Home Projects

Designer: Jen ChuClient: ChiLocation: Fort Greene — Brooklyn, New York My friend, Chi, grew up in this room. She moved out for college, and when she came back, the room seemed to need a face lift more than ever. The dingy paint with the poor lighting made the room unbearably drab. The lack of storage made it impossible to maintain a tidy space. Fortunately, her room had great bones with plenty of wall space and nice hardwood floors.

Samsung Galaxy Tab and Toshiba Folio 100 widening the available options in the growing handheld computing category. But with all these models available and without the opportunity to hold them in your hand, how do you know which size is best for you?

One of our tips for “How to Know When to Replace Your Dishwasher” was to check that your dishwasher is draining properly by looking out for water leftover after it runs a cycle. But the truth is, not all standing water is a bad sign. After a few awesome commenters asked about their own water woes, we’re here to help set the record straight.How much water should there be?Anywhere around 1 cup of water leftover after a cycle is normal.

If you’re a console gamer who’s fortunate enough to have the pleasure of owning a 27″ iMac, at one point or another you’ve probably leaned back in your swivel chair, taken a look at your massive screen, and wondered what it would be like to play some Modern Warfare 2 on that bad boy. Or perhaps you’re a college student/gamer moving into a tiny dorm room, looking for a way to save some space.

Being a writer by trade—with more than a few writer friends—we’ll often get caught in discussions about semantics. Things like whether it’s proper to say “done” or “finished,” for example. But recently we got caught up in an Unplggd-worthy battle of meaning: When you want it to be cooler, do you turn the air conditioner “up” or turn it “down?”You say po-TAY-to, I say po-TAH-to. You say turn it up, I say turn it down.

Today, we welcome the newest Unplggd contributor, Vivian Kim. Hailing from San Francisco, Vivian is a self-described “geek at heart”, gamer and musician with a love for tech and DIY. Please tell her what you think of her first post here at Unplggd!So you’ve had your Series 1 Bose SoundDock iPod speakers for a number of years–it still sounds great, and for being released in 2004, the design still manages to stand the test of time.

We admitted in yesterday’s 5 Things You Should Check on Your HDTV Right Now that burn-in isn’t the problem it used to be (mostly thanks to newer TVs with pixel-shifting features). But that doesn’t mean it’s obsolete. Thankfully, the burn-in cure is quick and painless—and you probably already have all the necessary tools. Check out the solution (and a great prevention idea called the “100-hours rule”) under the jump.

You might not think you need one. But as soon as the TV screen flashes to darkness and the time on your cable box begins to blink “12:00,” you’re going to wish you’d spent your tax refund on an emergency power generator instead of that cruise to Cancun. The next time you’ve got the extra cash, turn to this online Generator Finder guide to help choose the right one for your needs—even if you live in an apartment.

I’ve never been a fan of the bi-fold doors on our bedroom closet. My biggest complaint is that when the doors are open, as you see in the second photo, portions of the closet are almost inaccessible. And with two vain men sharing one small closet, we need all the space we can get! Rather than install new doors I decided to convert these bi-fold doors into swing-out doors.

Michael found a vintage Steelcase bench from the 60s and decided to replace the ripped vinyl upholsery — with Missoni! Michael chose a thoughtful mix of Missoni Kew and Missoni Claremont to totally transform and update the steel bench.Missoni upholstery-weight fabric is not cheap — but it elevated the bench to great heights!After purchasing the Missoni textiles from Amara, Michael hired a local upholsterer to do the magic.

It’s been a long-standing legend that “real” cooks use gas-powered stoves. But before you go empty your appliance budget on a new one, you might want to consider if an electric stove better suits your needs. The truth is, when compared on seven different categories, the electric stove wins over gas four times. Click through to discover when it’s better to have an electric stove and decide—finally!—what’s right for your kitchen.

