It’s tough to hit that holiday gift trifecta of unexpected, practical, and popular, but indoor gardens manage to nail it. Think about it: Plants are universally beloved, from fresh flowers on the table to fresh veggies in the fridge. And because indoor gardens are all but automatic, green thumbs aren’t a prerequisite. Though gardening fans can still have a lot of fun with them, too. In fact, we’re willing to bet that AeroGarden has one for everyone on your list.
If you’ve been in your home for a while, elevating any room can feel difficult because the spaces are already set in their ways. This goes doubly for the most lived-in room of all: your living room. But DIY-er and designer Ashley Basnight has three principles to keep in mind to get your refresh project up and running.Ashley took us through a from-scratch overhaul, but you can totally achieve elevation with small touches, like the ones Ashley found online at The Home Depot.
You’re looking at your room, and it checks all the boxes you think it should: It has a sofa that’s stylish and comfortable. It has a coffee table that’s attractive and functional. And it’s painted a color that’s the product of weeks of decision-making and hours of taping. So why doesn’t the room feel as composed and cozy as the ones in your inspiration pics? The thing that’s missing is so obvious…but so easy to overlook.
If you’ve ever locked yourself out of your home or felt the terror of learning too late that your pet sitter doesn’t have the right keys, you’ve probably wished your front door was just a bit, well, smarter. We can turn on lights with our voices, so we should be able to make getting in and out of our own homes more convenient too.Whether you’re a homeowner or renter, the August Home smart lock can up your entryway’s IQ in minutes.
Our love for bouclé knows no bounds: Touchable and trendy, chic and comfy, this looped fabric — which designers have been rediscovering in recent years — makes a style statement that’s also super approachable. We’re fans of the warmth and texture it adds to seating — especially when the seat comes from a collection we already know to be built with relaxation in mind.
We’re partnering with the mortgage experts at Lower.com to guide you through the whole process — and answer your real questions along the way.For example, did you know you can own a home for less than 5% down? Or that your monthly payment could be less than what you pay in rent? So, sit back, relax and let the Lower team show you the ins and outs — so you can buy a home and become your best homeowner self, sooner than later.First thing’s first.
At this year’s Small/Cool Experience, we asked 10 of our favorite designers to interpret 10 hot interior trends. Each designer had just 120 square feet, but what their rooms lacked in space, they made up for in style — and color. Whether classical or whimsical, warmly minimalist or gregariously maximalist, these rooms showed us that the right shades can transform the entire mood of any room.
A blank canvas doesn’t mean boring. When you start with a couple of timeless pieces, you can create myriad style statements, looks that can change according to seasons, trends, or just your mood. That’s why we were so excited to ask three of our favorite designers to put their own spins on the same living room.We started with a classic couch and coffee table.
We’ll let you in on a laundry secret: Wash day doesn’t have to be complicated. Most people make doing laundry more difficult than it needs to be with excess products, treatments, and clutter. Try adding some of these clever moves to your repertoire instead. They’ll make laundry day much simpler, plus get your clothes cleaner in the process.Mesh laundry bags are great for delicates like bras, but you’ve already got an excellent alternative in your linen closet.
The coffee accessory landscape is ruled by one thing: coffee mugs. And while we all have a favorite one in our cupboard, we can definitely express our style and taste through other tools and accessories, which can be beautiful in their own ways.Whether you might appreciate a handsome carafe or could use some add-ons to your home espresso setup, we found a range of gorgeous — and well-built — tools to make coffee time percolate.
There are several milestones in any year that offer big reset energy. We make New Year’s resolutions (at least until February), and then we make big spring-cleaning checklists (still working on ours). But there’s something about the annual autumn reset that feels extra rejuvenating. Maybe it’s a grown-up version of getting excited about new school supplies, or maybe it has something to do with another year turning the corner.
An unexpected bright spot of the past year is how much joy we’ve found in nature — especially at home. This was the year we grew scallions in glasses of water, sprouted new greenery from our bok choy and carrot scraps, and maybe even got avocado pits to grow roots. Sometimes these plant projects provided food, but they also gave us the delightful magic show that is watching plants grow. Mother Nature has another trick we bet you haven’t tried: peanut plants.
Designing your space is an art that’s unique to you. It depends on your personal style and unmistakable eye. But whatever look speaks to you, there’s one thing we can say with certainty: Every aesthetic looks better with greenery.When you think about it, plants are the ultimate versatile home decor. They come in endless shapes and textures, and their pots and accessories present extra opportunities to show off your style. How to choose? Ummmmm, astrology, obviously!
