Call them hacks, or makeovers, or just plain paint jobs, but these 25 DIY projects show you just what’s possible with IKEA’s TARVA dresser. It’s an unfinished wood blank slate, waiting for your personal stamp of style. Check out these ideas and finished projects, and try one yourself this weekend.
Project by: Britt F. Gage/For You, By Me Location: Queens, New York City Britt Gage was hired to bring some glamour to this space in anticipation of Felicity Adele’s arrival in the world. Her parents wanted something with personality and pizazz. Hmmm…how about a glitter wall? From the designer: It’s an interesting experience creating a room for someone who you haven’t met, or rather, hasn’t even been born yet.
In this post on easy-to-live-with paint colors, a number of you asked for a post on paint colors that go with wood trim. Ask, and you will receive! Here’s a roundup of some successful colors from our House Tours that allow wood trim to shine. When it comes to wood trim, neutrals are an easy choice, but as some of these rooms from our house tours show, having wood trim doesn’t mean that you have to be a shrinking violet. Bold colors can work just as well! TOP ROW: 1.
Last week I had a cold. Nothing too serious, but I needed lots of bed rest and a break from the mile-long to-do lists that normally make up my daily routine. While I felt better from taking much-needed time to rest, it also meant a huge pile-up of stuff around the house that didn’t get done, from laundry, dishes and weekly vacuuming to a bunch of home maintenance tasks that all seemed due at once, like changing filters and testing smoke detector batteries.
With the change of seasons comes a change of clothes. But before you head to the stores to buy something new, give your old wardrobe a fighting chance. Which means it’s time to put some waders on, dive in, and clean out your closet. I know it’s not high up there on your list of fun times, but it’s a necessary evil that must be done. Go forth young fashion pilgrim and make us proud. 1. Put on Some Music: This is no time for Adele.
Moves are stressful. Joey had made the long move from the South Coast to the East and loved the new little Victorian terrace to call home. But, not all the furniture fit, both in size and style. Especially sad was not being able to find a place for this sideboard that, though it was getting shabby, had been loved a long time. Instead of getting rid of it, Joey found a way to make it work in another part of the home, with a fresh new function and look.
Sconces are the chameleons of small space lighting — they blend in anywhere, whether a bathroom, hallway, or bedroom. Here are 10 particularly compact and useful designs, from high-end Italian pieces to budget utility lighting. West Elm Their Flat Stock Single Sconce has a mirrored backing that reflects light, and it’s affordably priced at $59. There are double and triple versions as well. If you’re a renter, check out their non-hardwired Industrial Sconce, $79.
So, you’re shopping for a sofa that won’t overwhelm your tiny studio apartment or you’re looking for seating to fit inside an alcove. The problem is, you keep coming up short (bad pun intended — sorry). Most furniture stores tend to favor large sizes, especially when it comes to anchor pieces like sofas and beds. But if you know where to look, you can find moderately sized sleepers, settees, and loveseats that will work in a small home.
Indigo might be the dark blue of the moment. However, it is nothing new to home interiors; it’s a stylistic reincarnation of navy blue. Indigo and navy are both a dark blue bordering on black, but one color name is associated with an eclectic style, while the other expresses a traditional style. We love it, whichever name it goes by. Indigo is a natural dye extracted from plants and has been around the world for centuries.
Recovering an old lampshade with new fabric is one of the easiest ways to make a large impact on a room — without largely impacting your budget. No sewing machine? No problem! Lamp shade 1 yard of fabric (if you are working with a very large shade you may need more) Sharp scissors Large sheet of blank paper (tracing paper or wrapping paper work great!) Spray adhesive Lots of clothespins Pen or marker 1.
Priyanka’s kitchen was just fine. Not the prettiest, that’s for sure. And it was a little…beige looking. When she was ready to renovate, Priyanka knew exactly what she wanted. Take a peek at what she decided to do with it: Instead of going with color, Priyanka chose clean, basic white — from the cabinet to island countertops to tile — which a touch of black and gray. The result is bright, fresh and classic enough to last for a lifetime.