Yesterday, we featured 5 Tips for Annual Air Conditioner Maintenance. It was a helpful article for anyone with central A/C, but Unplggd reader Amanda H pointed out that we completely neglected many small, cool dwellers with window or free-standing air conditioning units.Just like any other appliance in your place, the window A/C also needs tender love and care. Make sure to give it a thorough cleaning at least once a year:1. Wash the filter.

Before you go blasting the cool air from your A/C, make sure you’ve given your trusty appliance it’s yearly check-up. Air conditioners require regular maintenance to work at their peak. If you follow our tips each year, you’ll be staying cool and saving cash—in energy bills and unexpected repair costs.1. Change the filter.Central air systems should have their filters changed at least every few months.

Although we’ve been hearing rumours that brass and bronze are back, many of us still prefer the clean cool look of silver. But, what if you fall in love with a bronze something? Now what? We found this tip that will turn your brass object into silver faster than you can say Abracadabra!According to this post we found on new blog The Modness (and Madness) of 9251, all it takes is a can of KleanStrip KS-3 Premium stripper.

It doesn’t matter what you call it, fuse box, breaker box, circuit breaker box, all that matters is that it’s labeled. It doesn’t matter if you rent or own, when the power goes out, or diy projects are in progress, it’s best to be prepared.We’ve spent many an hour yelling back and forth across the house while trying to find the right breaker to turn off, “How about now?” ….”No!”Does that sound familiar?

Dr. Peter Tsou of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory once said, “you could take a two- or three-bedroom house, insulate it with aerogel, and you could heat the house with a candle. But eventually the house would become too hot.” So why haven’t we all been spraying our buildings with the stuff? Unfortunately, for the past 75 years aerogel has been way too expensive, but that’s all about to change.

Our Homies winner in the Kids at Home category, Meg of Whatever posted Before & After images of her kitchen remodel — and it’s a total transformation.The massive makeover took 3 months and involved tearing down a wall to transform a porch into an expanded family area of the new kitchen.You can see more pictures of the process Whatever | Before and After and see a great list of FAQ and resources from Meg in a follow up post Whatever | Questions.

While we were working with a client this week at their shop, we pretty much got locked in the bathroom. Yep, definitely a first! The doorknob came loose, wouldn’t catch the door release and 30 minutes and a non-emergency call to the fire department later, we now know some tips for handling this type of crazy situation.1) Try to stay calm. While it is quite a strange feeling to be stuck in a small space, relax and stay calm.

When we talk chalkboard paint here at Apartment Therapy, there are invariably those who voice that the trend has run its course. Do you agree?…If you do, and if you have the trend painted onto a surface in your own home, here’s how to paint over it: Clean the wall thoroughly and allow to dry fully. Use fine sandpaper to lightly sand the surface of the chalkboard paint. Pay particular attention to the edges, as chalkboard paint may sit higher than the rest of the paint on the wall.

Hi! My husband and I just made a faux fireplace on our new loft. The top piece is sustainable salvaged maple from our local re-use shop. We cut it in half (going to make a coffee table out of the other piece) and stained it with a clear coat for protection.

You’ve seen the Sun Jar and you love it. The trouble is the price. You can’t just fathom paying $45 for each solar light. You’d be paying almost $500 to light up your garden and your rooms. That just doesn’t make any sense! Thankfully, here at Unplggd, our readers were quick to point out that you can easily assemble your own Sun Jar for a fraction of the cost.We love the Sun Jars, but they are a bit too expensive for what they are worth.

Ever since Ikea made glass desks really affordable, they have been popping around everywhere. We bet that you know quite a few people who have glass desks. Do they like them much? One thing is for sure, if you are using a glass desk as you computer desk, you may hit a problem or two when you try activating your mouse. Modern optical mice work almost anywhere. It’s kind of strange to realize that they don’t work on glass.The thing is that glass desks look so good.