Improving your home’s energy efficiency can feel daunting. There are so many ways to approach it, but finding a starting point that’s not too much work and that still has an impact is hard. One simple way to trim your power bill without giving up comfort: swap out your old, dusty ceiling fan for a better (and far more stylish) one.Big Ass Fans® took the once humble ceiling fan and upgraded it to an attractive home addition that’s majorly energy efficient.
There’s nothing like spending months (and months, and months) at home to make you realize how much your space is worth investing in. All those changes we said we’d get around to? We’re making them. All those pieces that don’t spark joy? We’re replacing them. All those design trends we were afraid to try? We’re trying them. (Well, maybe not all at once.
Making a space feel homey is relatively easy if you own your house or have roots in a long-term rental. But if you live a more flexible lifestyle — working nomadically, going to school, or just trying out new cities — you might need some help. If you’re living in a just-for-now space, it may not be the right time to decorate with forever furniture. But that doesn’t mean you have to buy disposable pieces either!
Our pets love the comforts of home just as much as their human housemates, and with leaves and temps falling, it’s a great moment to refresh your space for the coming months of peak pet snuggles. But while we want our furry sidekicks to always have the best of the best, we also want pet gear that aligns with our own style.The solution? Chewy’s Home Collection!
Prize: $1,500 gift card to LUMASGallery walls are the It Girls of interior design: effortlessly cool and sophisticated with an intuitive combo of shapes, colors, and textures that somehow look just right together. A great gallery wall isn’t hard to put together, either — once you have the artwork.Think of LUMAS as your personal art buyer.
It’s easy to focus our design energy on the spaces other people will see, like making sure our living room is well-situated for conversation or prioritizing places for guests to hang out in the kitchen while dinner is cooking. We work hard to give these areas good flow and bright energy. But we tend to overlook the place where we spend so much important personal time: the bedroom. Your bedroom is your sanctuary: a place to relax, meditate, and recharge.
As a New York apartment dweller, Apartment Therapy contributor Erin Johnson knows how to make her space multitask: Her kitchen is also her office since she prefers spreading her work out at a table over working at a desk. Because she spends so much time at her kitchen table, she wanted the room to feel extra special and energetic. The walls were currently a blank canvas, and she knew just how she wanted to fill them: a geometric mural.
Sometimes even the most stylish spaces still need a little extra something. That was the case for Meredith’s charming Brooklyn apartment, a whimsically maximalist space that a friend once likened to a curiosity shop. Meredith just wasn’t sure what her added oomph should be — so she let the AT community help.Meredith knew she wanted to paint some part of the living room, which features a cozy seating area and an open bookshelf.
Technology hasn’t advanced quite enough to bring us robot butlers who do our laundry, but it’s come close: Smart technology has totally revolutionized how we wash clothes. The days of meticulous measuring and wondering, What is this button for? are gone, and we’re glad to see them go. It’s time to introduce smart tech into your laundry routine.Samsung smart washers and dryers aren’t just tech for tech’s sake.
Hilton Carter, our resident Plant Therapist, is an all-around expert when it comes to caring for and styling all your plants at home. So when Greendigs, the online plant retailer that ships right to your door, reached out to see if Hilton would be interested in sharing a few of his favorite plants, tools, and accessories with AT readers, we obviously said yes!
The kitchen is one of the most rewarding rooms to shop for: You can geek out over gadgets and appliances, plan all the delicious meals you’re going to make, and pick out decor that lets your style shine. Win. Win. Win. From essential equipment to just-for-fun details, these products take the busiest room of your house to the next level. If you want to kit out your kitchen, Klarna gives you flexibility to make your wants work with your budget.
Our home offices are just as prone to ruts as the rest of our homes. Maybe you’ve never quite been comfy in that desk chair, or that tower of papers is the only thing that qualifies as storage, or your ad hoc quarantine “office” isn’t as stylish as you. Either way, we have good news: Our home offices are also just as much fun to style as the rest of our homes.
We spend a lot of time looking at other people’s homes. It’s fun to see how people shop, decorate, and live in their unique spaces. It’s also useful: Getting a peek inside someone else’s home gives you ideas for sprucing up and redoing your own space.Apartment Therapy readers are especially creative when it comes to decorating and upgrading their homes. They’re also savvy about how they shop.
If you’ve ever visited a friend’s newly decorated home and thought, Here’s what I would’ve done..., then you’ve come to the right place. When game artist Emil wanted to add some colorful energy to his home office/guest room, he agreed to let the Apartment Therapy community choose the new hues. And you crushed it.Emil’s Pasadena home has a low-key eclectic style that both matches the pace of SoCal life and honors his artistic roots.
