We spend about one-third of our lives in bed, but we usually don’t put a lot of thought into how healthy of an environment it is. Avocado Green Mattress set out to change all that when they designed an affordable mattress made from non-toxic, natural, and organic materials. Is going natural at bedtime that important? Yes! Unlike the delightful “new car smell,” “new mattress smell” — aka “off-gassing” — can keep you up at night.
Of course we don’t know you better than you know yourself; we just know that FLOR has exactly the area rug you want. With their customizable tiles in a zillion (approximately) gorgeous styles, you can fall in love with a rug that fits your precise style and space. We practice what we preach: Apartment Therapy’s HQ is covered with FLOR, and we’re obsessed.
Carli, of the blog Fearfully & Wonderfully Made by Carli, hadn’t gotten around to turning her basement into the comfy family room she had imagined when she and her family bought the house. Dark walls and a lack of lighting made for a dim space that was only partially furnished, and almost never used by the family.
A little while ago, Rebecca came to us for help with a bathroom facelift. We told her one of the quickest and most affordable ways to bring in some major drama is to upgrade her fixtures. She didn’t want to hire a handyman, she told us, and we didn’t want her to. We told her that fixture changes are totally DIY projects, and she should totally DIY it. So we sent her some beautiful new Moen fixtures from The Home Depot. You may have seen her transformation here.
Rebecca’s LA apartment already had a dreamy bathroom. Like the rest of her rental, it featured vintage touches and baked-in charm that suited her organic, eclectic style. But its functionality wasn’t so pretty: The bathroom plumbing hadn’t been touched since the ’70s, and the rusty sink faucet required MacGyver-style moves — it once took a friend what felt like 20 minutes just to get the thing on!
People call New Yorkers opinionated, but we just know what we like — and we’d like what we like as fast as possible, please. If we can also get it without changing out of our sweatpants or pausing Netflix? Even better. Enter FoodKick: Powered by FreshDirect, FoodKick is on a mission to bring New Yorkers fresh food fast — crazy fast.
These napkins are a dream DIY: easy, natural, useful and beautiful. That pretty shade of pink comes from avocado pits and skins. (Seriously!) Don’t avocados make everything better? From toast to textiles, they’re a superfood for sure. The perfect accessory to complement your morning coffee, these napkins just might inspire you to start dyeing your sheets, curtains and clothes next.
We wait for Benjamin Moore’s Color of the Year like cinephiles wait for Oscar nominations, and the 2018 announcement did not disappoint: The paint pros picked Caliente AF-290, a strong and energetic red with personality to spare. Benjamin Moore chose Caliente for its bold, luxe vibe. “Strong, radiant and full of energy, Caliente AF-290 is total confidence.
Prize: A gift card for $1,000 to spend at Murals Your Way From: Murals Your Way Value: $1,000 Whether a full wall covering or an accent wall, a mural tells a complete story — one that is sure to be the statement-making piece of your home. With Murals Your Way offering endless customizable options, the story is entirely yours to write. And one lucky reader will win a super special jumpstart to writing theirs: a $1,000 gift card to spend on the Murals Your Way collection.
We love macramé as much as anyone, but maybe you want your walls to be fun and functional, especially if you’re working with limited space. DIY cord art is the happy medium. Not familiar, you say? It’s low-budget bedside (or anyplace) lighting that’s colorful, creative, and easy to install. All you need are a couple of plug-in pendant lights with long cords and a few (OK, quite a few) Command™ Clear Round Cord Clips.
Whew, I hope you’re sitting down. Of course you’re sitting down, because you’ve just spent the past week settling into your new place, somehow unpacking more boxes than you remember packing, and wondering how you’ve acquired so many novelty coffee mugs. (Garfield? Really?) But now that you’ve stacked what seems like two tons of cardboard on top of the recycle bins, what else do you need to do? Not as much as you think.
Every year around this time we get super excited. Yes, for pumpkin spice lattes and Halloween, but also because it’s time for Blu Dot’s Annual Sale! From now until October 29 almost every kicky, modern piece in the store is on sale, with the lowest prices of the year. Here are some of our faves from this year’s sale. Hover over the pieces you love to shop them! If you’ve been eyeing any of Blu Dot’s beds, this is the time to crawl into one of your own.
Le Corbusier famously said, “The history of architecture is the history of the struggle for light.” The right lighting makes the difference between a good room and a great one, but it (usually) doesn’t come cheap. There’s always a workaround, though. When you don’t have the budget to hire an architect, designer, or even an electrician, you can still get great light for less.
