Retail Therapy

Of course you need sheets and towels and a mini fridge and maybe one of those little shower caddies, but one of the most important things you will buy for your dorm room is lighting. Trust me: when you’re awake and frantically studying at 3AM, your roommate will be glad that you bought a lamp. So without further ado, here are 12 of our favorite picks, all under $50. Above: Penn task lamp, $29 – 39 from PBteen. FORSÅ work lamp, $19.99 from IKEA ÅRSTID table lamp, $24.

Dressing a shabby-looking sofa in a slipcover is undoubtedly one of the quickest and cheapest ways to refresh a tired piece of furniture, but drapey, sheet-like versions have given the slipcover a bad rap. Fortunately, there are some options out there working to reverse the slipcover’s reputation and show how sleek, fitted, patterned, and colorful it can be.

The idea of 3D-printed products for the home is admittedly a little out there, even Jetsons-esque. The gadgets and gizmos a plenty on sale throughout the internet may run the gamut from completely bizarre to actually interesting (and normal), but no matter where they fall on the spectrum, something that came from a printer (that’s not a sheet of paper with words on it) is certainly a conversation starter. We rounded up a handful of things you might actually want to buy for your own home.

The biggest shopping event since Black Friday/Cyber Monday is here. Amazon’s 2nd annual Prime Day event is already underway. There’s an overwhelming amount of stuff on sale, so we’ll be updating this post all day with the best deals for your home, so you don’t have to look far to snag a steal. 3-tier stainless steel food container, 24% off: $16.70 Secura Electric Coffee Grinder & Spice Grinder, 51% off: $22.39 Yoga swing inversion sling, 34% off: $39.

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

There’s no denying that it’s the time of the maker. Small-batch, hand-made, one-off: all hyphenated descriptors of today’s decor holy grails, but it’s about so much more than just the admirable adjective. Today’s design enthusiast desires what their neighbor doesn’t have. After all, we want our homes to tell a story—our story—to have a soul, and to be a true reflection of who we are as individuals.

My legs are a serious contradiction. I wear pants and jeans all summer because my stems are significantly whiter than the rest of my body, but they’re significantly whiter than the rest of my body because I wear long pants and jeans all summer. For those of you out there like me, filled with dreams of tan legs and varied length bottoms, here is your shopping list. As a quick recap, 9 bottoms are the prescribed limit.

What’s better than a coloring book? How about an entire wall that you can color in? These coloring book wallpapers will make your home into a beautiful, ever-evolving project that you’re sure to enjoy just as much while you’re creating it as you will when it’s done. You may never leave the house again.

Gridded designs have been making a comeback for a while now—showing up on pillows, chairs, wrapping paper, and everything in between. But the latest versions play with the traditionally rigid pattern, revealing its fun side. Look for fresh colors and wonky, waving lines that are drawn or hand-painted. These new loosened-up takes on the grid might just make you reconsider the pattern’s potential.

Last week, I shared with you the sad story about my recent lighting mishap (moral: always double-check the voltage on those bulbs!) and how it left my bedroom light-less. I found some good replacement options which ranged from mere pennies (ok, pounds) to spend-ier, and photoshopped them into my space. Now it’s time to see what I went with… Somewhat surprisingly, it’s IKEA for the win!

We’re officially launched! For all of you who are in the market for a sofa and want something fabulously classic, comfortable and well priced, here’s The Maxwell (with special discount just for readers), the first in a whole collection designed in collaboration with Interior Define. Designing this perfect sofa was a process that took nearly a year, but it was worth it.

Most sofas are well-behaved. They have a back and a seat and legs and maybe arms, and they look, well, like a sofa. These are not those sofas. These sofas (if you can even call a giant cat a sofa) dare to reimagine the very idea of the sofa, pushing ordinary furniture to weird and wild and even wonderful extremes. Above: It’s always nice to have a cat sit on your lap, but what if the tables were turned and you could curl up in your cat’s lap?

First furniture child is bigger than me. Last week I flew to Chicago to see, for the first time in person, the new Maxwell sofa, which I designed in collaboration with Rob Royer and Marta Calle of Interior Define, a brand new furniture company out of Chicago. It’s only the first of a five part collection that’s going to unroll over the next six months.

Last week I shared one of my favorite tips for saving money on decor: shopping in the kids’ section. As proof, I created a roundup of ten items from kids’ stores that are perfect for your grown-up home, all for less than $50. I found so many good things that I couldn’t resist creating a second roundup, this one at a slightly higher price point. Here are twelve kids’ store finds that adults will covet too, all for less than $100.

