What’s even better than going to the library? Having your very own library at home. Here are nine beautiful at-home library spaces, to haunt your Pinterest board and your wildest dreams. Above: a gorgeous library space in a Spanish home from Architectural Digest. Here’s a slightly more modest but no less inspiring space from Domino. A book-lined living room from Casa Vogue. A cozy reading space from Planete Deco.
Paper towel holders don’t just have to stay in the kitchen or stick to the task of holding rolls of paper towels. Helpful as that is, thanks to the variety they come in — hanging from the wall, freestanding — they can help cleverly and neatly organize a handful of items around the rooms of your home. Above: Take side hanging paper towel holders into your closet to organize all sorts of fashion accessories smartly. The idea spotted on Martha Stewart.
It’s true that old habits die hard, but it seems like it’s equally impossible to start a new one. No matter the goal–if you’re trying on a consistent gym regimen, or just wanting to make the bed everyday–there is one small tip that might help you get on track. Can you guess which day of the week sets you up for success in kicking off a new good habit?
A lot of the kitchen Before & Afters we share here on Apartment Therapy feature dramatic changes: new cabinets, new countertops, new appliances, walls torn down. But in this Fort Greene kitchen, the changes are much more subtle. They’re so subtle, in fact, that flipping back and forth between the before and after photos is a little bit like one of those puzzles where you try to spot the differences between the two pictures. Can you spot the changes?
The second bathroom in Michelle and Brad’s condo was in a strange state of flux. The home’s previous owners had removed the bathtub with the hope of installing a washer and dryer, but since the addition of the washer and dryer was rejected by the co-op board, the bathtub was instead replaced with a couple of awkwardly placed IKEA cabinets.
A friend you haven’t seen in a while calls to let you know she’s in the area and would love to stop by. You say: “Of course—come over!” You think: “Just give me three hours to clean up, please!” Ideally, we’d follow the “tidy up a little every day” routine, but despite our best efforts, there are certain spots in our homes where the chaos just tends to build.
When Brian and Greg purchased a 1,500 sq. ft., 1960’s-era ranch house that had been on the market for over 500 days, they knew they could turn it into something special. A first priority was turning an 11 x 12 kitchen that comfortably fit one person into a bright, open space that met their needs as a growing family and frequent hosts. I would say they achieved their goal…a thousand times over.
Erin of Earnest Home Co. admits that small changes aren’t her specialty. Once she focuses on a room, it’s usually all or nothing. So simply sprucing up her small bathroom was a decided challenge, one she did with only $150 and a couple of hours one afternoon. Since the tile and floor wasn’t going anywhere soon, she focused on the little things she could change out easily.
Ashley Poskin lives in a beautiful old Victorian house in Sterling, Illinois — a small town west of Chicago — which she is also restoring. The house is large, and Ashley and her husband are actually human, so it’s taken awhile to work on each room and make it into a home. (That’s her boxer Charlie front and center, checking out her small living room that’s still pretty devoid of decor and furniture.
You know all the conventional advice: Keep a dark room and lay off the snooze button. But for the stubborn sleepers–the ones who would sooner give up an arm than their snooze button–here are three hacks for getting a good night’s sleep that you might not have heard yet. Real talk: Your smartphone is ruining your sleep. Besides the fact that the last thing you see before bed is a bright lit screen, I have to imagine it’s also bad for your snooze habits.
Run–don’t walk–to your nearest contractor, cabinet maker or handy family member and ask–nay, beg–to have one of these seriously smart solutions built into the storage around your home.
Preparation is the key to success. The next time your favorite sweater shrinks or you smear sauce on your sleeve at dinner, instead of furiously Googling for a solution, you’ll remain cool, calm and collected because you committed these five in-a-pinch laundry hacks to memory. No garment steamer? No problem. If your clothes are just a bit more wrinkled than you’d like them to be, don’t break out the iron, just use your dryer (if you’re lucky enough to have one at home).