An essential element of so many homes, the gallery wall is a beautiful way to collect and display those things that are important to us, but it has its limitations. Once you’ve lived with a gallery wall for a while, it can start to feel staid or static, and changing out the art becomes a thing once you’ve gotten the gallery just so. Also, many a gallery wall feels off because it’s not built around one anchor piece. This new innovation solves all those problems and more.
The kitchen is the home’s powerhouse of innovation. It’s the lab where you test new ingredients, try new recipes, and taste new flavors. When that spark of cooking inspiration strikes, having a kitchen that’s prepped and ready will help you bring that new dish to fruition. We’ve combed through years of kitchen tips and boiled it all down to a handful of recurring solutions that people have used to create spaces where anything is possible.
Prize: A gift card to spend on the tile of your dreams! From: Fireclay Tile Value: $2,000 Tiling a kitchen or bathroom is such a dramatic way to personalize the home’s hardest working rooms. But the actual process of choosing and installing tile? Easier said than done. Enter Fireclay Tile, the California-based, sustainability-committed company that’s changing how we think about tile.
Anyone who lives with dogs knows who’s really the master of the house. You can, however, take back some control in your home by reining in all their stuff. Stepping on a soggy, drool-drenched tennis ball is no way to start your morning. Instead of letting your house go to the dogs, keep it together by keeping all their toys and treats in one tidy spot. All it takes are a few easy-to-install organizers from Command™ Brand.
When you start living in a small space, you quickly realize the value of furniture that does double duty. Whether it’s just a desk by day/dining table by night or a stuff-storing ottoman, finding just a few multifunctional pieces opens up so much cherished storage and living space. However — and this is important — creating a space that fulfills multiple functions doesn’t mean sacrificing style.
A house or apartment isn’t a home until you’ve entertained in it, even when you’re talking about the smallest of homes. But hosting a dinner or even just cocktails in a new space can be stressful enough — teeny tiny parameters aside. During our recent refresh of the OG Apartment Therapy apartment (which, at just 265 sq. ft., is the poster child of teeny tiny) we thought through a few ways for someone hosting in it could boost their confidence.
Living rooms do a lot. They’re spaces to chill alone, hang with friends, work on your laptop, binge-watch TV, read, write, meditate, practice your yoga, nap, and, you know, live. They should adapt to your life, even if your life happens in a 400-square-foot apartment. For those of us who need our furniture to pack the most possible function into the smallest possible footprint, Target’s new brand Project 62® does it with beauty and aplomb.
Let’s be real for a minute. Entryways are challenging — every day they’re a dumping ground for mail, phones, chargers, keys, and bags. Even if you’re the most organized person in the world, yours probably needs some love on the regular to keep it looking presentable. But here’s the good news: Even the smallest of spaces can be set up with everything you need to maintain a clean, clutter-free zone.
Target lovers, get happy. (And Modernism lovers, and small-space livers, and…well…a lot of people can get happy.) We’re super psyched to announce the launch of Target’s new brand, Project 62®. It takes the crisp, clean aesthetic of Modernism and applies it to small-space living, a match that makes so much sense. See our faves for every room! 1962 was a big year. That’s when Modernist design hit its peak and moved into homes across the country.
There’s a well-known paradox when it comes to wall decor: the smaller the home, the bigger the challenge. When you’re working with a tiny space, choosing the wrong paint color can make everything claustrophobic. Picking too many patterns makes it way too busy. Small spaces are surprisingly full of complications. Some of us have learned this the hard way, but you don’t have to.
You know when you look around and everything’s OK, but you can’t help but feeling a little blah? When you want an exclamation point, but all you see is a period? The exclamation points of home decor are pops of color, and the nice thing about them is that they’re made in single afternoons, not whole weekends. Take these chairs, for example. They were fine, mid-centuryish chairs and already had some nice style going on.
When we met them in June, Ariel and Dillon had just taken their five-year, long-distance love local and moved in together. With Ariel’s old apartment styled to her liking, they were both excited to move into a new space together, where they could work both their tastes into one cohesive design. A big part of that change — a queen-sized part, to be exact — was a new bed perfect for a pair.
In 2004, Apartment Therapy was born in a teeny tiny apartment in NYC’s Greenwich Village. Maxwell Ryan, our founder and the original Apartment Therapist, lived in a 265-square-foot 1-bedroom, relying on his decorating savvy and small-space know-how to make it work. It was in this tiny home that all our space-saving, zen-inducing, style-savvy solutions for small-space living first came to life. The apartment remains an icon to us, but over a decade later it was in need of a refresh.
