When you’re a kid, one of the great joys of the holiday season is getting exactly the gift that you wanted. When you’re a grownup, one of the great joys of the holiday season is finding the perfect gift for someone you love. The nice thing about gift-giving at this stage of our lives is that the gifts become more meaningful.
Who: Laura Baross, interior designer and founder of Design With CareNominated by: Laura Schocker, Apartment Therapy Editor-in-ChiefWhere to follow her: InstagramApartment Therapy’s Class of 2020 Design Changemakers is a specially-selected group of the 20 people in the design world everyone should know about by next year. We asked experts (and you!) to tell us who they think should be included—see the rest of the nominees here.
Sometime in the mid-18th century the fourth Earl of Chesterfield, Philip Stanhope, commissioned a new type of sofa. The resulting design, known for its trademark button tufting and rolled arms, has endured throughout the centuries, with variations making appearances in gentlemen’s’ clubs, fancy English homes, and maybe even your own living room.
Who: Mili Suleman, founder of KUFRI Fabrics, and co-founder of SHIFTNominated by: Danielle Blundell, Apartment Therapy Home DirectorWhere to follow her: InstagramApartment Therapy’s Class of 2020 Design Changemakers is a specially-selected group of the 20 people in the design world everyone should know about by next year. We asked experts (and you!) to tell us who they think should be included—see the rest of the nominees here.
Who: Ian Yang, founder and CEO of GantriNominated by: Maxwell Ryan, founder and CEO of Apartment TherapyWhere to follow him: InstagramApartment Therapy’s Class of 2020 Design Changemakers is a specially-selected group of the 20 people in the design world everyone should know about by next year. We asked experts (and you!) to tell us who they think should be included—see the rest of the nominees here.
Name: Jamie, Brocke, Clara (and two cats) Location: Dallas, TXSize: 1,140 square feetYears Lived In: 6Fashion and prop stylist, Jamie, and her photographer husband, Brocke, don’t just have style; they have a whole design philosophy. The 1925 Tudor they share with daughter Clara, and two cats, is a neutrals-only zone—mostly black-and-white, plus touches of warm wood and the occasional gilded frame.
If there’s one thing that instantly makes a holiday dinner feel like a fancier occasion, it’s an elegant tablescape. There’s a tendency to do something fussy or spend a lot of money on home decor, but it really takes little more than a few easily sourced materials to create a perfectly festive look. Here’s how we’ve created the striking, rustic tablescape you see above.Most Christmas tree vendors have lots of stray clippings…and nothing to do with them.
If it’s your first time hosting for the holidays, or even if you’re a seasoned expert, planning a dinner soirée or a simple cocktail party can feel like a lot. This time of year, we like to remind ourselves that it’s never as complicated as it seems, even if everyone is a lot busier and expectations are a bit higher. With a few years of holiday hosting under our belt, these are the things we’re trying to remember to keep it simple.
It’s just one room, but a kitchen redo comes with a ton of decisions, both big and small. It’s easy to get lost in the flurry of the big ones, like what layout works best or which countertops suit your style. But the devil is in the details. So, what’s the biggest rookie mistake we see time and time again? It may surprise you, but it’s choosing the wrong faucet!
Amidst all the gadgets, novelties, and blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em trends, that seem to be a part of every holiday gifting season, Kim Stoegbauer of TomKat Studio was looking for something more meaningful.
During the holidays, it’s easy to get caught up in gift-buying and party-throwing. But ultimately, the holidays are a time to make memorable moments with the people you love. That’s especially true this year for Apartment Therapy staffer Daniela and her longtime boyfriend, who recently got engaged.Daniela and her fiancé live together in New York, far away from their families in Colombia and Venezuela.
Name: Nicole, Jerome, Jaxon, and Jaden ReidLocation: Sicklerville, NJSize: 4,230 square feet Years lived in: 1The Reids had been living in Nashville for nine years when Nicole’s husband Jerome landed his dream job: head trainer with the Philadelphia Eagles. Suddenly, this family of four found itself in a whirlwind move north. The whole process was swift as an all-star running back.
Air purifier? Check. Natural cleaning products? Check. Wellness-inducing lighting? Hmm, that may be one area of your home you hadn’t considered giving the healthy treatment yet. The truth is, human beings need light to thrive, but the EPA now estimates we spend up to 90% of our time indoors — and most of it is under light that isn’t aligned with our biology.
The holidays are about the inside jokes, traditions, and family celebrations that make this time of year so special. Think about seasonal decorating as setting the scene to make those memorable moments happen. That’s exactly what Leandra, an Apartment Therapy staffer, is thinking about during her daughter’s first holiday season.
