Styles & Trends Decorating

Hobbies come with their own lingo. And around here–while we’re huge into design and life at home–we still find that some terms escape us. Architecture pros will know what an “oriel” is, but the rest of us? Time to brush up. Along with definitions and photos from Wikipedia, here are 25 obscure design and architecture terms you might not know. The dado is the lower part of a wall, below the dado rail and above the skirting board.

My parents were in town the other week, so on a particularly beautiful September Sunday, my mum and I headed to Hyde Park to visit this year’s Serpentine Pavilion. The yearly structure is an event in the architecture world, as well as in the London cultural scene. (I previously wrote about London’s 2013 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion and, I must say, it’s still my favorite one.

There are a lot of design elements you can choose from when you’re trying to create a sophisticated, comfortable room for yourself to enjoy. From balance, to asymmetry to lighting, many of these elements are visual, but not always. Movement is an element that isn’t often considered when decorating a space, but its visual and ethereal qualities mean that the rooms where movement is found in are ones where a playfulness pervades and one where motivation and relaxation go hand-in-hand.

So you have a huge open space on your hands? Great! Not so great is the feeling that it’s just one big, undefined area. Never fear. You can strategically use the things you already have to create separate zones and get your space organized. Try these tricks. Want something to look different than everything around it? Paint it a different color! It’s one of the easiest and fastest ways to create definition. Furniture doesn’t have to stick to the walls!

Do you ever look back at old photos and regret everything? Like the bad hair, and the terrible clothes? What about your decor? We want to hear about your past decorating mistakes. The interior moments you might like to burn if you knew they were caught on camera. Maybe it was during your high school years or in the college dorms, or maybe you were a card-carrying adult just going along with the times.

Dread your upcoming move all you want, but it’s going to happen. Make moving day less painful with this series of clever and easy tips and hacks that are simple, but will make the whole process faster and easier. And then maybe, just maybe, you won’t go insane after packing your 99th box, and will enjoy the first night in your new home.

When you’re feeling like the rooms of your home are design islands — lovely spaces by themselves but not necessarily connected to the architecture of your home or the entire home itself — you might want to try out this trick in the designer’s toolbox. This idea of echoing elements is NOT putting two of the same pieces of something in two different rooms. It’s not having carbon copies of the same art adorning walls in all your rooms.

Decorating a rental home can often seem like a minefield of decisions, forcing you to weigh the financial risk and aesthetic payoff at every turn. How much time and money to invest in a temporary home? Which areas to focus on and which to learn to live with? Read on for 10 Commandments to decorating your rental home. 1. Thou Shalt Decorate First things first- you should actually decorate your rental, even if it’s in small, temporary ways.

You’ve all been saying it for years in the Apartment Therapy commenting community: “curate” is overused. I’ll admit I was ambivalent, but after hearing someone put down their own lovely, charming home because they think it’s not “well curated”, I’m ready to join the cool-it-with-curate-club. Who’s with me? I’ll curate some signs.

Sometimes, when it comes to decorating, it’s helpful to think outside the box. But maybe the box is one you didn’t even realize you were in. Maybe you’re laboring under some assumptions that are so insidious, you never really thought about them at all. Here are a few unspoken rules that couldn’t be more untrue — and that might be holding your space back from being all it can be. Furniture has to be placed against a wall.

Living rooms are like living, breathing things that constantly evolve along with their inhabitants. We watch them change over time, as tastes and moods shift. Where are they today? If you’re thinking of redecorating or renovating, here are four of the top trends for modern living rooms. We’ve seen a lot of light wood and Scandinavian pastels in recent years, but lately there’s been a shift — perhaps ushered in by Abigail Ahern — towards dark walls and moody decor.

Want to be rolling around in creative inspiration on the regular at home? You need only put effort into cultivating creativity with your decor choices. Yes, a little thought into how you arrange your home and what you put in it can affect how creative you feel as you live in it — and we’ve got some tips that could help you design a space that boosts your creative levels high. Pick out furniture that can take a beating. That you can dance on. Put coffee cups on without a coaster.

Living in a small space can be quite a design challenge (which is why we’re here, right?). But you embrace it, settle in, and before long, you’re a small-space-living expert! You know just how to entertain guests in a studio, make an office double as a nursery, or carve storage out of just about anything. So what’s one to do when you move out of the charming little apartment and into a house?

That je ne sais quoi feeling certain rooms seem to exude? Those are spaces with a serious mastery of mood. A room’s atmosphere — how it feels to be in it and experience it — isn’t just important to places like restaurants and bars; a home can have an awesome atmosphere, too. Here’s how. 1. Know what mood you want to go for You looking for a bright white and cheery space?

Name: Marcus and Cooper Location: Los Angeles, CA Room Size: approx 10′ x 10′ With seven children, you could imagine that Joy Dolan doesn’t even have time to breathe, let alone decorate this fantastic vintage military room for two of her boys. In fact, she had started priming the walls when the family got a call that their new baby was ready for adoption, and that put an eighteen month delay on the project.