Amit had been using these two IKEA floor lamps for TEN YEARS — ever since senior year of college. From dorm room, to first apartment, to the first home, which Amit moved into about a year ago. But while they functioned great, they were drab — boring office gray with a plain white plastic shade that disappeared against the new house’s gray walls.
Name: Nina James Location: Johannesburg, South Africa When I first came across this South African nursery, I was dying to know who made the adorable little house bed. I was certainly very surprised to learn that the bed is actually going to become a crib and is a DIY project created by Nina James’ talented parents! It’s definitely the focal point of this unique, modern nursery, but the rest of the space is full of wonderful little surprises as well.
Once the joy of giving and receiving has died down, we often find ourselves with, shall we say…more things than we had last month. While you may not be ready to do an all-out purge, it’s the perfect time for a mini-purge through implementing a one-in-one-or-more-out plan.
Don’t toss those orphan socks — the singles who get mysteriously separated from their pairs between washing and drying can be helpful. Put them to use in a variety of smart ways to help keep your home a bit cleaner. Slip a couple of damp socks on your hands and give the leaves of your favorite plants the gentle touch for a dusting that won’t damage. Toss the sock in the wash when you’re done.
Now that I have my own home and family to care for, the things my mother taught me about cleaning are not only valuable because they came from her, but because they are nuggets of wisdom probably passed down through more than two generations. They’ve stood the test of time and they sure make my life easier and my home cleaner. From my home and family to yours, here are the best cleaning and organizing rules I learned from my mother.
Using technology to help manage the household can add up to a good amount of time and money saved—not to mention a significant reduction in things (paper calendars and planners) and clutter (all those papers!). Here are the top four apps I’d hate to live without. YNAB stands for “you need a budget.” And let me just say: You do. You can read more of my thoughts in Basics of a Household Budget that Works.
Almost every kitchen’s got one. They go by different names: my old flatmate and I called ours the Drawer of Doom, and with my current one, The Sad Drawer. It’s that one place in a kitchen, be it drawer, pantry shelf, or simply an unfortunate corner, that attracts random debris like nobody’s business. From the actually useful (tupperware, kitchen foil) to the barely-used (madeleine pan, anyone?), the Sad Drawer is where things that don’t go anywhere else find themselves.
These extra large paper chandeliers make such amazing party decorations. They are colorful, easy to make, and have a huge impact in a room. I recently assembled this one out of movie ticket strips for an Oscars viewing party this year, but you can use other types of paper instead.
If your favorite part of cleaning is when it’s over, then listen up, lazybones. You can do less work and still have a clean and tidy house if you set up these strategies ahead of time to diminish dirt, wrangle clutter and keep yourself on track. It’s sooo much easier to prevent dirt from coming inside than it is to clean it up afterwards.
Try as I might to achieve that perfect pantry look (you all know what I’m talking about), I still have errant boxes of cake mix and plastic bags of who-knows-what-anymore from the bulk bin. Recently, the hodge-podge of things I knew I had but couldn’t find and the creeping lack of space drove me to the point of yet another Great Big, Real-Life Pantry Cleanup.
After 10 months of searching, Alison and Jovito purchased the home of their dreams: a charming 100-year-old brownstone in Brooklyn’s Ocean Park. There were lots of things that needed updating all over the house, but they decided to focus first on the most egregious spots: the upstairs bathroom and the very, very, brown kitchen. We’ll leave it to Allison to describe the extent of the former kitchen’s ickiness: The kitchen needed a gut renovation.
Kelly and her husband bought their first home in Spanish Town, Baton Rouge and it had a lot of…character. They’ve been sprucing it up ever since and their recent project was to transform this office space into a room to welcome their new baby. Two big challenges: decorating for either a boy or a girl and making this dark, claustrophobic space into a happy, bright room for their child.
This kitchen before and after is a little different from our usual fare because it doesn’t involve a change in style: it involves a change in function. Blaise, Kristin, and their three kids had just made the move from Manhattan to Brooklyn. Their new home was almost twice as big as their previous one, but the kitchen, they found, was prohibitively small. They loved the way it looked, but they didn’t love storing kitchen basics in the basement and pots and pans in the oven.
