Decorating

I’m always interested in what the kids these days are doing in their dorm rooms. Yes, I realize that statement makes me sound like a geriatric. But seriously, were there ever so many dorm-dedicated brands and options ten—even five—years ago? I look at Instagram, lookbooks and big box circulars longingly. But you know what? There are some great storage ideas and products for the rest of us disguised in all that college ‘ish. Ya feel?

If you clicked on this story, there’s a good chance that, like us, you love astrology. Sure, some people think astrology is a little hokey, but we always feel like or horoscopes just get us. As a result, we turn to the stars for everything—and we mean everything. Which houseplants we should buy, what colors to paint our space, and which room to set up first when we move somewhere new. Now, it’s time to see what type of rule breaker you really are.

Name: Jasper (7) Location: Sydney, Australia Room Size: 3m x 3.2m I always admire when a kid’s room is reflective of his interests, but still manages to be stylish. That’s one thing I’ve always struggled with reconciling — throwing Elsa and Anna all over the place and painting the room Barney purple just isn’t my idea of fun. Luckily I think my daughter and I have struck a good balance, and I bet the same can be said of Jasper and his mom, Simone.

Name: Finn (12) Location: Sydney, Australia Room Size: 4m x 3m I’ve been talking a lot lately about creating kids’ spaces that make both the grown ups and the kids happy, and Finn’s room may be the perfect example of just such space. Mom Simone worked together with her twelve-year-old son to create a space that is reflective of his personality and interests.

For a long time now, white-painted woodwork has been de rigeur in the domestic interior, so much so that it’s almost a foregone conclusion. But this is slowly changing: we’ve seen black woodwork popping up lately, and now grays and bold hues are making their voices heard as well. If you fancy this change but aren’t sure what to go for, let this trim-spiration sourced from around the web be your guide.

I always find that painting is (relatively) easy and affordable, once you’ve selected your colors, but the process of getting your choices narrowed down is the lion’s share of the work (and for those of us prone to fretting over design decisions, the potential stress, as well).

Are you thinking about remodeling your kitchen? Here are 15 clever details you might want to consider adding. They’re all elegant solutions that make life in the kitchen just a little bit easier, and we wouldn’t blame you one bit if you want them all. Built-in, pull out cutting boards. From Residence Magazine via Nordicspace. Even better, a pull-out cutting board right about the trash bin, to make sweeping away scraps super-easy. By Gary Wafford.

Name: Archer Location: Los Angeles, California We bought our house when I was 8 weeks pregnant with Archer. Since then, we’ve completed a full gut renovation on the house, including new flooring and walling off a second doorway in Archer’s room. While those renovations were being completed, I had lots of time to come up with a plan for this room!

Dear Alice, My boyfriend and I have been living together for a couple of years now. Whenever I try to decorate or improve our space, he complains and puts his foot down saying that we don’t need anything. Yet at the same time, he also complains that our place is a mess and that he wishes it looked better. Anytime I try to offer an idea for improvement, I get shot down, which wouldn’t be so bad if he offered an alternative idea, but he doesn’t.

Name: Victor ( 3) Location: Norfolk, Virginia Not too long ago I was planning a nursery. But as every parent knows, time flies by and soon enough you find yourself planning the kids college education instead. Sigh… When we moved to our current house I was about 5 months pregnant. It was such a special time with the expectation of the new addition to our family of four plus our new house.

Name: Pie (10 months) Location: South Park — Charlotte, North Carolina Our juxtaposition of a room happens to be the most valuable square footage in our home: the playroom/office combo. It seems nonsensical, but for us, it’s perfect. Pie’s playroom is where we spend the biggest chunk of our days. I am a blogger, so I “work” from home. In reality blogging is more fun than work—my blog is a place where I go to feel creative and inspired.

If your furniture is leggy — the great weight of it lifted high off the floor — you may have found yourself wondering if maybe you should put something under it? Like a basket? Or maybe books? Should you put anything? Can you put anything? The answers to your stuff-under-your-furniture questions can be found in this post.