Hilton Carter, AT’s resident Plant Therapist, knows a thing or two about helping houseplants live their best lives. But besides keeping plants happy and healthy, he’s also a pro at coming up with ideas on how to style them in your space — even if you’re working with low light, limited surfaces, or just want to give a room a green glow-up. We asked our Instagram followers for their houseplant styling questions, and Hilton had some great solutions for them.
One of the few bright spots of quarantine was having more quality time with our four-legged family members. Cuddly coworkers! Midday walks! No more sad eyes on the way out the door! But now that we’re heading back to the office, our fur babes need some extra TLC to adjust. (As do we, frankly.
Prize: A handpicked selection of our Plant Therapist’s favorite houseplants, plant care accessories, and more. Total Approximate Value: $1,000From: GreendigsHilton Carter, aka the Plant Therapist, is our go-to expert when it comes to learning how to help houseplants live their happiest, healthiest lives.
We don’t know about you, but we’re making this the Summer of Spending Every Possible Second Outside. Nothing sounds better than dining al fresco, lazing in the sun, and splashing in the pool. Since our outdoor spaces are going to get so much love this year, we’re going to make them feel extra special. Want to join us? We designed three outdoor styles to get your summer party started, featuring the season’s best and brightest looks from Target.
Oyin Antwi, Apartment Therapy contributor and cofounder of Via Asha Design, and her husband landed in a new Brooklyn rental just before the world started shutting down last year, which ended up being a great move since their space turned out to be, in Oyin’s own words, “exactly what the doctor prescribed to heal.” You may recognize her apartment from her home tour. Her space is already gorgeous, but even pro designers need a refresh every once in a while.
Johanna Beach is an interior designer and serious DIY expert (we’ve previously consulted with her for expert cloffice tips) who lives in the Windy City and is lucky enough to have a small but beautiful balcony with cascading ivy and an exposed brick wall. Given that Chicago balconies aren’t exactly year-round spaces, Johanna wanted to give hers a refresh to be sure it could meet its full potential and get more use than ever this summer.
Browsing sofas online is fun, but actually buying one can be a bit stressful. Even after you measure twice and click once, you might worry that the color won’t look as cute in person, or that you’ve missed some all-important detail you’ll regret later. Relax — just ask yourself the right questions in advance, and you’ll find that furniture buying can be a rewarding experience.
Apartment Therapy’s lifestyle director Taryn Williford lives in a beautiful loft in Atlanta that over the years she has designed with a calm and comfortable touch. The loft is one of seven in a converted pickle factory, which gave the building its sweet (but briny?) name of the Pickle Factory Lofts.Taryn describes her style as Industrial Eclectic, an aesthetic that embraces her space’s former life but warms it up with cheeky tchotchkes, well-placed dramatic colors, and plants.
Carrie is a thoughtful artist whose upstate New York home reflects her personality with a combination of mid-century furnishings and whimsical decor. And while her office setup featured bold colors and playful accents like a glasses holder in the shape of a hand, that character did not extend to the walls, which were blank and bare. She wanted her workspace to have a little — make that a lot — more fun.
Open-concept living spaces are big on airiness and charm — especially when they’re awash in SoCal sunlight, like Katie and Cody’s place in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. But open layouts can also feel a bit muddled. Katie and Cody wanted to make their living area stand out from their dining area: two spaces separated by an archway that, lovely as it is, didn’t help them feel distinct. Their walls weren’t helping either.
Between work and play, Sarah spends about 90 percent of her time in the living room of her Washington, D.C., apartment. The space had been well-suited to her sophisticated style, with a gorgeous period fireplace and striking built-in bookcase, but it just didn’t feel complete — not even with an upgrade to new modern furniture. The culprit: the gray walls, too ho-hum to help the space pop.
It’s easy to get so inspired by incredible designers and magazine-worthy rooms that you forget about your home’s ultimate style expert: you. We love to borrow from the creativity around us, but for the final say on your space’s look, nothing beats your own instincts. After all, how you live reflects who you are!With her cheerful color palette, quirky furnishings, and houseplant jungle, home decor blogger and DIYer Wendy Lau marches to the beat of her own design drum every day.
If we may quote Paula Abdul — and can’t we always? — opposites attract. In design, a little tension sparks interest and energy. Fall in love with a mid-century modern lamp that doesn’t match your boho aesthetic? Bring it to the party anyway. Think those two colors you like don’t go together? Think again! A space that’s too matchy-matchy can feel airless, but a dash of contrast is like a shot of espresso.
