From the crayon-colored kitchen, to the garishly green dining room and more, this Victorian house needed a lot of work. Dana and her husband Brian were up to the task, turning it into an elegant and unique home.
Name: Kirsten Coplans & Pearl Location: Uptown, Denver, Colorado Size: 900 square feet Years lived in: 11 years Kirsten Coplans is not just a collector, nor is her house just a house. Artwork, family memorabilia and rescued taxidermy grace the walls, shelves and floors of her tiny dollhouse of a home, all displayed lovingly and with purpose. Strongly connected to deer, birds and rabbits, Kirsten finds comfort in sharing her home with figurines and artwork of animals.
No need to fret or sweat over which kind of rug to get to add a little spice to your ____ room. Go with this bold choice—it's surprisingly classic and these rooms prove it.
Name: Amy and Rob MacMillan and their kids, Tatum and Mo Location: Newport, Rhode Island Size: 3,900 square feet Years lived in: 11 years; owned It’s hard to believe that Amy and Rob MacMillan’s utterly charming home, set back behind a stone wall along Newport’s scenic ten-mile drive, started out as a building with a completely utilitarian purpose.
Name: Pirate Toronto Location: Toronto, Canada Size: 10,000 square feet Years Occupied: 23 yearsPirate Toronto is one of Canada’s leading audio post-production houses, located in the heart of the city’s Design District.
Home lighting is getting exciting. Light bulbs have evolved more in the past five years than in the century-plus since the very first incandescents were introduced. LEDs are revolutionizing home lighting by offering even greater energy efficiency than CFLs combined with the warm glow of traditional incandescents. We’ve partnered with LED pioneer Cree® to bring you up to speed on new LED bulbs and the best ways to use them.
Welcome to Scandi Week—Apartment Therapy’s seven-day focus on all-things Scandinavia (often defined as the countries of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway). Sometimes it seems like the whole world is obsessed with trying to copy this corner of the globe, from its timeless style aesthetic to its now-famous coziness rituals. For the next week, we’ll take a look at all of it—cleaning, pop culture, and of course tons of eye-popping design inspiration.
Here at Apartment Therapy, we’re big fans of Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” show and the mid-century style seen throughout its late 1950’s-inspired design set.
This couple turned a studio's huge rooftop terrace into a second level, creating a two-bedroom home. It's only 620 square feet, but it uses every square inch of space.
It was about two years ago, my partner Emily’s 2006 MacBook laptop began showing the visible signs of being well used…very well used. The white polycarbonate front edges cracked after years of palm pressure and the heat discolored the once pristine white laptop to a yellowish hue most often equated with British dental hygiene.
This dated farmhouse was covered in wallpaper when this couple bought it. After a 2-year renovation, it's now a minimal and modern dream home that still retains its original architectural charm.
The first few days of winter break are a welcome vacation from final exams, but beyond that? It's not always all it's cracked up to be—here's how to get through the bad parts.
Name: Juan Vasquez Location: Highland Neighborhood; Denver, Colorado Size: 400 square feet Years lived in: Owned for 9 years; Remodeled garage 1 year agoNine years ago, Denver resident, Juan Vasquez purchased a 1920s bungalow in the bustling Highland neighborhood of Denver and set out to make it his own. Shortly after, he took on the project of renovating his old two car garage into a restful haven out back.
“Kids! It’s time to fold the toys!” Every parent should be conscious of what you’re bringing into your home for your kids to play with, but if you live in a small home the size of a toy can be a deal breaker. Mostly, I limit the sheer number of toys we have but another strategy I employ is to look for toys that store easily. Does it fold up to a smaller size? Can I tuck it in the closet or on top of our wardrobe? Suddenly a tricycle in a small apartment seems feasible.
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the parents who put together the creative and inspiring kids’ rooms that we share here all year long also have great taste in names. If you’re searching for the perfect baby name or just have a general love of names – this list, the girls edition, is pretty stellar.
Name: Mitchell Settoon and Thomas Ecker, Cleopatra (dog), and Damian (cat). Location: Mid-City, New Orleans, Louisiana Size: 1,700 square feet Years lived in: 15 years, owned New Orleans is known for its laissez-faire culture. Anything goes, and every occasion is an excuse for a party. Mitchell Settoon and Thomas Ecker approach life — and homemaking — with the same easy spirit that characterizes the city they call home.
Name: Rosie and Kara Volcano Location: Wicker Park, Chicago, IL Size: 1,000 square feet (2 bedroom coach house) Years lived in: 1; rented Volcanos are fiery and dynamic, leaving ribbons of blazing light in their wake. Kara and Rosie Volcano certainly fit this bill. Warm, welcoming, and downright radiant, they are an on-the-go-couple who are just as fearless in their home design as their personal pursuits.
Name: Anne-Claire, John (not pictured), and daughter, Anna Location: Rockville, Maryland Size: 2,400 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, owned We were first introduced to Anne-Claire in a house call; when I tracked her down after seeing it, she was delighted to share the full tour. Anne-Claire is from France, her husband, John, from South Africa, and they had their now 3-year-old daughter, Anna, in Dallas, where they lived before moving to the Washington suburbs last year.