What’s the fastest, simplest way to update your kitchen without the time and expense of remodeling? Use the power of paint. You don’t even have to repaint the whole kitchen. For the biggest impact, start with the backsplash. Painting such a small area is fairly painless, and it allows you to get creative with color in ways you might not if you were repainting a whole room. You just need to follow one essential rule. The basic rule of painted backsplashes?
Every little bit counts…especially when it comes to kitchens with limited storage space. Some people take it to the extreme with hacks like turning their oven into a bookshelf or storing sweaters in cutlery drawers. Creative as they may be, there are a few less extreme options you may not have thought of yet, that together add up to significant space savings. 1. Maximize cabinet space with stackable shelves. Open your cabinets and take a look.
It’s the little things that matter most — those surprises that make you happy when you’re home. They don’t have to be expensive; in fact, the best details are often the ones that cost the least. The flea market bookends on your shelf, the cast-iron frying pan your mom gave you, or the burnt salmon closet doors you painted yourself. That last one is so simple, you might even choose to make it happen this weekend. Not a burnt salmon person? No problem!
I’d ask for a show of hands to see how many of us have at least attempted the Marie Kondo method of organizing our homes, but at this point, half of us are still holding high school tennis T-shirts and waiting for them to spark a feeling of joy. There is something kind of exhilarating about decluttering and downsizing and even fussing over the way we fold our socks, but emptying out our closets and drawers forces us to ask a big question: What do we do with this stuff now?
Sometimes, it’s the little things in life that make the biggest difference. While big changes like a fancy thermostat or new solar panels can have a big impact on your home’s energy efficiency and thus sustainability, there are a few small changes you can easily make today that will add up to significant energy and money savings in the long run. 1. Grow houseplants. Besides literally making your space more green, houseplants have a number of health and energy benefits.
We first met Meaghan and Eric during a super busy time in their life, but busy is what family does best: Meaghan runs two businesses (a daycare and McNamara Design, an interiors and installations firm), they are raising two adorable munchkins, Hadley (2) and Emmett (1), and they’re getting ready for baby no. 3! In all this happy chaos, Meaghan and Eric treasure their serene master bedroom, where the whole fam snuggles up for breakfast and a.m. cartoons.
If it’s time for new floors but you don’t want to deal with the time or expense of refinishing them, why not paint them? It’s affordable, adds character to the space, and gives you the freedom to bring in some color. Though for all the reasons to jump in…it’s entirely possible to make a big mess. However, there’s a really simple solution available at your local home improvement store. That solution is to use the right paint for the job.
Summer brunch is peak brunch. The meal’s whole purpose is to let it be lazy and rambling, and lazy and rambling feel so right in the languid summer months. We set out to plan a summer brunch menu that does exactly that by keeping the heat low and the work minimal. In doing so, we quickly realized the two things we needed to think about to pull it off: bold flavor and beautiful presentation. A little extra thought in these areas let us get away with a lot by doing less.
One outdoor space, one pair of outdoor lounge chairs…infinite possibilities for creativity! We asked two style experts to put their distinct personal touches on one patio setup using pieces from Ashley HomeStore, and the results are in. Each created a stylish summer escape and offered their own advice for styling your outdoor “room.” Check out their looks, then choose which one works best with your own style; everyone who votes will be entered to win the setup they voted for!
Brian and Tanika have always loved dogs, and both had four-legged best friends when they were children. Their problem is that, even though they’re dog people, they’d prefer that people couldn’t tell by looking at them, by seeing the dog hair on their pant legs, sofa cushions, or anywhere, frankly. That’s tough at the moment, because their new pup, Tanzie, has a serious shedding problem.
Although newly engaged couple Cecila and Jesse are good about splitting their chores, they have two distinctly different approaches to keeping their house clean. She admits that she’s the messy one and is more likely to throw things into a slightly chaotic heap during the week before tackling it over the weekend. Jesse, though, likes to organize as he goes along, making sure that their place is reasonably tidy at the end of each day.
When you’re a busy parent with young kids, sometimes it feels like the easiest way to clean the house is to burn it to the ground and just start over. That’s not exactly the most feasible solution – especially on a weekly basis. Clare is a mom who’s constantly on the go, so she’s looking for easy ways to keep her home slightly more organized.
When we last saw Pablo and Sophie, they were falling in love with L.A. after moving from New York. But as two independent creative professionals — Pablo is a photographer, Sophie a designer — they had a ton to do while they acclimated to the Best Coast lifestyle. As they put together their new sun-drenched digs, they wanted the bedroom to be an earthy and serene oasis from all that hectic excitement. Just one problem: The warm Cali nights were heating up their memory-foam mattress.
