Home Projects

Cedrick and Sunny are both from an apparel design background, and they have always been fascinated by modern architecture and industrial design. They really wanted to give the bathroom in their 1938 bungalow their 1938 bungalow “a vintage, industrial feel while still keeping it looking modern.” From Cedrick and Sunny : We pulled out and replaced the old harvest gold toilet, and the cracked floor tiles were replaced with a graphic, black and white hexagon mosaic tiles.

Cedrick and Sunny fell in love with the Potence lamp by Jean Prouvé after seeing it in a few homes featured in design magazines. “It’s an innovative and bold way to bring light towards the center of a room when there is no built-in, hardwired ceiling fixture.” says Cedrick. With some time and help from professionals, you, too, can build a replica of this 1950s puristic pivoting wall lamp.

When interior designer Melissa Miranda moved into the bachelor pad of her now-husband, builder-by-trade Ulises Serret, she wasted no time adding her own signature touch to the space. The open layout kitchen was the first project she undertook, and while the original renovation that Ulises completed prior to Melissa living in the space functioned, it wasn’t the right fit aesthetically for the couple, and so the kitchen underwent a third facelift.

This cottage kitchen had a lot to overcome: a less-than-functional layout, old cabinets, dated floors, and popcorn ceilings. Sarah from The Estate of Things gave it a whole new look (and usefulness, too): From Sarah: As is customary for this historic renovation and interior design blog, readers of The Estate of Things joined along in the design process throughout. The designer gathered input on a banquette build, readers weighed in on lighting choices, paint colors and appliances.

Gwen at The Makerista has been behind some of my favorite home projects recently. She’s got a great eye and an real-life approach to decorating that’s both polished and do-able — something all of us can aspire to. Check out what she did with this blank room… Gwen made the space into a new room for her son, finding a balance between kid-like desires and a classic look that’s not too juvenile.

For anyone who loves camping, the outdoors, or very cute design details, this Before & After of a young boy’s room is for you. The color palette and designs are young and fun, but will grow with the boy as he gets older. And the room features plenty of steal-able ideas and inspiration for folks of all ages! From designer Lia Griffith, of Lia Griffith Media: Creating a children’s bedroom design that won’t grow old in less than a year can be tricky.

With a baby on the way, Anna and her husband had to decide how they were going to fit a little person in their San Francisco one bedroom. The walk-in closet held the solution. From Anna: We had no extra room for a baby. The only “room” we had was our walk-in closet so we decided to convert that to our nursery. Or what we so lovingly call, a “Closery.” It took us about 2 months to purge all of our stuff and find wardrobes to replace the clothes we were keeping.

Erin and her husband were taking steps to lighten up their Colorado home. Their kitchen had good bones, so smaller projects done over time helped transform it from lovely and not their style, to the light and bright space they now love. From Erin: The kitchen was a place that we did small projects over a few years to bring a lighter feel to the space.

Ashley describes her lake house’s kitchen as a “Knotty Pine Convention” fit only for lumberjacks. The ’70s yellow counters weren’t helping the cause. What she really wanted was an open farmhouse vibe, without replacing the existing cabinets entirely. Here’s what it looks like now: The upper cabinets and island came out, and the walls got the beadboard treatment, customized open shelving, and a few coats of Behr Snow Fall to brighten it up.

Kim’s double wide mobile home was from 1991 and showing its age. Deciding to do a full renovation was a big decision (especially starting during the holidays!), but the results are spectacular. Wow! We especially love the more budget-friendly choices Kim made, like cork flooring throughout, and the IKEA kitchen.

It’s all too common that the room that should be the most relaxing is the one that’s the most chaotic- or just forgotten when it comes to decor. The master bedroom should be your sanctuary so that you can rest up and deal with everything else life has planned for you, right? After spending years creating and decorating her space, Virginia of Fynes Designs decided a master bedroom makeover was long overdue. Get ready for a wow! transformation.