Name: Lauren Price and BrandonLocation: Smyrna, GA Size: 2610 square feet Years lived in: 1Lauren Price jokes that a Dalmatian would match her aesthetic perfectly, and she’s not wrong: Her penchant for black, white, and grey makes for a minimalist home where a spotted pup would fit right in.
You have a vision board for every room, an eagle eye for telling Eames knock-offs from the real deal, and strong opinions about painting hardwood floors. But you might not know how to turn your design hobby into a career. If you’ve always dreamed of pursuing your creative passion, now is the time to make it happen.Changing careers might sound daunting, but New York School of Interior Design (NYSID) can help you take the first step and jumpstart your dream career.
When we think about designing our spaces, it’s easy to get hung up on the obvious elements like color and scale. But there’s another major design element we tend to take for granted even though it has the potential to create a room that feels “alive,” and that’s material. Good materials go a long way, and Industry West‘s creative — and sometimes daring — use of different materials is what makes their pieces feel so stylish, grown-up, and unique.
If you haven’t already heard, it’s the most wonderful time of the year: Blu Dot’s big annual sale is on and going strong until October 27! With 20 percent off their entire site, it’s the ideal opportunity to hop on some of fall’s biggest trends. While all of Blu Dot’s designs are decidedly modern classics, some are so of-the-moment we couldn’t not call them out.
Mark your calendars for November 2, the best night of the year! Clocks turn back, meaning there’s an extra much-needed hour of rest and relaxation for us all. Fall is the perfect time of year to reset your sleep habits. In preparation for the longest night of the year, we partnered with the sleep experts at Nectar by Resident to round up easy tips for making the most of it, from mindful breathing to ensuring you have the right mattress for your sleep style.Do you stare at a screen all day?
Much like the right accessories can really make an outfit, the right fixtures—faucets, showerheads, and even things like toilet paper holders and towel bars—can really make your kitchen or bathroom. One design trend we’re loving right now is matte black fixtures. They add a stylish, modern look with a bit of contrast that will make your space truly memorable.
Forget Pumpkin Spice Lattes. What really gets us excited every fall is Blu Dot’s Annual Sale. For just a few weeks each year, they offer all of their modern, cheeky designs at 20 percent off. It’s a big sale—and a big deal. So we sifted through their library of furniture, lighting, and more to find some of this year’s best buys. But hurry, because the sale ends October 27.No matter how small your space, a cozy reading/thinking/meditating nook is a must-have.
It’s no coincidence that some of our favorite homes feature great carpeting—after all, a well-designed room starts from the bottom up. Yet carpet is often overlooked and under-appreciated, despite being one of the most versatile, hardest-working floorings out there. Time to correct that. Read on for our ode to the fuzz beneath our feet. Texture, color, pattern: Carpet’s myriad options mean myriad design possibilities, none of which need to stand alone.
Name: Matthew Manupella and Andrew Horan Location: Southwest Waterfront, Washington, DCSize: 1,100 square feetYears lived in: 2Matthew and Andrew weren’t huge fans of mid-century modern architecture before they found their townhouse in Capitol Park in DC’s Southwest Waterfront neighborhood. The development embodies its 1960s origins, with clean lines and floor-to-ceiling windows.
When home design blogger Cynthia Harper and her husband bought their home in 2012, they focused on the design features they already loved: the simple mantle and their new front door (which was an all-important element considering their first home’s entrance was through the back). They knew they wanted to renovate the kitchen, which was “clean and well-maintained” but stuck in the ’90s, but they’d have to save up first.
Aniko‘s tastes are always changing, so when she got the opportunity to update one of the rooms in her house, she was ready for something new. The builder’s grade guest bathroom had “old and messy” flooring and was painted an “awful” green she’d chosen when she moved in eight years before. She couldn’t wait to get started on her vision to turn the room into a spa-like haven.The first order of business was a complete bathroom demo.
Considering we spend a third of our lives sleeping, mattresses should be as comfy and cozy as possible—and somewhere you can feel good about going to sleep at night. But as inviting as most mattresses might seem on the outside, many have hidden health hazards on the inside.While mattresses are regulated to be flame-retardant and meet other safety standards, most are made with materials that aren’t exactly healthy or natural by any means.
“Hey, I’m in town. Any chance I could crash at your place tonight?” We’ve all gotten that bittersweet text. It’s the dreaded (but really beloved) last-minute guest! And as we’re gearing up for the busy holiday travel season, it’s more important than ever to prepare to host that friend who’s suddenly in town. When square footage is at a premium, you have to be smart about the details that make a guest room feel just like home.