Lots of people aspire to make their home decor modern, but if you’re not careful, modern can become cold, stale and uninteresting. The cure for a mod overdose? Something natural. Like a touch of authentic, organic, real wood. Here are eight rooms to show you how it’s done. This raw wood bar top is the perfect addition to Corianne Burton‘s kitchen, as seen on her Instagram.

A few years ago the only kind of gold flatware you could find was the fussy, old-fashioned kind you associate with expensive wedding rentals. But since then gold has made a comeback in a big way, and suddenly it’s possible to find beautiful, modern gold flatware in a huge variety of styles and price ranges. For those inclined to be adventurous, there are copper and rose gold options, too. We’ve rounded up some of the best.

What I love most about home decor is seeing the different ways that people express their style. Like fashion, there are so many ways to wear one piece of clothing and each look is totally different depending on what you pair it with. I thought it would be fun to do the same thing and pick one rug and use it in two very different looks. See how I took this extremely bold and colorful rug and used it in both a bohemian and glam look.

I’m such a big fan of eclectic style—which is really just a nicer way of saying mixing things up. I mean, who can just pick one style anyway? Pulling together an eclectic look comes naturally to some but can be tricky for others. The dining room is a great space to start mixing things up because there are so many different elements layered in one look, and you can really have some fun with the dynamic between the table and the chairs.

Recently I wrote about a big, beautiful new trend for the home: blooms and branches displayed in big, oversized vases. Many of you loved the look, but wanted to know: where does one find a vase this big? So I’ve rounded up a few options. A few things I was looking for: vases made of clear glass (minimal, works with any decor, shows off flowers well), and that measured 12 inches or more in at least one dimension.

The Togo sofa (a creation of Ligne Roset) is a design that’s always fascinated me. It is by far the most attractive piece of furniture I’ve ever seen that kind of looks like a larvae. Despite (or perhaps because of?) its insectoid qualities, it has a weird versatility and constantly crops up in a huge a variety of rooms. It works for slouchy Bohemian interiors or minimal, arty-rich ones: it’s equally at home with traditional pieces or equally modern ones.

I love doing this post. It’s so OPTIMISTIC. Who knew that a small, light, affordable bag would stand for freedom and the prospect of getting away (anywhere!) on one of the upcoming WARM spring and summer weekends. Here’s a totally new list, rebuilt and added to from our Best Weekend Bags of 2015 list. Check it out and, as always, leave us your picks and comments below. That’s how these lists get better. 🙂 This could be your forever tote.

I don’t know about your home, but at my place, even with an open concept kitchen and a dining table, we always seem to end up in the living room with all the snacks and drinks squeezed on the coffee table. Let’s face it: it’s more casual and comfortable than standing around a kitchen or sitting on a stiff dining chair. These days it’s rare to have both a family and living room, so it’s nice to really put a lot of thought and style into the one you have.

A brand new list for those special, eye catching and hard working lamps that finish off the space where you do your best thinking. If you want to see last years top 12 picks in task and desk lamps, head over here. Meanwhile, here’s an all new selection, grouped by price, which should be a quick guide to what’s really fresh and good on the market.

If you have the luxury of being able to drive a nail into the wall above your sofa, you’d never call such an open, blank canvas “awkward.” But for many renters, the over-the-sofa space can be a source of frustration. What exactly can I do there? The answer? One of these three creative ideas: Technically, the installation above from Hello Lidy‘s family room is a beside-the-sofa solution, but I don’t know why it wouldn’t work anywhere else.

Think about it: when you go to a new friend’s house for the first time, what’s the first thing you look at? The numbers, of course. House numbers may seem like a small thing, but they’re so crucial to first impressions. These days there are a myriad of interesting, modern numbers that will identify your house to the world — and show off your style, too. Above: Neutra house numbers, $27 each from DWR. Modern Avalon collection brushed nickel house numbers, $15.

We’re moving into a new house, and I’ve become infatuated with the idea of a green sofa in our new living room. However, the only green sofas I’ve come across have been green velvet sofas, which don’t exactly suit our style or lifestyle. I was starting to wonder if non-velvet green couches even existed. Of course they do, and here are the 10 best options I could find. And if you are in the market for a green velvet, there are 10 of those, too!

Clean lines keep it chic, and deep seats and comfy cushions make it a really livable sofa for real people’s real homes. Oh, and the affordable price tag is a pretty great feature, too. The IKEA SÖDERHAMN sofa line has been on the market for a couple years now, and that means designers and dwellers have had ample time to take the piece home and show us myriad ways to style it.