This is the story of how one Clinton Hill co-op got a complete, top-to-bottom refresh. The apartment had a problem common to lots of older homes: a small, cramped kitchen, cut off from the rest of the living areas. The homeowners, who love to entertain, envisioned a new, modern kitchen, and an open, uninterrupted living area that would take full advantage of the apartment’s incredible light and views.

A lot of the kitchen Before & Afters we share here on Apartment Therapy feature dramatic changes: new cabinets, new countertops, new appliances, walls torn down. But in this Fort Greene kitchen, the changes are much more subtle. They’re so subtle, in fact, that flipping back and forth between the before and after photos is a little bit like one of those puzzles where you try to spot the differences between the two pictures. Can you spot the changes?

The second bathroom in Michelle and Brad’s condo was in a strange state of flux. The home’s previous owners had removed the bathtub with the hope of installing a washer and dryer, but since the addition of the washer and dryer was rejected by the co-op board, the bathtub was instead replaced with a couple of awkwardly placed IKEA cabinets.

When Brian and Greg purchased a 1,500 sq. ft., 1960’s-era ranch house that had been on the market for over 500 days, they knew they could turn it into something special. A first priority was turning an 11 x 12 kitchen that comfortably fit one person into a bright, open space that met their needs as a growing family and frequent hosts. I would say they achieved their goal…a thousand times over.

The options are endless.

Erin of Earnest Home Co. admits that small changes aren’t her specialty. Once she focuses on a room, it’s usually all or nothing. So simply sprucing up her small bathroom was a decided challenge, one she did with only $150 and a couple of hours one afternoon. Since the tile and floor wasn’t going anywhere soon, she focused on the little things she could change out easily.

Ashley Poskin lives in a beautiful old Victorian house in Sterling, Illinois — a small town west of Chicago — which she is also restoring. The house is large, and Ashley and her husband are actually human, so it’s taken awhile to work on each room and make it into a home. (That’s her boxer Charlie front and center, checking out her small living room that’s still pretty devoid of decor and furniture.

Run–don’t walk–to your nearest contractor, cabinet maker or handy family member and ask–nay, beg–to have one of these seriously smart solutions built into the storage around your home.

Shopping for real estate in New York can be a bit heartbreaking. Corey found this out the hard way when he and his partner put in an offer on their dream apartment, only to be completely outbid. They wound up instead with a perfectly decent Williamsburg two-bedroom, with lots of space and beautiful views. But the good-enough apartment lacked character, and they couldn’t stop thinking about the one that got away.

So the comments around Ashley’s makeover were… spirited, to say the least. A lot of you all had things to say about the floorplan, and this is your shot at diving into the options in more depth. When the furniture arrived, we re-arranged things a few times to see what might work, fiddling until I felt we had the best possible option… As a refresher, here’s Ashley’s living room as a 3D model.

Name: Andrea Location: Boston, Massachusetts Room: Living Room Size: about 150 square feet Own or Rent: Own We’re on a road trip across the United States to tell people about Complete + Happy Home, and while we’re at it, we’re saving the country, one room at a time! First up, Boston—where we meet Andrea, her cat Sterling, and a blank slate living room that needs help going beyond the basics.

Marina and her husband Sebastiano bought a 100-year-old home in Houston about a year ago. The overall condition of the house was near-perfect, but Marina wanted to transform the traditional home into a more modern, open space. After knocking down the walls between the living room, dining room, and kitchen, Marina and Sebastiano now have a full view of the major rooms of their home from the front door. The openness and the new white paint work together to create a bright, open space.

Name: Wintta Location: Capitol Hill; Washington, D.C. Room: Bedroom/Living Room Size: about 400 square feet Own or Rent: Own We’re on a road trip across the United States to tell people about Complete + Happy Home, and while we’re at it, we’re saving the country, one room at a time! Our second makeover stop is Washington, D.C., where we meet Wintta and her studio with an inherited Murphy bed, just itching to for us to come in and make her Parisian dream a reality.

