Furniture Decorating

We found out everything you need to know about your favorite piece of furniture.

For all intents and purposes, you’re an adult. You have a job, car, rent or mortgage, and, in some cases, an entire family to care for. But that doesn’t mean you can’t embrace your inner child every now and then—especially when it comes to decorating your home.

The brightly hued building blocks from our childhood famously known as LEGOs have inspired many a design, from bridges to storage options and even accessories for real-life homes. So it’s not at all shocking to see that this collection of modular plastic blocks from Everblock is perfectly suitable for a grownup’s decorative aesthetic. Now, whether you choose to transform these blocks into a stunning bookshelf, a table or even a customized room divider is totally up to you.

It’s been a year and a half since IKEA and Tom Dixon first announced their upcoming collaboration. In those 18 months, we’ve learned that the “platform for living” is called DELAKTIG, and is a sofa-slash-bed that is endlessly hackable. Now, the British designer has released even more details about the line—including some of the “add-ons” that will be available. At its most basic, DELAKTIG is an aluminum platform that serves as a single bed.

As IKEA celebrates the 50th anniversary of making raw, simple wood shelving go mainstream with the 1968 introduction of the IVAR series, it’s time to take a deeper look at the design history of the nearly-ubiquitous shelving and cabinets. Once solely relegated to workshops and garages, at least one piece of unfinished furniture can now be found in nearly every home around the world — and on every DIYer’s supplies lists.

We’ve always thought small was cool, but we’re glad to see that major retailers are getting the memo. Now Pottery Barn is betting on smaller spaces in a big way with their new brand, PB Apartment. It was big news when the major retailer debuted their first small spaces line in 2017, especially since it almost became synonymous with decor for big, suburban houses in the ’90s and 2000s.

My family and I live in a remote area—the nearest town has 200 people—so when it came time to replace our falling-apart sofa, our IRL shopping options were very limited unless we wanted to devote our lives to driving to furniture stores. The closest shops were perfectly respectable but lacked a certain flair. It seemed like ordering a sofa online was our only good option, and I’m thrilled it was, because it ended up working out great.

With over 20 styles in dozens of configurations, we set out to review 13 of the retailer's most popular models. Read on to see which were the most comfortable.

IKEA is known for being a pioneering company. The retailer effectively invented flat pack furniture and made it mainstream. There have been tons of design forward products over the years, with several becoming long-lived staples like BILLY bookcases and the POANG chair. However, even IKEA gets it wrong on occasion, and sometimes, they mess up twice. In an excerpt from IKEA’s forthcoming book, Democratic Design (coming in 2018), copywriter Stina Holmberg describes the tale of IKEA a.i.r.

When it comes to updating your old furniture, a little change goes a long way. Case in point: upgraded knobs and pulls. Even though most handles are well, hand-sized, these petite fixtures still manage to offer a ton of design potential no matter where you use them. Working with a colorless kitchen but can’t afford to paint? Switch out all of your standard cabinet knobs with splashier ones and see what happens. Sick of looking at your dated bedroom dresser but desperate for the storage?

Looking through Etsy can be a dizzying whirlwind, because it offers a mix of garage sale quality bric-a-brac and diamond-in-the-rough vintage gold…you just need the patience to sniff out the latter. To help you pick through the terrain just a little faster to get to the good stuff, we dug through to unearth 10 awesome Etsy storefronts specializing in vintage furniture. They might just inspire you to update a room or two!

If, like us, you’ve been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the collaboration between IKEA and Danish design brand HAY, well, we have some great news. The Swedish retailer just shared some additional photos of the collection. Here’s what we know so far. Dezeen published the new photos of the YPPERLIG collection on Wednesday, which gives us a more complete look at the 30-plus piece line.

Furniture buying is hard; even harder still might be where to put it all and how to arrange a room. You might be inclined to just throw everything up against the wall, or set up your stuff the way your parents did in your childhood home. And though it might not seem like rocket science, the littlest tweaks in flow and placement can really make a colossal difference in the way a room feels and how you live in it.

