With help from the folks at Miracle-Gro, we’ve been digging through the endless inspiration and ideas generated by Apartment Therapy’s Gardening School. Led by modern homesteader and wise instructor Linda Ly, each lesson is designed to give even the blackest thumbs the confidence to plan, prep and plant their own garden. But the biggest lesson has been that gardening isn’t really about the end result – it’s about the entire experience.

Prize FromBoulder Organic Coffee Value Coffee makes the world go ’round. At least our world. So what could be better than a year of freshly roasted organic coffee, ethically sourced from the best growers around the globe? Pretty much nothing. Your Mornings Deserve This. Enter To Win! Boulder Organic Coffee has been sourcing and roasting the world’s best coffee in Boulder, Colorado, since 1999.

Determining a personal style for any room is a balance of performance and aesthetics, but in a laboring room like the kitchen, the relationship becomes especially important. Mine is casually utilitarian: a playground for the (aspiring) baker in me and a workstation for my love of Sunday-evening meal prep. At the same time, I want my kitchen to be the part of my home where I feel most, well, at home. So, what kitchen style works for you?

Digging in the dirt is one of the simplest pleasures, so don’t clutter it up with a lot of stuff. The thoughtful design Barebones uses in their gardening (and camping and outdoors) equipment keeps the minimalist approach sacred with multi-purpose use and beautiful aesthetics. They’ve curated two kits for two type of gardeners. So which kit is right for your gardening style?

Have you ever stayed in one of those boutique hotels that had just the right vibe – a perfect balance of stylish and cozy, where you slept well every night and also kind of wanted to hang out there all day? One of our new goals is to make home feel that way, too. Especially the bedroom. After all, it’s the room in your home that is really all for you.

At Apartment Therapy, we feel strongly that your home should reflect your personality. And nowhere is that more crucial than in your bedroom. After all, it’s where you begin and end each day, it’s your most inner retreat from the outside world, and it’s where you can truly be you. Lately, we’ve been getting our design and decor inspiration from our travels – not only different cultures and experiences, but from the fabulous hotels and B&Bs we stay in along the way.

Oh, summer sunshine. You make us smile, you make us crave iced coffee … you make us sweat like pro athletes. It’s even true at home: Throwing back the curtains on a beautiful day makes for a lovely sun-drenched setting, but it can also seriously scorch your space (and your AC bill). Eventually, those cheerful rays might even fade the rugs and furniture in their path.

We know parents struggle selecting a nursery theme. Circus animals? Spaceships? Flowers? But what if the nursery’s theme was the reason for existing in the first place: the kids themselves? We thought on that for a while and came up with an idea we’re excited to share! Our inspiration came from “lifebooks,” the collections of photos and mementos parents create to tell the complete story of their adoptive children, but it will work well with all infants.

Getting your summer travel plans in order? Us, too. So, we checked in with the experts at Booking.com for their list of this year’s most popular destinations (culled from the top places their customers are visiting). Then, we surfed their listings for the most beautiful homes and apartments to rent for a weekend or a week. At the top of the list: U.S. beach towns, Asian cities alive with culture and European capitals steeped in history. And we had to throw in some modernism from Milan!

It’s spring! Time to vacuum your feather duster, alphabetize your spice rack, and de-scale that power-washer, right? Maybe not. We stopped by HomeSense to see what’s in store and realized that, in lieu of spring cleaning, a rapid spring refresh can be as little as 30 minutes away. Here’s how to do it. Pendants can pack a significant style punch. Consider a new pendant lamp to add ambient lighting to your space or swap out tabletop task lighting for a pendant.

Prize: A Custom Gallery Wall Total Value: $1000 From: Framebridge Have a few… or a hundred frame-worthy photos saved on your phone? Yeah, us too. From maps and vintage photographs to art prints and Instagrams, we’re all guilty of saving things that should already be hung on our walls. Framebridge is the simplest way to get great custom frames at a seriously reasonable price.

Hannah and George just moved in together, and when they were house-hunting, they knew they wanted outdoor space. They’ve found a home with an amazing, enclosed front patio, but they aren’t sure how best to decorate it. It’s a small space, and they want to be able to use it all the time – for everything from just hanging out to hosting full-on dinner parties.

Madilynn loves the home she’s created with her husband, Alan, and their baby, Cosette. But though she spends a lot of time there, working from home and hanging out with Cosette, she hasn’t been able to figure out how to integrate their balcony into their everyday lives. A small, oddly-shaped space, it’s hard to know how to furnish it in a way that works both for a toddler and her parents.