You may remember Ellen and Ben, the first-time Brooklyn homeowners who, instead of remodeling their kitchen, decided to tackle their master bath as their very first renovating project. Feeling more than satisfied with the results of that remodel, they decided to go with the same contractor for their second bathroom, although they elected to take the design in a slightly different direction.

Name: Jessica & Christian, and their two children Location: Atlanta, GA Room: Living Room Size: about 220 square feet Own or Rent: Rent We went on a road trip across the United States to tell people about Complete + Happy Home, and while we’re at it, we’re saving the country, one room at a time!

Name: Corinna and Eugenia Location: LA Room: Living Room Size: about 200 square feet Own or Rent: Rent We’re on a road trip across the United States to tell people about Complete + Happy Home, and while we’re at it, we’re saving the country, one room at a time! Our last makeover was in Los Angeles—where we meet Corinna and Eugenia, a couple of artists who could use our help blending their creative styles into one playful living room.

You do you.

We purchased our townhouse about 4 years ago. We wanted to purchase a home that needed a kitchen remodel because we didn’t like what we saw when we toured houses with remodeled kitchens. Also, we wanted to get used to our place before we embarked on a remodel so we knew what we wanted as far as layout, finishes, and appliances. We were glad we waited because we made many decisions that were different from our initial thoughts on what we wanted.

Some people like to live in their homes a little while before renovating them, to get a feel for the space and figure out what they want. Before embarking on his kitchen renovation, Barrin took plenty of time; he’s lived in his Carroll Gardens condo for 18 years. The appliances had been slowly replaced over the years, but the almost 30-year-old cabinets had definitely seen better days.

Here’s a kitchen transformation where I think we can confidently say that no one will like the ‘before’ better. When Robyn and Alejandro bought their two-bedroom condo in Brooklyn’s Columbia Waterfront District, the kitchen was in distinctly sad shape (and had, apparently, a basketball in place of a refrigerator). I’m sure it was tough to imagine this space as anything near livable, but Robyn and Alejandro had a vision for what their apartment could be.

Remember Robyn and Alejandro, whose sad sad kitchen was transformed into a bright, super-modern space? Well, their condo also had a bathroom which, although not in quite as dire a state as the kitchen, was still in need of a little TLC. It’s kind of hard to believe it’s the same space, isn’t it? The defining feature of the new bathroom is the three kinds of tile that Robyn chose.

When we bought our house two years ago, I was very excited about the thought of having a windowless air conditioner in the bedroom to keep us cool throughout the summer. However, I soon realized that an in wall a/c unit was very hard to hide, especially since it’s the first thing you see when you enter the room.

You may remember Lee, whose Midtown East kitchen got a serious upgrade, transforming from a dark, cramped, dated space into a bright and minimal galley kitchen. At the same time Lee undertook his kitchen remodel, he also chose to renovate his utterly unremarkable late-70s bathroom, which had definitely seen better days. Thanks to smart choices in fixtures and finishes, the new bathroom feels much cleaner, bigger, and brighter than the old one — hardly like the same space at all.

When Lee Hoffman, the CEO and founder of photo-sharing app Memoir, bought his co-op in Midtown East last year, he immediately knew that the kitchen had to go. The small, cramped space was cut off by a wall from the rest of the apartment, and to make things worse, the apartment’s previous tenant was a smoker, which meant that everything in the kitchen was covered in a thin layer of smoky residue. After months of research, Lee was finally ready to embark on the project.

Kind of hard to believe this is the same house, right? When Kezia and Jonathan bought their home, they were seemingly stuck with a material they hated that couldn’t be removed. Instead of throwing up their hands in despair and settling, they got creative and gave the facade of their home some major curb appeal. From Kezia: We bought a cookie cutter house and redid the kitchen and facade ourselves – we call it the Kimono Project (because our house is on Kimono Ridge Drive).

Fabric is simply clothing for your furniture. Take time to create unique, one of a kind pieces that are a reflection of who you are and how you live! We took an “old and dirty” club chair, cleaned it up, reupholstered and made it “fun and flirty”! When we wear clothing, sometimes we dress casual, fancy, or sporty. This chair was created with a working woman’s apartment in mind. Someone who has traditional values while living an adventurous and colorful life.

