This year’s gift bag is worth more than $100,000, and while many of the items are certainly over-the-top, there are actually a few affordable home items you’ll want to snag yourself.
This apartment used to be the building's laundry room, and there are still the original, handwritten instructions for the washing machines and the electrical system framed on the walls.
It's not as easy as it looks on "Fixer Upper." Well, unless you have a stockpile of vintage treasures, your own line at Target, and a partner in crime like Chip.
Wall trim is a strong visual signal, conveying the architectural style of a room in a glance. Panel molding and chair rails are most closely associated with traditional homes, but wood trim in geometric and repetitive shapes can easily look modern. Use one of these ideas as an inexpensive way to transform flat surfaces with pattern and texture.
A few weeks ago we blogged an article in the LA Times about No-Dig Gardens. They require less water than traditional gardens and they’re an easy way to start a raised bed. You can even start one right over a patch of grass you want to get rid of. Another easy gardening option is bringing the garden inside with grass you can grow indoors. Our friend and coworker, Hulda Nelson, tipped us off to the article.
If you read the January Cure diaries, you probably saw my window seats, both bare and then with cushions. If you’re interested, here’s how I made the cushions in about an hour. FoamUpholstery fabricPlywood SheetsThin Batting (Optional) Measuring TapeScissorsHammer or Rubber MalletStaple Gun (with staples of course)Foam CutterKnife, electric or otherwise1. Measure your space and cut foam to the same dimensions.
A few years ago I wrote about a distressed glazing technique which has a distressed feel to it, a way we developed to add visual texture to your walls that doesn’t like a stock rag rolling. Here, we take this process one step further. The look is both soft and contemporary, works well in urban environments, and is still livable. It’s unique every time, and in this example we’re emphasizing a linear quality, as if the “concrete” was poured into a wood formwork.
It's totally possible to make a living room work—and work well—without a large-scale sofa. You just have to be down for a not quite traditional layout.
Even though we see much of their lives on social media and on their reality show, we rarely get a glimpse of Kim Kardashian West’s home with husband Kanye West. Sure, we know they live in Calabasas, near several other members of the Kardashian-Jenner brood, but the famous couple seemed pretty intent on keeping their actual digs private—that is, until now.
A family room is the workhorse of the home: television, playtime, conversation, games, relaxing. It’s the room that has to handle it all. Here are some examples of rooms that manage not only to accommodate all those activities, but also to do it beautifully. TOP ROW: 1. Chris Colleen’s Small, Hip Family Home: Here, instruments on the wall are ready-at-hand and decorative.
It’s warm and soothing for your body, but did you know you can also use black tea to clean your hardwood floors? Tannins in the tea add a light, warm “stain” and help to bring out the wood’s natural warm tones. In addition to it’s beautifying qualities, black tea derived from the Camellia sinensis plant contain polyphenolic compounds that prevent microbial growth.
A dirty garbage disposal is often the culprit for bad smells in the kitchen. Food bits can cling to the disposal and pipes and create extremely unpleasant odors. The best way to de-stink your kitchen is with a healthy dose of all-natural ingredients that will loosen tough food particles and get the pipes moving! Any time I’m cooking or baking with lemons, I try to squeeze out any excess or leftover juice down my drains for that added smell of freshness in the kitchen.
Are you wasting space and not realizing it? Find out what mistake you may be making, plus get two great IKEA storage product recommendations from tiny home dwellers.
The cleaning up part certainly isn’t as fun (or as tasty) as the cooking part, but it’s a job that must be done. Check out these handy tips for a stovetop your mother would be proud of! Cleaning as you go truly is the best way to save yourself from having to cleanup a disaster of a mess like the one above. But sometimes life gets busy and there just isn’t time between the cooking and the eating and the evening’s engagements to wipe down that stove.
The apartment is a blend of mid-century modern and contemporary pieces that reflect a love for design, consisting of IKEA staples, family heirlooms, gifts from friends, inside jokes, and statement steals, and more.
Even though we’re officially into the new decade, that doesn’t stop the predictions from coming—and this trends study delivers a new option for this year’s most popular color.
