Home Projects

Should you reach for natural or synthetic? Flat or angled? Here, the pros break it down for you.

I have always loved the look of an origami lampshade — the simplicity and graphic nature makes it a statement piece in any home. When my friend Erin showed me her new book Paper Parties, I couldn’t believe how easy it was to replicate one of these at home, for a fraction of the price you will pay in the shop, and you get to choose any pattern you would like!

The new space will make your jaw drop.

The old laundry room was such an eyesore that it "quickly became the dumping ground for items we wanted to be hidden from our every day living space," the homeowner says.

Do you have a love/hate thing with your window A/C unit? Love overfloweth when it’s hell hot in the summer, and then the hate kicks in during winter when it’s nothing but an ugly appliance that lets in cold air. Let yourself get excited when it’s finally time to either: a) remove it from the window entirely; or b) cover that baby and forget about it for awhile. Store or Insulate Your Window Unit: The gaps around air conditioner units cause major energy loss.

Here at Apartment Therapy, we love a colorful kitchen. But we also recognize that painting your kitchen is a little different from say, painting your living room or bedroom. It feels a little more scary, a little more permanent. It can also affect your home’s resale value. If you love color, but these things have you feeling a little trepidatious, why not consider blue?

Name: Graeme & Rebekah Molloy Type of Project: Kitchen Remodel Location: Chautauqua Park, Des Moines, Iowa Type of building: 1920 Tudor The Renovation Diaries are a collaboration with our community in which we feature your step by step renovation progress and provide monetary support towards getting it done in style. See all of our Reno Diaries here. Rebekah and Graeme are now totally in the thick of their kitchen reno.

Updating old laminate countertops without having to completely replace them can be a big challenge. Faux finishes can often look, well… faux, and tackling a DIY project (like pouring your own concrete countertops) can be tricky and exhausting. That’s why I was so impressed with this project from interior designer Kara Paslay.Kara managed a realistic concrete look without the hassle and weight of fully-formed slabs.

Most of our Renovation Diary projects involve transforming an existing space. This one was different because Faith and Mike chose to create a bathroom in their 1920s Columbus home where before there was only a sleeping porch. Originally the space was only 7 feet tall, with a sloping floor that would have to be replaced. It was a unique project, and a unique challenge. (You can see many more photos of the original space in the post that introduced Faith and Mike’s bathroom remodel.

TOP ROW:1. Before & After: A Trashed Curbside Dresser2. Before & After: An Unexpected Upholstery Project3. Before & After: Faux Snakeskin Table4. Before & After: Dresser Makeover5. Before & After: From Trash to Silk Screened Style BOTTOM ROW:6. Before & After: Ottoman Transformation7. Before & After: Salvaging a DIY Dresser Gone Wrong8. Before & After: Trash to Treasure Table in Just an Hour9. Before & After: Restoring a Solid Wood Desk10.

Nancy was recently faced with the challenge of completing a quick and affordable bedroom makeover for a couple who is adopting three siblings. She transformed a guest room into a bright and airy girl’s room in only five days, and while there are plenty of lovely touches in the space, it’s her simple and cheap solution for a wall treatment that really stopped me in my tracks.

Water-resistant, water-proof and life-proof cases can open up a world of freedom for phone addicts. But before the case ever makes the journey to the lake or the pool, it should be tested to ensure that the case and its seals are in working order. Inspect the case and seals for cracks, dust and dirt. Check that the seal or o-ring is clean an in place. Take a piece of paper, paper towel or anything else that will show when it gets wet, and close it inside the case.

My love affair with mudcloth is well documented. If you are unfamiliar with the stuff, mudcloth is a somewhat heavy fabric, sewn in strips, and dyed naturally with mud. It usually has a graphic pattern of geometric lines and dots, in high contrast black and white. Given the process of making it, it’s no surprise that the real deal is also somewhat expensive.

