Interior Design

Project by: Katy Stevenson Bretton of Katy SB Design Location: London, United Kingdom When a bachelor musician approached Katy Stevenson Bretton of Katy SB Design to transform his East London home into a warm, inviting retreat, it was music to the designer’s ears. Playing off the bones of the house, she incorporated industrial nods throughout, seen in brick walls and Edison bulb light fixtures.

This morning, I woke up to the charming banging and burbling of my radiator coming back to life. Cold weather is here! Or, as I like to think about it, inglenook season. This is not because anyone I know actually has an inglenook, or I have ever experienced one in real life. Inglenooks, like unicorns, are a beautiful thing that I have only ever seen in pictures and in my dreams. But that’s no reason to limit myself from sharing these photos with you.

Project by: David Katz of Katz Architecture Location: New York, New York Blessed with beautiful 1920s bones, this gorgeous kitchen just needed to blossom from its cramped IKEA cocoon into a gorgeous custom butterfly. The owner, an architect themselves, turned to David Katz to help this kitchen reach its full potential.

Your windowsills are just the beginning.

Let’s leave aside, for a minute, all discussions of how “color of the year” became a thing that I spend my time thinking about, and focus instead on the wonders of what I’ve come to embrace as Color Season. Benjamin Moore announced recently that Shadow, a deep, rich amethyst, is their color of 2017. Sherwin-Williams went with Poised Taupe, a neutral which perfectly straddles the warm/cool divide.

Project by: Julie China of Idea Space Architecture + Design Location: Maplewood, New Jersey The wood paneling, formica countertops and dated finishes of this New Jersey kitchen are nothing uncommon to older homes, but they were no longer working for a family of four. Designer Julie China of Idea Space Architecture + Design came on board to open up the space and give it a welcomed refresh.

Working within a budget and trying to find affordable wall art? Don't overlook this one common thrift store bargain.

Popular design trends are hard to pinpoint when you’re in the midst of them, but painfully easy to spot once you’re a decade or two removed (the groovy pad of Megan Draper on AMC’s Mad Men screams of the swinging ’70s). Post WWII, decor trends seem to have had about a 10-year lifespan, and we’ve chronicled the nostalgic bullet points for each period.

Do you remember shabby chic? I do. I don’t think I ever got fully into the craze, but there was definitely a time when tousled lacy curtains, distressed painted wood and tiny floral prints were positively everywhere.

When describing your rental bathroom, “spa-like” and “personal sanctuary” are likely not the first words that come to mind. The bathroom of your dreams may be a full remodel away, but by taking cues from spas and saunas, you can decorate your way to a more relaxing space. Grab a Turkish towel and some eucalyptus—it’s time to teach your bathroom how to chill out.

Pillows, aka those comfy things on your bed that you spend eight hours a night drooling onto, were first used around 7,000 BC in Mesopotamia. Originally only owned by the rich or upper echelons, with multiple pillows meaning that the owner was wealthy, important, and probably well-rested.

One is silver and the other’s gold…or is it rose gold now? Incorporating metallics into your decor is a great way to elevate your space, but the temptation to replace all of your fixtures every time a new finish “reigns supreme” is hard to avoid. Here are some shining (shimmering, splendid) examples of spaces that masterfully mix metals to help yours stand the test of time.

Some decor styles are easy to pin point, as they follow certain rules. But for the eclectic collector, there are no pre-set design mandates. This artfully cluttered, anything goes aesthetic is all about throwing caution to the wind and filling your home with things you love that you’ve picked up along your journeys, whether from Monaco, Morocco or Minneapolis. To some, pattern mixing is an art form that is learn through trial and error.

There is no American city quite like New Orleans: it’s a little Spanish, a little French, but mostly uniquely the thing that it is. Call it a je ne sais quoi. I highly recommend a visit, but if a trip to the Big Easy isn’t in the cards for you right now, there is still a way you can enjoy its unique architecture and laid-back vibe—through these tours of five of NOLA’s most beautiful homes.