If you’re feeling the spring clean and refresh bug, but haven’t yet made any progress on your goals, consider applying some performance boosting methods adapted from spring training to your home field. A clean, refreshed, and re-styled space is a serious mood boost. Carving out the time and energy to tackle it all, however, can make you want to throw the towel in before you even get started.
Dear Alice, I am living with my family in a high-rise apartment. I am new to this country, Germany. My child is three-years-old and I am having trouble getting him adjusted to this new environment, but he is doing much better than in the beginning. Our upstairs tenants have a problem with my kid crying as it is loud and echoing at times. This happens especially when my son is inside the bathroom, as it is small and opposite to the bedroom.
Your brain is a pretty powerful thing, and yet, you can’t seem to remember where you left your keys last night. There’s a lot to be said for having a routine and keeping things in the same place every time (can you say “landing strip”?). But sometimes, you just need a good, solid memory trick.
Shopping for real estate in New York can be a bit heartbreaking. Corey found this out the hard way when he and his partner put in an offer on their dream apartment, only to be completely outbid. They wound up instead with a perfectly decent Williamsburg two-bedroom, with lots of space and beautiful views. But the good-enough apartment lacked character, and they couldn’t stop thinking about the one that got away.
So the comments around Ashley’s makeover were… spirited, to say the least. A lot of you all had things to say about the floorplan, and this is your shot at diving into the options in more depth. When the furniture arrived, we re-arranged things a few times to see what might work, fiddling until I felt we had the best possible option… As a refresher, here’s Ashley’s living room as a 3D model.
Name: G and J ( 4 & 2) Location: Toronto, Canada After living in our home for the last two years, we’ve slowly started renovating each space to suit our needs. For our two boys, however, I couldn’t figure out what to do with their space. So it remained with builder grade paint and a few train posters on the wall. As it was time for my youngest to transition out of his crib and into a bed, I knew it was time to finally give their room the makeover that it deserved.
Name: Jeni Location: San Francisco, California After years of roommates, carpeted studios, and Ikea-filled rooms, I finally got the chance to move into my own apartment and I couldn’t wait to get my grubby hands all over it. Ever since I hit my 30’s, I’ve been obsessed with interior design, mainly because it’s such a fun way to express style + creativity. In my 20’s, that same energy was focused on fashion. As a Buyer at J.
Confession: I have a lot of anxiety about shopping for new clothes. I love adding new pieces to my wardrobe, but historically, I haven’t always been good at judging when I actually should or shouldn’t buy something.
Name: Andrea Location: Boston, Massachusetts Room: Living Room Size: about 150 square feet Own or Rent: Own We’re on a road trip across the United States to tell people about Complete + Happy Home, and while we’re at it, we’re saving the country, one room at a time! First up, Boston—where we meet Andrea, her cat Sterling, and a blank slate living room that needs help going beyond the basics.
Marina and her husband Sebastiano bought a 100-year-old home in Houston about a year ago. The overall condition of the house was near-perfect, but Marina wanted to transform the traditional home into a more modern, open space. After knocking down the walls between the living room, dining room, and kitchen, Marina and Sebastiano now have a full view of the major rooms of their home from the front door. The openness and the new white paint work together to create a bright, open space.
Instructions are important to pay attention to, especially when it’s laundry time. You might think that measly little tag inside your favorite sweater doesn’t offer any sound advice, but in reality, the future of your wardrobe might depend on it. You see, many of us take the words “Dry-Clean Only” as a slight suggestion, when they need to be read literally (should you want to preserve the life of your garments). And yet, just because a tag recommends dry-cleaning (i.e.
As the design nerds we most unabashedly are, we get pretty excited for the big day each October when Benjamin Moore reveals their Color of the Year. This year, we admit, we were momentarily thrown by the reveal – it was not at all what we’d expected. But after a hot second of surprise and debate in the office, we’ve all gotten on board with this trendy non-trend. Do you agree? The Benjamin Moore Color of the Year for 2016 is….. The Color of the Year? Simply White OC-177.