They’re a familiar scene dotting the city skyline — sleekly conical yet distinctly old-world — but just how much do you know about how water towers work, why we still use them and exactly how safe the tanks where we store our drinking water really are? The municipal water mains of New York City provide enough pressure to lift water roughly six stories up in the air. As turn-of-the-century buildings grew taller and taller, so did the demand for water at higher elevations.

We have a lot of really phenomenal house tours, and love revisiting them through various lenses. Last week I almost incited a riot when featuring spaces from women who live alone (here’s that post and its very controversial title). Today’s post shines the spotlight on ten guys from last year, and their approach to decorating homes that are unequivocally theirs. Here are ten favorites from the past year: 1.

The other day, I was speaking to a friend who laid a design quandary at my feet. She needed a few new items for her apartment and, since every choice she made would affect the others, she was feeling stuck on where to start — the design version of “the chicken or the egg”. Anyone who’s decorated a home, or even a room, knows that the choices you make early on can influence those further down the line.

Sometimes you feel like your home needs a refresh, but you aren’t looking to spend a lot of money. These are my 10 go-to tricks, whether I’m preparing for company, getting things photo shoot ready, or just feel the need for a little pick me up without spending much money. 1. Bring the outdoors in with houseplants. A little green can go a long ways towards bringing life into your space. Choose something low maintenance, like a succulent, if you have a less than green thumb. 2.

I’ve always thought that the best House Tours on Apartment Therapy are the ones that clearly reflect individual styles and tastes. These looks into others’ homes definitely inspire us all to want to create spaces that show off our own personalities, but that sometimes can be easier said than done. If you are feeling stuck, here are some tips to help you be mindful and stay purposeful about developing your own style! 1. Surround yourself with inspiration.

Here are five comedy concerts to stream on Netflix where the language is kept clean (the worst it gets is similar to prime time television programming humor), but the laughs are plentiful: 1. Jim Gaffigan’s Mr. Universe Gaffigan has been given the unofficial title of “America’s Cleanest Comedian” and with good reason. He’s wickedly funny, but never wicked.

Tatami mats are a kind of rush flooring used in traditional Japanese homes. Made of woven rush grass around a rice straw core, they are gentle but firm underfoot, and also give off a lovely (I think) scent, especially on rainy or humid days. Increasingly rare in modern Japanese interiors, tatami deserves to be considered as a potential material in all homes. Let’s take a look at its rich history.

We’ve all seen Marcel Breuer’s famous Wassily chair — the first to use tubular steel for a domestic setting — supposedly inspired by a bicycle frame (image 1). Would you believe this chair, maybe the most famous design to emerge from the Bauhaus, is a grandfatherly 87-years-old? Yes, the Bauhaus turned 93 this past spring, a shocking fact given that Bauhaus design still feels incredibly fresh and current.

Mixing patterns is one of those decor areas that people seem to shy away from simply out of fear of not knowing what to match up. Well, we’re here to help get your feet wet and give you the confidence you need to feel free to mix it up!As the lovely living room above, from Lonny, amply illustrates, it’s a worthwhile skill to add to your decorating expertise and the only way to truly get comfortable with using patterns is to give it a go.

A few months ago, I took my youngest to an amusement park with a large group of friends and their moms. As we all gathered at the front entrance with a gaggle of 5 – 7 year olds, I noticed one mom writing her cell number on her child’s arm. Brilliant idea! For kids who aren’t ready to remember a phone number, it’s a simple way to keep an emergency number visible in case she gets lost.

Love that Wall Street Journal stipple-style illustration? The results are not exactly as beautiful as Kevin Sprouls fine illustrations, but the SnapDot app does a decent facsimile using stippling algorithm to convert any photo into a stipple drawing, even color! SnapDot gives your iPhone the ability to draw professionally with the ideal fine art format: dots!

I’d been scheming to create a reclaimed planked wall for several years, and finally got my chance when the talented couple behind Ashley & Robert’s Streamlined Bohemian asked me to help them design their new Georgetown chocolate shop.The goal for their shop, Fleurir Hand Grown Chocolates, was to create a vibe that was both clean and rustic.

In Mexico, Christmas festivities officially begin with the Posadas, a series of nine parties occurring every day from the 16th until the 24th of December. Posadas are said to have been invented by the Spanish priests who in their attempt to convert the locals to Catholicism began holding nine masses before Christmas due to the similar timing of the celebration of the birth of the Aztec god of war, Huitzilopochtli.

I was talking to a friend who’s about to decorate her first home. She asked me if there was anything I wish I’d known when I went to decorate my first place that would have saved me time or money. There are a few things…1. Buy your big pieces of furniture secondhand: This is not just about saving money, it’s also about how your style will change as you learn what you like and don’t like.

It’s a proven fact that our home plays a significant part in how we feel emotionally. Although if not kept up it can make us physically sick, it can also make you a little down in the dumps. Having a healthy space is key and aside from participating in the Apartment Therapy Home Cure, you can check out these ideas on lightening the mood at home!

Repairs are expensive. New microwaves are cheap. But you don’t have to spend a dime on either. If your microwave turntable stopped spinning, here’s an easy way to try and fix it. And all you need is some warm, soapy water and your own two hands.You don’t have to be an appliance expert to troubleshoot a seemingly broken microwave turntable. You might find that all your little Zappy needs is a checkup and a good, thorough cleaning.