A new rug can be one of the most anxiety-inducing purchases you can make for your home. For one thing, even the small ones seem shockingly expensive. For another, once you understand the importance of rug size in creating a comfortable space (spoiler alert: bigger is better here) they become even more so. There’s also room use and orientation to contend with.

Homeowners: Lloyd Pierson and Laura Ginsburg Pierson Designer Name: Michelle Nussbaumer, Ceylon et Cie Location: Dallas, Texas As staunch supporters of color-soaked interiors, we can certainly get on board with a home that embraces a saturated scheme. So was the case for interior designer Michelle Nussbaumer’s lively pad for Lloyd and Laura Pierson, a young couple-turned-growing family in Dallas.

Last week I showed off some magical GIFS that took out—and added back in—specific types of architectural detail. This week, I’ve got even more, in a similar vein, to look at. Because we’re not all living in our dream homes, seeing how certain types of architectural details add character demonstrates that it may be totally worth the time, money and energy to consider adding them to your own home.

We’re all about small space living here at Apartment Therapy, but even we admit that it can be difficult to find privacy in a tiny home. But whether it’s from the other people in your household, occasional guests, your neighbors or even just your own work, separation can be achieved. Read on for some ideas on how to carve a bit of “me space” in your place.

Looking to up the drama in your interiors? A go-to for daring designers and decorators, black paint provides an instant jolt and dose of some serious sophistication. And even if you’re not ready to go full-volume with ebony walls, architectural accents like window sills and moldings (and don’t forget furnishings!) can benefit from the deep hue to add intrigue to just about any room.

Some artists make art not just of their canvases, but their entire homes. Today we’re taking a look at 3 incredibly creative homes of artists and designers, which will have you seeing your whole space in a completely different light.

The 2016 summer Olympics were held in Brazil, which for a select few meant traveling to see the games and experience the beauty of that gorgeous tropical country. If you didn’t get to go, through the magic of the internet you can still get a glimpse by taking a virtual tour of these beautiful (and luxurious) homes that blur the lines between indoors and out. Above: A Brutalist masterpiece in São Paulo, the work of Brazilian architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha.

The vintage kitchen features that came with your house or rental—old appliances, dated fixtures, interesting floor materials—aren’t always the choices you would have made if you had designed from scratch. But if you don’t have the money to renovate (or you rent and can’t) or don’t want to renovate, choose to work with your vintage features, not fight against them! These sixteen kitchens get it right.

There are two ways to work dramatic color into your home: Go for the whole wall, or use little splashes of color for a big effect. The latter takes much less time to achieve and is considerably cheaper (many of the ideas ahead call for just a sample pot of paint), yet it can still create an eye-catching display. The best part of painting a smaller area? It’s much easier to paint over if you change your mind or when it’s time to move out.

A blank wall can be an inspiring canvas waiting to painted with your style—or it can be a stop-you-in-your-tracks source of indecision. Let’s push past the wondering and see how various ideas work. Inside this post: the same empty wall filled with a variety of design elements, from paint to pattern to art and more. See how different decor choices affect the look and feel of a room.

Even though I now have the tiny, perfect apartment of my dreams, I haven’t stopped being fascinated with other people’s tiny, perfect apartments. And I’m particularly drawn to this apartment in Stockholm, which despite measuring only 193 square feet manages to be everything you want an apartment to be: airy, stylish, cozy, comfortable.

A. Two sofas facing each other OR B. A sofa and love seat arranged in the traditional L-shaped arrangement?

Many of us understand that adding art to a room can drastically alter its appearance. But there are so many ways you can use art to make a visual impact; making the decision on where to hang can be overwhelming. These room gifs represent common art-hanging questions—I’ve removed the artwork from the walls to show you just how powerful art can be when its used in the right place and at the optimum scale. Seeing is believing!