I’m a big fan of vintage furniture: well-made and well-loved, the right piece can add a focal point to any space. But keeping in mind the old adage of having nothing in your home that isn’t beautiful or useful, you want to be sure that you aren’t just adding vintage pieces for the sake of them being, well, old. Check out the following for examples of vintage being brilliantly repurposed, reused, or just given the right surroundings.

Whether you see it as a throwback to the ’80s or a reflection of changing attitudes about femininity, there’s a particular shade of light, slightly-muted pink whose ubiquitousness is as complete as it was sudden. Call it millennial pink, or dusty pink, or rose quartz—it’s everywhere, and it’s the color that every eye seems drawn to. So we’ve created this roundup of sofas where pink, the color of the moment, meets velvet, the fabric of the moment.

With a slogan like "Beautiful design. Customized by you. Accessibly priced." the values of Interior Define are music to our design-loving ears.

If you've ever wondered about whether the online furniture retailer's sofas were comfortable, we went behind the scenes to find out (and here's what we thought!).

Arranging furniture in a small space is always a bit of a challenge—and this is particularly true if your space is a bedroom, living room, dining room, workspace, and kitchen all in one. If you’re looking for inspiration for the layout of your studio apartment, look no farther than these five diminutive spaces, whose owners came up with five very clever solutions for one-room living.

Let's face it: If you're going to have a conversation with someone, a traditional sofa probably isn't the best place to do it. But this is.

For our series about influential women in design, we’re focusing this week on Patricia Urquiola, the Spanish designer who is one of the most influential figures in the world of contemporary design. Her designs are playful, colorful, innovative, and sometimes a little bit irreverent, and she’s working to redefine the look of the contemporary home. Patricia Urquiola was born in Oviedo, Spain, in 1961.

Eileen Gray created one of the most iconic side tables ever (as well as the most expensive chair from the 20th century every sold).

If you're hard up for storage solutions, you may be looking below your sofa or your bed, or above your cabinets — but what about behind?

If you haven't heard of her, you've definitely seen her work.

English roll-arm sofas gained popularity in the 19th century, and their sinuous profile, deep, accommodating seats, and signature low arms—perfect for resting one’s head—are elements that have kept them ingrained in popular design culture even today. Now available in a wide range of sizes, colors, and fabrics—and even sleeper options—this comfy, classic style is equally at home in formal, vintage-inspired houses and modern, eclectic apartments.

IKEA is already one of our go-to retailers for smart small space solutions, and the new collections they have in store for us are only going to enforce that. There are several products debuting in stores and online next month especially for multipurpose spaces that we’re excited about. Here’s your first look: First up is the EKEBOL sofa. It combines wooden shelves underneath and behind the cushions within a metal frame to add storage to a piece that often doesn’t have any.

Is it asking too much for a seating option to be comfortable, stylish and space-saving? Well, that treasured chair that you use as a nightstand might find it challenging to meet those expectations, but this shape-shifting Ollie chair easily hits the mark and does it with some added flair. Whether you’re trying to make the most of a micro apartment or simply enjoy multi-functional furniture, this unique chair is a small space lover’s dream.

As a lover of mid-century design, I’ve long been familiar with the work of designers like Charles and Ray Eames, Hans Wegner, and Eero Sarinen. But I confess that it was only recently—thanks, Pinterest!—that I became acquainted with the works of another mid-century great, the Italian designer Gio Ponti. Like a lot of furniture designers of that era, Gio Ponti was also an architect.

I am so excited to announce the official debut of Ms. Chesterfield, a modern, feminine version of the chunky old Chesterfield. It’s also the newest piece in a continued collaboration between Apartment Therapy and Interior Define. I got to see it in Chicago two weeks ago, and it is truly beautiful.

