Decor & Accessories

If you’re short on space, lofting your bed is one of the best ways to magically gain square footage. However, sleeping in the sky is not without its challenges—I’m looking at you, late-night ladder navigation. Here are 14 ways to make your loft bed dreamy. The built-in cubby smartly stores extra pillows and blankets—and books, if you’re me. The addition of a bedside outlet is so helpful, allowing for a phone charger, radio, fan, and more.

Sometimes, you’ve just got to take a chance. When Pati’s sister offered her a large and somewhat underwhelming dresser, she was on the fence. Pati decided to go for it, and with some smartly selected paint, turned this dresser into a gorgeous credenza. From Pati: My sister bought this on our local Facebook classifieds. She decided while moving, she no longer had room for it. She offered it to me and I was a bit undecided. Not only was it heavy, it needed some work.

Cate’s thrift store find was certainly interesting, if a little clunky. After pulling out the pieces she needed for another project, Cate got inventive and the results are pretty charming! From Cate: I grabbed this quirky (and rather large) mid-century modern table lamp from my local thrift store with plans to harvest the brass for another lighting project. After taking the whole thing apart, I was left with some beautiful turned-wood pieces that I couldn’t let go to waste.

Kari found herself facing a familiar design foe, the too large white wall. She eventually landed on an ingenuous solution that added interest to the wall without sacrificing any of the cool. From Kari: When we moved into our house last year, it was basically move in ready but we had a large, white wall in our living room and we had no idea what to do with it.

I’m a huge fan of the concrete and cement planter trend that’s been popping up on DIY blogs for a while now—but while painting the dull gray surface of standard concrete works, I knew there had to be a cooler way of coloring these little plant homes. After some research and hands-on testing, it turns out that the trick is starting with white concrete and stirring in powdered pigments. From there, the sky’s the limit. Marble them, create an ombre stack, go two-tone.

Molly’s space was totally adorable as is, but she was itching for a little drama in the living room, and boy did she bring it! From Molly: My obsession with a black accent wall started about a year ago when I saw this house tour right here on Apartment Therapy. I couldn’t stop thinking about how the art popped and the TV blended — pretty much everything you want for an accent wall that contains a television.

When I think about color and pattern in an outdoor space I usually think throw pillows or maybe the occasional funky patio umbrella. Claire decided that pattern need not be limited to textiles and accessories and got really creative with her weathered bench. From Claire: I had a neglected old bench in my garden, that was crying out for a revamp. Instead of just repainting, I decided to give it a designer makeover.

If a cabinet can survive years of kid style wear and tear, you know you’ve got a sturdy piece of furniture on your hands. After removing any trace of Brontosauruses and sharks, Rosa set to work giving this old cabinet new life. From Rosa: This cabinet was purchased about 25 years ago in a thrift store to use in a child’s room. It was covered with stickers of animals, surfboards and all kinds of kid stuff.

Removable wallpaper seems like one of those “too good to be true” design elements. You get the charm and elegance of wallpaper, without having to painstakingly remove it with steamers, hot soapy water, and 22 different types of wall scrapers. Once you tire of it, all you do is just grab a corner and pull it down. A while back, we installed some for a makeover project and then returned after a couple of months to take it down.

For anyone who is waiting on an elusive piece of dream furniture, let Robin’s carriage seat offer you some hope. She was able to turn her not-totally-perfect-but-close find into a gorgeous manifestation of her entryway bench dreams. From Robin: I have wanted a carriage seat as a house bench forever. Seriously. The one I scored at an auction was not the one I wished for, but it was close enough.

While winter brings to mind ornate wool rugs and sturdy but plain salt- and snow-soaked doormats, summer rugs can be lighter and more playful. Buy and dye some dollar store clotheslines or recycle your old climbing ropes and get to knitting, crocheting, coiling, or just good old-fashioned gluing. This tutorial requires $16 worth of clothesline rope and some hardcore crochet skills, and the result is totally spa-worthy.