Greg and I are in our third plus year of bringing back the charm of a Dutch colonial foreclosure. It’s taken so long because it’s mostly been just the two of us. I obsessively plotted and planned while Greg, the perfectionist, made it all happen. After the second year or so, if our friends and family asked when we’d be moving in, I would always answer, “never” — but we did!

Name: Catherine Cachia Location: East Danforth — Toronto, Ontario When we moved into our house two years ago, I was really excited to have a dedicated workspace for the first time in my life. This room gets the best light in the house, which made it a great place to draw, make stuff, and practice my calligraphy and photography. From Catherine: “When we moved into our house two years ago, I was really excited to have a dedicated workspace for the first time in my life.

Park Slope homeowners Elinor and Joel were charmed with the details of their 1920s bathroom, like the original tub and tile. Less than charming were the 90-year-old fixtures: the towel bars that fell out of the wall, the showerhead that sprayed water all over the place, the toilet that threatened a flood with every flush. After six years in their co-op they decided it was time for a renovation, not to change the look of their bathroom but to restore it to its former glory.

Lest you think that Megha’s ‘before’ bathroom was merely ugly, you should know what the pictures don’t show, which is that up close, finishes were peeling and the whole thing was starting to fall apart. After living with this space for nine years, Megha knew that it was time for a change. The overhauled space feels much bigger and brighter, thanks to a few smart design decisions.

The kitchen in Megha’s Midtown West condo had a problem common to lots of older kitchens: it was tiny, and awkwardly walled off from the rest of the living spaces in her apartment. After living with a less than ideal floorplan (and a falling-apartment bathroom) for nine years, Megha decided it was time for a change — and embarked on a renovation that would dramatically change the look and feel of her apartment.

I can not get enough of this transformation! Popcorn ceilings, Miami Vice blue walls, Julie certainly had her work cut out for her. almost So, inspired by the challenge of small space design and well-resourced by Apartment Therapy and Houzz , I rolled up my sleeves and called my contractor. And, while he saw uninsulated 2×4 stick framing, funky wiring, and a complete absence of something called “square” — I saw modern cottage. Thank you, Julie!

I purchased this Condo on August 31, 2015. At the time it was renter occupied, which happened to be three (maybe four) college kids. I saw potential in the unit and wanted to make it my own. I fully designed the new space and worked with two contractors to get it fully to my design. In six weeks time, it went from dumpy to modern! It also has a porch and an amazing view of Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains. Thank you, Matt! Re-edited from a post originally published 12.11.

There’s no denying that lighting is a vitally important aspect of any space, yet it’s often the most overlooked. Once you flip the switch to illuminate your interior, it’s easy to get distracted by all the other things that need tending to, and lighting falls by the wayside. When visiting Lauren and Danny’s Mount Washington home, we were reminded that, whether you rent or own, you can take control of your own lighting situation.

You should always call someone for help with a repair that feels too dangerous for your set of tools and knowledge. However, there are a lot of repairs that can be done around the home that don’t need a professional. This year, resolve to try one of these easier-than-you-realize repairs around the house. You might surprise yourself!

Upper West Side homeowner Christine had a unique problem: her two-bedroom co-op was lovely, but the limited storage options there were no match for her extensive collection of art and books (including a full-size terra cotta warrior!). After living there for seven years, she decided it was time for a change: a renovation that, besides updating the apartment, would provide all of her treasures with a proper place.

You might think that decorative cut glass would look dated and completely out of sync with most modern decor. Like china place settings, lead crystal is often given as wedding gifts or inherited from relatives, and seems like a relic of a different time. Or does it? Here are several ideas that use bar decanters in fresh new ways. In the lead image above, notice the table lamp made from a cut glass decanter, seen in this Scandinavian home from Skona Hem.