White is sometimes underplayed as the default choice of colorphobes, but some of the boldest and most sophisticated rooms in the world have white walls. Maxwell loves decorating with white walls – as long as it’s the right kind of white. According to Maxwell, the best whites aren’t just a “blank canvas.” He says, “I like the ones with a bit of depth and color.” A good white wall never looks unfinished, “it looks intentional.
Name: Wintta Location: Capitol Hill; Washington, D.C. Room: Bedroom/Living Room Size: about 400 square feet Own or Rent: Own We’re on a road trip across the United States to tell people about Complete + Happy Home, and while we’re at it, we’re saving the country, one room at a time! Our second makeover stop is Washington, D.C., where we meet Wintta and her studio with an inherited Murphy bed, just itching to for us to come in and make her Parisian dream a reality.
Depending on what part of the country you’re in, you still might be enjoying the delicious harvest from your backyard, but here in the Midwest, I’m tearfully waving goodbye to, well, almost everything fresh. While it’s probably impossible to keep gorgeous heirloom tomatoes growing, I’m looking on the bright side at the plants and herbs that will continue to thrive indoors during the dreary winter months.
We may not always want our houseguests to stay super-long, but we do want them to be comfortable (and think we’re amazing hosts) while they’re here. The best way to ensure your guests are rested and happy? Getting a mattress good enough to accommodate all kinds of sleepers. We teamed up with Value City Furniture and the sleep experts from The Cleveland Clinic to bring you these #flawless tips for choosing the right mattress for your guests.
You may remember Ellen and Ben, the first-time Brooklyn homeowners who, instead of remodeling their kitchen, decided to tackle their master bath as their very first renovating project. Feeling more than satisfied with the results of that remodel, they decided to go with the same contractor for their second bathroom, although they elected to take the design in a slightly different direction.
Name: Christeleny Location: Upper East Side — New York, New York I bought my 1000 square feet, two bedroom, two bathroom apartment in 2010. The previous owner had lived there for decades and it was quite literally falling apart. It’s in a great pre-war building with an interesting history so I was sure I could make it into something wonderful! Because I had to bring everything up to code the entire apartment had to be gutted. Between the co-op board, the NYC board of buildings etc.
Name: Jessica & Christian, and their two children Location: Atlanta, GA Room: Living Room Size: about 220 square feet Own or Rent: Rent We went on a road trip across the United States to tell people about Complete + Happy Home, and while we’re at it, we’re saving the country, one room at a time!
Name: Corinna and Eugenia Location: LA Room: Living Room Size: about 200 square feet Own or Rent: Rent We’re on a road trip across the United States to tell people about Complete + Happy Home, and while we’re at it, we’re saving the country, one room at a time! Our last makeover was in Los Angeles—where we meet Corinna and Eugenia, a couple of artists who could use our help blending their creative styles into one playful living room.
Name: Jennifer Location: Inner Sunset — San Francisco, California I live in a light filled four bedroom two story victorian built in 1906 on 8th avenue in the Inner Sunset. It’s been my home for nearly seven years! It’s no small statement to say that I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have lived in such a spacious home for so long. Especially in a city where rents are skyrocketing – you’re lucky to get a window no less a backyard and a garage.
We purchased our townhouse about 4 years ago. We wanted to purchase a home that needed a kitchen remodel because we didn’t like what we saw when we toured houses with remodeled kitchens. Also, we wanted to get used to our place before we embarked on a remodel so we knew what we wanted as far as layout, finishes, and appliances. We were glad we waited because we made many decisions that were different from our initial thoughts on what we wanted.
Some people like to live in their homes a little while before renovating them, to get a feel for the space and figure out what they want. Before embarking on his kitchen renovation, Barrin took plenty of time; he’s lived in his Carroll Gardens condo for 18 years. The appliances had been slowly replaced over the years, but the almost 30-year-old cabinets had definitely seen better days.