Marissa and Justin moved into their home two years ago, but never really figured out how to furnish their outdoor space. They use their deck and yard all the time, especially for entertaining, but Marissa doesn’t feel like the camping chairs and odds and ends laying around (um, there seems to be a puppet??) make for a particularly inviting space.

Prize: Winner’s choice of any queen size mattress from Signature Sleep & any queen size DHP bed frame Total Value: $1000 Can a good night’s sleep be affordable, too? Yes it can: you just have to learn what type of mattress is right for you. We took a look at Signature Sleep Mattresses, an extensive line of mattresses designed for every budget and every body, to find the most affordable mattress types for different types of sleepers. What’s your sleep style?

We love our hardwood floors — until the sunlight hits them and highlights all the dust we haven’t swept up. But just because hardwood doesn’t hide dirt does not mean it’s a high-maintenance diva. In fact, we partnered up with Bona®, one of the most trusted names in hardwood-floor maintenance, to find an easy routine that’ll leave your floors all shine and no grime. Dust to keep dirt from piling up.

Prize: Carmela Upholstered Bed in grey, tan or navy linen, complete bed frame along with a Signature Sleep mattress Total Value: $1000 From: DHP You might not know them by name, but DHP is the company behind some of the most stylish pieces you’ll find at Target, Overstock, Amazon, Walmart and Wayfair – some of our definite go-to sources for small space living. Their unique pieces consistently pack a serious style punch but are surprisingly affordable.

Thinking leather might be better? Keep in mind it’s not all created equal. The difference in quality between genuine, bonded, and flat-out fake leather is huge, and there are some easy tricks to spotting the good stuff. We looked at Value City Furniture’s new line of genuine leather furniture to learn what to look for. OK, duh. But the label is going to say more than just “real” or “fake!

(Image credit: Blue Apron) From The Kitchn → 7 Reasons To Give Blue Apron A Try Today

Prize: $500 gift card Value: $500 From: FLOR Lots of brands like to call themselves game-changers, but FLOR literally changed the flooring game: It cut the standard carpet into squares! With FLOR, you buy as many — or as few — 19.7-inch squares as you need to create an area rug, cover a room or improvise a custom shape to suit your space.

When does your home become your dream home? How about when you hit that elusive balance of style and personality: Straddling the line between magazine-shoot-worthy and somebody-actually-lives-here is a kind of nirvana. Here are five must-haves that will help you get there.

This time of year, about half my mental energy is spent searching for gifts that match the people on my list. When I discovered Motorola’s Moto X Pure Edition designed by Jonathan Adler, I checked a few people off the list (myself, maybe, too?). Sporting the designer’s signature happy hues and graphic patterns, this smart (and sassy) phone brings high design to your most functional device.

Have you ever bought a sofa, accent chair or table that looked wonderful in the store (or on Pinterest) but lost its charm once you brought it home? If the color and style were right, the problem may have been that the piece of furniture simply wasn’t the right scale for the room.

As home gawkers here at Apartment Therapy, we’re pretty obsessed with the idea of staying in someone’s home and seeing how they live. Having stayed as guests recently in a few Airbnb homes across the country (hello, perfect cottage in Santa Barbara – miss you already!) we’ve come to recognize that becoming an Airbnb host may not seem as easy as being an Airbnb guest. If you’re like us, then you have some questions. What’s it like to be a host?

Prize: A luxury firm mattress set (any size) including foundation and frame. Value: $1400 From: Saatva ‘Tis the season to be thankful. Thankful for family, thankful for holiday twists on your fave drinks (hello spiced, mulled wine!) and thankful for a good night’s sleep. That’s right, I’m taking it there: a good mattress is one of many things to appreciate this holiday season. Enter to win a luxe firm mattress set!

Do you dream about having a bigger closet? Obviously. Well, did you know that there’s a seriously easy way to have an infinite closet? Meet your new best friend, MakeSpace – the storage service that picks up and redelivers your goodies with just a push of a button.

If the experts at Loloi Rugs have taught us anything, it’s that a beautiful rug can seriously elevate your space and create an instantly chic and inviting home. Their new Anastasia Collection is inspired by high-end silk rugs, but has a cool, contemporary sensibility, and is much, much more affordable (and word is, they feel amazing). To celebrate their new line, Loloi partnered with eight of our fave design bloggers. The design challenge?