When I started Apartment Therapy as a design service in NYC in 2001, I quickly noticed that if I helped someone to improve their home, but their refrigerator was empty, progress halted. In other words, no matter how lovely I was able to get a home to look, if my clients didn’t come home to cook and eat, everything got cold and dusty.
Fall is officially here, and everything is coming up gold. From garlands and wreaths to pumpkins and pears, read on for simple ways to DIY this metallic into your home for the season. TOP ROW: 1. Falling leaves garland from 6th Street Design School. 2. Gilded acorns available to buy from Light of Day Creations on Etsy, but an easy thing to DIY! 3. Gold-painted branches from Popsugar. 4. DIY no-sew burlap table runner from Inspired by Charm. 5. Gold-dipped log candleholder DIY on the Etsy blog.
This is not an “OMG! You lost 100 lbs.!” kind of makeover. This is more like,”Hmmnn…did you change your hair? get new glasses?” But therein lies the beauty: small changes are sometimes all that’s needed to make a room feel pulled together. The bedroom above belongs to Noah and his little sister Everly and here it is after a few simple changes: So, what changed? The blue paint is gone, there’s a new bedside table, new artwork and a new, cozy rug.
One of the many things you can do to transform your kitchen is to change your countertops. If completely replacing them isn’t an option for you right now, updating your existing laminate with countertop coating is a great way to achieve a new, fresh look without breaking the bank. Countertop paint is great for homeowners and renters alike.
During one of my many trips to the paint counter at the hardware store this week I spied a very curious item from Glade. Since I’m a sucker for scents and it was under $5, I just had to try it and see if it was as exciting/exotic as it seemed. For all you Scratch-n-Sniff enthusiasts, yes, the “smell for yourself” sticker actually smells like the end product.
Forgive the bad pun in the title of this post, but do check out the makeover of this classic Jenny Lind-style chair, recently restored and revamped by Reddit user the Grizzard of Oz. After peeling off many layers of old upholstery, she stripped off the green paint and even used toothpicks to clean out all the nooks and crannies in the wood. The new natural looking wood stain is covered with a layer of wax for added protection.
Do you dread the job of cleaning home? Rather pass on tackling chores? Do you view such tasks as scrubbing and mopping as the most boring and unappealing things ever? Do you either fail to get started (putting cleaning off until things are really bad) or do you run out of energy before finishing everything on your to-do list? You might need to rearrange the order of what cleaning tasks you tackle first. Have you ever heard of something called job crafting?
Name: George (1) Location: Los Angeles, California Room Size: 11′ x 12′ There’s really nothing more magical than childhood, so it seems quite fitting when I come across a child’s room that feels more like a wonderland than a simple spot to sleep. Maybe it’s the twinkle lights or perhaps it’s the unicorn, but there’s something about this sweet nursery that is just so dreamy. How would you describe the look and feel of this room?
Have you ever considered bringing your favorite natural scene into your own space to enjoy all year round? Wall murals and huge scale nature art can be a bit tricky, since there’s a wide selection of options of varying quality. If you’re inspired to create a beautiful indoor retreat, check out these examples of the look done right. These examples include art, murals and tapestries — and some are even from hotels (so you can book now and see how you like living with it first).
IKEA’s KURA loft bed usually steals the spotlight in terms of hacks and makeovers, but this transformation of the plain Jane MYDAL into a playhouse for an 8-year-old girl shows just how much potential this higher bunk has. With some plywood, 512 screws and some fabric, this bunk became a tented sleeping area (reached by TROFAST “stairs”), a reading nook with a hammock and a mini desk. Not to mention the adorable flower boxes and bucket on a pulley!
Halloween for the three- to five-year-old set is obviously an exciting time, but not without a few pitfalls. One of them is finding appropriate books to share. The stories need to be savvy enough to respect their intelligence but not so spooky that you will find a trembling child in your bed at two in the morning.