Name: Julia Atkinson Location: Auckland, New Zealand My name is Julia and I’m the founder and editor of popular New Zealand/Australian daily design site; Studio Home. Photographer Bonnie Stewart-Macdonald popped by a few months ago and caught some shots of me and my compact, modern 2 bedroom apartment in central Auckland, New Zealand. I’ve been based (living AND working) from the great sunny space for the last three years – and despite its small size I LOVE IT!
Thrift stores carry a lot of, eh, “interesting” pieces on their racks. Bedazzled evening dresses from the ’80s rub shoulders with floral sundresses from the grunge era; sweater vests mingle with mom jeans, and Peter Pan collars throw you back into a time where Twiggy ruled the magazine stands.
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.
New crib, new crib mattress, new rug, new curtains, new rocker, new wall art, new bookshelves, new dresser, new change mat—no doubt about it, the nursery business is big business. But do we really all need to buy into it? I mean, is it possible to just do no nursery? Would that be okay? How would that work? Well, ultimately, the answer to that question is going to be personal. And by personal, I mean it’s going to depend on you.
Here’s a kitchen transformation where I think we can confidently say that no one will like the ‘before’ better. When Robyn and Alejandro bought their two-bedroom condo in Brooklyn’s Columbia Waterfront District, the kitchen was in distinctly sad shape (and had, apparently, a basketball in place of a refrigerator). I’m sure it was tough to imagine this space as anything near livable, but Robyn and Alejandro had a vision for what their apartment could be.
Remember Robyn and Alejandro, whose sad sad kitchen was transformed into a bright, super-modern space? Well, their condo also had a bathroom which, although not in quite as dire a state as the kitchen, was still in need of a little TLC. It’s kind of hard to believe it’s the same space, isn’t it? The defining feature of the new bathroom is the three kinds of tile that Robyn chose.
When we bought our house two years ago, I was very excited about the thought of having a windowless air conditioner in the bedroom to keep us cool throughout the summer. However, I soon realized that an in wall a/c unit was very hard to hide, especially since it’s the first thing you see when you enter the room.
You may remember Lee, whose Midtown East kitchen got a serious upgrade, transforming from a dark, cramped, dated space into a bright and minimal galley kitchen. At the same time Lee undertook his kitchen remodel, he also chose to renovate his utterly unremarkable late-70s bathroom, which had definitely seen better days. Thanks to smart choices in fixtures and finishes, the new bathroom feels much cleaner, bigger, and brighter than the old one — hardly like the same space at all.
When Lee Hoffman, the CEO and founder of photo-sharing app Memoir, bought his co-op in Midtown East last year, he immediately knew that the kitchen had to go. The small, cramped space was cut off by a wall from the rest of the apartment, and to make things worse, the apartment’s previous tenant was a smoker, which meant that everything in the kitchen was covered in a thin layer of smoky residue. After months of research, Lee was finally ready to embark on the project.
Kind of hard to believe this is the same house, right? When Kezia and Jonathan bought their home, they were seemingly stuck with a material they hated that couldn’t be removed. Instead of throwing up their hands in despair and settling, they got creative and gave the facade of their home some major curb appeal. From Kezia: We bought a cookie cutter house and redid the kitchen and facade ourselves – we call it the Kimono Project (because our house is on Kimono Ridge Drive).
Have you heard of Eurogames before? It’s a subgenre of board games classified by two major features: their attention to design and theme, and focus on serious strategy. Competetive folks, take note: Put away the Scrabble set and try on one of these board games for size. Besides the great artwork and complex mechanics, another defining feature of Eurogames is that nobody is ever knocked out of the game (looking at you, Monopoly).
Fabric is simply clothing for your furniture. Take time to create unique, one of a kind pieces that are a reflection of who you are and how you live! We took an “old and dirty” club chair, cleaned it up, reupholstered and made it “fun and flirty”! When we wear clothing, sometimes we dress casual, fancy, or sporty. This chair was created with a working woman’s apartment in mind. Someone who has traditional values while living an adventurous and colorful life.
