Our TeamMegan Baker Detloff

Megan Baker Detloff

I oversee all our coverage of renovations and DIY — including Before and Afters and home upgrades — plus houseplants and gardening.Madison, WIKeep up with me on Apartment Therapy

About Me

As a kid, I alternated between wanting to be a writer and an architect, so it seems fitting that my career has sort of been a marriage of both. After earning my BS in Magazine Journalism from Northwestern University, my first full-time editing gig was at This Old House, where I learned to use a miter saw and wire a lamp (among many other things). Next stop: HGTV, where I covered everything from curb appeal projects to mini makeovers. Now, at Apartment Therapy, I do a little of all that and more.

While I have many projects to be proud of at Apartment Therapy, one of my favorites is Megan’s Mystery Makeover, an Instagram video series where I challenged DIYers to make over a surprise item on a budget. I love getting to see how creative people can be. It’s inspiring!

My goal is to bring that same sense of delight and discovery to our readers with stories that feature clever hacks, surprising advice, and, of course, eye candy in the form of before and afters. I believe, above all, your home should make you happy — and I want to empower you to get there through DIYs and other home upgrades.

My pronouns

she/her/hers

I'm an expert in

DIY
plants

My education

Northwestern University (BS in Journalism)

Where else you've seen me

My Big Projects

Encyclopedia of Houseplants

Before & Afters Library

Latest Stories

16 Brilliant Bathroom Storage Ideas to Steal from Real Homeowners and Renters

These game-changing tricks can help you fake more square footage.

Megan Baker Detloff

3 days ago

A Bold Color Turned a "Beige Everything" Living Room into a Family Space

Here’s the truth: Neutrals are nice, but they can also be a little… boring. That goes double when a room is filled to the brim with them, like this beige-on-beige living room from designer Natalie Papier’s own home.Natalie, of Home EC., is all about colorful, eclectic interiors — the exact opposite of the space she found when she and her family bought their new home in North Carolina after moving from Chicago.

Megan Baker Detloff

3 days ago

This Dining Room Feels Like a Painting Thanks to a Vintage-Inspired Redo

Some home design trends are destined to become classics that never go out of style (think: Shaker-style kitchen cabinets, hex floor tiles, and picture frame molding). But others are definitely more short-lived (remember spray foam decor?).The dark red wallpaper in this 1980s dining room definitely fell into the latter category. Homeowner Alexis Moore (@alexisnicolemakes) says the space hadn’t been updated since it was built, and the overall effect was drab.

Megan Baker Detloff

Sep 28, 2026

She Painted Her Bedroom an Unexpected Color — It Created the Coziest Space

You might not always be allowed to paint the walls of a rental apartment, but if you are, it can make a huge difference in how the whole space looks. Plus, adding a just-for-you color to the walls can make your place truly feel like home.Take it from renter Juliana, who has a 600-square-foot one-bedroom in San Francisco that was filled with white walls when she moved in.

Megan Baker Detloff

Sep 27, 2026

She Moved the Shower in Her Bathroom — Now It Looks Straight Out of a Spa

A crisp white color scheme can help rooms feel bigger and brighter—but in some spaces, that’s just not enough. The only upstairs bathroom in Alli Devlin’s home suffered from an always-cramped feeling, thanks to the tiny windows and poor layout.Another drag: The 1978 home had seen few updates over the years, and the bathroom was no exception.

Megan Baker Detloff

Sep 23, 2026

These Kitchen Cabinets Are Unrecognizable After a $600 DIY Makeover

Courtney Hierath had a lot to love about her little bungalow, but the kitchen, with its buttermilk-yellow walls and dark wood cabinets, wasn’t on the list.“I despised it from day one,” says Courtney. “But the idea of tackling this huge project was daunting, so I kept putting it off as long as I could.

Megan Baker Detloff

Sep 21, 2026

This 1960s Bathroom Redo Made Room for a Surprising Amount of Storage

Older homes can sometimes become a hodgepodge of design styles as updates get added over the years. That was the case in Jess Bond’s (The Bond House) bathroom, which was partially original to her 1962 home — but was also partially updated with ’90s upgrades that included a vinyl floor and a dingy, yellowed tub insert.

Megan Baker Detloff

Sep 14, 2026

A Laundry Room Was an Eyesore Until IKEA Cabinets Gave It an Organized Redo

Sure, there’s a lot to be said for minimalist decor—but there are places where blank walls just don’t work. One of those is a laundry room. When Ten V (Delish & Decor) and her family moved into their home, for instance, the laundry room was pretty much empty.“When we moved in, we just quickly got a wall organizer to hang all the cleaning tools and a cheap shelf for detergents and fabric softener for our laundry room,” Ten says.

Megan Baker Detloff

Sep 13, 2026

A Kitchen Got a Full Makeover with No Renovations — Just 3 Paint Colors

There’s no better test for determining whether you really love your home than suddenly having to spend all your time there. Rebecca Bishop started rethinking her decor when this exact scenario happened. Rebecca Bishop and her husband’s 109-year-old house had been updated several times over the years, with the last update coming to the kitchen in the 1990s. “We needed something new to look at,” Rebecca says.