Stacy had a great home office. The question was, would it be a great nursery, especially if she wanted to re-use many of the same pieces? Let’s see what this room looks like reconfigured as a nursery and which items Stacy kept in the space: Sweet, right? As you can see, Stacy kept the gray paint along with the colorful turquoise shutters (re-repurposed from her wedding). The fetching tissue paper artwork is a DIY project.

Undermount sinks are often a no-brainer decision when remodeling a kitchen. There’s lots to love: they look nice, let you to wipe water and crumbs directly from the counter into the sink with a single swipe, and they eliminate that gunk-magnet seam around the lip of overmount sinks. With all these pros, what’s the catch?

The apron-front, or farmhouse, sink has been a popular fixture in all kinds of kitchens for some time now, and with the rise in popularity of kitchens that mix traditional and modern elements, it feels more appropriate than ever. If you’re considering adding one of these big beauties to your space, here’s everything you need to know. Searching for a farmhouse sink? See all of our best picks here.

If you’re looking for a relatively painless, low-cost way to update your kitchen, and have ever been on the internet, you know that painting your cabinets is the way to go. Honestly, I can’t think of better dollar-to-dramatic improvement ratio on any other project. And the news gets better: It’s way easier now than it was the olden days, before the miracle of chalk paint.

That trash is treasure.

This kitchen was so dark that you could hardly see what you were cooking at night.

While a coffee table is by nature low—the right height to set your drink (and perhaps your feet) without blocking the television—an attractive coffee table display will have subtly varying heights (as well as properly organized zones for decor and useful items like remotes and coasters). → Make It Beautiful: How To Style the Perfect Coffee Table The key to handling disparate, not-particularly-attractive elements is corral, corral, corral.

“Stuff”—we all have it. Some of us are just better at displaying ours than others. To level the playing field a bit we reached out to a bunch of decorating professionals for styling tips because you deserve to have a home that feels just right. Today, we’re talking shelfies, vignettes and coffee table tableaus; they can be tricky to nail down, but since these little decor “moments” really can set the mood in your home, the effort is worth it.

Ask any cat owner with an ounce of decor-savvy what is amongst their top “pet peeves” and litter boxes will likely be high up there (right next to surprise phantom hairballs). Most litter boxes aren’t much too easy on the eyes, and some are just crazy contraptions that forgo any apparent forethought about decor-friendliness (we did roundup our favourite cat litter boxes not that long ago, so all hope is not lost).

I was warming up to make a bunch of wagon wheel coffee table jokes — most referencing When Harry Met Sally — when I realized this is actually a mill wheel. We’ll just have to appreciate this project for what it is: an approachable, unique upcycle of a neglected old piece of equipment. Here’s how this project came to be, according to Roxanne of The Honeycomb Home: While at a flea market, an old wooden wheel caught my eye. The seller said it may have been from a grist mill.

After spending four muddy days under flood water this mirror was on top of a pile of trash, destined for the tip. Then I got sentimental and retrieved it. It was too wet and filthy to bring inside so it spent the next 6 months outside before I finally decided it was time to make it work or let it go. I toyed with the idea of painting it bright yellow but in the end I couldn’t do it, so I kept it simple and tried to return it to its former glory.

TOP ROW:1. Before & After: Molly’s IKEA Rast Turned Campaign Chest2. Before & After: IKEA Changing Table into Home Office Desk3. Before & After: The DIY IKEA Office Organizer4. Before & After: Bet You Can’t Guess What This IKEA Malm was Converted Into5. Before & After: IKEA Malm Gets an Upholstered Ombre Makeover BOTTOM ROW:6. Before & After: Anna’s Take on the IKEA Rast7. Lizzie’s Wallpapered IKEA Lack Table8. Before & After: IKEA Granas Table Gets a Rustic Makeover9.

We’ve seen the topic of painting upholstery come up from time to time to time, but this Before & After made my jaw drop. While I may have been on the fence before — one look at the After photo and I’m a believer.the After!Given the option of spending hundreds of dollars to reupholster her Craigslist chair or experimenting with painting the fabric, Kristy Swain of Hyphen Interiors broke out the brushes.