I am sharing our almost-completely DIY, super budget $7K kitchen remodel, which we started in September, and finally wrapped up just a couple weeks ago. The process was a lesson in patience, as we hated the kitchen upon buying our house, but waited about two and a half years before we had created a plan, emotionally recovered from the bathroom remodel (which was shared here a while back!), and saved up enough dollars.

Tamara spotted this old office chair that was in surprisingly good shape, so she snatched it up with plans to make it her own. Fast forward three years, throw in a lucky find at the fabric store and you have one gorgeously updated chair. From Tamara: I see these old university office/lobby chairs in Surplus Goods quite often, but the joints are not always in great shape so I usually pass.

Ahhh the magic of white paint. Roxanne updated and brightened up her kitchen with some gorgeous new additions but kept the original cabinetry and used some really nice paint with great success. From Roxanne: Our small builder grade kitchen was in desperate need of a makeover. I could no longer stand the orange tone wood cabinetry and yellowish countertops. To save money, we kept the existing cabinets, but extended them to the ceiling, making the room feel larger.

If you’re going to go bold, go bold. Claire took her old beige staircase and turned it into a spunky, funky and printed space that greets you as soon as you walk in the door. From Claire: The first thing you used to see when you opened my front door was some steep victorian stairs crying out for a transformation. I got rid of the boring beige carpet that was just a dust and dirt magnet and brightened them up with a touch of Marimekko.

Hannah’s apartment is part of Olympics history! But while her home came with a very cool backstory it also brought along an outdated early 90s kitchen. With some trips to IKEA and a very accomodating landlord, Hannah now has a gold-medal-worthy place to eat her Wheaties. From Hannah: My fiancé and I live in the French Alps in a small apartment. These apartments were originally built to house the press during the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville.

Carter had a lucky find with these classic Herman Miller chairs. They needed a little love and Carter decided to go above and beyond to turn these chairs into seriously funky eye candy. From Carter: These Herman Miller fiberglass shell chairs are a true design classic and seem to be everywhere. I found these at a church garage sale and they needed a little cleaning up.

So you want to revive your living room but your fear of commitment/budget/upper arm strength makes purchasing furniture a big, terrifying deal. Luckily, Jay’s approach to freshening up a room is to actually get rid of some furniture and lighten things up with a coat of paint. From Jay: Here’s a quick and easy way to refresh your room without purchasing any new furniture. Consider painting the walls and letting go of any furniture that sucks all the energy and life out of the room.

Astral’s antique market find was almost perfect, save for one thing. After some deconstruction and reconstruction she has a stylish and gold pattern free swivel table. From Astral: I LOVE mid century modern furniture. I lucked upon this beautiful vintage swivel table at an antique mall. Everything about the table was great EXCEPT the gold pattern in the glass. At first I thought that the pattern was part of the table underneath the glass and not a part of the glass.

Curb appeal is about your home’s first impression—the face it presents to the world (and to you, when you come home every day). And while you may think of your home’s exterior as something that’s difficult to change without investing a lot of money and time, there are actually quite a few (really simple, DIY) things you can do to enhance your home’s curb appeal—many of them without even picking up a hammer.

Name: Leslie Location: Los Angeles, California ‘Tis the patio season y’all! We’re back on the garden beat with return of My Great Outdoors, and what better way to get things rolling than with Leslie’s boldly colored, vintage brick backyard. From Leslie: Yes…I have turned into my grandmother and all I want to do is work in my garden. My husband and I spent a few months combing neighborhoods with construction and demolition happening to find the vintage brick.

One of my favorite small space hacks is swapping your bookcases for wall-mounted shelving. We’ve created roundups of wall mounted shelving systems before, but for those of you who are especially crafty there are also plenty of DIY options. Here are eight different DIY ways to turn a blank wall into a storage mecca. Above: Dabito from Old Brand New used components available at the hardware store to create this wall-mounted shelving system, which includes a desk.