If you’re someone who’s just as into statement sofas as statement pillows, then you’re really going to love Joy Cho’s latest collection for Target. And it’s a first: Joy’s love of color and pattern explodes into a new category—furniture! The new Oh Joy!

Funny lady Ellen DeGeneres wants you to pull up a seat—preferably one of hers. The comedian’s lifestyle brand just debuted a multi-room collection of furniture with Thomasville. Thomasville began in 1904 in North Carolina, and continues to be a bastion of classic American furniture design. That, blended with Ellen’s personal aesthetic, resulted in the ED Ellen DeGeneres collection, which has two main styles: relaxed mid-century, and rustic modern.

Here’s a sneak peek of the one, the only Ms. Chesterfield. I’ve been sitting on another secret for WAY too long. I’m thrilled that I can FINALLY share our newest collaboration with Interior Define with all of you. Ready for 2017, here’s my interpretation of the iconic Chesterfield sofa: a sleeker, sexier and more modern version, and she’s called Ms. Chesterfield.

West Elm’s Peggy sofa has been the source of much controversy this week. Here’s how the affordable mid-century style option went from popular pick to discontinued in just about six days. It all started when Anna Hezel’s piece, Why Does This One Couch From West Elm Suck So Much?, was published on The Awl last Thursday. In it, she details how she and her partner bought the Peggy after moving in together.

When you need a hammer, nails or other hardware supplies — home improvement behemoth Home Depot is one obvious place to turn. But when you need a dining table, baskets or a bar cart? It certainly isn’t the first place that comes to mind, however the hardware superstore’s growing selection of furniture (especially the Home Decorators Collection) has beautiful pieces if you’re willing to hunt for them. To jumpstart your search, here are 20 of my top picks.

Tomorrow, IKEA is launching the official press site for the new STOCKHOLM 2017 collection. But today, I received an advance paper copy of the catalog in the mail and just had to share some favorites ASAP: there are some really strong designs (some classic, some more funky) at very good prices. The pieces in the collection will be available in the US starting in April and I can tell you, I’ve definitely got my eye on that rattan cabinet. I see a trip to Schaumburg in my future.

With well over 48 sofas (not counting custom pieces, sectionals and all size options) in their catalog of products, Room & Board has a dizzying assortment of furniture. When we visited their Manhattan showroom in Chelsea, we were honestly taken aback by the vastness of the store, not even knowing where to start our tests. So we can understand how anyone considering a R&B sofa might have a similar plight. How do you narrow down what you’re looking for?

We celebrate Valentine’s Day a little differently around here. You see, the day of love, to us, is a chance to profess our adoration of furniture, designers, and basically anything that goes in the home. So this week, we’re sharing our passion for a handful of our favorite heralded furniture designers and the homes they outfitted and loved for themselves. Come along, people all over the design world, and hop aboard this love train.

Many of us have been there: You’re on the hunt for a new sofa but you’re tired of the options at your local stores, so you go online to wrangle some fresh ideas. Plenty make your “maybe” list and grace your dedicated Pinterest board, but you just can’t bite the bullet without sitting on the sofa yourself. We get it…that’s a tricky position to be in.

Have you been eyeing a sofa at Crate & Barrel but can’t make it into one of their locations to test it out for yourself? Or maybe you have a few contenders on your list, but need help narrowing them down? That’s where the Apartment Therapy Sofa Squad comes in. We had eight of our editors hit up C&B (as well as four other stores) to couch surf through all 20 models on the floor of the retailer’s SoHo location, taking note of vital sofa-buying criteria: How deep is it?

This month, we are kicking off a new series: The Apartment Therapy Sofa Squad. Internally known simply as “Sofa Squad”, our editorial team converged on New York City to couch surf our way through a hefty helping of retailers. We sat. We lounged. We plopped. We cocooned. We nestled. We faux napped (some may have actually napped.) All in the name of Sofa Squad. SS’s mission is to do the sitting and rating for you.