Life is rarely tranquil, so it’s wonderful when our spaces can be. Not every room can be a spa-level sanctuary, but it can have balance: a sense of design harmony that makes you feel calm and settled instead of chaotic and off-kilter. (Our schedules do a good enough job of that, thankyouverymuch.
We know it when we see it: that visual signature that makes a space stand apart from the pack. Be it bold color themes or iconic accents, if an interior is unforgettable, chances are the person behind it wasn’t afraid to leave their style mark. Distinctive is instinctive — and it’s easier than you might think to wake up your design instincts to create a space that’s unmistakably yours.Designer, artist, and photographer Dabito is about as distinctive as they come.
Maybe it’s so much time spent at home lately, but when we think about interior design right now, we want one thing: drama. At this year’s Small/Cool Experience, designers Jaclyn Journey and Amanda of Jacobs of Journey + Jacobs agreed — and they delivered big time, with lush fabrics, moody colors, and furnishings that command attention. Oh, and deep cherry red walls. Let’s take a closer look at the Moody Musings trend room they designed.
If you’re looking to bring some of this aesthetic into your home but don’t want to go too “Grandma’s cabin,” consider a sub-style we’re calling Cottage Chic. This look draws from nostalgia and comfort, but streamlines it just enough to work in contemporary homes. To illustrate the style, we shopped the collection of At Home®. It’s the home decor superstore that has everything from little accents to big pieces, all at an affordable price point.
Because Boho’s going to be around for a while, we can confidently suggest you expand the look from your interior design to your outside spaces. We’ve rounded up 14 items that give any space — indoors or out — a Boho refresh. All these pieces come from At Home®, the home decor superstore that simply has it all…and all for affordable prices. Allow yourself to get lost in its aisles, and you’ll find the one little piece that makes a room pop.
For this style refresh, we married classic style with contemporary comfort in a look we’re calling Classic Cool. It uses modern, simple lines as its base while quoting from the more fun parts of styles past. All of these pieces were sourced from At Home®, the home decor superstore that offers a huge variety of pieces at an affordable price point. Whether you’re hunting for one specific item or looking to let the design muse come to you, At Home stores are a great place to do it.
Ashley Poskin is an Apartment Therapy contributor with a Ph.D. in decorating with color. (OK, we made that up. But it should be a thing.) Her Chicago home is full of fixed-up vintage finds, cheery DIY projects, and every shade of the rainbow. So when she wanted to give her pale neutral sunroom a monochromatic makeover, she was eager to go bold. We were excited to see the final result — and find out what she learned along the way.
The surprising thing about fancy rooftop bars and glamorous resort pool decks is that their special ambiance comes from elements you probably have already in your own outdoor space: a summer breeze, good company, and fresh air. (Though, yes, a bar tab you can charge back to the room also helps.) What makes these areas feel so ritzy is a simple consideration for design. For all the time spent futzing over our interiors, it’s easy to leave our outdoor spaces an afterthought.
As the DIY maven behind Dwell Aware, Amanda Walker is known for creating big impact with easy projects, earthy color palettes, and a lot of creative thinking. So when she wanted to turn the tiny space below her stairs into a reading nook, she knew just how to add pint-sized oomph: a painted design! Playing with painted designs is easy (and easy to change), and it can really help define a space — especially a small one like this nook.
Quick, picture your living room. What do you see? You probably see a sofa, because when it comes to both style and function, that one piece is probably the center of your living room. If you’re not happy with your sofa, it’s hard to be happy with your space because of its prominence in the room. This can present a bit of a problem for decorators on a budget, because a new sofa—especially a really good-looking one—is a pretty spendy proposition.
Broadway actor Justin is a man of many talents: When he’s not performing in Tina! The Tina Turner Musical, he’s photographing other performers’ headshots for his side hustle, Jshoots. But when the pandemic hit and Broadway closed, Justin was doing it all in the New York apartment he shares with his fitness instructor boyfriend — who, of course, was also working from home.
Let us guess: You cobbled together your WFH setup over a year ago and have been making do ever since. You’re not the only one. Our homes have had to do a lot of improvising, but it’s time to say goodbye to your couch-slash-office and dining table-slash-classroom. Instead, carve out an intentional space that lets you focus and doesn’t disrupt the rest of your home.Staples Connect™ understands how we (and our homes) are working and learning remotely.
As a freelance graphic designer, Julia needs space to create. She also needs storage for her many notebooks and art supplies, a system to keep all her various projects on track, and plenty of colorful inspiration. That’s a tall order for a cozy New York apartment, where she lives with her husband and cat.While most of the world struggled to figure out the WFH lifestyle last year, Julia already knew the drill.
