Josh Type of Project: Mudroom/Breakfast Nook remodel Location: Chinook, Washington Type of building: Single-Family Home, 1,000 square feet For all of you good people who have been following along with Meg and Josh’s mudroom renovation, the big moment has finally come: all the work is complete, and it’s time to take a look at the finished space! From Meg: Any renovation project is special, but there’s something extra special about a DIY renovation project.

For this very last roundup, we’ve combed through all of this year’s Before & After projects (and trust us, there were a lot of good ones) and rounded up the very best ones. The dramatic, inspiring, shocking transformations. The ones where you couldn’t possibly like the before better. Prepare to be amazed — here are 2014’s most dramatic transformations. Click on the slideshow to see the projects.

“Decorative art isn’t necessarily created just by bona fide artists. Everyday folks can get in on the action too, and make custom work for their walls. We asked our house tour residents to tell us about their DIY art projects, and the results are endlessly impressive. 1. Above, a Southwestern rug-inspired painted canvas from Kathryn & Perry’s “Have Less Do More” Apartment: My proudest DIY has got to be our little dining nook/statement art wall!

At this budget range, kitchen renovations mean less actual physical labor for the homeowners, who are able to leave most of that work to the professionals. That doesn’t mean a total hands off approach however. The owners of these kitchens either acted as their own general contractor, designed the space themselves, and shopped vigilantly for the best deals out there.

Do you fret over certain aspects of your home? Do they keep you up at night? Do you spend hours Googling (or Apartment Therapy-ing) for the answer that will fix your problem and tone down your home-related stress? There are plenty of things to worry about when it comes to home, but these seven things aren’t them. Take the worries after the jump off your plate and spend your mental energy on enjoying your space and your life! Don’t worry… 1.

The office chair above is unfortunately more common than we’d hope. It’s the home office equivalent of the big, dumpy (yet comfortable) big leather couches that weigh down a space. Does form have to be sacrificed for function? “No!” says designer and upcycling blogger, Joy of How Joyful…check out how she gave this chair a whole new personality… Last Christmas my in Laws gave Ken and I matching Desk chairs. We only had one and it was pretty broken.

Name: Jennifer Pade Type of Project: Kitchen remodel Location: West Village, New York, New York Type of building: 300 square foot apartment in a co-op building For those of you who have been following along with Jennifer’s NYC kitchen remodel, and who saw the truly dire state of her original kitchen, this reveal will be especially satisfying. The work is done, the dust has cleared, and now it’s time to take a look at the finished product.

Victoria shared her kitchen renovation with readers at last Wednesday’s Apartment Therapy Design Evening. In case you missed out, here’s a little more about the project. Victoria had bought a beautiful Victorian home, circa 1906, with great bones. Most of the house was in good condition, but it was clear that the old kitchen had to go.

Shortly after moving into their Chinook, Washington home, Meg and Josh decided to tackle a big project: transforming their existing laundry room and breakfast room into a single, open mudroom/breakfast nook combo. Before the project began, the breakfast room and laundry room were separated by a wall, making the small house seemed more cramped. Meg and Josh envisioned a single, open space the would serve as breakfast nook, laundry room, and mudroom all in one, with lots of built-in storage.

This plain kitchen was sort of… fine? We’ve seen gross kitchens and this one was far from it. If anything, it was a little sterile, with various off-white shades paired with some unflattering lighting. Here’s another view, where you can see that there weren’t any accent colors, textures, metal-mixing, or any of the other design elements that give a space interest.

I’ve been having a bear of a time finding a set of side tables that fit next to my couch and don’t look terrible. I also love a good DIY project — especially one that can be finished over a weekend — so I was pretty excited to see this cool set of DIY side tables made from IKEA cutting boards and plumbing pipes.

Dealing with this closet and salmon painted floor was high on the priority list of things to do to begin turning this basement into the modern family room it was destined to be. It had been on my mind since the moment we got the keys to the house. It took a few months to get around to it but we finally did. Follow me after the jump to see the result…We didn’t have much use for the closet but we did have hundreds of books that needed to find a home.

If you’re not over the revamped bar cart trend yet (we’re definitely not), you’ll love this simple but sweet clean-up of a bar cart with a great shape but an older finish that needed freshening. From Alexandra: While on a weekend run to (finally) drop off some bags of clothes at the thrift store I came across this old metal kitchen cart, it was a little dingy and rusty — but I had been looking for a bar cart for some time, and at $12.50 I could not pass it up!

If there’s a leading trend, it’s embracing color, and that’s exactly what the talented crew at DC design firm Residents: Understood did with their clients Danielle and Peter. Using the young couple’s wanderlust as inspiration, R:U set about transforming sterile gloomy to bold global.Given that Danielle and Peter met while studying in Europe, got engaged in Iceland, and will be married in Italy this fall, they wanted to make a home that suited their vibrant life together.

Since I was a child, I’ve loved Sesame Street; my parents even credit it with teaching me to read before I reached kindergarten. And I even had a similarly plain, white dresser in my room. Imagine my delight had my parents turned it into this beauty that features some favorite Sesame Street muppets!I would’ve flipped for this Sesame dresser (although back in the day, Elmo probably would’ve been Kermit), and when my kids were preschoolers, they would’ve loved it, too.