There’s something really decadent about a pretty chandelier in a small powder room. It makes the bathroom look less like a bathroom, somehow, and a little more like a place where you’d want to spend a bunch of time reading and drinking and soaking away the day. Your tub might just become your favorite place in the house.

What’s even better than going to the library? Having your very own library at home. Here are nine beautiful at-home library spaces, to haunt your Pinterest board and your wildest dreams. Above: a gorgeous library space in a Spanish home from Architectural Digest. Here’s a slightly more modest but no less inspiring space from Domino. A book-lined living room from Casa Vogue. A cozy reading space from Planete Deco.

Name: G and J ( 4 & 2) Location: Toronto, Canada After living in our home for the last two years, we’ve slowly started renovating each space to suit our needs. For our two boys, however, I couldn’t figure out what to do with their space. So it remained with builder grade paint and a few train posters on the wall. As it was time for my youngest to transition out of his crib and into a bed, I knew it was time to finally give their room the makeover that it deserved.

Windows — and their coverings — are a big part of your home’s design. Are you getting yours right? There are a lot of ways you can go wrong with window treatments in your home. Here are seven to look out for. Like the look of sheers but can’t sleep because they let too much street light in? Love the look of big, thick drapes but wish you had more of a breeze in your home?

When you’re living in a small space there’s always that difficulty of where to put all the stuff. Especially if you don’t have a broom closet, finding a place to store all your cleaning supplies and tools can be a real issue. One of my favorite solutions to this problem is a fairly simple one: just buy cleaning tools you won’t mind leaving out. Perhaps you never thought that a dustpan could be beautiful, but that’s because you haven’t seen these dustpans.

Most of us know by now that you don’t have to match all the wood finishes in your home exactly, but many of us are still a bit nervous when it comes to mixing lots of wood finishes in the same room. I spotted four wood finishes in the dining room of Jen and Kirstie’s home; here’s a closer look at how they pull the look off so successfully.

If you’ve dipped a toe into wedding planning, you know that the wedding industry likes to talk about deciding on a “theme” for your big day. But before you start having flashbacks to your Under-the-Sea high school prom, you should know that wedding themes are a bit more sophisticated. It’s about leaning on a few details from a style or era that can set the tone for the entire bash.

Name: Opal ( 4 years old) Location: Anchorage, Alaska Despite being one of the nicest rooms in our house, for years this space was our dysfunctional office and dumping ground. We really wanted a play space on the ground floor so that our daughter could still be close to us while we’re cooking or folding laundry, and also to prevent the creep of toys into the main living areas.

At face value, a wedding is about a couple who’ve decided to spend their lives together. But anyone who’s on the other side of wedding planning will tell you that a wedding is actually all about your guests. It’s about creating a special day to share your love with the friends and family you care about the most. Or a whole weekend, if you have a destination wedding or most of your guest list coming in from out of town.

One of the things that Farrow & Ball is known for is its very carefully edited, strict palette of 132 paint colors, which, in a show of true British prudence, care and custom, is added to quite infrequently. Well, color lovers can rejoice, because today is one of the rare occasions where their colour card is updated. Nine new colors are being released in celebration of the brands 70th anniversary year and we’ve got them to share.

There's no such thing as an awkward space in the post-gallery wall world, because you can arrange a collage of frames to skillfully attack the proportions of any sized wall.

Open kitchen shelving is a charming little minx. She’ll talk you into bringing her home, swaying you with the promise of beautiful displays of glassware and ceramics. “It’s bohemian and cool,” she’ll say. But after too long, she gets comfortable and starts to look, well, messy. The secret to keeping the spark alive in your open-shelf romance? Working hard every day to make sure that your shelves and the things on them are well-styled.

