Decorating

It doesn’t matter how big or how small (or how mobile) a space is — when it works, it works (better yet if you get to see what it looked like before it got to its currently amazing state). Such is the case with Mandi from Vintage Revivals’ 1973 Bell Travel Trailer makeover: A sad, dated, basically uninhabitable “before” and it’s spot-on jealousy inducing “after”. Hello?!?

I’ve long been fascinated by toile. Toile, if you’re not familiar, is the name first given to the cotton fabric produced in the town of Jouy, in France, and then to the pattern of charming vignettes, usually printed in a single color, that covered its surface. Traditional toile, like the wallpaper that covered the walls of our bathroom in the house where I grew up, features scenes of provincial life: shepherds driving sheep, lovers meeting beneath trees.

There was a lot to drool over, design-wise, in James and Kurt’s Chicago home. Contemporary art and cool furniture, and as a bonus, two homeowners that look like they must throw amazing parties. But there’s no denying it’s the color palette that really steals the show. Purple, yellow, blue, green — this vibrant home features a variety of hues that are unexpected and delightful.

Project by: Karen Knox of Making Spaces Location: Harrogate, Yorkshire Karen’s clients were ready and willing to do a full renovation of their Edwardian home but wanted to ease into the process with their living room, which only needed a cosmetic upgrade. After talking with her clients about how they saw themselves living in the space, and the type of design they’re drawn to, she created this dark and layered space.

When it comes to updating your old furniture, a little change goes a long way. Case in point: upgraded knobs and pulls. Even though most handles are well, hand-sized, these petite fixtures still manage to offer a ton of design potential no matter where you use them. Working with a colorless kitchen but can’t afford to paint? Switch out all of your standard cabinet knobs with splashier ones and see what happens. Sick of looking at your dated bedroom dresser but desperate for the storage?

I love to buy and test trashcans. I’ve owned many and tried many others. I am a big fan of the classic, no-tech Rubbermaid cans, but those you have to hide. If you want something more accessible and pretty, you move to a different class. My latest tryout is with simplehuman’s brand new sensor can which as motion AND now — get this — voice control. Move over Alexa!

Sure, tiny houses are great and all, but what’s better than a tiny house? A tiny houseboat. Besides the upper and lower decks, this stylish, modern houseboat has a comfortable but trim indoor footprint of 30 square meters, or 322 square feet — and if you get tired of where you’re docked, you can just pilot your little floating home to another shore.

Are you tired of minimalism? You've come to the right place.

If you suffer from decision fatigue, these time-tested tips could serve as a jumping-off point for designing your home with confidence.

Built in 1928, this Michigan house came with plenty of architectural charm when Justin bought it, but it needed updating. And that’s just what Justin did, transforming the dated interior into a modern, cozy abode. Every room packs in interior design inspiration, but the living room deserves a longer look. It’s a simple, elegant composition that looks sophisticated and high-end. But you can totally pull this look off on a budget.

If you find yourself constantly yearning for a Nancy Meyers-esque house swap to whisk you away to the English countryside, maybe it's time to bring the English countryside to you.

A tiny house covered in snow might seem like an unusual choice for a posting in August, but there’s a method to this madness. Doesn’t looking at that frost-encrusted landscape just make you feel cooler? And beyond that, there’s the design. Only 592 square feet and almost all roof, this tiny cabin is the perfect retreat from the elements, simultaneously very cozy and very modern.

Vintage art always feels unique, personal and it carries a lot of history and whimsy — which is what makes it so fun to hunt down. One of our go-to sources? Etsy, though it takes a lot of sifting. To get you started on where to look, we gathered some great sellers of vintage art; they carry everything from maps and oils to old-school movie posters.

For most renters, all decorating efforts come to a screeching halt in the kitchen. Whether it’s dated countertops, offensive wood finishes, or lighting that you’re pretty sure was initially installed for a crime scene investigation, most kitchen eyesores require major permanent solutions — or so we thought.

How to make guests as comfortable on your couch as they'd be at the Ritz-Carlton (ok, maybe not exactly).

Project by: Sandra Gudaviciute of The Knotted Touch Location: Godalming, Surrey, United Kingdom Sandra transformed this living room from fine, if a little basic, to a dark and cozy statement room. Given a lot of great elements to work with (helllooooooo floors) she really upped the drama of the room, giving a little nod to the Victorian era in which the home was built. From Sandra: The house was built around 1900, converted into maisonettes in 1950.

The backsplash has a huge impact on the look and feel of your kitchen, which makes it even more of a pity that so many rentals have such ugly ones. But the good news is that, even if you’re renting, you don’t have to content yourself with what you’ve got. Here are nine good-looking, affordable, and totally temporary ways to transform your ugly (or maybe just boring) backsplash.

Good news: Pottery Barn just added new items to their small space collection, which debuted earlier this year. Check out some of the pieces below: Back in January, the retailer announced a collection of space conscious, multifunctional pieces that represented a new market for a brand that can often be associated with spacious suburban living. And it’s proving successful: What started out in just 15 stores is now expanding to 56 in “thoughtfully selected markets.

Looking through Etsy can be a dizzying whirlwind, because it offers a mix of garage sale quality bric-a-brac and diamond-in-the-rough vintage gold…you just need the patience to sniff out the latter. To help you pick through the terrain just a little faster to get to the good stuff, we dug through to unearth 10 awesome Etsy storefronts specializing in vintage furniture. They might just inspire you to update a room or two!