Working from home takes on a whole new meaning when your colleagues are five-year-olds. When Molly, a bilingual elementary teacher, transitioned to teaching kindergarten and first grade remotely from her New York living room, she didn’t just need a desk. She needed a dynamic virtual classroom that allowed her to sit, stand, stretch, and use her learning board, where she displays various teaching materials.
From the full-time remote gig to the afternoon homework session, a good WFH area will serve you well in the “new normal” and all the normals after that. Even if you only have a little space to spare, you can still create a functional — and stylish — spot to tackle that to-do list.
Savannah West’s home is that magical combo of warm, welcoming, and effortlessly stylish. And while Savannah is no stranger to sustainable living — shopping with reusable bags and diligently recycling — she wanted to elevate her home’s aesthetic with more of her eco-friendly spirit. Luckily, sustainable style is far from a sacrifice.As an AT home editor, Savannah has an eye for things that will make her space distinct.
Paint choices are personal, but because they’re something we live with every day, getting a friend’s opinion may help you make the right decision. And asking over 3 million people for their input is even better, right? Well, we asked Kendra, one of our readers, if she would let the AT community choose a new color to spruce up her Brooklyn condo, and luckily she said yes!
Kitchen renovations can be pricey, but luckily there’s a cheap and cheerful solution used by DIYers and A-list designers alike: painting the cabinets. It totally transforms the way your space looks for a fraction of any kitchen renovation budget. We’re not going to lie: This project takes a good bit of patience and precision. But we’re confident it’s within your skillset, and we promise you the after is worth it. What color (or colors!
In a rental, customization is key to transforming an ordinary apartment into an extraordinary space. Paint is the easiest, fastest, and least expensive way to remake a room — and it’s rental-friendly, as long as you revert the walls back to renter’s white before you move out. (We also suggest getting your landlord’s permission.) Whether you’re personalizing your home or trying to get your deposit back before moving, read on for the secret to easily reversible walls.
Have a brick fireplace in your home? Lucky you! Even if your fireplace isn’t working or feels a little dated at the moment, it can live up to its potential as a room’s defining feature. All you need is some paint to give it new life (and KILZ® Primer to do it right). Here’s how to transform it from outdated to outstanding!
For Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm, an allergy sufferer and lifestyle editor for our sister site, the Kitchn, dusting and sweeping aren’t chores at all. “I love to clean,” she says. “It helps me feel centered.” We couldn’t agree more: Cleaning clears your mind as well as your space.But Riddley and her husband just moved into a new home, and she needed a better solution for the dust that accumulated in her master bathroom’s hard-to-reach spots.
Every big task — even one as huge as saving the planet! — can be broken down into small steps. Living more eco-consciously may sound overwhelming at first, but simple habits lead to big impact. This is especially true for our homes’ sustainability HQ: the kitchen. Food waste is a big piece of the sustainability puzzle: 25% of the food system’s emissions comes from producing food that’s ultimately wasted.
We have some news that would alarm our grandmothers: Folks just don’t dust the way they used to. Data shows that millennials are especially averse, and while we get it — because, chores — dust is, well, pretty gross. And not just for your surfaces. Dust also likes to linger, affecting the quality of the air you breathe in your home.Now for the good news: With the right tools, dusting is a quick addition to your weekly cleaning schedule.
Can we tell you a style secret? Your space can be both timeless and on-trend. In fact, that’s where the I-can’t-believe-I-live-here magic happens. The key is to invest in versatile pieces that only get better with age, and then build around them.Nobody gets that style philosophy like AnthroLiving, with its signature mix of vintage-inspired classics and distinctive new designs.
You’re not alone if spending over a year mostly at home has made you want to make some serious changes to your space. But that’s a good thing. This time at home has also forced us to take inventory of what’s working and what’s not, and now’s the time to decide what types of permanent changes can make your home a happier, healthier space for the long run.
It’s no secret that small spaces have to work harder than other spaces. But having less square footage to work with doesn’t have to be uninspiring. Small spaces have a superpower: They’re endlessly nimble. You can do a quick style refresh — a sleek piece of furniture, an effortless accent, a quick zhush — without it turning into A Whole Thing.Small spaces contain big design possibilities, and Anthropologie gets that.
Now that it’s officially spring, we hope you’re planning on giving your home a well-deserved deep clean—especially considering that it’s been working overtime for the past year. Your space will thank you, and you’ll surely thank yourself. But you’ll need the right tools to get the job done like a pro.
I have a confession to make: I let my bathroom get really filthy recently. But I cleaned it! And then I wasn't hitting snooze on my alarm. And I was enjoying styling my hair and putting on makeup, instead of feeling rushed or grossed out like I'd gotten used to.