400 square feet may not seem like a lot — but that’s reckoning without the ingenuity of Swedish design. Thanks to a simple but very smart floor plan, this diminutive Swedish apartment makes living small look positively luxurious. It’s located in Stockholm, and was once available for sale (but sadly is no longer) from brokerage firm Husman Hagberg.

In tiny homes where a single room often serves multiple functions, color can separate a space into zones with different functions. If your bedroom is also your office and your living room is also your dining room, try using paint as a visual divider to section off areas—without sacrificing an inch of livable space.

It is a fact of life that buildings, as they age, inevitably fall apart. We Americans are not quite comfortable with this. We like everything to be shiny and new: we like all our buildings and our interior finishes to have the smooth sameness of youth. But the Japanese have developed a way of dealing with this. They have, in fact, embraced the idea that sometimes fixing broken things can make them even better and more beautiful than when they were new.

Mahogany, light pecan, natural, walnut—the list of wood finishes is vast. And the possibility is great that you might find yourself with several furniture pieces with different finishes that you’d like to use in the same room. So how do you design a room and make sure that your wood finishes don’t clash? Today’s Frequently Asked Home question: Can You Have Different Wood Finishes in the Same Room?

Are you staring at the blank wall above your sofa with hammer in hand, afraid to punch the first hole to hang your art? Or maybe you’ve already hung art above your sofa, but every time you look at your handiwork, something feels “off.” Hanging art isn’t rocket science, but with so many different variables, it can sometimes be difficult to get just right.

If you are always on the hunt for bold decor ideas or elements that aren’t yet a trend, then you’ll appreciate this list of eye-popping and heart-stopping design details for any room in your home. Matte black in the kitchen is always sexy. Adding metallic finishes like silver can add sophistication to any space.

Kristina & Jason’s Gorgeous, Graphic Australian Home We often think about the elements of a room that remain at eye level: furniture, artwork, accessories, and so forth. But it can be just as important to think about everything that’s going on above your head. Here are some ways that you can bring the eye higher in a room, as well as some examples to show just how open spaces can feel when they aren’t afraid to soar overhead.

Michael Reeves via Dering Hall We all know that mirrors are fantastic for making a space appear larger than it is. It goes like this: available light + reflective surface(s) = much more light = greater sense of space. The problem is that a mirrored wall can sometimes feel vaguely commercial, or even cliche, if the application is off. Here are seven mirrored walls that are anything but, and that pack a big (spatial) punch as well. The lead image is of a Michael Reeves-designed home in London.

BLOCK722 architects via Sigreki Anna Interiors “Need” is, of course, a relative term. But take a quick look at these over-the-top-glam details and tell me you don’t at least want one of these in your life. 1. (above) This sunken soaking tub in a summer house by BLOCK722 is to die for. View not included. Roundhouse Design via This is Glamorous 2. This completely necessary built-in ice bucket for Champagne. 3.

Good light can make or break a space, and unfortunately natural lighting is probably the one thing about a room that’s hardest to change. So when you’re faced with a space that has very few windows (or none at all), how do you cope? We’ve got some ideas. Multiply the light you do have. If you have a window, use translucent shades or sheer curtains for privacy, instead of blocking it with heavy window treatments.

Doors. We just take them for granted, don’t we? They’re the things we walk through to get to another room or the things that hide the mess in the cabinet or closet. But the humble door actually offers a major design opportunity, and the right color, material, or detail can more than make a space. Read on for nine examples of doors that are anything but ordinary. In the lead image, grey-painted wardrobe doors from UK joinery company Lawrence Walsh get a stylish, geometric twist.

Many a beautiful kitchen have been built on a foundation of pretty normal, neutral cabinetry. But if you ever have the opportunity to renovate a kitchen from scratch and add in something really spectacular in the realm of cabinetry, it’s like a shortcut to great style. Above: I’m sorry, but how cool is this oversized-pegboard-style upper cabinet area in this tall Amsterdam schoolhouse-turned apartment, from Dwell? We can see this evolving over time to be used exactly as you need.