This worn, old wardrobe had seen better days, but Beau wanted to cheer it up for her daughter’s bedroom. So she add some fun colors, painted on a perky pattern and completely transformed this old piece into a fun addition! From Beau: This little wardrobe was well beaten up and really sad looking, not solid wood in parts so it needed a paint job.
If you need inspiration for how to turn an old, unused piece of furniture into a new piece with a fresh look and function, you’ll love this dresser makeover. The result is far from where it started! From Karen: We love challenges. So when my husband and I found this broken dresser on garbage day we were on a mission to bring it back to life.
I’m always interested in what the kids these days are doing in their dorm rooms. Yes, I realize that statement makes me sound like a geriatric. But seriously, were there ever so many dorm-dedicated brands and options ten—even five—years ago? I look at Instagram, lookbooks and big box circulars longingly. But you know what? There are some great storage ideas and products for the rest of us disguised in all that college ‘ish. Ya feel?
When Sarita and her husband bought an old home that needed a lot of work, they cooked up a plan to keep their two young daughters occupied and not underfoot while they spruced it up. Their mission: transform this unappealing closet into a happy play space. Sarita describes the project: This tiny closet is the first thing you see when you walk in the front door. I work as a muralist for children’s spaces and love colour! I was anxious to play with bold and bright yellows.
Sharon describes her home as a mishmash of styles (mostly tropical-beachy-outdoorsy nature-modern with a little traditional-hollywood regency-eclectic-real life thrown in) with no one dominate influence. When it starts leaning too far in one direction, she switches it up to keep decor in an eclectic balance. Take her family room’s mantel for instance, which was feeling entirely too traditional given her plans for the rest of the space….
Name: Handsome Hollow Location: Long Eddy, New York Leaves, apples, fireplaces roaring, chilly walks in cute sweaters – right now is the perfect season for weekend getaways. While I most definitely won’t be escaping to anywhere wonderful this weekend (lots of laundry is in my future!
If you’re interested in knowing just how you can take a pair of chairs from IKEA and make them unmistakably your own, you’ll find lots of inspiration from Brynne’s project with these club chairs. From Brynne: After searching for the perfect, affordable club chairs for my living room for weeks, I stumbled across a secondhand pair of IKEA Klappsta chairs (no longer carried in store) on Craigslist.
Whether you’re battling dry skin, tending to a sore throat, or just trying to keep germs at bay, rosemary oil is an excellent remedy for what ails you this winter. Check out just a few of our favorite uses and consider adding it to your health and wellness arsenal! Rosemary has been used medically for centuries as an antiseptic, an aid in digestive and respiratory health, and in skincare.
Without fail, every year I end up with half lit (no, this has nothing to do with egg nog) strands of christmas lights. It doesn’t seem to matter if I safely store them away, or throw them haphazardly in a bag, they refuse to ever be on the same work schedule. Repairing Christmas lights is not particularly difficult, but I wouldn’t say that it’s easy either.
I don’t buy into the I-can’t-have-nice-things-because-I-have-a-pet hype. This is especially true when it comes to textiles in my home. So when I spotted a gorgeous velvet sofa on Craigslist for a song, I did my research and went for it.
Project by: Jenna Piccirillo of PICCISTUDIO Location: Fairfield, Connecticut This bedroom needed to house two growing pre-teen boys and provide space for them to sleep, study and hang out with friends. Jenna Piccirillo’s solution is the stuff kids’ dreams are made of and include a room-within-a-room treehouse.
Project by: Aparna Chacko / AjjC Design Location: Fremont, California This room needed an injection of personality before its new 10-year-old occupant moved in. It also needed a design that could carry this tween straight through the teen years. From the designer: Design brief: To convert the spare room into a space that the home owner’s 10-year-old daughter will not outgrow in the next 6-8 yrs.
Name: Daphne Steinberg Location: San Francisco, California I had just moved to San Francisco from New York and came a couple of months before my fiancee to find a job and a home while he finished out his contract at work. Everyone had warned me how tough it was to find a good place in San Francisco, and to prepare myself for months of searching and hellish open houses.
