Gorgeous hardwood floors, a large window, posh location, a fireplace, and built-ins galore? Yes, please. This Upper East Side apartment’s living room was already dreamy as hell, but one bold client-designer team knew it could be so much more. My favorite part of this transformation is the way the newly painted built-ins echo the tone of the fireplace, creating, along with the mirror, a delightful triptych. The coffee table appears to be the same hue, further unifying the space.
Designer Michelle Gage has an amazing ability to design homes, which was on full display in her and her husband’s first home that they renovated themselves. After transforming every single room in the 2000-square-foot Philadelphia home, the couple sold that house last November and moved into what they consider to be their forever home. “We fixed up everything we possibly could, while not pricing ourselves out of the neighborhood we were in.
We may not know what tomorrow brings, but that doesn’t stop us from worrying about it. Because let’s face it: There’s a lot going on in the world and in life. We need to carve out as many happy-making moments as we can. One really good place to start? Your underwear drawer. As sexy as the things within it might be, the drawer itself is a pretty unsexy idea.
When it comes to taboo life advice that one can actually use in their 20s and 30s, beloved humorist and author David Sedaris dishes out some of the best. (Hello, that cautionary-tale tip from Me Talk Pretty One Day that keeps us all from trying on thrift store jeans before they’ve been washed, amiright?) On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert this week, Sedaris shared a peek of the commencement address he gave at Oberlin College—and his strong feelings about candles.
At $15.5 million, the townhouse that actors Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany just purchased on Brooklyn Heights is believed to be one of the most expensive transactions ever closed in the New York City borough.
Calling all Nancy Meyers fans and softly-lit rom-com addicts: the real-life house where The Holiday (with Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Jack Black) was filmed just want on the market in Southern California—for $11.8 million.
What does a basement closet in Brooklyn have to do with an exotic animal-laden ranch in Colombia? They both live in the Netflix universe, of course. ForRent.com compiled a list of some of the most memorable properties of Netflix Originals characters, and determined how much it would cost to rent them. Whether you’re in the market for a sprawling Hollywood Hills mansion or a small apartment above a Chinese restaurant, here’s a look at some of Netflix’s most iconic properties.
Most of us have that one friend or family member who reliably texts you with life updates, posts Instagram Stories about her commute to work, and generally goes out of her way to keep you informed. And then there’s the friend who’s a bit more private about her feelings. You can usually recognize the signs when something’s bothering her, but she makes you guess to figure out what the problem is. Your houseplants are like this second type of friend.
The first time I cooked with my now-husband, I was surprised to learn he had a collection of cast iron pans in an array of sizes. What impressed me most wasn’t that he had a larger (and more well-seasoned) set of cast iron than me, but the smart way he stored his cast iron pans. Instead of simply nesting cast iron pans one inside another, metal on metal, he used a single paper towel to separate each piece of cookware to prevent friction.
We’ve written before about kitchens with green cabinets, and blue cabinets, and black cabinets, and those are all lovely, but this post is dedicated to a particular favorite of mine: gray cabinets. Whether you’re looking for a pearl gray or a seal gray or a dark almost-charcoal gray, this color has a timeless allure, and suits practically any space. Here are five reasons why this style is here to stay.
Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan Markle are in nesting mode. The royal duo, who were wed just two weeks ago, have signed a two-year lease for a new home in the Cotswolds. Located about 90 minutes outside of London, the Grand Tew Estate is described as the “archetypal English Country Estate. Spring lambs playing in rolling grassland, oak woods with a carpet of bluebells, chocolate box thatch cottages.” Damn, that’s bucolic!
I’d like to start by saying: I hate moving. I am known to be extremely dramatic when it comes to getting organized, packing up my belongings, and essentially living in a real-life obstacle course (dodging suitcases, stepping over boxes) while I await my move. But there was one aspect of my recent relocation—only 20 blocks, but in New York City that still feels like an undertaking—that was justifiably overwhelming: The Purging Of The Bookshelf. Sounds like a horror movie, right?