Do you have a basement? Is it being enjoyed? Does it look blah? (Are you perhaps afraid to go down there?) Whether you own or rent, you’ll find inspiration in the end results of these two basements designed by creative couples (one in a rental home, one in an owned home). Each couple approached design in different ways, but the outcomes are the same: A previously unused basement ends up a beautiful bonus space for the home.

In a recent Apartment Therapy ‘Favorite Rooms’ post, someone described their bedroom as “Dark and Stormy.” Perusing through the photos, I agreed with the adjectives; the wall paint color was reminiscent of the greenish blue color of a stormy sea. I realized I had seen several wall paint colors recently that also fit the dark and stormy style. I spot a trend – one that could lead to dramatic and bold spaces.

It’s a wall painting trend that comes and goes: The half-painted wall. (Or, like the famous “Is the glass half full or half empty?” question, you could also consider these half unpainted walls). Whichever way you look at it, only painting half of a wall isn’t putting in half the design effort; it’s creating bold style with well-placed color. These rooms showcase just how beautiful and sophisticated this painting idea can be.

If you ask me, the café of the home shouldn’t have the monopoly on cafe curtains. Those short-tier curtains that cover the bottom half of windows are perfect for more than just the kitchen. Cafe curtains perfectly balance privacy and luminosity, letting plenty of light in while keeping inquisitive eyes out. And the best part? You can get them up quickly (without holes in the walls) with nothing more than a tension rod, curtain clips and a light piece of fabric.

You see it more often with artwork that’s leaning – either on the floor or on a picture ledge. But this post serves as permission to get a little crazy with the frames you hang on the wall, too. Let your artwork overlap to create a dense, rich and laid-back gallery wall.

Creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. In this case, you’re turning to our smart and stylish house tour homes for guidance on how to style a chic and serene bedroom. Take these tips home to create a space you’re proud to show off (and if you want to tell your friends where you got the idea, that’s fine too). Above: A great way to style a bed in front of a window is to create a visual arc from the floor all the way up to the end of the curtain rod.

The floor usually isn’t the design element that first grabs your attention in a kitchen, but these rooms are the exception. Bold, busy patterned floors mix with a variety of decor styles in these examples. What they all have in common? They totally steal the show! Shown above: Bold blue and white floors grab your attention the moment you walk into the kitchen of Anne & Steve’s Relaxed, Eclectic & Casual Home in Cape Town.

Once considered an ultra-modern decor choice, waterfall counters are popping up in a variety of kitchen styles these days. They add a sleek, minimal look to any kitchen design while helping to hide appliances and protect wood cabinets. They’re often easier to clean. And’ if you really love your counter material, you can you can show it off more of it when you pick waterfall style.

Above: A bland, unused corner of a living room. Below: A colorful, dreamy reading nook you could get cozy in for hours reading your favorite novel. Yes —this mini-makeover of a living room’s unused corner turned reading nook is totally intended for kids. But that’s not stopping me from getting inspiration for my own dreamy book nook.

If your home goal for 2017 is to go green(er), here are 10 remarkably easy changes that require the most minimal amount of effort. Switches as simple as changing a lightbulb (seriously) or buying a dish towel don’t call for much work on your part, but together they’ll add up to a total eco-friendly home makeover. When buying new wood furniture, look for certified sustainably harvested options.

Got writer’s block (or painter’s block, or are just in a general creative funk?) The color of your walls might be one of your culprits. It’s no secret that color can seriously affect your mood (we’ve previously explored how it can make you happier in your home, and highlighted the psychological merits of ROYGBV), but there are two colors in particular that can stimulate your creativity and productivity.

“Frameless frames” are hitting it big right now, showing off how beautiful art looks without the distraction of a border. This trendy framing method is remarkably versatile and adapts to almost any decor style, because the clear sheets blend into any background. All you need to get the look is two transparent sheets of acrylic or lucite (you can get them cut to size at Lowe’s or ask a local glass cutting company) and a handful of standoff bolts.