Name: Andrew Stelmack Location: Toronto, Canada Size: 725 square feet Years lived in: Owned 5 years Andrew is a professional actor (both on screen and stage), visual artist and writer. However, it is his visual art that now takes up most of his time. To accommodate his creativity, he moved into this live/work space five years ago.
Name: Parker James Location: Olivebridge, New York Room Size: 14′ x 14′ Parker’s nursery combines all of the things that I love — the warmth of wood, clean, bright white walls, and colorful artwork, accents, and accessories. I love that his mom, Dana, was able to fill the space with toys and artwork that are fun and interesting for a small, developing mind, yet the space still feels comfortable for the adults who inhabit it as well.
Name: Emily and Jonathan Power, with Ramona (almost 2) and Ottoman, the Wheaten Terrier (there are also four goats, three chickens, and two ducks who live out back). Location: Lower Highland (LoHi) Neighborhood, Denver, Colorado Size: 564 square feet Years lived in: 3 years; rented / owned Almost three and a half years ago, the Power family decided to put down roots in a 1910s charmer located in the (now ever so popular) Lower Highland neighborhood of Denver.
Before you can roll around in the grass or have a picnic in the backyard this summer, you need to prep your lawn. Just like you spring clean your house, now’s the time to get your yard in shape for the season by doing all those necessary tasks like removing debris, replacing grass, or taking out weeds. These ten items will help you give it a fresh start and set the groundwork for a beautiful, lush lawn come June, or you can always bring the great outdoors inside by growing grass indoors.
Name: Jessica Cook & Ryan Taylor and their cat, Olive Location: North Shore — Ipswich, Massachusetts Size: 700 square feet Years lived in: 6 years; Rented Jessica and Ryan are no strangers to the challenge of fitting a busy life into a small space. The two creatives have managed to live and work out of a 700-square-foot apartment for the last six years.
Name: Beth & Mr. King Location: Lincoln Square; Chicago, Illinois Size: 1,500 square feet Years lived in: 7 years (3 as a couple); rented When you live in a place where the foyer looks like it could have been transported directly from a castle, there’s a certain degree of solemnity that might be expected of you. Beth and Mr.
Pantone's choice of Serenity and Rose Quartz as co-colors of the year in 2016 did a lot to rescue this pairing from the nursery, but this post is not about sweet, pastel shades.
Galvanized stock tanks and troughs are essentially huge tubs which can be turned into or reused as any number of things. Depending on the context, they can read modern, industrial, or farmhouse. Learn all the ways you can hack them and create something spectacular and useful for your home. Bathroom Tubs: Jayme used a large round tank as a bathtub in her in warm and inviting modernist home in Philadelphia.
Name: Monique, Kelly, and Mouse the Cat Location: Nashville, Tennessee Years lived in: 11 years owned Our home is a collection. A collection that may never end. At least I hope it never ends. Each piece has a story, a place where it was found, a day spent together hunting, a customization that we made. We love old furniture. It’s solid, it’s built well, and obviously it’s going to last a very long time. Mixing vintage items with modern touches keeps it all fresh.
It’s true; we find the secret lives of others fascinating. Especially if those others are writers. We get to know them through their work, and we yearn to learn more about them as people… We feel a kinship, with their experiences or with their characters, and we begin to imagine what their lives must be like. We read biographies about them, tour their homes and visit their graves, all in an effort to gain insight into their own particular genius.
Pati has found furniture from second-hand stores, online, or second-hand sites to transform this rental from drab to fab. Making a small rented house into a home-one low budget DIY
Lucas is a chef who teaches private cooking classes out of his home for his business. The apartment was originally part of a castle connected to an old city wall and tower.
Lucinda Mitra and her husband inherited a bathroom from their UK home's previous owners that was "completely livable, but somewhat tired and dated," she writes.
Sean and Ashley chose wall colors based on the room's function: a calm blue in the living room, orange in the dining room and turquoise in the office to spark creativity.
A Before & After last weekend held an important lesson: Sometimes just rearranging the existing furniture in your space can drastically affect the look of a room. But if your bedroom is extraordinarily small, you might have limited options on where you place your bed. To place a bed in front of a window and make it look more awesome than awkward, peruse these 12 rooms doing it right for inspiration. Ideas to remember when you’re thinking about this simple bedroom rearranging tip: 1.
Do you ever find yourself drawn to something and can’t quite explain why? I would characterize my style as pretty much the opposite of ‘shabby chic’, but for some reason, I just can’t get enough of tole. What is tole, anyway? I will confess my (erstwhile) ignorance and admit that the first time I saw the world tole I thought it was a misspelling of ‘toile’.
Name: Keli Faw, founder of Make*Do*Mend + Drygoods Design Location: Drygoods Design: 5308 Ballard Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107 Years worked in: 2 years Keli Faw, founder of the previously online-only fabric and crafting shop Drygoods Design, graduated into a physical space with the opening of Ballard’s brick and mortar Drygoods Design. Situated behind a coffee shop in an a multi-space building, Faw incorporates two adjacent spaces: the retail shop, and the creative workspace Make*Do*Mend.