On June 6, 1998, the world was introduced to Carrie Bradshaw and her sometimes fun, sometimes frustrating, but always fabulous life in New York City. Twenty years ago, Sex and the City debuted and we all fell in love with Carrie’s friends, her fashion, and yes—her apartment.
One of our freelancers, Ashley Poskin, owns a beautiful old house in small-town Illinois. She recently moved with her husband and daughter to Chicago for job-related reasons, and needed to put their home on the market. There was just one thing holding them back: the kitchen. Although they upgraded a few things over the years they lived there (new subway tile backsplash, some black chalkboard paint) the room still wasn’t a huge selling point.
We just revealed our most recent original makeover —this time a budget kitchen renovation in a small town in Illinois. If you missed the full kitchen reveal, head over to see all the before and after shots. We wound up spending under $6,000 from head to toe, soup to nuts, which we’re feeling pretty good about, especially given that the house sold less a week (four days) after we shot the final kitchen.
This penny tile floor is fabulously snakeskin-like, but an unstable subfloor caused tiles to pop out. Similarly, that pedestal sink is graceful but offered no counter space, while the intriguingly low tub was unused and unnecessary. After 15 years, this remodeled bathroom was remodeled again and the results are dreamy. So pretty. Pink, black, white, and wood is a fantastic combo that I might not ever have thought of.
We’ve had a kitchen renovation in the works for months upon months now, and I’m just getting final photos back, but couldn’t resist sharing this one corner over the weekend. The kitchen before was totally adorable—part of an old house in small town Illinois, owned by one of our freelancers, Ashley Poskin. It had tons of vintage character and charm, but needed a bit of an update, especially because she planned to put it on the market to sell.
Where exactly is the kitchen, you ask? Why, it’s behind that grey dividing wall. And while the room’s cabinetry and other surfaces were very nice, this home’s new owner found the kitchen to be “small and closed-off.” It was perhaps the most closed-off kitchen in the history of our renovation posts.
“When we bought our first condo, our immediate focus was to try our hand at a wallpaper project,” Andréa writes about the home she shares with her husband Stefan. “Rental properties had never afforded us the luxury of doing something so dramatic and custom. We knew we wanted a statement wall somewhere in our home, but given that the main area is one large room (like many open-concept condos), it didn’t quite fit there.
This Philadelphia row home came with many enviable features when Matt and Anne Thomas bought it. Stunning architecture. Tons of space. All that natural light. The one thing they didn’t love was the home’s extremely red-toned cherry wood floors. But, the floors had just been re-done and were nice in every other regard. Replacing them would have been wasteful.
I thought the simple and affordable bed hack in Erica Massey’s Dallas, Texas rental apartment was pretty brilliant. A tall bed with storage for her, and a cozy and cool spot to call his own for her dog Deacon. The fact that most of the components were sourced from IKEA for not a lot of money is the cherry on top. But that’s not the only smart IKEA hack in her home! One IKEA trip and less than $200 later and Erica was able to nearly double the storage space of her kitchen.
You know you’re staying in a luxury five-star hotel when your wash cloth or hand towel is folded into some sort of flower or zoo animal. It’s one of the little touches that signifies the level of care that’s been put into every aspect of your stay, so how cool would it be if—without a lot of extra effort—you could surprise your house guests with the same experience?
While we still have six months left of 2018, that hasn’t stopped paint companies from looking forward to 2019 and beyond. If you’re dying to know what colors will be hot for the last year of the decade (we’re looking at you, renovators and redecorators), Sherwin-Williams just announced their color forecast for next year. Here are its picks for color trends for 2019.
This kitchen was super cozy and sun-soaked, and it boasted an ample and intriguing island/peninsula hybrid—pretty sure that’s what an isthmus is—but it had a few shortcomings: The finishings were getting worn, and the freezer was a full 70 years old. Now it’s light and airy, and full of personal charm and quirky objects. Reader Catherine S. Vodrey of OutspokenWomen.
We’re halfway through 2018, and you know what that means? It’s time to start trend forecasting for 2019. Just yesterday, Sherwin Williams shared their color forecast for 2019, but PPG Paints is taking it one step further and announcing their pick for the Color of the Year. So what shade do they predict will reign supreme next year? Night Watch, a deep, almost jade-like green.