Extremely tiny bedrooms—like, not much bigger than the bed small—can be a challenge to decorate and arrange when you want to have a room that functions well and looks good. But Lisa Tilse of the blog We Are Scout made some smart and stylish decisions in her teenage daughter Roxy’s tiny bedroom. From Lisa of We Are Scout: The room is TINY! It measures 6.5 x 8.75 feet—which is just enough space for a double bed to fit across.

If you fantasize about trading in your cubicle for a former-warehouse artist’s studio flooded with light, filled with plants, where snacks flow freely—then you’ll probably think Brooklyn-based ceramicist Helen Levi‘s life is pretty dreamy. We asked Helen to walk us through her daily routine and tell us about her beautiful studio. It didn’t disappoint. Don’t think you’ll get to live that artist life?

Plantation shutters are a hallmark of Southern style that are also a great choice for window coverings in homes of almost any style. The deep-louvered, swinging wooden shutters provide a sophisticated alternative to blinds and will give any home a little touch of the genteel.

If you’ve ever seen photos of the houses in New Orleans, you know a wide-ranging, daring mix of colors adorns this city’s architecture. Any time I stroll the streets, I’m inspired to get bold in my own home. Even those these color combinations are on the outside of these homes, consider these pre-made palettes direction for the inside of yours.

Like color, pattern can be one of those anxiety-provoking design elements for the novice decorator. You think: “How can I tell if these prints go together?” “What if I’m using too many patterns?” “What if I get sick of them a month from now?

The new fall Anthropologie home collection is here and it’s beautiful. As a young urban woman who enjoys traveling and scentscapes, Anthropologie is 100% my jam.

Remember when “Trading Spaces” shone a light on your budding love for interior design? If you’re like me, you found your teenage self confused by your strong desire to stay home on the weekends and peep TLC’s most riveting home design programming. From Doug’s jungle room to the Jessica Biel episode, we’ve unearthed some of Trading Spaces’ most memorable makeovers, that you probably (some for the best) forgot about.

Project by: Buro Koray Duman Location: New York, New York The clients of Buro Koray Duman are living the New York dream. After renovating one space they were able to purchase the apartment next door and expand. The unexpected lime green accents give the space a bright and modern feel, while the exposed brick and copious light keep it feeling warm and welcoming. From Koray: Büro renovated a 750-square-foot apartment three years ago which won the 2013 Best of the Year Award.

Color can change the look of a frame — and the feel of a room. (Here is proof!) But paint isn’t the only way you can alter art, frame-wise, to make a big visual impact. In this post, see how adding, switching, enlarging and more can make your art a bigger statement than it already is.

Half the fun of flipping through the glossy pages of a furniture catalog is fantasizing about the bed, sofa or chair living in your own home. But it can be tough to envision the design in your space when your home’s style doesn’t quite match the impeccably styled look on the page. So abandon the catalog and check out these gorgeous real-life homes. This contemporary dining chair is sleek, shapely, easy-to-clean and most importantly…versatile!

Before KonMari was a household word, the town of Stars Hollow was busy hoarding coffee mugs, antique china, and novelty egg timers. Today we peel back the layers of framed photos, cozy quilts, and valances-on-drapes-on-sheers to dissect the iconic interiors of your favorite Gilmore Girls interior sets: Lorelei and Rory’s house, Richard and Emily’s mansion, The Dragonfly Inn, Luke’s Diner, and Luke’s apartment. First, we have the home of our favorite Lorelais.

I adore custom framing but it can be quite expensive, which got me thinking about some alternatives. After all, necessity is the mother of invention, is it not?Turns out a lot of people have had this same thought and have created some lovely options to display artwork sans framing. Check them out! Above: This option from Deko employs wooden trouser hangers to display art. That’s it! And I love it. I found this elegant display idea on Freshome.

A lot of tiny houses look a bit like little dollhouses on wheels—peaked roof, petite double-hung windows, a tiny, almost vestigial porch. While these homes are, admittedly, adorable, it’s always nice to see something a little different. Like the Alpha Tiny House, whose designers embraced a more modern aesthetic—and a seamless connection between indoors and out.