A job opportunity brought us to Milwaukee from San Francisco and we fell in love with the older homes along the northern shore of Lake Michigan. Our 1927 Tudor has a wonderful layout and beautiful details, but was in need of updating for modern living. The master bedroom gets lots of natural light from the original lead pane windows and the size was exceptionally large (especially compared with our prior homes in San Francisco and Manhattan).

I think when most people move into a new home, decorating the guest room probably isn’t their first priority—but that wasn’t so in this case. Emily, owner of Cheerfully Made, recently moved with her family into a big, four-bedroom in the small town of Almonte, Ontario, and while the extra space was amazing and the house was in great shape, it was stuck in a time warp. And what was the first room Emily attacked? The guest room.

When Henry purchased his one-bedroom co-op in a former tenement building in Manhattan’s East Village, it was in bad shape. Really, really, really bad shape. The entire apartment was falling apart, and the kitchen was, in a word, ‘destroyed’. Never had a space been more ripe for a makeover. Luckily, Sweeten was there to help Henry revitalize his space, and he didn’t just stop at the kitchen.

This ‘before’ bathroom might be the ugliest befores I’ve ever seen — and it’s certainly one of the strangest. Years ago, the person responsible for retrofitting a bathroom into this one-bedroom apartment in a former tenement building made a very unusual choice: in order to fit a bathtub into a very narrow space, they shoehorned it in lengthwise, so that you had to climb in from the short end. It was awkward, to say the least.

We recently purchased our first home, a 1950s ranch in Clifton, New Jersey, that needed updating to the main bath and kitchen. The existing bathroom was, quite frankly, hideous and couldn’t be salvaged. We used a contractor for all of the work and I based my design off an inspiration photo I had seen on the Internet. The black tiles (made by Lungaro) were purchased at Standard Tile in Totowa, NJ (who are fantastic to deal with!

Lead paint is nasty stuff. If you live in a home built before 1978, it’s very likely that layers of lead paint lurk on the windowsills, trim around the doorway, or walls. Not knowing if you have it in your home is scary — especially if you are pregnant or have children — so it’s worth finding out. Inexpensive kits are widely available, and testing is easy, so fork over the $10, be the responsible human you are, and put your mind to ease.

The front entrance can be a tricky space to make over. It usually is not very big, has limited options, and needs to be really functional. And if you have an open-concept home, you have to make sure the entry works with the look of the whole space. Lidy and Joel from Hello Lidy had already tackled most of their open-plan, split-level house and were not happy with the view of their dated front entrance from their newly made-over living room.

Common wisdom says that when it comes to bathroom suites, newer, more streamlined, and whiter is better. The bathroom is often the first room homeowners want to gut, but this isn’t the only option. If you’re lucky enough to have a suite of retro bathware in good nick, whether it be pink, mint green, or even avocado, maybe think twice about ripping it out. Read on for some swoon-worthy retro bathrooms.

If you got a sweet deal on a fixer-upper that was built before 1978, chances are you’re going come across lead paint somewhere in the house. Beautifully painted window trim that tests positive for lead paint isn’t necessarily the end of the world — but it quickly becomes a problem when the paint starts to deteriorate and chips or flakes away. So if you happen to have a flaky window sill you’re suspicious of, give it a quick test and don’t fear the results.

When Alex moved into his cozy and bright uptown New Orleans rental apartment, he was faced with great architectural bones—beautiful wood floors, big windows, two fireplaces and more. What wasn’t so hot? The builder beige colored walls mixed with other colors that did really work together and made the place seem darker than it needed to be.

It’s hard not to romanticize the meet-cute between Sofia and her now stunning bar. Just an average, overlooked workbench is collecting dust all on its lonesome, until it finally found that special someone who came along and claimed it. From Sofia: I found this workbench under mounds of dusty boxes in the cellar at my mum’s house.