The MELLTORP is one of IKEA’s ubiquitous and affordable tables. It’s minimal and modern, but it also makes a great blank canvas for a DIY. Here’s how Tiphaine of Kraft & Carat transformed it. This is extremely cool, and the way the table now matches the chairs is uncanny; choosing colors that close to each other often leads to awkward almost-matching, but this looks perfect.
Years ago most kitchens were dark and full of autumn tones, like red, gold, and even orange. More recently, those bolder shades have given way to all-white kitchens. Why? Homeowners are building and renovating kitchens to be open to the rest of the floorplan, rather than segmented. “Kitchens have basically become invisible to blend with the rest of the home.
With the monster hit of Avengers Infinity War still going strong at the box office (topping $2 billion worldwide), I’d like to celebrate Tom Hiddleston in his role as…Jonathan Pine, The Night Manager! And by celebrate him, I mean focus solely on the Egyptian interiors of the Nefertiti Hotel in Cairo.
The rumors have been confirmed: Puget Sound is getting a new celebrity resident. Oprah Winfrey just picked up an $8.275 million estate on Orcas Island in the San Juan archipelago, halfway between Seattle and Vancouver—the first Pacific Northwest property for the billionaire media mogul and her burgeoning real estate empire.
If you watched Season One of Netflix’s Queer Eye, chances are you benefitted from the Fab Five’s heartwarming antics as much as the men being made over— or, “heroes”—as home design expert Bobby Berk lovingly referred to them as during our recent chat. In season one, Berk and his castmates delivered viscerally-satisfying transformations that tugged at our heartstrings and basically gave us all a restored hope in humankind.
Growing up, it never really felt like an official family party until my dad and uncle retired to the twin tan recliners in my grandparents’ living room after dinner, while my grandpa settled into his own rusty orange recliner on the opposite side of the room. Within minutes of sitting down and kicking up their feet, all three would be sound asleep. How they could sleep through the sounds of six shrieking children pretending to be wolves, I’ll never know. It must have been the chairs.
Fun fact: Pineapples are actually a member of the bromeliad family, a tropical species long popular with houseplant enthusiasts for their dramatic spiky leaves and neon-colored blooms. And, it turns out, you can even grow a pineapple as a houseplant, too. You don’t need to make a special trip to the nursery either—just add a pineapple to your grocery list and you’ll have exactly what you need to start growing a brand new pineapple plant.
I know I am not the only one depressed by the state of the world right now, growing more and more incredulous and outraged with each passing day. If you work hard, and do what you can to make things better out there, it’s okay to take a break too. One of the best ways to recharge is to gather a group of friends, go outside, and indulge in some brainless fun this summer. Balance your rage/shock/concern with some wholesome/ridiculous/playful outdoor games.
Life can get crazy. That’s why it’s important to take mental breaks from daily stress throughout the day. And while for some of us that might mean watching a mindless reality TV show or playing a silly iPhone game, there are also some more enriching ways to spend your downtime, when you feel so inclined. The next time you’re feeling overwhelmed by work or family, try calming yourself down with a more cerebral distraction.
I live in a one bedroom “garden” apartment, which means that I get to have my own front door, porch, and small strip of flower bed. The only downside? The flower bed is under the porch roof, which means it’s constantly damp and shady, and also an ideal mosquito habitat. So this year, after frantically trying to squash a few rogue mosquitoes that snuck indoors while I was carrying in groceries, I’ve decided to get myself some mosquito-repelling plants.
Hugh Molten, a South Carolina-based real estate agent, didn’t plan for such a big project when he bought this falling-down old church. “I originally had the vision to simply clean it out and live in it basically as-is; create a small shower in the corner, stainless prep tables for the kitchen and call it done.” Today, this 1600-square-foot former house of worship is an incredible industrial modern home, and how it ended up that way was a long and interesting journey.