The prospect of moving in together opens up a lot of questions. How soon is too soon? Who should pay for the new couch? Whose spaghetti strainer should we keep and whose do we toss? There are a million things to consider when putting both of your names on the mailbox for the first time. We rounded up a panel of seasoned cohabitators to share their moving-in stories and helpful cohabitating tips.
Homeowners: Jaime and Anjay Milestone: New house, new job, new baby Makeover: Add touches that say “welcome home, family!” There’s busy, and then there’s Jaime and Anjay: The couple just bought a new home near Culver City, California, and sold their old one. Anjay, who works in the entertainment industry, just started a new job. Oh, and Jaime, who works in finance, is just weeks away from giving birth to their second child, a little sister to two-year-old son Nolan.
Homeowners: Laura and Brandon Piety, Los Angeles Milestone: Bought their first home and launched a new business Makeover: Make the backyard more inviting for entertaining It’s been a big couple years for Laura and Brandon Piety. Last year, they checked a huge dream off their life list: buying a home in Los Angeles, where they’ve lived for the past six years. This is in addition to having recently completed another huge life list item, launching their new media business, Noble.
Whether you’ve just installed wood floors or they’ve been in your home for years, equal parts prevention and elbow grease will give you Pin-worthy hardwoods. Figuring out how to clean and maintain them may feel like a major #adulting moment, but once you learn some good habits it’s really just a matter of keeping up a routine.
We’re so used to shopping for furniture room-by-room that it’s hard to think outside the box when it comes to clever ways to create more storage and deciding what to put where. But sometimes, putting furniture in the “wrong” room turns out to be just the right way to get organized. If you’re starting to pre-plan your fall reorganization strategy, this may be just the new way of thinking that makes it all click.
Jenna is a mother to two kids — soon to be three — and two dogs. Her kids’ bathroom doubles as the guest bath, which means it has to work extra hard, but it’s also got to look good. Jenna describes her style as “on the modern side, but accessible. I don’t want to have rooms my kids aren’t allowed in and stuff they can’t touch.
It’s easy to overlook the bathroom. Renovations are expensive, and most of us will put up with a less-than-ideal space until we have the money for a makeover. Still, the lack of a renovation budget didn’t stop Jenna. With a full-time job, two dogs, two kids, and another on the way, she’s got more than enough to handle, but she and her husband knew they wanted a better bathroom before the baby arrived. Rather than remodel, Jenna decided to work with what she had.
With a full-time job, two kids, two huge dogs and a baby on the way, it’s an understatement to say that Jenna’s got a lot going on. She and her husband have renovated their home a little at a time. Their combination guest/kids’ bathroom isn’t bad, but it’s “tired,” to use Jenna’s words. As they prep for one more family member, the gray shower could use a colorful update, and a little tidying.
Most people have too many products in the bathroom, but Jenna has a good excuse. Actually…two good excuses, with a third on the way. When you’re a parent, at some point your bathroom will be overtaken by baby shampoo, tub toys, and washcloths, combs, barrettes, and cutesy toothbrushes, lotions and ointments and Band-Aids in every color. The list goes on. As Jenna and her husband prep for the arrival of their third child, they need to find ways to maximize the space in their bathroom.
Barring maybe a home spa, vanities are the ultimate beauty lover’s luxury. Thanks to Command’s Damage-Free Hanging Solutions, even those of us with tiny apartments can make space for one. Using just a desk, stool, and a few damage-free, wall-mounted designs, we created a modern beauty bar with an Instagrammable rainbow of colors. Installed in an afternoon, this little niche will make you happy every morning.
We are leaning way into the joy of trading rain boots for flip-flops and sweaters for tank tops. So into it, that we want to keep those cheerful, flirty vibes going all year long. Structube’s summer collection captures that spirit exactly, with pieces that are airy and nonchalant and won’t break the bank. Here are some of favorite finds… 1. This Pretty-In-Pink Loveseat, $399 Peonies, coral, a summer sunset…nothing says summer like pink.
After five years of long-distance, New Yorkers Ariel and Dillon are co-habitating for the first time. The couple is always on the move, whether they’re shopping Brooklyn farmers’ markets on the weekends or escaping the city for slow weekends on the Jersey Shore. And life is about to get even more hectic: They’re moving!
Knowing where to start when you’re choosing a rug can be tricky. In the end, it will come down to personal taste, but when you’re just trying to jump in, there are a few standard starting points that will help you. Since it can be overwhelming to sort through all the options on the market, our friends at Macy’s have culled from their collections a few recommendations that demonstrate how each one works.