College living is chock full of design challenges (small spaces, random roommates, a general sense of impermanence) so I’m always impressed when people commit to living their best dorm lives. Roxanne came up with a pretty ingenious way to carve out a workstation for her daughter, seemingly out of nowhere. From Roxanne: My daughter needed a study area in her tiny dorm room. With no floor space available I had to get creative. Working with only 2 feet of wall space, I added a fold down desk.

Cabinet hardware is a little detail that can have a big impact on the look of your kitchen or bathroom. The good news is that these days there are quite a few retailers offering modern, minimally styled pieces in a variety of budgets. Here are seven of our favorites. Superfront makes a line of pulls and knobs designed for IKEA cabinets, but they would be equally nice on other cabinets as well. (Blogger Maiju Saw used them in her kitchen.

I thought I'd already found the best example of a BILLY hack already and then this project came to my attention...

This is an ugly kitchen. But its ugliness might seem a bit innocuous to you, if you didn’t know the extent of the fire damage hiding behind its walls. The unit’s owners, Colin and Orli, originally intended a fairly simple renovation, before they realized the extent of the unseen damage their kitchen was hiding. Their renovation was more involved than they originally planned.

We tend to think of tiled countertops as a cheap and imperfect solution, when marble or quartz just isn’t in your remodeling budget. Instead of approaching the update with mixed feelings, look to these surfaces as reassurance that your kitchen or bath will still fresh and clean — they just won’t break the bank. Using longer rectangular shapes automatically makes this surface seem more special and unlike most square tile countertops.

When it comes to any job that involves drilling holes, you want to get it right the first time. Just as you do when hanging art, you have to figure out the sweet spot when hanging light fixtures. Today’s Frequently Asked Home question: What’s the right height for hanging a light above a table? For fixtures hanging over a kitchen island or a dining room table: Hang it low enough so that it brings light to the surface (but not so low that it obscures eyelines).

For some people, a totally blank slate of a room is just plain intimidating. For Jolie, it’s a joy. See how she built a lovely little nursery in a room that was in need of some serious charm. From Jolie: When my sister-in-law and I first started off on this renovation journey, I don’t think we realized what we were getting ourselves into!

If you want to know about glitter and fitness, ask Richard Simmons. For answers about small spaces and storage, go straight to the owners of trailers, RVs, and campers. They wrote — and regularly revise — the book on compact living, and we reap the benefits of their knowledge, ideas and inspiration. Take a look at these, and learn… Like the idea of this post?

In their Clinton Hill co-op, Mario and Joe were struggling with a problem common to many apartment dwellers — a cramped, tiny bathroom with hardly any storage space. So they decided it was time for a renovation and, working completely within the room’s existing footprint, made a few changes that completely transformed this cramped space. The biggest change: converting the old tub into a walk-in shower with a frameless glass door, which opens up the room considerably.

What’s the perfect place for microwaves in the kitchen? They are must-have appliances for many, but they sure do have large, ugly footprints. So, do you prioritize saving space over aesthetics? Put them where you can easily reach? Or, is there that one sweet spot that let’s you have it all? Installing the microwave above your cooktop is a classic space saver, freeing up your countertops to use as workspace — especially when microwave and hood-fan combos do double duty.

When Cara and Jared moved into their Chelsea apartment, they weren’t too excited about the kitchen’s inefficient layout and dated finishes. But the last straw was when the mosaic tiles (the result of a former homeowner’s DIY project) started falling off the wall.

Here’s something to add to the list of awesome things you can build for your cat: a catio. It’s a portmanteau of cat + patio, and it’s an enclosed outdoor space that lets your cat enjoy the great outdoors, without the attendant risks. If you’ve got the DIY itch, here a few inspiring projects to get you started. Your neighbors may look askance at your new outdoor room, but your cats will be happy, and that’s what matters.

All this week we’re talking about bathroom renovations, starting with Ashley’s recent remodel, and following up with tons of helpful posts about the process! Baseboards are a fantastic way to spruce up a room, and put the finishing touch on a newly remodeled one. Multiple layers of decorative molding brings great visual drama, or you can use a simple wood plank for a straightforward, modern look. Baseboards are relatively easy to install.