Architectural salvage shops are increasingly popular destinations for designers, collectors, and remodelers, and for the home decorator looking for unique furnishings, there’s no better place to start a search. In part, salvage stores hold such wide appeal because the items there carry the forgotten tales of the past, and invite collectors to imagine creative reuse ideas.

Isn’t a huge piece of art such a daring focal point for a space? Not only does it highlight a favorite piece of art you might have, but it really shows you’re not afraid of being bold in your home. But when not incorporated well, an oversized piece of art can overwhelm, snatch up all of the attention and ruin an otherwise perfectly lovely room. So how do you play around with the scale of a canvas or framed art piece without things getting visually out of control?

I had no idea that my little kitchen overhaul would yield such a response, ranging from “awful” to “amazeballs.” Thanks for all the great comments, both good and bad. By the way, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Dr. Kevorkian, and stem cell research combined have nothing on the “brass knobs with stainless appliances” debate. I’m not sure which issue will take longer to resolve. And that brings us to the bathroom.

Small changes can make a big difference in your space.

They’re basically everything I love about HGTV renovation shows, condensed into short videos.

My kitchen Before.. just two-three months ago. Name:Type of Project:Location:Type of building:Whenever I am asked how you learn to make good interior design decisions, how to trust yourself or how to just plain have style, I say the same thing. Start by copying. I don’t mean the type of copying where you cheated in high school by looking at someone else’s answers.

Name: Ursula (7 years) Location: Soho, NY Making a room for Ursula in our new home together took awhile but it was a joy. For her first room to herself in our new life (we were sharing a one bedroom for a year), I was able to take a white sheetrock box with a high ceiling and make it airy but cozy and have plenty of storage for her growing lifestyle of clothes, dolls, costumes and toys. Before! During!

Your kitchen is only so big, so if you’ve run out of storage room, it’s time to make the space work harder and be more efficient. It’s easy to miss potential, but look closely and you’ll find lots more opportunities to store essentials and clutter. Here are five ways we often get it wrong, and how you can quickly remedy your kitchen mistakes.

Read and learn.

Butcher countertops are still having their moment. They can add warmth and character to an otherwise sterile kitchen, and the natural and classic look of wood can simultaneously upgrade a kitchen and give it a timeless feel. But as with any trend, you should be wary of adopting it unless it’s a style that truly and personally brings you joy. When it comes to butcher block countertops, which require extra maintenance and can pose unique challenges, this is especially true.

Of all the problems associated with urban living, noise is the one that drives people the most nuts (For an example, watch this Italian clip). From the knocking pipe in the bedroom, to the upstairs neighbor’s rock’n’roll medley, to the bridge and tunnel traffic outside the window, noise can disrupt sleep, distract you when concentrating and stress you out after work when you need to unwind.

Your apartment. It’s not quite a dream home. The floors are terrible and the kitchen is in need of an overhaul. Your rental might not be Mr. Right, but it is Mr. Right Now. If the place you call home feels a little dated, here are some easy ways to modernize your apartment.

We like to reserve for our very last Before & After roundup the projects that really wow you. As in, these ‘after’ photos will leave you shocked. Amazed. Inspired. Take a look at some of this year’s most dramatic transformations. Click on the slideshow to see the projects. To learn more about each project (and see more pictures), click the links in the captions.

Cooler weather means wearing jeans frequently, and wearing jeans frequently means wearing jeans out more quickly than you ever thought possible. If your favorite pairs are ripping, fraying, or just showing more wear-and-tear than you’d like, these 10 DIYs will keep them functioning and looking fabulous all fall. If you want a basic fix without adding too many distracting elements (these are jeans after all), try this tutorial on how to add a denim patch inside your favorite pair.

Good design is in the details—no matter how small. Today we’re here to shine the light (pun intended) on those white plastic light switch plates that are so commonplace, they’re often overlooked as permanent fixtures. No matter what your style, we promise there’s a wall plate that complements your home design better than the existing smudge-prone standard. All you need is a screwdriver and a few bucks, so start swapping.

No soil needed.