Backstage at the August Wilson, the nearly 100-year-old theater currently houses the cast of “Mean Girls,” the delightful Tony-nominated musical adaptation of Tiny Fey’s beloved early aughts teen comedy. Barrett Wilbert Weed, who stars as Janis, preps for eight shows a week in a minuscule dressing room—one that recently underwent a serious style transformation.
You can find definitions of Bohemian style decor online. They’re described as spaces filled with lots of plants, colors, patterns, rattan, and stuff. You can even take online quizzes to see if “Bohemian” style is for you. But while all of these adjectives are technically true, boho decor has always been a “I know it when I see it” sort of style for me.
While you may love your barn red kitchen, a new report released today by Zillow finds that it could cost you when looking to sell your home someday. The report found that painting your front door, kitchen, or bathroom with certain color palettes can drastically depreciate your home value by more than $2,000.
Name: Anne Hodder, husband, 4 cats, and a ton of plants! Location: Los Angeles, California Size: 1,200 square feet Years lived in: 2.5 years, renting Our home is a sanctuary hidden behind a tall wooden gate and invisible from the street. Even though it’s a duplex, the only shared wall is behind our fridge so we NEVER hear our neighbor. It feels like a separate little house. What is your favorite room and why?
If you’ve been to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in midtown Manhattan, you’ve probably marveled at its permanent collection, which includes some of the most iconic and immediately recognizable works, ever — there’s the melting clocks of Salvador Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory, the soft-focus pastels of Claude Monet’s massive Water Lilies triptych, and everyone’s go-to poster from their freshman year, Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night.
Period sex is a highlight of what I, personally, consider the most miserable 3-5 days of the month. Because of my birth control, it’s been about a year since I’ve had an actual period, but the previous fifteen years of intermittent anguish are burned into my memory: cramps, mood swings, anxiety attacks, ruined underwear, bloating, acne, and spotted sheets, to name just a few symptoms. But sex on my period?
Summer: the season where you neglect Netflix to spend more time outside—or, the time when it’s too hot, so you stay cool and comfortable on your couch. Either way, if any of your faves are on the list of July’s expiring titles, you might want to make a date with your (streaming) device. Sadly, the 1994 version of Alcott’s March sisters will snowball fight out of our queues in July, but it could be the impetus you need to check out the recent PBS/Masterpiece adaptation.
You may be tempted to cut down on screen time this season to enjoy the outdoors, but Netflix wants to make that as hard as possible. Here’s what’s coming to the streaming service in July. Everything leaving Netflix in July Everyone’s favorite rambunctious redhead returns for a second season of the Netflix/CBC reboot. Jerry Seinfeld is back, and picking up more comedians in cars to get coffee.
The latest celebrity engagement between Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande solidifies the official comeback of the disputed pear-shaped diamond engagement ring. On June 15, the Saturday Night Live star posted a black-and-white photo on his Instagram account with his hand positioned under Grande’s left hand and on her ring finger sparkled a $93,000 rock. His caption: “u know what you’d dream it be like? it’s better than that.
Filed under things I didn’t know I had to worry about: the fact that the pretty finish on my new kitchen fixtures might not last. When you’re dreaming about a new kitchen, it’s often the jewelry—those gleaming brass fixtures—that imprint on your mind. They certainly did mine. Pinning my little heart out, I began to see patterns in what I liked, and that included modern brass fixtures.
Here’s your chance to snag a piece of Fixer Upper history. Known as the “Faceless Bunker” on season two of the HGTV show, the four bed, three and a half bath home was absolutely transformed by Chip and Joanna Gaines. Now, it’s hit the market for a whopping $1.15 million. Quite a difference from the $349,000 it was last sold for in 2014, according to realtor.com.
What is it about laundry? For some reason, a well-designed and organized laundry area can inspire deep wells of envy. That’s certainly how I felt when I saw IKEA’s gallery of gorgeous laundry rooms—maybe it’s because my washer and dryer unhappily occupy a wall in my kitchen, a wall where style and organization is certainly less of a priority. Here are some of IKEA’s ingenious ideas you can steal for your own laundry space.