As newlyweds with a clean slate &mdash meaning, an empty, unfurnished apartment &mdash we decided to buy a platform wood bed frame before anything else, but then were left with the question of how to cover the box spring.

Are CD players still relevant? When was the last time that you actually used a real CD player, not the combo drive on your laptop? I can’t really remember, but it seems that these devices are still useful, just like old DVD players. A lot of people still have hundreds of CDs and these CDs can be easily played in a standalone CD player, like these ones. Of course, they belong to different markets. One of them is a standalone player that’s been on the market for years.

Let’s just say the kitchen was not what attracted us to our new home. Country rooster decor was in abundance and so were peeling vinyl floor tiles, 80s lace valances, and honey-stained cabinetry — not exactly our dream kitchen. However, coming out of grad school, we weren’t really in a position for a total dream kitchen remodel, so we prioritized our list of essential updates, enlisted a handyman friend, and went to work…FIRST ROW• 1 Before & After views.

We’ve been accused of a lot of things, not the least of which is featuring Eames shell chairs too frequently. We’ve also been accused of giving the wrong advice for how to restore them to a glowing shine. Well we still love them so we won’t offer a moratorium on talking about them, but we can offer the best tip we’ve heard for how to (really) restore a fiberglass shell chair yourself.

Good Question: My boyfriend and I just moved into a beautiful old house with wood floors (no carpet) in LA about a month ago. I love it, but there is a distinct old-house smell. I’ve tried candles, Lysol, Meyer’s plug-ins, throwing dryer sheets in the closets…. to no avail. Any ideas? Ideally we’d just get rid of the “old” smell, not mask it with something else. Thanks!

10 great tips on how to find a lost object. Don’t look for it. That is to say, don’t look for it yet. Wait until you are in the proper frame of mind, and are prepared to search systematically. It’s where it’s supposed to be. Amazingly, our possessions are often right where they’re supposed to be. Can’t locate your raincoat? Check the closet where it’s supposed to be kept (someone may have hung it up for you). Domestic Drift.

Why settle for a plain Jane Hallmark greeting card when you can put a little of your own effort (aka blood, sweat and undoubtedly a few tears) into making your own greeting cards.

After seeing Jeanine’s post on Desks and Furniture Designed From Plumbing Pipes, we thought we’d share a DIY we did a few years ago. For some reason, we decided to build our own bed. Out of pipes. We’ve used it every night for four years, and it still looks pretty good. Detailed plan follows.We found the project in Country Home magazine and since it’s not online, we scanned in our tattered page from the magazine.

Kristy has a good question: A few months ago, I moved into in a small apartment with a built-in wall air conditioner. I live in Colorado, where the weather is starting to get cold and windy, and I have discovered the wind blows right in around the wall unit. Any suggestions for sealing, insulating, covering, or otherwise blocking the draft?(Note: Include a pic of your problem and your question gets posted first.

A few tips for how to remember if you’ve turned off the stove, heater, iron, etc., after the jump. We read about this somewhere a few years back and it actually works–Clap your hands once when you’ve turned the appliance off. You’re more likely to remember the clapping than the actual process of turning the iron or stove off. Saying it out loud. When you turn the oven off, say out loud, “The oven is turned off, or I’ve turned off the oven.

Parting is such sweet sorrow…especially if you’re parting with a mattress that you wished you could keep forever and ever. Such was the case a week ago when we bid our BoConcept review Fahrenheit Mattress farewell after a 30 day trial period.

If you’re already living in a home without a VHS tape in sight, congratulations. Some others, we know, have a harder time purging old technology. If you’re sentimentally hanging on to your tapes, why not take the time to rip them to DVDs? If you’re hanging on because you don’t know what else to do with ’em, read on…Donate old VHS movies to your local library.

Here’s another lesson from Shelly, Mod Home Ec Teacher and queen of DIY – this time it’s a tutorial on doing mock tufting of sofa cushions. Like most projects, it started with a problem to be solved: Every time anyone would get up from the loveseat, the back cushions were smashed down, seams all askew. My compulsive self had to walk over, re-fluff, straighten and then I could move on.