Fireplaces are a dream feature for a lot of folks out there. They add character, charm and warmth. But sometimes, the look of the fireplace isn’t quite right. Autumn’s living room had a ton of 1920s charm but the color of the walls and the look of the fireplace kept it from feeling like home. With some smart color selection she was able to turn her living room into a welcoming spot.

When spots are out of sight it gets super easy to just let them exist in a sort of functional disarray. Clara had enough of her cramped closet and decided to get to work making it the best it could be. From Clara: When I first walk into a consult, I never judge my clients’ homes. They are busy with work and family, it’s understandable that things get busy and their home isn’t perfect all the time. I, however, do judge my home constantly.

While Nicolette’s design senses to her that this chair had serious potential, but rehabing the chair in its original fashion was beyond her pay grade. So she got creative, and with a little paint, some upholsury magic and voilá! From Nicolette: Once I closed on my new house I panicked, I knew it was bigger than my current place, so I suddenly went chair crazy. Since home renovation is expensive I had to budget.

Living the budget life is not easy and college grads know this more than anyone! During this exciting (read: stressful) phase of your life, having a cozy home that feels like your own space is so essential! After all, you need somewhere to kick up your feet after a busy day of chasing your dreams. If you’re on a budget, how can you create a beautiful home that’s not a mishmash of hand-me-down furniture? Here are some DIY ideas to help you stay on budget AND create a home you love.

Before: My previous kitchen was outdated and nonfunctional. I had a –very!– red textured backsplash with mahogany cupboards, two different styles of floor (red and black tiles and wood parquet) that visually shrunk the space. Lots of different heights and depths among the cupboards created an overall sense of confusion.

Mix together a dash of plaid, a scoop of inspiration and a sprinkle of You Tube and you have the recipe for a gorgeous office chair upgrade. From Steph: A friend gifted me a great old desk that her mom had found on the curb years ago and everybody knows if you give a girl a desk…she is going to need a chair. I found this chair at a local Goodwill and knew it was the one. Even though the vinyl was cracked, I lived with it for a few months until I found a remnant I liked.

Emily juggles a successful creative business as well as her family of four so having a space to work at home is crucial. She had a large enough room to work in, but it was dated and not necessarily the most functional. First, Emily worked with a professional organizer to help edit her current work space. Add some of her signature cheerful DIY style and this uninspiring room was transformed into a bright and fresh space that will keep her organized with no shortage of creative inspiration.

Callie’s new take on Carrie’s inherited chair may have you looking twice at your aunt’s old living room set. Through a perfect mix of good bones, some incredible fabric and collaboration between friends, this chair really came back to life. From Callie: I’m an Austin textile designer and painter (and my treehouse home was on Apartment Therapy a couple years ago).

If you’re a color loving renter, contact paper is your best friend. Medina went all out adding color and pattern to her rental kitchen in a security deposit friendly manner. From Medina: I really went all out with the makeover. It is a rented apartment, but that didn’t stop me from decorating and injecting some color into it. The floor is wallpapered which I have a tutorial for on my blog. The cabinets were changed by adding contact racing stripes (all renter friendly).

I’m always amazed by people who are able to see the potential in somewhat ordinary pieces of furniture. This cabinet had been put out to pasture by a local school and Naomi snatched it up knowing it could be something beautiful. From Naomi: When I salvaged this old cabinet from the nurse’s office of a local school that was about to be demolished, it was gross – dirty, rusty, and covered with some strange gunk.

