A few lessons from real-life studio apartment layouts, created by real-life studio apartment dwellers like yourself.

Here are some ideas for those couple spare rolls.

“Less is more,” said Mies van der Rohe. “Less is a bore,” retorted Robert Venturi. Are you a minimalist, favoring clean lines and subdued colors? Or a maximalist, embracing intricate styles and bold colors and pattern upon pattern upon pattern? Here are 10 tell-tale signs you might fall into the latter camp. 1. Your favorite color is everything. 2. You have a collection of collections. 3. You’ve never met a pattern you didn’t like. 4.

For some time now, white has been the color of choice for kitchen cabinets. I think maybe we got fatigued by all those dark-cherry and oak cabinets in the late 90s and decided to play it safe. But now I’m noticing a new trend, one that I’m really excited about: color, especially in beautiful, cool tones like grey and green and blue, is creeping back into the kitchen. Mint green cabinets in a kitchen by Petra Bindel. Doesn’t this space look so cool and elegant?

Every home is a work in progress — maybe you think you’re done decorating and then you see something really great that you just can’t pass up, or you’re really happy with your look for a long time until you suddenly decide it’s time to change everything up. Or maybe your style is something that slowly evolves over the years, as your taste and your particular needs change.

Here’s a story that might make you more than a little jealous: Alain Meyer, who works at an advertising agency in Paris, was bored one day at work. He heard some of his co-workers talking about studio apartments, and decided to do a little hunting online. He happened to find one that he really liked — a trim 30 square meters (323 square feet), in the sixth arrondisement, where he grew up. So he bought it. Just like that.

One of the trickiest things about decorating a new space is picking out colors. So I’ve selected ten rooms that get color right, in hopes that one of them will catch your eye. Get ready for some serious inspiration. Above: the soft blues and greys of this space, from Woman Magazine, get just the right dose of warmth from a Beni Ourain rug and a pair of wooden side tables. This joyful combination of colors reads as less than riotous because it’s set against a white background.

One of our favorite ways to add a little excitement to an interior is by mixing old and new pieces. Nowhere is this more true than in the dining room, where an old-fashioned table and modern chairs make an especially attractive pair. Here are eight of our favorite examples. Above: An antique table and modern shell chairs mix in the dining room of a Madrid home spotted on Planete Deco. Warning/workspace/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/atmedia-cloudinary-image-block/atmedia-cloudinary-image-block.

Black and white and gold is a striking color combination, and nowhere is that more true than in the bathroom. Gold fixtures in the bathroom is a look we’re seeing more and more of, and paired with a black and white color scheme, they add a pleasing bit of drama to a humble space. Above: A black ceiling, black door, and encaustic tile floor add delicious drama to a bathroom spotted on Desire to Inspire. A black bathroom with white and gold accents from Godrich Interiors.

Warning/workspace/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/atmedia-cloudinary-image-block/atmedia-cloudinary-image-block.php82 Perhaps you’ve been playing it safe, decor-wise, your whole life, and are ready to do something wild. Or perhaps you have a room that you feel is finished, but you’re still just a little bit bored with it.

It’s easy enough to get Art Nouveau and Art Deco confused, probably owing to the fact that they both start with ‘art’. But Art Nouveau and Art Deco are actually two very distinct design movements, with very distinct looks, that appeared around the turn of the 20th century. After perusing this brief disambiguation, you may not be an expert on design history — but you can casually drop these two descriptors into conversations, and your friends are sure to be impressed.

Smart decorators know that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a home that looks great. You just need a few tricks up your sleeve. 1. Spray paint. Spray paint is a design workhorse, and a great way to give something a new look without actually buying anything new. Use it to rescue finds from the thrift store, to customize IKEA pieces, or just to give something you already own a bit of an update.

The popularity of cocktails is on the rise, and the home bar is making a comeback in the American home. But even if you’re not lucky enough to have a wet bar, you can still set up a dedicated space for mixing drinks, no matter the size of your home. Read on for plenty of ideas from our tours. Above: Marina has a fairly impressive collection of liquor that lives on the kitchen countertop in her New York apartment.

Warning/workspace/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/atmedia-cloudinary-image-block/atmedia-cloudinary-image-block.php82 The world of design is a weird and a wonderful one, and in my line of work I see plenty of unique things.

These actual homes — from lofts, to studio apartments, to houses — will illustrate how big 500 square feet is and what it feels like to live in such a small space.

Black tends to be a bit of a polarizing color for interiors: we’ve written about black walls, black bathrooms, black bedrooms, and each time the response is either love or hate. But what about… black on the ceiling?When it comes to black ceilings, some may immediately think of a cave, while others see this dark hue above and feel warm and cozy vibes. Regardless of your opinion, we’ve curated a few of our favorite black ceilings that you’re sure to love.

Got a rug you’re digging? The kitchen may not be the first place you’d think of putting it. But trust us – a rug in the kitchen may be just the ticket for pulling together your eating space. And while the kitchen can be a dangerous place for textiles (hello, crumbs, grease, red wine spills!) there are plenty of advantages to having a rug in the kitchen.

Great for small spaces, this less-often used layout is worth a look.

If only the universe were a little more accommodating, every time you added a new person to your family, a new room would magically be added to your abode. Alas, it is not so. But the good news is that, for a while at least, tiny people do not take up very much space, so in the same way that you can morph part of a living room into a home office or a closet into a (grown-up) bedroom, you can carve out a spot for your little one.

Small rooms with big ideas for little people.

If you want to dip your toe in the world of wallpaper, here's how to do it without diving all the way in (and then running scared).

Warning/workspace/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/atmedia-cloudinary-image-block/atmedia-cloudinary-image-block.php82 I’ve always been a huge fan of pink and green together, and the current trend towards more somber, desaturated colors has put a fresh new spin on this classic combo. Hunter green and dusty pink are beautiful on their own, of course, but they’re even better together.

When Frank Lloyd Wright began practicing architecture at the turn of the 20th century, American suburbs were a pastiche of borrowed European architectural styles. But Wright had a vision; he wanted to create a style that was uniquely American, inspired by the landscape and free of associations with the old world. He called this unique style “Usonian”, a play on “USA.

IKEA is always introducing exciting new products. The downside of this is that they’re always retiring old products. Some of them you may never miss, or never even notice that they’re gone, but the loss of others feels like the loss of an old friend. (Sure, I never did buy a canopy bed from IKEA, but it was nice to know that I could. You know?) A moment of silence, please, for these eight beloved IKEA products, taken from us too soon.