Megan Baker Detloff

Sep 11, 2026

4 Paint Colors Took This Kitchen from Blah to Anything But Boring

We love color. Love it! But sometimes moving into a new place means you’re working with colors you’re not wild about — like, say, the lime green and black tile in Lissi Walker’s kitchen in Leicestershire, UK.Although the size and layout of the kitchen were on point, the design wasn’t exactly Lissi’s taste. Aside from the checkered tile, the kitchen also had blah beige floors and orangey wood cabinets.

Megan Baker Detloff

Sep 11, 2026

You’d Never Know This Color-Drenched Bedroom Used to Be a Living Room

It’s easy to look at a room and design it as it was intended: a kitchen as a kitchen, a bathroom as a bathroom, an office as an office. It’s a lot gutsier to look at a room and envision something else entirely — but that’s a risk that can bring lots of rewards.Conor McFarland saw potential in the living room of this 1880s house to be something more.

Megan Baker Detloff

Sep 9, 2026

You'd Never Know This Bathroom Redo Was Renter-Friendly

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: You don’t have to spend a fortune to make a huge impact. That’s especially true for bathrooms, which are easy spaces to transform on a budget (and on a deadline). Kelly von Weber had already given her guest bathroom a bit of color and charm a few years back, but as time went on, she realized her tastes had changed.

Megan Baker Detloff

Sep 7, 2026

A $60 DIY Stencil Wall Made a Plain Bathroom Look Like It Has Wallpaper

Bathrooms can sometimes be utilitarian, but they can also be welcoming and beautiful. The guest bathroom at Chelsea Scott’s home was anything but. “The ‘before’ of the bathroom was simply just plain,” Chelsea says. “The sink vanity was a dark brown, and the walls were painted with flat, darker beige paint that did not stand up to normal traffic in a bathroom.

Megan Baker Detloff

Sep 7, 2026

I Tried 4 Ways to Clean Tarnished Brass, and the Winner Made It Look Brand-New

There’s only one method I’ll be using from now on.

Megan Baker Detloff

Aug 31, 2026

A Modern Farmhouse Redo Turned a “Tunnel-Like” Kitchen into an Open Retreat

Look closely at the cabinets in Christina Riley’s kitchen. See anything weird? Yep, those top ones are upside-down.“We thought maybe someone had just flipped the doors as a prank,” says Christina. “But when we removed the cabinet boxes on day two of living in the house, we realized they were installed completely upside down!”That was the weirdest part of their home’s kitchen, but it wasn’t the only thing they weren’t wild about.

Megan Baker Detloff

Aug 30, 2026

This Bathroom Redo Cost Just $160 — You’d Never Guess What They DIYed

When one room in a home gets a colorful redo, it’s hard to look at other neutral rooms and not think about making a change. After Jessie Estes (@jessiegirlhome) redid her daughter’s bedroom in a bright, colorful style, the nearby bathroom started to look a little lackluster.“There are only two words that can describe the before: plain Jane!” Jessie says.

Megan Baker Detloff

Aug 30, 2026

This Bedroom’s Best Feature Cost $200 — and They DIYed It

Fixer-uppers need a lot of attention — especially over-100-year-old fixer-uppers. So no surprise that when Liz Elliot moved into hers, a Sears kit home in historic Charleston, she and her husband focused on making the essential parts of the house livable and didn’t pay a lot of mind to the guest bedroom.

Megan Baker Detloff

Aug 27, 2026

They Didn’t Make This Kitchen Any Bigger — They Just Made 1 Smart Change

Cramped quarters can make it hard to want to spend much time in a kitchen. And plenty of factors beyond actual square footage can contribute to that feeling — dark finishes, bulky cabinetry, and blocked windows, for starters.Van Tuyet (@percivalinbloom) had to deal with all three in her townhouse’s kitchen. “The kitchen and dining area felt closed in, which amplified how narrow our townhouse felt,” Van says.

Megan Baker Detloff

Aug 26, 2026

This Kitchen Got a DIY Makeover for Only $2,000 — Now It's a Boho Dream

A lot of great things came out of the 1990s — and there are plenty of design trends making a comeback that we love to see. But some of the decade’s looks could use a refresher, like the super-brown kitchen in designer Sheryl Sanders’s home.After living in the home for only two months, she knew she needed to do something to modernize the cooking space.Since the old cabinet boxes were solid wood and in great condition, she decided she could get away with just replacing the doors.

Megan Baker Detloff

Aug 25, 2026

I Tested 4 Ways to Remove Blood Stains from Clothes, and the Winner Only Took 1 Try

It’s the only method I’ll use from now on.

Megan Baker Detloff

Jul 31, 2026

A Scrappy Backyard Becomes a Dreamy Outdoor Oasis with Room

HOME PROJECTS

It’s now cleverly divided into spaces for dining, lounging, gardening, and more.

Megan Baker Detloff

Jul 28, 2026

A Backyard Has an Outdoor Movie Screen — and I Can’t Stop Thinking About It