Here’s a look back at Maxwell’s renovation of his and Ursula’s new apartment in SoHo. If you missed any of this earlier in the year, you’ll definitely want to take a look — I think you’ll be impressed with how much he was able to achieve in such a short span of time. Here’s another view of the kitchen before, to give you an idea of what we were dealing with.

Ready for the most elegant party trick we’ve seen in a long time? Take just one cloth napkin and a pretty napkin ring and turn them into a beautiful bow to top off your table. If you’re hosting a holiday party or a casual get-together, use this bow-shaped accent to dress up each place setting. We’re willing to bet your guests will be begging to know how you made them.

On the floorplan, it’s listed as “Auxiliary Room,” a vague definition that falls far short of inspiration. What to do with this space, with no windows, no definition, and to be honest, no saving grace? Not to worry. Enter gentleman designer Matthew Patrick Smyth, who manages to turn slightly vague into totally specific. Through the lens of the talented Mr. Smyth, it’s part Kasbah but pure Kismet. And it stole the show at Hearst’s Designer Visions.

Some of my favorite before & afters are the ones where some intrepid DIYer sees the potential in a piece that everyone else would’ve left on the curb. From a side table turned pet bed to a humble crate turned into a swing, this year’s projects featured plenty of impressive repurposings. Check out some of our favorites. To view the ‘after’ photos, click the links for each project.

The right appliances have a huge effect on your quality of life. If you’ve ever lived in a home with broken, poorly-designed, or just rundown appliances, and then upgraded, you know what I mean. You go from annoyed every time you grab a beverage from your refrigerator, to really looking forward to opening the door. Since your fridge gets get used many times a day, those interactions really add up.

Over the years, we’ve shared a lot of money-saving projects, large and small. If you can make something at home easily and cheaply, why wouldn’t you? Save some cash and flex those DIY muscles with these ten ideas for things to make rather than buy, from the Apartment Therapy and Kitchn archives. Your wallet and your home will thank you. Household cleaners. Ban chemicals from your home once and for all, and save pennies too with these recipes for eco-friendly cleaning products.

Last week we discussed about getting started on wrangling our cords and cables in our home office, a project that required us to get moving on painting the interior before installing the cable channel guides we purchased. And painting we did!

I was sitting around the other day, thinking about pairing gold kitchen cabinet hardware with stainless steel appliances, and I suddenly remembered: I never showed you all any photos of the finished World’s Ugliest Condo bathroom!These photos were taken with an iPhone, but you can still see the what’s what. Enjoy.

This fix is cheap, easy, and super luxe-looking.

Before: The kitchen, although graced with beautiful large windows, left a little something to be desired. After: A new kitchen from the studs inward, including a new Kohler sink and industrial task lighting above the windows for more functionality.From Andi: Possibly the most luxurious thing is the increased square footage (we went from 95 to 170 square feet).

For all of us who have been following along with Claire and Jeffrey’s renovation, the ultimate moment has finally arrived. That’s right — the kitchen is finally complete, and it’s time for the big reveal. Before: The space viewed from the living room entry. After: Now, the kitchen is wide open, with an uninterrupted view of the window to the backyard.From Claire:We spend all of our free time in this room.

These wooden tables are the perfect natural refresh for your home design.

As stone countertops and stainless steel appliances are to a kitchen, a large flat panel television (and a comfy couch) in the living room is to a typical American household. But there’s one continuing trend we’d like to see people stop doing doing: hanging flat screen televisions over the fireplace.

One of the most important kitchen design decisions you’ll make, both for looks and functionality, is the layout. You have a few options—the tried and true U shape, or the elegant and functional galley shape. But if you love entertaining, and love the look of an open kitchen, there’s another kind of kitchen layout that’s worth a look: the L shape. An L-shaped kitchen has just two runs of cabinetry, arranged at right angles to each other. (The name pretty much says it all.

You'll want to steal the high-contrast color scheme for your own space.

New year, new kitchen.