Track shelving might be the most common in a pantry, office or garage, but if you know how to style it right, it can be beautiful enough to sit front and center right in the living room. Just check out these eight rooms, which each put their own spin on the track shelf thing. Above: Mounting art to the wall between the shelf standards gives this wall unit from Old Brand New a more upscale look.

Let’s face it: as much as we’d all like to think of ourselves as the sort of people who throw dinner parties all the time, the formal dining room is mostly obsolete. So what’s a modern family to do? You can set up a dining table and chairs in there and then let stuff collect on the table (I’m pretty sure this is the default), or you can take it one step further and transform your dining room into a multi-purpose space that you’ll use every day.

...and one that's too big.

Are you looking to carve out a small little spot in a corner of your living room or dining room (or maybe even bedroom) for a work or hobby space? Just a little bit of room that’s all for you to flex your creative muscles? You might find inspiration for what should be in that corner from this beautifully appointed home office set-up.

Though there are some downsides to living in a studio apartment — not having as much space for your stuff, feeling like you’re living in your bedroom — it can be a cozy and fun living experience, too. Stick to these design tricks when decorating a studio apartment and you’ll love studio living. Don’t have a bedroom but do have a closet you can fit a bed into? Or is there a way to drape curtains around your bed to create a private bed nook?

You might think that entertaining — especially during the holidays — is out of the question in your small space. These dining areas can blow that myth out of the water. Look at how these folks make room for cozy and compact dining areas and see if any of these ideas can work for your home. Don’t be afraid to use your sofa on one side and a small table in the middle to carve out a dining space. Floor pillows and stools can always be pulled over for extra seating.

Wish you had a living room, bedroom, kitchen or some other room flooded with natural light…but you’re stuck dealing with a few dinky windows that just aren’t getting the job done? There are decorative elements you can add to your home that can help fake more natural light in your dark rooms; try one or more to fake the feel of a room flooded with natural light.

Despite what any of your playground foes may have told you in grade school, being odd is actually a good thing. Odd numbers – and the number three, specifically – have long been heralded by designers and stylists as magical numbers that should be applied to interiors and vignettes to make them look even better. But better how? Even numbers create symmetry, but odd numbers create interest. An odd number of details is more effective at capturing your gaze.

There are a lot of design elements you can choose from when you’re trying to create a sophisticated, comfortable room for yourself to enjoy. From balance, to asymmetry to lighting, many of these elements are visual, but not always. Movement is an element that isn’t often considered when decorating a space, but its visual and ethereal qualities mean that the rooms where movement is found in are ones where a playfulness pervades and one where motivation and relaxation go hand-in-hand.

So you have a huge open space on your hands? Great! Not so great is the feeling that it’s just one big, undefined area. Never fear. You can strategically use the things you already have to create separate zones and get your space organized. Try these tricks. Want something to look different than everything around it? Paint it a different color! It’s one of the easiest and fastest ways to create definition. Furniture doesn’t have to stick to the walls!

Do you ever look back at old photos and regret everything? Like the bad hair, and the terrible clothes? What about your decor? We want to hear about your past decorating mistakes. The interior moments you might like to burn if you knew they were caught on camera. Maybe it was during your high school years or in the college dorms, or maybe you were a card-carrying adult just going along with the times.

Living in a home with beige walls that have to stay beige, for whatever reason? Beige walls do not have to mean boring. In fact, beige can look downright delightful when complemented by the right furnishings. If you’re struggling with a beige wall you don’t love, here are some decor ideas you can try to help make your space go from beige to bold. But before you start: know your beige. Really study your beige in many lights to determine what its undertone is.

You’ve probably heard it a million times: for the best results, test your paint colors in your room to see how they work with the light sources before committing to a full room (or even a full wall) paint job.

When you live life in only a few hundred square feet, a home must become a very fluid thing. Tiny apartments actually exist in four dimensions, and without capturing “time,” it’s impossible to truly reveal what it’s like to live small. Thankfully for all of us, the internet has adopted GIFs as a form of animated photo currency, and we can all see how real people make small homes work.