Q: We are currently proud pawrents to a 9-month-old Highland Lynx cat. Her boisterous personality has brought us much joy, but has also presented us with numerous home decorating dilemmas, chief of which is window dressing. We currently live in a rental apartment in New York City that came with aluminum blinds reminiscent of 1980s corporate America.

Cooler months mean more entertaining indoors, and nights out become nights in with cocktails. There’s something about a bar cart that makes a space feel grown-up, don’t you think? You don’t have to have a bar cart to be a great host, but it sure is convenient, and, let’s be honest, it’s so much fun to style! There are as many bar cart styling options as there are cocktails, and there’s no shortage of inspiration, including this past roundup we pulled for you.

Why settle for an oversized piece of art when you could have a piece of art that covers the whole wall? These 11 murals will have a big, big impact—hang one on the wall and your decorating job is pretty much done. A quick note to start: a wall mural differentiates from wallpaper in that it does not repeat. It’s an entire scene stretch across a determined width, while wallpaper matches up and repeats indefinitely.

This is an absolutely unique and comfy and beautiful and EXPENSIVE backpack I photographed at the NYNow Show two weeks ago. The folks from Peg & Awl, Margaux and Walter, are driven to make things out of reclaimed materials in Philadelphia, “from olde things, treasures found and recovered from misfortune and neglect, relics of the unusual, the confused and the macabre, cut and pulled and built into wearable curiosities, inscribable keepsakes and useable, longlasting treasures.

She DOES look a little serious, but I love this helmet. I know it’s not quite the season yet, but I’ve been biking NYC for the past year, tried a few helmets and this is the best one I’ve found. The picture above shows it with it’s “Nordic” wool liner that is great for the cold weather, and it comes right out with velcro. Meanwhile, the helmet is comfy and snug and SURPRISE it packs flat.

Okay, I’m back in the saddle after a hiatus, buried under all sorts of other work here at ATM. There are so many cool designs to recommend, I’m going to start slowly and build back to bigger lists over the month. I found this new, super socially minded company, Cotopaxi, before the Holidays and bought this jacket, which is super light and made with – yup -hollow fiber llama fleece: “It still insulates when wet. It won’t compress, clump, or mat with time.

You don’t have to remodel to add a lot of extra counter space and storage space to your kitchen — all it takes is a kitchen cart. These little workhorses are a great way to make a small kitchen more workable, or just help you get the most of your space no matter what size it is. We’ve rounded up a few of our favorite kitchen carts (and islands), in a range of prices to suit pretty much any budget. This hardworking IKEA cart is perfect for smaller kitchens.

It's a versatile workhorse you can use almost anywhere.

A few weeks ago we featured 12 super luxurious closets that are about the size of the typical Manhattan apartment. But these, it turns out, do not even come close to the size of the biggest closet in America, which covers three stories and measures a whopping 3,000 square feet. The closet, to no one’s surprise, is in Texas, where land is plentiful and everything is bigger.

...and one that's too big.

I’ve recently been given the enviable task of picking out a chandelier, and I have to say—chandelier shopping is the next best thing to tiara shopping. Here are my top 10 finds, each of them sparkly, fun, pretty, and far more affordable than most respectable tiaras… I’m not sure why I love chandeliers with adjustable arms so much, but I do.

It’s almost impossible to get through a Christmas without receiving at least one present that you don’t love (or even totally hate). Unless you are a regifter, this triggers the yearly ritual of heading back to the stores after the holidays— stores that are just as crowded as before December 25th — and waiting in line to return or exchange your unwanted gift.

Some people have a true knack for gift giving and manage to think of a thoughtful and personal gift for everyone on their list. Then there’s the rest of us who struggle, procrastinate and, often, end up with gifts that are generic, uninspired or wholly unsuitable for the recipient. Well, here’s an idea to simplify your holiday shopping this year: get everyone the same gift.

You might not think about coffee table heights as the sort of thing that fluctuates throughout the years, but like any design element, the ideal coffee table height not only changes from room style to room style, but also according to what’s in vogue in living rooms that are being lived in, in the current moment. Low coffee tables are just what they sound like: coffee tables with a top surface that sits a fair bit lower than your usual coffee table find.

If you float your living room furniture (and you should consider it) then you might have one of those pesky spots that’s not quite big enough for traditional furniture, but it’s too big to completely ignore. What to do, what to do? Sometimes it’s 12 inches, and sometimes a few feet. Either way, it’s an opportunity. There’s usually always enough room for a leaning mirror against the wall.