Windows — and their coverings — are a big part of your home’s design. Are you getting yours right? There are a lot of ways you can go wrong with window treatments in your home. Here are seven to look out for. Like the look of sheers but can’t sleep because they let too much street light in? Love the look of big, thick drapes but wish you had more of a breeze in your home?
Greg and I are in our third plus year of bringing back the charm of a Dutch colonial foreclosure. It’s taken so long because it’s mostly been just the two of us. I obsessively plotted and planned while Greg, the perfectionist, made it all happen. After the second year or so, if our friends and family asked when we’d be moving in, I would always answer, “never” — but we did!
Name: Catherine Cachia Location: East Danforth — Toronto, Ontario When we moved into our house two years ago, I was really excited to have a dedicated workspace for the first time in my life. This room gets the best light in the house, which made it a great place to draw, make stuff, and practice my calligraphy and photography. From Catherine: “When we moved into our house two years ago, I was really excited to have a dedicated workspace for the first time in my life.
Park Slope homeowners Elinor and Joel were charmed with the details of their 1920s bathroom, like the original tub and tile. Less than charming were the 90-year-old fixtures: the towel bars that fell out of the wall, the showerhead that sprayed water all over the place, the toilet that threatened a flood with every flush. After six years in their co-op they decided it was time for a renovation, not to change the look of their bathroom but to restore it to its former glory.
When you’re living in a small space there’s always that difficulty of where to put all the stuff. Especially if you don’t have a broom closet, finding a place to store all your cleaning supplies and tools can be a real issue. One of my favorite solutions to this problem is a fairly simple one: just buy cleaning tools you won’t mind leaving out. Perhaps you never thought that a dustpan could be beautiful, but that’s because you haven’t seen these dustpans.
Most of us know by now that you don’t have to match all the wood finishes in your home exactly, but many of us are still a bit nervous when it comes to mixing lots of wood finishes in the same room. I spotted four wood finishes in the dining room of Jen and Kirstie’s home; here’s a closer look at how they pull the look off so successfully.
Lest you think that Megha’s ‘before’ bathroom was merely ugly, you should know what the pictures don’t show, which is that up close, finishes were peeling and the whole thing was starting to fall apart. After living with this space for nine years, Megha knew that it was time for a change. The overhauled space feels much bigger and brighter, thanks to a few smart design decisions.
The kitchen in Megha’s Midtown West condo had a problem common to lots of older kitchens: it was tiny, and awkwardly walled off from the rest of the living spaces in her apartment. After living with a less than ideal floorplan (and a falling-apartment bathroom) for nine years, Megha decided it was time for a change — and embarked on a renovation that would dramatically change the look and feel of her apartment.
I can not get enough of this transformation! Popcorn ceilings, Miami Vice blue walls, Julie certainly had her work cut out for her. almost So, inspired by the challenge of small space design and well-resourced by Apartment Therapy and Houzz , I rolled up my sleeves and called my contractor. And, while he saw uninsulated 2×4 stick framing, funky wiring, and a complete absence of something called “square” — I saw modern cottage. Thank you, Julie!
I purchased this Condo on August 31, 2015. At the time it was renter occupied, which happened to be three (maybe four) college kids. I saw potential in the unit and wanted to make it my own. I fully designed the new space and worked with two contractors to get it fully to my design. In six weeks time, it went from dumpy to modern! It also has a porch and an amazing view of Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains. Thank you, Matt! Re-edited from a post originally published 12.11.
Name: Kristy Location: South Tampa, Florida My husband Marc and I bought our 1960s ranch home over a year ago in the up-and-coming Port Tampa City area of Tampa, Florida. Marc is a pool designer and I own a home staging and interior styling company, so it was important to us to choose a home that catered to our design tastes…. a quaint and modernized cottage home with an open floor plan and timeless features.
