The Latest

This kitchen won’t be for everyone- but I love it to pieces! I decided early on to replace the upper cabinets but to repaint the lower cabinets as they were solid wood. The only problem was which color! I spent a lot of time on pinterest following the ‘OOooooh’ factor. Anything that made me make a noise of desire got pinned and I found myself pinning a lot of dark green kitchens… I’m all for interesting design but that seemed a bit too edgy even for me!

Sometimes, all you need is a little white paint and creativity. Two simple design choices made a huge difference in the look of Emily’s fireplace. From Emily: This electric fireplace surround was picked up from a thrift store. It was a black color and all of the details were hidden. There was a faux brick finish on it. Using some bright white paint and some simple peel and stick tiles, were all that was needed to make this fireplace stand out.

While not lacking in a certain crumbly charm, the bathroom in Colin and Orli’s Crown Heights co-op was definitely not a place where you would want to take a bath. Five different layers of floor tiles, installed on top of each other over the years, made for an unsettling drop when stepping into the tub. The subway tile walls were starting to look far too much like an actual subway for comfort, and thanks to many decades of water damage, the whole thing was falling apart.

Windows over sinks tend to draw the eye, which means that this small area in your kitchen has a lot of visual responsibility. Taking some time to dress it up — even a little bit — can change the entire look and feel of the room, and reward you tenfold. Erin of Francoise et Moi painted the window frame a pretty blue to make it stand out, and topped it off with brass hardware.

Project by: Adam Bechtold of Adam Bechtold Interiors Location: Great Falls, Virginia Though the room above could certainly fit the tastes of plenty of people, to the young couple who bought this 1970s colonial-style house (their first home), it didn’t fit their style (and felt rather dated to them). So they enlisted the help of Adam Bechtold to take this room from traditional style to something more cozy and nature-filled.

Not all wallpaper is created equal. And while it is having a well deserved moment, some wallpaper can make a room feel instantly dark and outdated. Yasmin found an inexpensive way to banish her bland wallpaper, among other things, and brighten up her whole kitchen. From Yasmin: When we got this home, we definitely loved the original 70s homey feel to it, the original owners were so kind as to even leave us some orchids in the kitchen!

Who among us hasn’t spotted that rare garage sale find full of potential and charm, only to look at it and sigh, “What’s the point, anyway? Time is endless yet fleeting.” Charles did exactly that and the results are pretty breathtaking. From Charles: I was looking to add a little mid cent mod flair to my living room. So I spent countless hours scouring the internet to fill the void, and to no avail.

While Emily’s kitchen certainly wasn’t in the worst shape visually of some of our submissions, I became much more invested in this transformation (and wept for the state of her baked goods) when I found out she was using a 50 year old oven. From Emily: Our kitchen was original from 1965, and after living with it for two years we decided it was time to renovate – I’d been using the original stove and oven!

Think outside the shelf.

Kevin’s hallway update is an excellent blend of style and function and a testament to really thinking about how the furniture is serving the space when making design choices. Also, I’m a total sucker for an interesting ceiling and this one is tops. From Kevin: When it comes to small spaces that are hard to design, the hallway is one of the worst offenders.

Our 1961 Colonial house on Long Island had orange shag carpeting and some delightful fixtures when we purchased it in 2013. We ended up renovating nearly every room in the house, but it’s taken all this time for me to finish decorating! The room I’m sharing is our powder room. It had a shell shaped sink in the shortest vanity I’ve ever seen when we started. I decided to use the small space to get dramatic with color.