Sometimes our never-ending quest to give our homes a personal style can be a little overwhelming. In those moments, the best thing we can do is to take a breath and remind ourselves that all of us already have a personal style; we may just need some help identifying it. A good place to start is one you’re probably overlooking: your closet.Our wardrobes are the results of years of making choices about colors, patterns, and textures. And guess what the basics of home design are?
The furniture brand EQ3 recently opened a second beautiful showroom in Chicago, and Apartment Therapy was there to celebrate the grand opening. With partners like Vitra and Marimekko and a focus on process as much as the finished product, this Canadian retailer knows quality design. For those who weren’t with us to fête the brand’s latest stateside opening, we missed you! But here, we have a few of our editors’ favorite products to share with you.
When DIY home blogger Sara Davis decided to renovate her daughter’s bathroom, it was about more than pleasing a 7-year-old. The space, which wasn’t in terrible shape—it was just “very ’90s and bland,” she says—is shared by overnight guests, so it had to be welcoming to all. Plus, Sara wanted it to be something her daughter could grow into.
Home lighting is getting exciting. Light bulbs have evolved more in the past five years than in the century-plus since the very first incandescents were introduced. LEDs are revolutionizing home lighting by offering even greater energy efficiency than CFLs combined with the warm glow of traditional incandescents. We’ve partnered with LED pioneer Cree® to bring you up to speed on new LED bulbs and the best ways to use them.
What if we told you there’s a new type of clothes dryer that uses half the energy of your current dryer and won’t eat every other sock? There is—it’s called a heat pump dryer. They’re relatively new, having first come onto the U.S. market in 2014, but are just…warming up…when it comes to savings.
At the end of a busy work week, there’s nothing as gratifying as a good night in. You’ve spent five days grinding, so you deserve the simple joy of enjoying your home and winding down for the weekend. Whether that’s a family movie night or some DIY spa time, the one promise you have to keep is to not worry about cleaning it up until tomorrow. Just submit to the R&R and know that a few swipes of a mop can handle it all the next morning.
College can be stressful (information overload is real), so it’s important to give yourself a space to unwind. Even though tiny rooms built with cinderblock walls and bunk beds aren’t exactly designed for calm, they can feel a lot more peaceful when everything is organized. Storing your stuff isn’t just about being neat. It’s a way to organize your life on your own terms so you can stay in control when the semester gets crazy.
Name: Holly ConradLocation: SeattleSize: 1,150 square feetYears Lived In: 1Here at Apartment Therapy, we know how important it is to have a place where you feel at home. But for Holly Conrad, buying a new house wasn’t just about an investment or a change of location; it also meant a fresh start. Holly is an artist who sells her pieces through her Etsy store, Trash Witch Coven.
The home Diana shares with her husband and daughter in Chattanooga, TN, is casual and welcoming, with modern touches and boho flair against a calming neutral palette. But when it came to the home’s entrance, the effect was too neutral: The dark wood door and stair rail and white walls were a bland greeting to an otherwise personality-filled space.
Darina had plans to create a farmhouse aesthetic in her family’s home in Murrieta, CA, but after moving in, she realized her space would be better suited by natural accents and earthy tones. Those improv skills made us think that she’d be open to an experimental makeover we envisioned in her master bedroom: a bold paint canopy. A paint canopy isn’t your ordinary accent wall. Sure, conventional wisdom advises painting an entire room, or at least an entire wall, but guess what?
With its soft accents and minimalist furniture, Cara’s home in Asbury Park, NJ, exudes a soft, airy style. But the sun-drenched bedroom she shares with her husband Mike needed a special touch to make it stand out. Never one to shy away from experimenting with style, Cara was game when we found inspiration in an unlikely place: the ceiling. They say that ceilings must be white—but we don’t know who “they” are anyway, and we say white is just the beginning!
It’s no secret that we’re really into cane furniture. Nothing else makes a space seem chic and unpretentious at the same time. A mid-century classic, the effortlessly relaxed material has the power to immediately warm up a room with its clean and textured look.Which makes us excited that Industry West is into cane, too.
When native Californians Erica and Mark moved back to the Golden State after a stint in New York City, they fell in love with Pasadena. We did too: It was recently named one of Apartment Therapy’s Coolest Suburbs in America. Though Erica and Mark work in Los Angeles, the nearby ‘burb won them over with its strong sense of community—not to mention its dreamy Craftsman bungalows.
Marichelle loves living in Maplewood, NJ, one of Apartment Therapy’s Coolest Suburbs in America. She runs a chic boutique, Meus, and is mom to an adorable trio of kiddos. While her home is as eclectically stylish as you’d imagine a boutique owner’s to be, the living room wasn’t quite working the way she wanted it to.“You know how sometimes you go into a house and there’s this cold living room and no one ever goes in there?