You are currently gazing upon a floor that is not only old linoleum—it is the old linoleum floor of a fish-gutting room. Is there any hope for this room, or is it doomed to be forever haunted by dearly departed stinky fishies? The old, fishy floor has been replaced with a watery blue dream; it’s like a river you can walk on. This stained plywood floor was created by Tanya of Dans le Lakehouse, and I’m in awe of her vision.
Instagram is overflowing with renovated vintage trailers: they’re all adorable, and they all have adorable names. Check out the amazing work that’s been done on Sprite, Scamp, Rosie, Rubie Jane, Lula, Lorelai, Peach, and 12 others—most of these homes-on-wheels are at least 40 years old, and they all look better than ever. This minimal beauty is enormous for a trailer, but fairly small for a family of five!
A stand mixer is a staple of many home cooks’ kitchens—and it can also be an amazing focal point. It’s sculptural! It’s industrial! It comes in so many different colors! On the flip side, a stand mixer can be big and bulky and presents a fair share of other problems you might not have anticipated before you decided to spring for one. But don’t fret—there’s probably a hack for whatever it is that’s ruining your stand mixer state of bliss.
I’m pretty lucky. My rental apartment has a large, cavernous pantry, which is a boon in the kitchen storage department. However, what it has in size, it lacks in efficiency. For all that space, there are only a few shelves (which tend to overflow with canned goods and foodstuffs) and the full-size refrigerator prevents me from adding in more. In an effort to boost my pantry’s usefulness, I headed straight to the dollar store.
So you want to make a cool $100,000? Popular HGTV shows lead you to believe the secret to getting rich quick is to start flipping houses. From Chip and Joanna Gaines, to Tarek and Christina El Moussa, there are plenty of everyday people making a name for themselves this way. So a few years ago, after I got married, my husband and I said to ourselves: We could totally do this. He works in construction.
We’ve sung the praises of Fouta (a.k.a Turkish Towels, Peshtemal, Hammam) before. They’re lightweight and thin, which is great for folding and storing, but still pretty absorptive. If they’re authentic, the cotton gets softer with every wash. They come in a bunch of shades, perfect for adding a pop of color to any space that needs it.
Nothing screams ‘Sad Kitchen’ like shoddy old countertops. Okay, a bad floor or rickety old cabinets are probably right up there, but a decades-old, grungy, cracked, and damaged counter can turn an otherwise perfectly decent kitchen into something to cringe over. When my husband and I prepared to put our previous home on the market, our realtor encouraged us to replace the dated laminate counter.
My daily use of real estate apps started off as a justifiable act: my husband, Kumar, and I we were in the market for a house after receiving the news that he’d matched for a gastroenterology fellowship in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At the time, we were living in New York City, paying budget-breaking rent for a tiny apartment. Thus, we figured—why not put our money into a small starter home when we move? We wanted a yard for our two little dogs to run around in.
There is endless advice in the world about how best to declutter your home—some of it is helpful, a bit of it is masterful, and much of it is inconsistent. “Keep only the things that spark joy” they tell you… but, I mean, you need to keep your screwdriver and vacuum, no matter how boring or frustrating their utility may be. Point is, the “rules” don’t always work.
Upper cabinets are starting to disappear from kitchens, and I’m not sure how to feel about it. It all started with the open-shelving phenomenon, and now, in some cases, it has morphed into this total lack of anything structural above the countertops. On the one hand, it is visually beautiful. You can really go to town with tile—think an uninterrupted, ceiling-high wall of subways or a bold geometric backsplash. But on the other hand, where exactly are you supposed to put your stuff?
You’ve clipped the coupons, you’ve scoured the weekly ads. But if you really want to save on all the bits and bobs at Michaels that fuel your DIY hobbies and home decor dreams, you’ve got to strategize. Here are 10 ways to maximize the savings. By all means clip those Michaels coupons (or better yet, download them on the app), but if you haven’t signed up to get coupons from the company’s competitors you’re missing out.
You’re just getting home after a long night, or you’re rushing to work in the morning, and you think: A quick rinse with mouthwash will be the same as brushing my teeth. Sound familiar? Unfortunately for you, that logic isn’t quite right. While mouthwash can be a helpful addition to your oral hygiene routine, it should never be a replacement for proper dental care, says Dr.