This summer, when VH1 announced that domestic diva Martha Stewart and rap icon Snoop Dogg were teaming up for a cooking show, we first thought it was a joke, and then quickly had a lot of questions. Near the top is, what would a kitchen shared by them even look like? Well, Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party premiered last week, and I had a chance to ask the production designer, James Pearse Connelly, just how he made one set work for such different personalities.

If you’ve ever worked in an architecture firm, you’ll never forget the weirdly satisfying sound that architectural flat files make when they’re opened and closed. Unfortunately for luddites like myself, these beautiful dinosaurs are going the way of the card catalog, as hand drafting becomes increasingly obsolete and storing sets of drawings flat in a drawer is abandoned in favor of rolling them up and leaning them in awkward piles at your desk.

Now that Melissa Joan Hart is starring in a Clarissa Explains it All reboot for Nickelodeon, we’re feeling a little nostalgic. If you grew up admiring her funky DIY bedroom and imitating Daria’s sardonic wit (much to your parents’ chagrin), then these iconic TV bedrooms likely inspired your teenage dream room.

I’m not a person who has had my wedding mapped out since I was a little girl. So when it came time to plan my recent nuptials, I didn’t really know where to begin. Sure, there were lots of virtual visits to Etsy and Pinterest for table numbers, bridesmaid gifts, décor ideas, hair and makeup. But what about the gift registry? Where do we register and what do we register for?

For as long as they’ve been transmitted through your television, family TV sitcoms have revolved around the living room. A look back at those memorable sets reveals a time capsule of interior design. For instance, One glance at Full House’s light blue gingham sofa brings back a wave of late ’80s/early ’90s nostalgia (hold the stirrup pants, please!).

Emily Waldman, an expert vintage decor hunter and owner of a treasure-filled Austin abode, knows how to pick out old-fashioned gems when thrifting—and how to fold them beautifully into a modern, eclectic home that exudes youthful energy. She’s a big fan of a certain item with a reputation for being outdated—but her success in incorporating it into her house may persuade you to start looking for one the next time you thrift. Sound, solid thrift shopping advice.

Do the impeccably-styled beds in home decor showrooms and magazines make you want to give up on ever making your own bed again, conceding that no real person could ever achieve such perfection on a regular basis? Not only am I asking for a friend, but I have pertinent eye candy, direct from our very own house tours, that prove otherwise. Here are 10 times that real life home owners made their actual beds like bosses.

With cold-press juice bars sprouting up on every corner and new iterations of yoga (aerial, water and candle flow) hitting a studio near you, it’s safe to suggest that people are more cognizant than ever about their health, achieving balance and the overall quality of their lives. And, naturally, this holistic-centric health wave is extending itself to our most personal retreats and sanctuaries by way of the ancient Chinese art of placement: Feng Shui.

I work from home as a freelance writer/editor in a room that once was my formal dining room, which I transitioned into an office, as I wasn’t content with sitting at my kitchen island on my laptop for hours on end every day. The room is jam-packed with furniture that didn’t quite work anywhere else in my home. That printed floral chair I bought for a corner of my bedroom that didn’t really fit? It’s in my office.

How much money would you feel comfortable spending on something for your home…without consulting your partner first? After all, when you live together, you work together to decorate the space and manage the finances. We asked a handful of real couples to share any money limits they have when it comes to splurging on decor. See how you and your mate’s spending style stacks up, or get advice on how to set limits in your own partnership.

Many aspects of a rental home are transformable, yet the rental bathroom tends to be a ‘you-get-what-you-get-and-you-don’t-get-upset’ zone because there typically isn’t a lot of literal or metaphorical wiggle room. But even with less-than-ideal rental bathrooms, and even when living with roommates or significant others—we can still elevate the style and add functional beauty. Check out 10 rental bathrooms from our house tours that do this in spades.