Name: Kevin Foley Location: Gold Coast, ChicagoSize: 1,000 square feetYears lived in: 3 yearsA few years after the Great Chicago Fire, millionaire businessman Potter Palmer filled in a swampy area on the shore of Lake Michigan and built his family a 42-room mansion. More Gilded Age families followed, and the Gold Coast was born. More than a century later, it’s still a ritzy ZIP code, but every now and then one renter stumbles on a miraculous deal. Kevin Foley is one of those renters.
We’ve all put off fixing a broken doorknob or restitching a seam for longer than we’d care to admit, despite the deep satisfaction that arrives when we finally get around to it. Why does it take so long to make small repairs when we know how much they matter to our daily lives? Even the little things can feel overwhelming when we’re not organized, which is why a dedicated fix-it station makes all the difference.
It’s summer, and you want nothing more than to be outside. If there’s a beach within reachable distance, you are dying to be there. If you have a bit of outdoor space to call your own, you may be thinking about sprucing it up. So it feels like a good time to announce that Society6, one of our favorite retailers, has just introduced an outdoor collection.Why do we like Society6? (1.) The things they sell are beautiful and unique. And sometimes they’re even lovably weird!
Life can get hectic and, unfortunately, you can’t jaunt off to a luxury spa whenever the going gets tough. So how do you find your bliss at home? By turning your bathroom into a self-care spa retreat. And since no trip to the spa should cause more stress, consider financing your DIY with the Synchrony HOME™ credit card. It was designed with nesting in mind, offering 2% cash back everywhere plus promotional financing at more than a million home retailers nationwide.
When I lived in a walk-up in Greenwich Village, the building staircase was so narrow that even a neighbor carrying groceries home could completely block traffic. Obviously, this made moving in a challenge. My roommate went so far as hiring someone to cut his bed in half, move it up the tiny staircase, and reassemble it upstairs. I elected to sleep on an air mattress. Needless to say, we both could have used The Bed, by Thuma. As its name implies, The Bed is not a regular bed.
If your garden to-do list is overgrown, you’re not alone — but you needn’t worry. There’s an easy way to get yourself ready to tackle all your yard projects without spending too much time or money. A gardening station will organize your outdoor storage, contain muddy messes, and save your back and knees from squatting and kneeling. And it’s affordable to stock up on all the supplies you’ll need for it when you know exactly which Walmart basics to buy.
Marichelle runs an eclectic lifestyle shop, Meus, in Maplewood, NJ—recently named one of Apartment Therapy’s Coolest Suburbs in America—so, yeah, her home is stylish. But Marichelle is also a mom of three, which means she’s concerned with much more than aesthetics: Everything in her home is chic and sturdy, as ready for neighborhood happy hours as after-school art projects. That goes double for the dining room.
The first step toward living your perfect summer is knowing who you are and what makes you happiest—and the first stop is Target, where fun is always easy to find.
Bravo if you’ve already started using paper straws in your cold brew. More kudos if you’re sure to slather on reef-safe sunscreen. But there’s another place in your life where it’s easy to go green: your bed! Back in the dark ages, eco-friendly bedding wasn’t much of a thing…and when you did find it, it wasn’t what we’d call “eye candy.” But now it’s really simple to make the switch to organic, sustainable bedding.
Name: Dana and Matthew, daughter Pia and pup MacLocation: Port Saint Lucie, FloridaSize: 2,000 square feetYears Lived In: 2 yearsBuying a house, getting a puppy, having a baby, and doing a major kitchen renovation is a lot to take on in one year. A whole lot. Dana and Matthew did it, though, and now they can say that they’ve created their dream home. But as happy as they are to have it—and as quickly as it happened—this wasn’t the original plan.
This year’s Room for Color contest, sponsored by Chip It!™by Sherwin-Williams, is notable for the boundless array of different palettes. So much variety! We love seeing readers’ personal styles shine through their use of colors in so many creative ways. And though each entry is unique, some trends are becoming apparent. Here are some trends we’ve spotted—let us know what we missed in the comments!
Name: Andi Eaton & Ben Alleman Location: Gallatin, TNSize: 1,336 square feetYears lived in: 2.5 yearsAndi Eaton and partner Ben Alleman love their lives on the road—she’s a travel writer and founder of Oui We; he’s a musician—but they craved a permanent home base where they could reconnect and recharge. They’d been splitting time between their native New Orleans and a Nashville rental, but time on the road—and time apart—got to be too much.