We were recently challenged by Walmart to completely redesign a student’s studio apartment in Chicago’s Presidential Towers. Since we’re never one to say no to a design challenge, we jumped right in! We talk all the time about small budgets, small spaces and working within rental constraints (wall-to-wall carpet anyone?), so we agreed to give it the old college try. See how we took this bland studio to another level. Every rental comes with unique issues.

Picture it: you’re in your living room with your besties, piled on the sofa for a Friday night movie. You’ve got your sweets, you’ve got your treats, now all you need to do is settle in and watch the original “Ghostbusters” for the twenty millionth time. How exactly are you going to get comfy?

There’s no question about it: adding a little color is one of the easiest ways to bring some happy into your home. But what are the happiest hues out there? We partnered with the color experts at BEHR Paint to sift through the swatches and find the happiest paint colors around. Can you guess the happiest hues? Yellow is, predictably, our #1 happy color. We love how this home used Amber Brew to bring some sunshine into their space above the beautiful chair rail molding of their entryway.

When New Yorkers first descended underground in the early 1900’s, they expected subway stations to be dark and damp. Instead, they saw gleaming ceramic tiles covering ceilings and walls. The way they reflected the light, and the fact that they looked easy to clean, quickly made the now-classic subway tile a staple of kitchen and bathroom design across the country. Mission Stone & Tile recently took those 3-by-6-inch glazed rectangles of old and made them new and exciting again.

Prize: $2,000 to spend on stylish furniture From: Value City Furniture Value: $2,000 You’ve made it! You’ve decided to live together, merging your two households into one. But figuring out how all your stuff can live together, from your grandmother’s nesting tables to his battered but beloved recliner, well, that can be a tiny bit more challenging.

Moody blues, fiery reds, mellow yellows. It’s long been known that color affects our mood and typically reflects our personality. What do your walls say about your personality? The BEHR MARQUEE Interior One-Coat Color Collection offers an exclusive one-coat color collection that’s guaranteed* to help you quickly achieve a color you love.

Forgotten photos, doodles, blueprints, love letters – it’s quite possible that you’ve dug up plenty of frame-worthy candidates during your recent Spring Cleaning. We think that now is the time to pull these markers of your life out of the shoebox and off of your camera, and into a beautiful custom-made frame. Not sure which frame goes with which mat for that funky piece of art? Consider this your friendly custom framing manual.

As far as domestic chores go, moving is like deep-cleaning the refrigerator, organizing the closets and clearing out the garage in one fell swoop — not a simple task. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be easier. We’re here to help.

This post is the first of a series exploring stories of success selling homes in Seattle. We’re avowed real estate voyeurs at Apartment Therapy. Is there anything more delicious than gawking at beautiful, real-life homes?

More often than not, all you need to take a beat-up bureau, discarded desk, or tired trunk from shabby to chic is a few dollars and a dream. We partnered with Liberty Hardware to give three thrift store finds a DIY furniture facelift using their new collection of fun and modern furniture hardware and accessory pieces sold exclusively at The Home Depot.

Let’s be honest: we could all use a little help in the kitchen, especially if it means saving time. With all the joy that the kitchen brings, it seems that we’re spending more time cleaning, organizing, and searching, than we are nomming. We should all change that. Here are 3 of our favorite time-saving kitchen tricks of the trade. How much time have you spent under your sink hunting through a bucket for that glass cleaner?

We know it’s early, but we’re christening 2015 the year we get everything in its place, from the leaning tower of magazines to the carpet of kids’ toys. And January — aka National Get Organized Month — is a great time to start. Whether you’re whipping your home into shape, moving into new digs, or just looking for some practical tricks, one tool will make life loads easier: the Brother P-Touch label maker.

The miraculous moldable glue known as Sugru is perfect for everything from repairing busted iPhone cables to improving kitchen appliances, and even making the most of any small space by attaching hooks to almost any surface. Previously only available online, you can now get Sugru at Lowe’s nationwide (at the paint counter) – just in time to plan your first project of the year! These 5 simple and ingenious Sugru DIY projects will definitely stick with you in 2015.

With new devices to digitize every corner of the domestic space, there’s never been a better time to help make someone’s home a little smarter with the gift of gadgetry. We’ve rounded up a list of our favorite home tech gadgets for gifting, from connected Crock-Pots to smart power outlets.

There’s a secret formula Maxwell uses when concepting color for a room. It’s called the 80-20 rule and it’s very simple: if you decorate 80% of a room in neutral colors, you can get very colorful with the other 20%. But how can you calculate a “percentage” of a room’s color to put it into practice? For bedrooms, the answer is easy.