You know how you feel about that amazing new restaurant you stumbled across last weekend? The one that you really want to tell all your friends about but also secretly want to keep to yourself so you don’t ever end up having to wait two hours for a brunch table once the secret’s out?
Every home should have a happy place. Whether it’s your reading nook, a meditation room, or a little creativity hub, you deserve a spot that’s devoted to keeping you healthy and joyful in your own home. Even if you’re renting, it’s possible to create a happy place that can move along with you and that makes your rental really feel like the home you want.
Meaghan and Eric’s family defines busy: Meaghan runs McNamara Design, a firm that specializes in interiors, installations, and furniture upcycling, as well as a daycare. The Maryland couple also has two little ones — with a third on the way in September! Amidst this “organized chaos,” as Meaghan calls it, her and Eric’s master bedroom is an oasis of peace.
Win: Your Complete Dream Bed Set From: Au Lit Fine Linens Value: $1,380 There are a lot of debates out there around bed linens. Percale vs. sateen; low thread count vs. high thread count; goose down vs. down-mimicking; Egyptian cotton vs. American cotton… It’s enough to keep you up at night. Au Lit Fine Linens is here to help, and with 35 years of experience changing the way people sleep and improving the quality of their lives, we’re happy to take their word for it.
Name: Kate and Sara; cats Jaspurr and Blondie; dogs Sophie and Brutus Location: Durham, NC Size: 1,600 square feet For Kate and Sara, finding a home in the super-competitive Durham market was like running a marathon of sprints: They had to be ready to jump on new listings immediately and get offers together fast. How fast? When they finally toured their dream home after a two-month search, the place fetched 40 viewings in 36 hours!
You’ve just moved. You’re excited! You’ve taken the online quiz to find out if you’re a chesterfield or a mid-century modern. (Turns out you’re a camel back. Twist!) But hold up. At the risk of going too Mom and Dad on you, let’s talk this as a moment to make smart decisions that keep the home in good working order. These purchases are all utilitarian, which sure, are not as fun to think about as furniture and decoration.
Former New Yorkers Pablo, a photographer, and Sophie, a designer, are loving life in Los Angeles: sunshine, new chapters of their creative careers and, of course, new digs. All that action makes for hectic days, though. Between being in business for themselves and making their new house feel like home, the couple needs a bedroom that feels like a real respite. The centerpiece of their restful retreat? A dreamy new mattress suited to their summery new temps.
Prize: A gift card loaded with $500 From: Booking.com Value: $500 Thinking about summer vacay? Let’s make it easy. Booking.com is giving away a $500 gift card to spend either to spruce up your own home for traveling guests or on a dreamy stay in any destination. With over a million places to stay, from apartments to hotels to houseboats, it’s pretty easy to find one that suits your style. Booking.
One of the most fun parts about working at Apartment Therapy is flipping through all those pictures of real families’ beautiful homes. The downside is that we don’t always get to see the (literally) dirty truth. The toddler’s pasta sauce on the floor. The paw prints. The playdough. But psst…all these homes are full of that stuff! So, we called up some of our House Tour alumni and asked what their challenges are to keep clean floors, and how they deal with them.
Call it a party, a gathering, a group hang, a whatever: Having people over makes us (and our homes) happy. Do it in the summer, though, and everything just comes alive. Something about the glow of string lights and the background noise of sizzling skewers makes all of summer’s sweat and steam so worth it. Memorial Day (yep, it’s here) is exactly the excuse to put in the little bit of effort of setting up the outdoor space so the rest of the season is nothing but chill time.
2017 is the year of greenery. It’s everywhere: in color trends, on pinboards and in the real-life homes we feature on Apartment Therapy. If you’re not a plant person, bringing this trend into your home can seem intimidating, but there’s one way to make it work that’s so simple, even the most greenery-challenged person can do it. Seriously. All you need is one potted plant and one essential product from the Command™ Brand toolkit.
We get it: A full-home cleaning is a big, exhausting project. But if you want to level up your life, you don’t have to do it all at once. It’s amazing what a difference little tweaks can make, tweaks like committing to a proper set of clothes hangers or setting up a bathroom that’s easy to keep clean. Here are four low-investment fixes that will bring surprisingly high-yield results to our continual quest to uplevel our lives.
It’s a lovely idea to have a dedicated home office to keep work and life things separate. But it’s rarely a reality. What that means is that our “offices” often have to be carved out of another common space like the living room. When that’s the setup, you can make it work by creating a separate space so that “office stuff” has a defined space to live in. Make the space creative and inspiring, and the whole thing will work.
