Katie Holdefehr

Stick a light-colored, porous material between tiles—where spills are likely to settle and mildew is undoubtedly going to grow—and you can bet it’s not going to be a pretty situation. And once stains set in, scrubbing them clean is no one’s idea of a fun afternoon. But the promise of fresh, gleaming grout? It keeps us fighting the good fight.

These spaces might be tight, but they can also be stylish and efficient.

Add a touch of boho flair to your home today.

The ultimate furniture piece for modern apartment living.

It may seem counterintuitive, but it works!

When I moved into a freshly renovated apartment last spring, I loved the new appliances and declared the remote-controlled AC life-changing—but I lamented how a coat of spackle and fresh flooring left the space feeling a little lacking in the personality department. I had a clean (almost too clean) slate to work with, and desperately needed to give the space character. Turns out, there were many simple ways to do this, including some that you can start doing stat.

...and their fast fixes.

As we move into 2019, let the stars be your decorating guide.

Pin this brilliant project and save it for a sunny day: Brush an inexpensive IKEA pillow cover with solar-activated dye, lay some leaves on top, and watch in wonder as the sun’s rays turn the white pillow an eye-popping orange. Of-the-moment palm patterns and new dyes in modern colors make this a fresh take on the classic blue sun print. And the best part? The look on your friends’ faces when you tell them you made it yourself.

While our dream homes are clutter-free sanctuaries that would make Marie Kondo proud, our real homes are where we store our mismatched bedding sets, bulk paper towels from Costco, and Backstreet Boys CDs from circa 1999. To keep all of this mess out of sight and give the illusion of an organized home, try one of our favorite DIY clutter concealers. Curtains, roller shades, no-sew table skirts—these are the easiest ways to keep the chaos under wraps.

If your happy place is walking around with a P-Touch label maker, assigning a tag to every notebook, binder and bin around the house, here’s how to bring your organization game up to speed. From printed fabric tags to Cricut vinyl canister labels, these modern DIY labels put a name to every last place in your home.

If you've spent the past couple years binge watching episode after episode of Fixer Upper—this post is for you.

Oversized knit blankets crafted from chunky yarn and PVC-pipe needles have been floating around Pinterest for a few years now. And while the finished projects looked amazing, I couldn’t bring myself to buy supplies that would take up any more space in my apartment. But now that needle-free arm knitting has hit the DIY scene, I’m 100% on board with giant knit everything.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Finding affordable art that you actually like is one of the hardest parts of furnishing a home. And once you finally find the pieces, you realize that frames cost even more than the art itself (yikes!). As per usual, IKEA (combined with brilliant bloggers around the web) saves the day with wall decor DIYs and art-hanging hacks that are totally within budget. You can kiss those blank walls buh-bye.

Feeling stuck in a full-time advertising gig, Christan Summers traded her day job for days spent selling succulents out of a “greenhouse on wheels” (that’s the Tulita truck, above) and making house calls to sick fiddle leaf fig trees. Launched in collaboration with Ivan Martinez, the Brooklyn-based plant company Tula House was born in April 2016, and one year later, business is, well, blooming.

These plants were born to be city dwellers.

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.

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.

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.

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

We’ve talked about the One Room Challenge before, a biannual event hosted by Calling It Home that tasks home design bloggers with transforming one room over the course of six weeks. Last time, we featured some of our favorite bathroom makeovers, but this time around, it’s all about the bedrooms. Gorgeous floral wallpaper, modern updates and DIY nightstands earn these spaces the title One Room Champions.

Finding storage solutions is difficult in most homes, but in a rental apartment that has insufficient (or completely non-existent) closet space and where you’re not allowed to drill into the walls, finding spots to stash all your stuff is even more challenging. By crafting your own storage boards and bins that lean against the wall or roll under the bed, you can store more in your rental space—and also take it all with you when you move out.

At the mercy of tile trends and ever-changing hardware styles, bathrooms that aren’t updated often (who can afford a yearly renovation?) can look outdated very quickly. One of the most affordable ways to help this room race against the clock without outpacing your budget is to let inexpensive paint lead the way. Some color on a vintage tub or a swipe of paint on an old vanity will give an older bathroom its sparkle back.

Having fresh flowers around the house is the ultimate luxury, but when a supermarket bouquet inevitably starts to wilt within 24 hours, it makes me reconsider the beauty of artificial blooms. When I spotted these whimsically oversized nashi blossoms (above) in paper flower artist Livia Cetti’s new book The Exquisite Book of Paper Flower Transformations, I knew I’d found the perfect stand-in for my usual bodega bundle.

After spending $60 (or more…gasp!) on a single candle, it makes sense to enjoy that luxury purchase as long as you can. Even after the candle has been burned, the pretty glass container it came in can still be used to beautify—and maybe even organize—your home. Careful, these brilliant ways to reuse a candle jar may reignite your diptyque obsession. Above: Gritty Pretty puts a set of Diptyque candle holders to use sorting all of the typical bathroom essentials.

If you’ve never made anything out of leather before, it can be difficult to know how to get started and where to shop for supplies. Looking at the prices, it’s no wonder sticker shock can turn many would-be leather workers away from the craft.

Leather, whether real or faux, is the ideal material for projects you plan to live with and use every day. Durable and beautiful, leather drawer pulls can be tugged at thousands of times without breaking, while a leather sunglasses case can be toted on trips for years without falling apart. If this is your first foray into leather-working, don’t be intimidated—consult our straight-forward intro to the art, then dive into one of the projects that follow, ranked by difficulty.

Sick houseplant? We're here to help.

Even that ugly tile floor.

Your guide to custom-crafted drawers.

Lately, I’ve been seeing a handmade shoemaking trend start to emerge, with classes popping up around town and images of handcrafted sandals suddenly showing up on Instagram. Whether you’re interested in crafting your own sandals, or just want to buy a handmade pair, this micro-trend will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about that collection piling up in your closet. Here it is, the image that sparked my fascination with handmade shoes.

If you’re not already familiar with the One Room Challenge, prepare to spend the next few hours scrolling before-and-afters. Here’s how the challenge works: The blog Calling It Home invites 20 design bloggers (with dozens of others joining in just for fun) to participate in a challenge to transform one room over the course of six weeks. Updates are provided every Wednesday so that the design-lovers of the internet can watch the progress in action.

If you’ve never seen a kokedama—a Japanese moss ball—let me introduce you to the ultimate small-space garden. Floating in midair, these plants don’t take up surface space, or even wall space. Plus, you don’t have to shell out money for a pretty container, as each plant is contained in its own moss-covered pod and is suspended from the ceiling using inexpensive twine.

Get more greenery at home, and keep more green in your wallet.

Crafting trends ebb and flow just like decor trends come and go, and at the moment, embroidery is enjoying its time in the spotlight—and showing up on everything from jean jackets to tennis rackets. Whether you choose to pick up a needle and thread, or prefer to admire these beauties from afar, we’ve pulled together a sampler of Instagram accounts offering endless stitch-spiration.

While essential oils have been used for aromatherapy for hundreds of years, these all-natural scents are seeing a spike in popularity as more people are learning about their de-stressing and energizing abilities. Derived from plants or flowers, most often through steam distillation, essential oils can be used to make scented candles, oil diffusers, even pest repellants.