Sometimes, you’ve just got to follow your design loving heart. Faith found a lovely antique credenza, but it didn’t seem quite right for her. She stopped fighting her instincts and now has an adorable piece of furniture that she loves. From Faith: I purchased this gorgeous dining set on craigslist for a song and while functionally it was a fit for my space, stylistically it wasn’t working.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever had shampoo explode in your luggage. Or if you’ve ever had a really unnecessary spat with your spouse about loading dirty dishes into a clean dishwasher. See? These things are totally universal problems that we all face. And that means, yes, somebody’s already thought of the perfect solution. Solution: This case from Lovely Indeed, made from a Tic Tac container.

Christina had been pretty faithful to the character of her old Victorian home while adding her own style. There was a lot going on in the original hallway and she made some smart design choices to transform the space without losing a sense of the home’s charm. From Christina: One of the last pieces of our fixer upper 1902 Victorian was our hallway and entry. We have worked hard to preserve the original wood floors, structure, and character (original copper hardware!) in this space.

Want to give those plain old IKEA frames a little extra bit of pizazz? Of course you do! Here are seven creative (and very inexpensive!) ways to dress them up using paint, tape, and a variety of creative techniques. Above: All it takes is a little spray paint to add gold corners, and a little touch of glam, to a RIBBA frame. DIY from Repolished.

It is so easy to fall into our home routines. In no time our placeholder basket becomes our throw-everything-here-I-promise-I’ll-get-to-it-later basket. Jane got herself out a storage rut with some simple and smart choices. From Jane: One of my favorite unexpected parts of the IKEA Home Tour renovation was my entryway! Unexpected because I didn’t think there was a solution for my small nonexistent entryway that was a complete mess.

Sometimes, all you need is a little white paint and creativity. Two simple design choices made a huge difference in the look of Emily’s fireplace. From Emily: This electric fireplace surround was picked up from a thrift store. It was a black color and all of the details were hidden. There was a faux brick finish on it. Using some bright white paint and some simple peel and stick tiles, were all that was needed to make this fireplace stand out.

Not all wallpaper is created equal. And while it is having a well deserved moment, some wallpaper can make a room feel instantly dark and outdated. Yasmin found an inexpensive way to banish her bland wallpaper, among other things, and brighten up her whole kitchen. From Yasmin: When we got this home, we definitely loved the original 70s homey feel to it, the original owners were so kind as to even leave us some orchids in the kitchen!

Who among us hasn’t spotted that rare garage sale find full of potential and charm, only to look at it and sigh, “What’s the point, anyway? Time is endless yet fleeting.” Charles did exactly that and the results are pretty breathtaking. From Charles: I was looking to add a little mid cent mod flair to my living room. So I spent countless hours scouring the internet to fill the void, and to no avail.

While Emily’s kitchen certainly wasn’t in the worst shape visually of some of our submissions, I became much more invested in this transformation (and wept for the state of her baked goods) when I found out she was using a 50 year old oven. From Emily: Our kitchen was original from 1965, and after living with it for two years we decided it was time to renovate – I’d been using the original stove and oven!

Think outside the shelf.

Kevin’s hallway update is an excellent blend of style and function and a testament to really thinking about how the furniture is serving the space when making design choices. Also, I’m a total sucker for an interesting ceiling and this one is tops. From Kevin: When it comes to small spaces that are hard to design, the hallway is one of the worst offenders.

Our 1961 Colonial house on Long Island had orange shag carpeting and some delightful fixtures when we purchased it in 2013. We ended up renovating nearly every room in the house, but it’s taken all this time for me to finish decorating! The room I’m sharing is our powder room. It had a shell shaped sink in the shortest vanity I’ve ever seen when we started. I decided to use the small space to get dramatic with color.

One thing I love about this upgrade is that you can still see the heart of the original kitchen, it’s just…grown into its looks. Cara made a ton of smart choices to upgrade the look and usability of the space to create a bright and sleek kitchen. From Cara: Before we even put in an offer on our current house, we knew that to make the house fit our needs and gain serious points for resale, the walls separating the closed off kitchen and formal dining room needed to go.