More than a century before the Eameses created their simple, honest furniture designed to appeal to the everyman, a style of furnishings emerged in Germany, one whose simplicity, visual lightness, and playful geometries were a herald of things to come. Biedermeier is notable for being the first decorative movement that was created by and for the middle class, and even today, after two centuries, these pieces still feel surprisingly fresh and modern.

Buying furniture can be intimidating, even if you know what you’re looking for in terms of style (if you don’t, that’s an entirely different mountain to climb.) For instance, how do you really know what you’re spending your valuable dollars on will last? What materials are best for wear-and-tear? What questions should you be asking a sales person before committing to a purchase? We turned to the pros (i.e.

When I graduated from college in 2005, and began furnishing my first apartment, mid-century modern design was just beginning to capture the popular imagination. Twelve years later, the trend shows no signs of slowing down, and the very designers and tastemakers once responsible for its popularity are baffled. Why hasn’t the furniture-buying public moved on to something else? Steven Kurutz of The New York Times asks, “Why Won’t Mid-century Design Die?

It started, as things so often do, with a Comic Sans joke. From there, our team Slack chat was abuzz with fonts and furniture (and decor) comparisons. Below are a few highly scientific, internationally renowned design (graphic): design (furniture) analogies from the creative minds of Apartment Therapy Editorial. Poor, poor Comic Sans. It just can’t catch a break! It has become the internet’s favorite whipping boy, shorthand for outdated taste and mom vibes.

Sleepwear is a many-splendored thing. On top of being a great last-minute gift idea, a solid set of pajamas is guaranteed to keep you (and your loved ones) comfy and warm all winter long. Luckily, the Internet likes jammies just as much as we do, and while most loungewear on the market deserves some time to shine, we thought it would be fun to focus on two of our current faves: adult onesies and matching family sets.

Convertible tables have been a small space staple for decades, but what they offer in functionality, they often lack in style. Paris-based Boulon Blanc wants to change that with their new transformable table. While traditional convertible tables use an X-shaped mechanism that’s reminiscent of an ironing board, Boulon Blanc has a patented rotating hinge instead. The result is an organic-inspired, transformative shape whether it’s used as a coffee table or a dining table.

Nothing beats the real deal, but when your wallet hasn’t quite caught up to your great taste, there are ways to get the look without going ridiculously over budget. Lookalikes abound, but not everyone is in the “ok with it” camp. For those who are, we offer up the following scenario: The second you win the lotto, you’ll be on board to pony up for the originals, but until that day comes, we might find you lounging on these knock-offs of classic beauties.

There are lots of reasons why you might have a too-big or too-bulky piece of furniture in your home. Perhaps it’s an inherited piece you can’t part with. Maybe you need a large piece of furniture for storage. Whatever the case, you don’t have to live with a heavy piece of furniture visually weighing down a room.

Poufs, floor pillows, low ottomans and small stools—these are all great decor elements to add to a living room whenever you need extra seating or more softness. But it’s not always crystal clear exactly where your newly purchased or DIYed pouf or floor pillow should go. In the place of side chairs? As a coffee table? Kind of floating off to the side?

One of my favorite things about home design is the wonderful variety of ways in which clever designers have re-invented the chair. When you picture a chair you probably think of one of the traditional forms of the chair, with a back and a seat and legs.

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

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?

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.

For some, the choice of what type of coffee table is easy; an intuitive design decision. Or, maybe it’s even been decided for you, if it’s been inherited from a roommate, partner or family member. For others, any number of variables—from unusual living room layouts to oversized furniture to kids or pets—can confuse the issue. Do you need a coffee table to set stuff down on while you watch TV or entertain friends? Or does the room feel too open or naked without it?

Upgrading to a bigger space? Good on you! You’ll love waking up every morning without the guarantee of smashing your shins on the foot of the bed as you walk around it. But you might find your old stuff looks a little, well, small in that new, more spacious apartment.

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.