With so many weddings designed to reflect a couple’s personal style, why is there still this outdated expectation that a registry needs to include formal china? Many couples today live in small spaces where they can’t host huge parties or store a giant tureen. And people who are marrying later or for the second time are concerned with blending their stuff, not getting more.
With so many couples cohabiting, marrying later and merging their stuff, it’s only natural that modern registries should expand beyond your kitchen cabinets into every room. Who says you have to limit your wedding gifts to tabletop and kitchen tools? Maybe what you really need is a new table, some throw pillows or gallery frames. It’s time to think outside the salad spinner.
A few weeks ago, after waking up with neck pain for the third day in a row, I realized it might finally be time for a new pillow. I wasn’t happy about it — I loved my pillow dearly. But it was lumpy, and it leaked feathers every time I leaned against it, and under its case it was the mottled yellow color of a mummy’s wrappings. It was also, I realized, approximately 15 years old. This seemed, potentially, very gross.
There’s no denying that lighting is a vitally important aspect of any space, yet it’s often the most overlooked. Once you flip the switch to illuminate your interior, it’s easy to get distracted by all the other things that need tending to, and lighting falls by the wayside. When visiting Lauren and Danny’s Mount Washington home, we were reminded that, whether you rent or own, you can take control of your own lighting situation.
When you think of essential oils, you probably think about aromatherapy. Sure, they smell amazing, but essential oils can also come in quite handy when it comes to cleaning your home. From degreasing your stove to de-germing your kids’ stuffed animals, here are 7 ways you can clean your home with essential oils—their uses might surprise you! Lavender does more than just smell and look lovely—the purple plant has natural antibacterial properties, too.
You should always call someone for help with a repair that feels too dangerous for your set of tools and knowledge. However, there are a lot of repairs that can be done around the home that don’t need a professional. This year, resolve to try one of these easier-than-you-realize repairs around the house. You might surprise yourself!
A tiny bedroom can be a big challenge. There are a lot of things you need to fit into this little room, but you still want it to be a calm and restful space. If you’re lucky enough to have the freedom to make significant changes to your place, built ins can be a real lifesaver in a small bedroom, perfect for adding extra storage and functionality with a streamlined look. Here are 11 ideas.
Not my wardrobe. Sigh. (It belongs to Amanda of Chocolate Heels.) In the middle of 2015, I wrote a post on ways to reduce clutter in the closet and money spent on clothing. Among the ideas presented was the Capsule Wardrobe, an idea which has long been hanging around the internet, but which really took off that year.
Upper West Side homeowner Christine had a unique problem: her two-bedroom co-op was lovely, but the limited storage options there were no match for her extensive collection of art and books (including a full-size terra cotta warrior!). After living there for seven years, she decided it was time for a change: a renovation that, besides updating the apartment, would provide all of her treasures with a proper place.
You might think that decorative cut glass would look dated and completely out of sync with most modern decor. Like china place settings, lead crystal is often given as wedding gifts or inherited from relatives, and seems like a relic of a different time. Or does it? Here are several ideas that use bar decanters in fresh new ways. In the lead image above, notice the table lamp made from a cut glass decanter, seen in this Scandinavian home from Skona Hem.
This is the final post in my mini-series on capsule wardrobes. If you’ve been following along, you’ve seen why I decided to give this a go and how I created my first capsule, and now it’s time for the results. Read on for my thoughts (warning: I’ve got a lot of ’em) on living with a 37-piece wardrobe for three months. First up: I really loved opening my closet every morning to see a small, edited collection of clothing that I really wanted to wear.
Previously, I introduced you to my recent wardrobe obsession: capsule wardrobes. This on-trend idea (hi, KonMari!) was everywhere last year, and for me, a lifetime of loving fashion, a penchant for organization, and a tight budget came together and created the perfect environment in which it could take root. This week, I’m showing how I made my first capsule back in September 2015 and sharing tips for the structure and creation of capsules in general.