If the words sheet mask, Peach & Lily, 10-step skincare routine, and BB cream are familiar to you, then you’re probably up on the Korean beauty trend, which continues to grow in popularity in the US—partly because it’s lauded as a more natural, intentional approach to skincare, and partly because of the ridiculously cute packaging. I mean, moisturizing face mist in a pink bunny bottle? You had me at bunny!

Have you been reading the same design blogs for forever? Are you longing for a little something new and fresh (with the exception of Apartment Therapy, of course)? Stay loyal to your long-term favorites and spice up your online life with these 10 sure-to-be-bookmarked blogs.

Navigating the world of registry etiquette is tough work. To put together The Registry Rule Book, we asked some industry experts to weigh in and answer some of the hardest questions engaged couples might have. Putting together a complete wedding registry is an exercise in moderation. No bride or groom wants to look greedy by registering at multiple stores.

Name: Marra (Newborn) Location: Fort Meyers, Florida The nursery was designed to flow with the existing decor in our master bedroom since we are sharing a space with our little girl. We live in a two-bedroom townhouse and often have guests so we wanted to keep our guest room for hosting. We needed to find a way to create a kid friendly space that still had a sophistication to work in an adult space as well. We also wanted to forgo a crib and follow a Montessori nursery style with a floor bed.

Sometimes the bedroom is the last space in the home that gets the love when it comes to decorating because we’re not even awake to enjoy it right? Wrong! It should be your sanctuary, a place to unwind and relax at the end of the day. This boho-glam bedroom will definitely do the trick. See how you can get this look on any budget. This beautiful bedroom designed by Ave Styles is full of interesting textures and patterns that are a little unexpected but work so well together.

Couples often feel pressure to have a “timeless” or “classic” wedding. Here’s the thing, though: there’s no such thing as a timeless wedding. Just like fashion and home décor, wedding trends come and go. So here’s my best advice: Forget about trying to be timeless and let yourself embrace the unique trends you love, infusing your wedding day with your own personal brand of magic. In 20 years, your wedding photos will look dated anyway.

Have a room that could use an extra dose of drama? This week, Benjamin Moore announced CENTURY, their new luxury line of paint that is not only gorgeous, but has a tactile finish that adds a new experience to a space. They’re calling the finish “soft touch matte,” and it reportedly feels like a soft leather glove.

Time and time again, necessity proves to be the mother of invention. That’s certainly the case for Femke Furnée, founder of FEST Amsterdam. If you’re already hip to the awesomeness that is this Dutch home goods company, you’re definitely not alone, as the brand, in its four years of operation, has taken the design world by storm. But let’s go back to the beginning here.

The bathroom I share with my husband smells constantly like old urine. He says that it’s because he’s tall, and his pee therefore hits the water in the bowl with enough velocity that some must splash out and escape his notice (especially during middle-of-the-night bathroom trips). Have other people encountered and solved this problem? It is driving me crazy.

Two years ago, I moved into a new apartment, and, upon reporting my change of address to USPS for mail forwarding services, the onslaught of store catalogs littering my mailbox began. I’ve since tried to cancel most of them to no avail (having the worst luck with a store I won’t name, but let’s just say it rhymes with Lottery Yarn, of which I now get two copies, rather than zero). There are two, however, that I receive with glee, one being West Elm (the other, Anthropologie).

Bride & Groom: Martina Kolobara and Shea Slater Wedding Date: May 21, 2016 Venue: Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska Number of guests: 250 They say that the best thing about having a big wedding is being surrounded by all the people (and things) you love. And in this Nebraska couple’s case, that includes a couple of pups and a whole museum full of modern art.

You’re probably familiar with L-shaped sectionals—they’re kind of a living room staple. Unlike traditional roll arms, settees and other formal sofa situations, more than one person can lay on them in a fully horizontal position, thanks to their shape and oversized proportions. That’s kind of a game changer when you think of all the Netflix binge watching and movie marathoning that goes on nowadays.