So you bought an Eames chair because it was cool. It’s okay—so did I. But now when people come over and say, “I like your chair, where did you get that?” it’d be nice to tell them a little more than, “It’s from a designer.” Here are 10 fun facts about your chair that you can throw around at the next cocktail party, because, you know, knowing stuff is also pretty darn cool, too. 1.

...and one that's too big.

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.

Benches look great in hallways and under windows. They function perfectly in an entryway. They’re a surprising but useful addition to a dining room furniture set. But in living rooms they’re often to relegated to the sidelines — along the walls — and usually housing some decor vignette. There’s nothing wrong with benches in your living room looking pretty. But they can do so much more.

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.

There is some pretty great stuff at IKEA. But it’s hard not to be jealous of IKEA shoppers from the 70s and 80s when you see some of the amazing stuff that used to line the retailer’s shelves. Here are eleven favorite vintage pieces that we’d love to see make a comeback. Above: IKEA’s TAJT, seen here on the cover of their 1973 catalog (via Scraphacker), is a pretty clever design — and maybe the most attractive chair-that-turns-into-a-bed I’ve ever seen.

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

Even if your home is full of lovely things, you might, occasionally, feel the urge for newness. It’s only human to crave a little variety. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s time to buy new things. You can get the feeling of a new home, without buying anything at all, by mixing up the things you already have. Here are seven ways to do just that. 1. Pull your furniture away from the wall.

Bookcases don’t have to be boring. After you see these 8 designs, you may never be satisfied with plain old, run-of-the-mill bookcases ever again. Sorry about that. The SCALA bookcase by Faktura, with its asymmetrical shelves, is more visually interesting than your average bookcase. It’s quite lovely — and is available to purchase for $1,400, no DIYing required. This beauty is the Gerald Bookcase, available from Made Goods.

When the budget is tight and you don’t have tons of time to spend shopping, sometimes purchasing a lot of your home’s design elements from the same few places is just the easy thing to do. So then what can you do to make sure your living room doesn’t look like a catalog spread and that your home feels like “you?” Find the answer in a few simple steps.

We spend so much time in the kitchen. We spend so much time on our kitchens. The last thing you want to plonk in that space is a great big hunk of rainforest-themed plastic! Here are some high chairs that are good looking and long wearing, that you will use many kids over and never tire of seeing (and wiping down) day in, day out. 1. Svan Signet’s High Chair. A customizable chair with optional seat cover, wrap around bentwood bucket seat.

Looking to make an impact on your home this weekend that you can afford? How about free? It’ll cost a little energy, time (and muscle strength) but if you’re looking for some ways to improve your small (or any size) space, try these five free ideas. 1. Improve your home’s traffic flow How you and guests move through your space has a big effect on how spacious your home is perceived.

The editors in NYC got the chance to go see the new IKEA PS 2014 Collection this morning, and it’s an amazing one. Created by 14 young designers from around the globe, its focus is on solutions for small space living – in IKEA’s words “to live more simply and do more with the space you have”.

Have you ever come across a cool thrift store furniture find — perhaps a filing cabinet, desk or credenza — that had your style, but also had a lock with keys long since gone? Or have you lost your keys to a piece of furniture in your home? It’s not impossible to restore locking function to vintage and antique furniture finds; here are a few tips on where to start from a locksmith.

Did you hear? IKEA reissued the popular Frosta stool, available again in the U.S. starting February 1st. Which means it’s time to resurrect our favorite hacks and paint jobs for this beloved and now-classic piece of budget-friendly furniture. While the new versions will be in pastel instead of plain birch, there’s still plenty of work to do to make them your own. Here’s inspiration and some ideas from over the years…. A starry-eyed surprise from Home Story.

Wicker furniture might seem like an invention of the Victorian era, but that’s just when it hit the English and American markets. In fact, wicker is one of the oldest methods of making furniture, common all over the world for thousands of years. But wait, I’ll bet you’re wondering what wicker is exactly, am I right? So let’s define our terms, and take a quick look at the history of wicker.