Dania was on the hunt for a rocker to go with the fresh blue and cream nursery she was planning for her new son. This old green vinyl rocker from her in-laws worked just fine…but wasn’t quite the look she was going for. And though she had never upholstered anything before, she tackled this task, and the result is impressive! From Dawn: The original chair came from her in-laws, and while it was in great functioning shape, the green vinyl upholstery wasn’t in the best shape.
Name: Jasper (7) Location: Sydney, Australia Room Size: 3m x 3.2m I always admire when a kid’s room is reflective of his interests, but still manages to be stylish. That’s one thing I’ve always struggled with reconciling — throwing Elsa and Anna all over the place and painting the room Barney purple just isn’t my idea of fun. Luckily I think my daughter and I have struck a good balance, and I bet the same can be said of Jasper and his mom, Simone.
Name: Fay Location: Lake Merritt, Oakland, California I submitted an application to rent my apartment, sight unseen, as I was making a rather speedy move from the East Coast. (Small world alert! One of our House Tour participants, Colleen, lives in Fay’s old DC apartment! – Janel) I was instantly smitten by the charming elements of the pre-war building: hardwood flooring, crown molding, cut glass doorknobs and the working fireplace.
Newcomers to my home can’t ever find my paper towels. That’s because they’re hidden in the pantry so the cloth towels and rags I have are the first line of defense against spills and messes that need to be wiped. Here’s how I use cloth and when even I reach for a paper towel. When and Why I Use Cloth I use a rag for wiping off the kitchen counters and the table.
These conjoined movie benches sat in Natasha’s garage for a while, just waiting for inspired intervention. It turned out that all they needed was a fabric good enough with which to reupholster them. Although they look like classic corporate waiting room fixtures here, the end result is far from staid… Straight from the Brenda Starr book of decorating, this comic-themed fabric is fun and unexpected.
Miranda found this shapely chair on the side of the road — and it looked like it. But, this piece had a great form, and with Miranda’s lovely DIY changes, is now on the road to being an awesome addition to a home! From Miranda: I am always so jealous when I hear about people finding gems on the side of the road. Finally the selvage gods smiled upon me and one of my neighbors put this baby on their curb!
Recliners don’t usually grab attention for their design, but after Claudia made some quick and easy changes to this one, a corner of her home is much cheerier! From Claudia: This recliner was so ugly, even my cat got depressed by it, so I couldn’t wait to give this chair a fresh update. It is my husband’s grandfather’s chair, so I kinda had to tread carefully.
Name: Finn (12) Location: Sydney, Australia Room Size: 4m x 3m I’ve been talking a lot lately about creating kids’ spaces that make both the grown ups and the kids happy, and Finn’s room may be the perfect example of just such space. Mom Simone worked together with her twelve-year-old son to create a space that is reflective of his personality and interests.
We wrapped up a Style Cure the week before Thanksgiving. For those of you who haven’t heard about our Cures, they are month-long group projects where a big bunch of Apartment Therapy readers and editors work through a series of daily assignments with a specific goal in mind. This time, it was to refresh one room in our homes in time for the holidays.
Growing garlic is very easy and very rewarding. It grows well in small spaces, a perfect specimen for a container garden, and also prospers in large garden beds. It’s a staple on most weekly grocery lists and has amazing health benefits, plus it keeps those pesky vampires away, making it one of the most valuable plants in your garden. Find a sunny spot with well-drained, rich soil for your garlic, and it will be very happy and fruitful.
Strawberries are the quintessential summer fruit. Juicy, flavorful, and packed with vitamin C, they are a must-have for any summer garden. Organic berries can often be on the expensive side at the grocery store, so grow your own, cut down on packaging waste, and keep that extra cash in your pocket! Strawberries love the sun, they need at least 8-10 hours of direct sunlight each day, so keep that in mind when placing your containers, or tilling up your bed.
When Emma’s family purchased this aging row house in Kingston, Ontario each of the three floors was a separate apartment. This room was occupied by a student and was filled with cheap furniture and textbooks. It needed a lot of love to match the vision she had for her 5-year-old son Angus’s space.