Between beige walls, brown floor tiles, and oak wood cabinets, most rental apartments have cornered the market on neutral. If your walls are the color of a bandaid, and your landlord has no pity for your palette woes, it’s up to you to take the bull by the horns and deal with it. One of the easiest ways to combat the lack of vibrant color is with really bold bedding and artwork. You’d never walk away from Jen & Kirstie’s happy, welcoming rental and think it’s boring.

We all know that catalogs aren’t real life, but they can be excellent sources of inspiration to mine for your own home. IKEA has one of the best ones out there, and their 2019 edition (out this week!) is chock full of ways to add color, interest, and texture to your walls. Here are some clever and creative painting ideas to steal. Here, IKEA uses two complementary paint colors for the walls: a dusty blue and pink.

Here's proof that you don't have to bust down a wall to brighten up a dark space.

They may be some of the smallest details in a kitchen, but a change (or addition) of cabinet hardware can totally update a room’s entire look. Available in a disorienting array of finishes, shapes, sizes and materials, the sky’s the limit when it comes to choosing what to adorn your cabinet doors and drawers with. But perhaps you’re not entirely convinced that a few knobs can make a big visual difference in a kitchen? Check out the Photoshopped images below.

I am beyond thrilled with the result of my Style Cure and today I share my “after” photos! We went from a gloomy, unused, unfinished sunroom to a bright, open, and warm lounge area and office. There are so many elements in this new space that make me extremely happy, but just the fact that I can edit the photos for this post while sitting at a real desk in front of cheerful windows is enough to send me over the moon.

As long as the tap turns on, you don’t really think about your water. But you may have a problem that shows up in other ways, and hard water is one you should definitely pay attention to.

When you’re living in a small space, every detail counts. But sometimes those little things — the things that elevate a place from not quite right to effortlessly chic — can be hard to identify. Our first bit of advice? Swap your freestanding bookshelves for wall-mounted shelving. It’s an approach that was recommended by Maxwell in his “Apartment Therapist” column for Better Homes & Gardens.

Name: Aaron and Emily Choi Type of Project: Full remodel, including the kitchen and two bathrooms Location: La Jolla, California Type of building: Condo; 1300 square feet Yesterday we got a look at the beautiful results of Emily and Aaron’s condo renovation. Today we’re taking a closer look at one of the more practical aspects of the project: the budget. How did the actual price tag compare with Emily and Aaron’s estimate from before the project began? Read on to find out.

Soffia bought two of these tall, imposing pieces at an Icelandic Goodwill—I’ve dubbed them “bookdenzas”—and wanted to lighten them up and give them some personality to use in her son’s bedroom. Here’s what she came up with: Soffia tells us: The tall book case is an old piece of living room furniture that was very popular in Iceland in the 70s and 80s. I bought it for around $40 at a local Goodwill.

Last month we asked how much readers spent buying and installing a new water heater in their home. And you told us! We hope this information gives a basic sense of how much this new appliance costs, and how much you can expect to pay when hiring someone. Keep in mind, this is general and prices most likely vary in cities versus more rural locations, etc…Although this gives you a rough idea, you should always seek multiple quotes for any work done in your home.

So it’s time to stop telling yourself you’re okay with your old countertops, that they’re fiiiiiine, there’s nothing wrong with them, really. Because, truth be told, you just can’t stand to look at them one more minute. Maybe you tried an interim measure, a quick budget fix, but that reached its expiration point. The time has come and you couldn’t be more excited. But, before you get too giddy, there’s some bad news.

Short on space and lack a headboard? Pegboard, our favorite kitchen and workshop workhorse, may just be the solution you’ve been looking for. Carmel from Our Fifth House transforms her boy’s bedroom from bland to brilliant with a Union Jack paint job and inexpensive material.Carmel’s 8 year old son needed some easy access storage, so when she planned to DIY a headboard, pegboard won.

It’s March, which means tulips are popping up in stores everywhere. Take advantage of the tulip season, and learn the dos and don’ts for making them last longer and look their best. Plentiful clean water is pretty important to these pretty little flowers. When you’re first arranging them in their vase, re-cut each one so water has the best chance to travel up the stems.