The colorful sofa trend is going strong and, as a color addict myself, I couldn’t be happier. It’s hard not to smile when you walk into a room that has a big and bold pop of color. Color may not be for everyone and the thought of such a large piece in a bright color may be intimating, but what’s great is that a colorful sofa can actually be versatile.

Q #1: I am getting ready to move from a furnished flat to a 3-bedroom house. We have almost no furniture (only a desk and a couple of random tables). I recently saw a post from way back in 2013 where you had a list of 10 budget-friendly but stylish companies as an alternative to IKEA. I am begging you for a UK edition! Please help. -Sent by Lindsay Q#2: I’m a longtime Apartment Therapy reader about to move from the US to Singapore.

It was a game show in the ’90’s, but these lifelines can really work anytime. After a recent re-watch of Slumdog Millionaire (holds up!), I started remembering a few of the ins and outs of this gameshow. Turns out, all the lifelines they offered contestants to help them field trivia questions work in real-life situations too, especially when it comes to the one major area where we face tough choices every day: shopping.

Now that the kids are back in school and life is slowly getting back into a regular routine, it’s time to think about getting your own work and routine back in order. For some (like me!) the excitement of getting new school supplies never really fades and this time of year is a great time to rethink, reorganize, refresh your home office or perhaps create one from scratch.

About to hit “purchase” on a new item for you home? Wait! Make sure you’ve thought to measure these things first. They’re measurements people often forget to consider before they buy, but they’re measurements that can really muck up your design if you don’t take them into consideration first.

There are a handful of products I use at home every single day. I don’t always think to sing their praises, and often forget they are there. But they are essentials nonetheless, without which I’d be decidedly unhappier. Here’s a list of ten non-flashy, basic things I can’t live without. My friend Michelle introduced me to Salux, a brand of Japanese wash cloths, and I am addicted.

Do you often scroll through our house tours and think, “Where did they find that?” Me too. So I found out. Each one of these amazing photos has a chandelier that you could buy today. We’ll tell you where! Above: Grant and Gabriel in Chicago bought the Crown Major Suspension by Nemo Lighting. See the whole house here → Gabriel & Grant’s Warm Minimalism Jennifer picked out a chandelier from Anthem San Francisco.

Garage sale-ing offers the thrill of the bargain hunt and helps us in our quest to reuse and recycle — but not everything is “good as new,” even if it appears so on the outside. Here are 14 things that, for the sake of your safety, your wallet, or the ick factor are probably not worth even their garage sale prices. Mattresses: Mattresses are very absorbent. I’ll just leave unsaid all the fluids that mattresses can absorb over the years.

One sure-fire way to make your home memorable? Take advantage of every opportunity to layer in a little personal style to your space. Adding (or replacing) a door knocker is a great example of exactly this type of decor-enhancing opportunity; they set the tone for a personality-packed interior, are usually VERY affordable and the install process is a quick, easy DIY project for a half hour on the weekend. Why have a same-old, same-old conservative – or even worse!

Armor Lux teamed up with Madewell to produce these really nice versions of their classic slipper. With temperatures dropping like they are, a solid pair of house slippers is a great thing to have. I’ve been gifted sheepskin slippers a few times in my life, but they don’t have any structure and quickly become uncomfortable to use every day. We rounded up four sturdy house slipper brands to keep you warm all winter long.

Have a small house or cabin that doesn’t have a fireplace? Hanging fireplaces like these are great solutions for retrofitting a home and they can fit into a small footprint and snuggle into the corner of a room. The Malm, above, is a classic American design from California: “Malm started as a sheet metal manufacturer in the 1950s, and some of the original employees dabbled in making fireplaces on the weekends.

Hard butter when you want to spread it on hot piping toast or pancakes, or even when you want to slather it on top of a roast chicken is one of life’s little annoyances. It’s SO wonderful to work with soft butter in the kitchen and butter keepers or butter bells make it easy. This stunning one up top is Melissa Clark’s own and solid marble.

If you've got champagne taste & a beer budget, take a look at this list of eight retailers where you can satisfy your design craving.

You may not have Carrie Brownstein, Kanye, or Eleven wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day in person, but these cards are the next best thing… “You’re the Fred to My Carrie” Card, from Drunk Girl Designs; $10 (lead image) “You are the Kim to my Kanye”, from The Card Architect; $7.50.