Spoiler alert: they remove the carpet. And, yes, it goes a long way in brightening and modernizing the room, but Christina and her boyfriend don’t stop there. From paint, to furniture, to light fixtures, this is a pretty impressive overhaul. From Christina: My boyfriend and I bought a one bed, one bath condo in San Jose, California about a year ago and immediately saw so much potential for it once we moved in.

In October of 2014, my boyfriend, Sean and I purchased the tiny row house I had been living in for the past six years. When I moved to Philly to be closer to family I hadn’t expected our little residential spot off of (a then desolate and rather gritty) Frankford Avenue to all-of-a-sudden become Philadelphia’s hippest/hipsteriest hood.

Who couldn’t use a little glam in their life, right? Okay, so maybe it takes a certain type of person to pull off a really glam look at home, but Tim from Design Maze and the resident of this apartment were the perfect team to pull off this eye-popping den with a modern take on Hollywood glamour. I think it will make even the most minimalist design lover feel a little glam-envy. The best part? This is a rental apartment so everything is temporary.

Bradley and I had been house shopping for over a year, but in the Denver market, it was nearly impossibly to nail something down in our budget with all of the crazy investor offers constantly swooping in with full-cash offers. We had just lost another bid on a house and the next day, I got a call from our realtor that he had just gotten a listing and that we should come take a look.

Cintia’s beloved saucer chair needed some major TLC after battling the elements. She not only resurrected this chair with a ton of style, she did it in a low cost, totally green way. Once in pristine condition, my vintage saucer chair was left out in the weather for many years and slowly disintegrated. I had quite a sentimental attachment to it so was reluctant to throw it away. It took me about a year, working on it intermittently to complete this project.

When we bought this tired little cottage, we didn’t really know what we’d gotten into. Sitting empty for 3 years, the pipes had burst, the furnace had died and there was a small lake in the basement. Oh – and it was truly the homeliest house on the block. We had just started our ‘encore career’ to buy and renovate homes in a little town in Maine. But this project was a bit daunting for newbies! It took 5 months of work to transform it from top to bottom.

Hidden among many other obscure objects at a garage sale in Princeton, New Jersey, this bentwood rocking chair sat dressed in black paint and heavy black leather upholstery attached with large tacks. At the time, I couldn’t place where this piece had come from. It wasn’t a Thonet chair, but it had the similar features and was certainly older. As I continued to look at it, the colors and materials looked so heavy on such a small, slender frame. It begged to be refinished.

Ashley’s took her guest bedroom from all-purpose-catch-all to swoon worthy oasis. Just look at that gorgeous green! That fabulous rug! When can we visit? From Ashley: When we first moved in, we had a pretty standard guest bedroom. It was outdated, had dingy walls and a wallpaper border. It sat like this for quite some time and eventually just became a dumping ground for random decor pieces, clothes, etc. My husband and I had finally just had enough.

While not in terrible shape, Lesley’s bathroom felt a little dated. Instead of committing to a major bathroom remodel, she made some smart design moves to make the most of her small space. From Lesley: The bathroom in my condo is tiny, and badly needed updating when I moved in. It was straight out of the 80s with dingy beige paint, and a terribly outdated medicine cabinet/light fixture situation.

Lizeth’s medicine cabinet makeover is a perfect weekend project. If you’re feeling the need to organize and spice up your bathroom, take a look at her super easy cabinet makeover for inspiration. From Lizeth: One Saturday I decided to makeover our medicine cabinet. There was an accumulation of items we don’t use on a daily basis in the cabinet plus I was keeping some items I used a lot under the sink; hence the need for some purging and reorganizing.

Home is a sanctuary. You should love the place you come home to every night. And if you’re planning to move on or move up in a few years, investing in your home’s curb appeal is a wise investment, too. Plus it’s just crazy fun to see how a few simple tweaks can add up and completely change the way a house looks. Here are 7 home exterior renovations that really blow us away. Click through to each source to learn more about these impressive makeovers.