This is a small space DIY that’s clever, easy, and cheap. AT:SF reader Killorn wrote to us and told us how she turned an IKEA LACK shelf into under-bed storage. Before She says: I could not find a suitable storage bed in my budget that fit in the 64″ x 88″ alcove in my tiny apartment (450 sq. ft.), so I decided to build a plywood stage around a rolling LACK shelf to give the bed the appearance of a built-in.

Hanging frames on your wall can either be a walk in the park, or your worst nightmare (which depending on your nightmares, could be one in the same, but I digress). See how to hang frames with the dreaded “two hook” back, easily and on the first try after the jump.Hanging frames on the wall is relatively straight forward unless you are dealing with something tricky like plaster or concrete.

We love a simple DIY solution, so when we happened across a set of photos explaining how to make cute shelves out of inexpensive (or free, if you’ve got a nose for scavenging) wooden crates, we were all over them. See the final result, along with detailed instructions and photos, below the jump.

The handle broke off my toilet a few weeks ago, right at that time when it’s too late to go to the hardware store but too early to wait until the next day to fix it (my boyfriend and I are both night owls so are often up into the early morning.) Sticking our hands into the tank every time we needed to flush seemed . . . unappealing, so we rigged up a temporary solution that we happen to think is pretty great.

I wish I had heard about these earlier. I just finished up adding all the outlets to a newly renovated basement and until now the only choices you had were the older style double round plugs or the rectangular ‘decora’ style. Both styles require a cover plate to hide the wires and holes that come with installing plugs and switches. The area of plugs is not one that is usually known for innovation but Bocci has now added a third style to the mix.

We’re in the middle of painting the entire inside of a two-bedroom house right now, and thought we would share one of our favorite painting tricks. If you’re using latex paint, brushes and rollers can be frozen overnight, saving you the arduous task of cleaning them until you’re done with the project.Simply put the brush or roller into a plastic bag and stick it in the freezer. When you’re ready to start painting again, all you have to do is take it out and let it thaw.

If you need a shot of color in your home, painted furniture is always an option. We rounded up a selection of solid wood furniture from IKEA that could be dressed up with a coat or two. Some of these are unfinished, and some have a clear lacquer coat that just needs some light sanding before you prime it…Top Photo: Left to Right, Top to Bottom:• Rast 3 Drawer Chest, $39.99• Mackis Magazine File, $7.99• Stranda 4 Drawer Chest, $149• Fira Mini Chest with Drawers, $12.

We’ve got a drawer full of unruly extensions cords that we’ve been trying to unsuccessfully keep in order with rubber bands and twist ties. While looking for cable management solutions, we found a tip about using a cardboard roll for cable storage and thought we’d give it a try…The version shown on Unclutter struck us as a fine idea, but it was missing a little something-something.

So the thing about living in a rental is that someone lived there before us. Someone lazy who did not tape off the hardware on the doors or remove it entirely before painting. We are a little frustrated by the fact that all the hardware is encrusted with paint and nothing works correctly. We go to the hardware store and we stare at the shelves and we wonder: which product will best remove the paint?

Photo by Christopher BakerName: Page Marchese NormanTitle: Editorial Director of Decorating, Martha Stewart OmnimediaLocation: Brooklyn Heights, NY Introducing our third January Jumpstart Judge from the former state of Blueprint, style director, Page Marchese Norman. She’ll be helping to award our six Ebay prizes to the deserving DIY-ers who braved the possible perils of home projects with us this month on AT.

So you scored that Danish Modern credenza/side table/lamp/chair off craigslist or you actually just found one on the street, so how do you keep it in good shape? Tips after the jump:If it’s an authentic piece, its likely to be made of teak, a very durable wood that is normally oiled and not lacquered. I currently am in possession of my Grandmother’s teak furniture that she kept in good shape since the 60’s when she bought it.