It only took 14 years, but we finally have the superhero film we deserve. The hero being mid-century modern design. Picking up right where the first installment left off, the Parr family is on the forefront of the fight to make superheroes legal again. During that process, they are set up in a mid-century design lover’s dream house. And lucky for you, Zillow created a listing so you can really get a sense of the home’s super features.
Let’s talk about wainscoting. Wainscoting is one of our favorite ways to dress up a boring or unremarkable room, to give it an instant dose of old-world style. But it can also be an easy detail to get wrong. Specifically, a lot of people struggle with how far up the wall the wainscoting should be hung—an important detail that makes a huge difference in the look of the finished application. Here’s what you need to know.
We had so much fun exploring The Best Vintage Travel Trailer Makeovers on Instagram that we’re back with 20 more. This time the focus is on exterior paint jobs, but the adorable trailer names—Sassafras Lou, Delilah, Sprout, Beatrice, Archie, and Mrs. Schmick—are still going strong. Let’s hit the road! These pink scallops are the sweetest, cutest thing ever, and a big change from the original mossy-green stripes.
Name: Prathima Nalluri Location: Nopa (North of Panhandle) — San Francisco, California Size: 400 square feet Years lived in: 9 months, renting I moved into my apartment about nine months ago with not much furniture except my bed and a console table. I know they say take your time to furnish your place but I did it in less than three months (and I don’t regret a single purchase!). I love spending time at home and I wanted to create a space which is airy and cozy at the same time.
Let’s be real: This about-to-be-renovated kitchen is far nicer than any kitchen I’ve ever had, so much so that I kept putting ‘after’ labels on the ‘before’ photos. But now it has a fresh vibe, new appliances, and a radically different look. After all the before/after confusion, I still had to double-check that this was the same view as the top image. It is the same camera angle, but every other thing has been changed.
Though it certainly feels like it when you watch people with the gift of making every plant under their care flourish, no one is born with a green thumb: There are only black thumbs who become green thumbs, and black thumbs who haven’t yet. If you’re in the second category, knowing these dirty little secrets hidden in the closets of your green thumb friends will speed you on your own path to that enviable star plant-parent status.
Do you dream of fragrant green herbs sprouting on your kitchen windowsill? Cherry tomatoes ripening on the vine just outside your door? If you’ve got a least a little patch of sun on a porch or balcony, you can grow a container garden. But before you head out to buy seeds, you might want to check with your local library to see if you can “check out” a pack or two. Yep, libraries aren’t just for books and movies anymore.
Have you ever peeled back the leaves on a bunch of homegrown kale to discover hundreds of scaly little bugs? Those are aphids and the sight of them will make you throw away your kale and order pizza instead. And anyone who’s had a houseplant infested with spider mites will have been tempted to chuck said plant, pot and all, straight out the window. The damage they cause can eventually kill the plant, and the mites spread quickly.
Along shoes-on-or-off policies and the paper towel/rag debate, few topics are as polarizing as “rainbowtizing” books. People have feelings about their books, and how they are organized on the shelf. Yes, it’s totally a personal preference, with compelling reasons supporting every method. But I have a case to make for rainbow order when it comes to kids’ books. Once I rainbow-ordered my kids’ books, I haven’t looked back.
It’s not all puppies and kittens, folks. These days, there’s an Instagram account (and #influencer) for pretty much everything. And that includes real estate. (The word “real estate” alone garners over 15 million hits when entered in the social media app’s search engine). Whether you’re buying, selling, or just like to look, here are a few accounts you might like to add to your feed.
If, like me, you were hoping that this art hack involved adding enormous sea monsters to this idyllic beach scene, you might be the teensiest bit disappointed, but if you want to see these discount pieces transformed into lovely original abstract paintings, read on! Let’s start with a little backstory: When I came across these pre-framed mass reproduction art pieces at HomeGoods, they were the perfect size for our space but lacked the modern minimal look I was going for.