Dear Alice, I live in a big apartment building with a busy laundry room — during peak days/hours the machines are usually all full. So what about those machines where the load has finished but the owner hasn’t come back to switch the wash to the dryer or take his dried laundry home? I often have to stand around waiting for someone to show up and deal with their clothes. Is it rude to remove those loads so I can get my own laundry started?
A recent search for an “elaborate, colorful chandelier” for our living room lead me down a fantastic pająki rabbit hole. The paper and straw sculptures, typically Polish folklore holiday decor, were originally constructed to hang from the ceiling to resemble elaborate crystal chandeliers found in homes of the upper class. Pająki are usually made using wood straws but I wanted lots of color, so I changed it up a bit and used printed paper straws.
If you have kids, toys are an important and unavoidable fixture of your home. You know this, and you also know that the sheer volume can easily get out of hand if you’re not intentional about the flow of toys into your home. If you are trying to get a handle on your kids’ toys this year, here are some strategies to help you plan and manage what comes in and stays in your home: Take a moment to think about what is important to you in regards to toys in your home.
Project by: Allison Harlow of Curio Design Studio Project type: e-design Location: Miami, Florida This space provided lots of challenges! It was long and narrow, did not have a natural focal point and the budget needed to remain around $1000. To make things more complicated the client wanted to keep the gender of their baby a surprise and create a nursery that was modern, gender neutral, mature and utilized mostly neutral colors.
I vacillate, when it comes to grout. Sometimes it’s que sera, sera, and sometimes it’s all-out war: baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, OxiClean, toothbrushes, grout brushes, elbow grease, and five million moppings to clean the residue with fans to speed drying times in between rounds. But ever since I’ve discovered this completely awesome way of cleaning grout, I almost look forward to doing it, and really, it’s another kind of life-changing magic.
It’s a new year, and around the globe people are making that age-old promise to themselves: this is the year I finally get organized. No more drowning in paperwork, no more dining table cluttered with bills and receipts—this year it all stops. Want to know something? It can be done. A simple, user-friendly filing system is something every home should have, and is easy to set up and maintain.
For a long time now, white-painted woodwork has been de rigeur in the domestic interior, so much so that it’s almost a foregone conclusion. But this is slowly changing: we’ve seen black woodwork popping up lately, and now grays and bold hues are making their voices heard as well. If you fancy this change but aren’t sure what to go for, let this trim-spiration sourced from around the web be your guide.
This old Victorian bathroom is typical of Glasgow tenement buildings —super narrow and definitely hard to maneuver in. Since the original tub wasn’t salvageable, Anne scored a couple more square feet from its removal: From Anne: The bathroom is a very awkward long and narrow shape typical of Glasgow tenements—making it particularly hard to photograph! The end result, £2000 later, is a complete difference.
If you like making resolutions, there’s no need to feel like you missed the boat just because we’re well into 2015. In fact, I’d say you’re probably better off making resolutions now than in a hungover haze on the 1st— once again, procrastination wins the day! Here are the 5 reasons I’m a big fan of delayed resolutions- of course, if you don’t like making resolutions, simply carry on. 1.
Not many would see this old media stand and think “play kitchen,” but ChiWei used what she had and came up with a pretty fantastic result for under $90: From ChiWei: I got tired of pulling my 1 year old daughter out of the dishwasher and drawers where she liked to pull out Ziploc bags from the package one at a time. I thought if I gave her her own kitchen, she’d leave mine alone!
One doesn’t always factor in cleaning when thinking about your home’s budget. But all those cleaning tools, cleaners, supplies and more can add up if you’re not careful. If you’re on a tight (or non-existent) cleaning budget but want an always-tidy, always-fresh space, consider these ideas for staying clean without a lot of green.
Name: Chaoyi Location: SF Bay Area, CA I share an one bedroom apartment with my boyfriend in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our place is around 700 sq. ft, with a very nice large patio tucked under some beautiful trees from the street. We love this place because it is bright and airy, the living room gets a lot of light, especially in the morning. And our dog Danger loves to sunbath on weekend mornings.