When we made the switch from a plain old mattress and box springs to a platform bed, we started to change the way we made our bed. Before we had a duvet, and now we prefer using layers of quilts and blankets, neatly tucked and folded under the mattress to show off the bed’s clean, low-slung lines. This image (of the Hubert Modern Platform Bed at TREOmodern) shows the way that layers of bedding in the same family of colors can create a “striped” effect.

Remember these stairs? We slinked to them earlier this year after AT:LA blogged them. It turns out that they were made by an Australian company, Unicraft Joinery. We’ve been haunted by them ever since, but were somewhat dissuaded by the naysayers on Lifehacker and Unclutterer… However, we finally found some DIY instructions. Check them out here: Staircase Drawers – Canadian Home Workshop.

Product: Jig-A-Loo All Around LubricantPrice: $14 Rating: Recommend*(This is from our guest tester, Jenny G., who won a bottle of Jig-A-Loo in this post. Thanks, Jenny!)Short version:The incredible squeak of the front door still exists, but we still really like this can of Jig-A-Loo. Long version:The first test was, of course, the squeaky front door hinges. The squeak won’t stop–apparently, as one of the original commentators said, we need to get inside the hinge to stop this squeak.

Hello AT,My AC units are currently installed in the bottom of my windows. I’veheard it’s possible to install units at the top of the window instead. I’d love to do this and say goodbye to cold air blowing directly on me and hello to unobstructed views… (Note: Include a pic of your problem and your question gets posted first.

Hello AT,In my endless vacillation between less space/better neighborhood, more space/not so great, I’m moving to a tiny studio. I don’t mind cozy, but the single closet in the place is the major drawback. There is no door, and it has a narrow long layout, with the bars one behind the other. In real-estate terms this was called a ‘walk-in closet’!

Welcome again to Ann, one of the writers vying for a blogging position at the upcoming AT:Home Tech. Comment away. I love the moment on the decorating makeover shows when they bring out the 40″ LCD display and show how much more style-friendly it is than that clunky 50″ box-television that had been looming over everything. It gets even better when the display is cleverly hidden beneath a framed old master on hinges.

Product: The Monkey Hook picture hanger Designer: A Monkey & A Marketer Price: $11.25/30 hooks (10 original, 10 gorilla grade, 10 flush mount) Rating: Recommend* Like trying to reinvent the mousetrap, a product comes along every now and then that DOES make a significant improvement in an ancient field. The Monkey Hook is one of them. An ingenious and simple design, The Monkey Hook uses one rigid piece of wire to replace the need for a hammer, pin and hook.

Product: The Sonno MattressDesigner: UnknownPrice: from $1,098 Rating: Strong Recommend*We made the leap! After thinking about it for a few years, we bought a DWR Sonno memory foam mattress two months ago and have been testing it every night. The verdict? After a funky, stinky, off gassing beginning, we couldn’t be happier. It just sucks you in when it is time to sleep, and you can feel all of your muscles relaxing the second you lie down.

Ever thought of making your own shades? If you’d like to know how to make rice paper shades, here’s how I do it. (Watch. Ask Questions. Have confidence. Curse me for making it look so easy…)I love these shades because they’re simple and organic and function well. They glow like Naguchi lamps. They work splendidly for our San Francisco Victorian or Bungalow tall, narrow, double hung windows (38″ wide max, unless you can find wider paper).

Hello AT, I’m trying to hang pictures on my wall. My ceilings are 10 feet 6 inches. I have 14 inches of ceiling moldings and wall, then 4 inches of crown molding, then its 100 inches to the baseboard and 8 inches of baseboard. I have panel moldings at 10 inches below the crown molding and 10 inches up from the top of the baseboard. At what level should I hang the pictures? I heard someone say “54 inches”, but from what? From both floor and ceiling, it looks really low.