Some rugs are so beautiful, banishing them to the floor seems like a tragedy. Filling your vertical space with texture, color and warmth, rugs are the perfect three-in-one design solution for any blank wall in need of a boost. Go big and bold or small and understated, just make sure you hang them properly so gravity doesn’t take its toll on your woven works of art (tips ahead). Jungalow maven Justina Blakeney is no stranger to using rugs in unconventional ways.

The canopy bed of your childhood dreams has grown up and looks spectacular.

Blogger and freelance stylist Ruth Matthews shares her beautifully designed London home with her husband Dan and son Ted. Each room is filled with an array of vintage and modern furniture, textured woods, clever art, energetic patterns and bold color. But it’s how she’s deftly arranged her home — each room and the vignettes within — that deserves extra attention.

As the bedroom is a place in which you want to be lulled to sleep, its design is typically tackled in ways that could be described as “soothing” and “serene”. Soft colors and delicate patterns are the norm for a “sophisticated” retreat. But what if you want something with more pizazz? A room that’ll get you excited about the day the second you peel your eyes open?

We’ve all heard it before: small but mighty, tiny house = big style. But, in this petite stunner it was all about lifestyle taking precedence over every design decision, which left this city dweller even foregoing a conventional sofa. The Williamsburg apartment belonging to Sarah Ashley Schiear, chef and founder of Salt House, is a strong lesson in style and function conveyed in just 635 square feet.

Whether fo' real or faux real, cowhide and cowhide-style rugs might just be what your interior needs.

If, like us, you’ve been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the collaboration between IKEA and Danish design brand HAY, well, we have some great news. The Swedish retailer just shared some additional photos of the collection. Here’s what we know so far. Dezeen published the new photos of the YPPERLIG collection on Wednesday, which gives us a more complete look at the 30-plus piece line.

Never underestimate the power of a good wall sconce. Not only will these beauties save you tons of space, they allow you to customize a unique lighting scheme to suit your specific needs. Unlike bulky table lamps, a properly placed sconce or two can offer loads of reading light without taking up any valuable nightstand space. Because we believe in showing and telling, here are nine of the chicest bedroom wall sconce scenes we could find on the web.

From aesthetically pleasing litter boxes to posh kitty beds, the pet industry is starting to cater more and more to the design-loving cat person and their menagerie. If you’ve ever brought home a carpet-covered cat tree only to have your cat look at it in disdain, or witness your tabby scratching up your tired-looking furniture, you must know it’s a sign. As a discerning species, your cat naturally deserves the best—and, so does your home.

Furniture buying is hard; even harder still might be where to put it all and how to arrange a room. You might be inclined to just throw everything up against the wall, or set up your stuff the way your parents did in your childhood home. And though it might not seem like rocket science, the littlest tweaks in flow and placement can really make a colossal difference in the way a room feels and how you live in it.

Traditionally, an interior designer’s job is to help you find out what you want from a space and then work with you to create a personal decor solution that suits your room, style and budget. But in years to come, will interior designers be replaced by clever robots who can conjure up our dream schemes and know us better than we even know ourselves? Maybe — if the decorating tech that’s on the horizon (or already here) is any indication.

It’s a tale as old as time (well, as long as leasing agreements have been around): You find a rental apartment or house you LOVE…but you’re not allowed to paint the walls. Perhaps the walls are white or beige and you find them ho-hum. Or perhaps your rental walls do have color—but not color you like. What’s a rule-following tenant supposed to do?

Some trends stand the test of time for a reason. Case in point: cement tiles. Although they’ve been making waves in the decor scene for a looong while now (historians date some versions back to the 12th Century), these beautiful tiles started to pop up inside the most design-savvy contemporary homes across the globe in recent years in a big way. And it’s not difficult to see why. Along with creating artfully polished displays, cement tiles are crafted from natural materials (i.e.

I’m a big fan of vintage furniture: well-made and well-loved, the right piece can add a focal point to any space. But keeping in mind the old adage of having nothing in your home that isn’t beautiful or useful, you want to be sure that you aren’t just adding vintage pieces for the sake of them being, well, old. Check out the following for examples of vintage being brilliantly repurposed, reused, or just given the right surroundings.

The sort of aesthetic that we associate with the words “bachelor pad”—dark colors, dark woods, lots of chrome and leather—doesn’t usually appeal to me. But there’s something about this bachelor pad that I just cannot resist. All the finishes—the dark marble backsplash, the wood-paneled walls, the brass that frames the kitchen doorway—are so luxurious that I wish I could reach out and touch them through my computer screen.

Blank walls are BORING. To turn that situation around, don’t just stop after a coat of paint or a piece of art. Keep layering until you get a composition that adds visual excitement to the room. I recently saw a perfect example of a beautifully layered feature wall, and it’s a design formula anyone can use to turn a blank wall into a sensational statement wall.

I once heard a designer (whose name I cannot remember) say something that stuck with me. The exact phrasing escapes me, but the gist was that you should be investing your money in the items that you touch daily. The closer to your skin, the more you should consider spending. It makes total sense, as these are the things in your home you likely use more than anything. And sheets are one of those items.

Browsing through the photos of Rene’s Chicago studio, you’d never guess it was only 320 square feet. This little place has all the style and grandeur of a much larger home — and Rene has managed to fit a queen-sized bed, two seating areas, and tons of accessories (including a fish tank!) into a very small footprint. Here’s why it works. Maximalism isn’t a direction people often pursue for small spaces.

Forty square meters (or 430 square feet) is not a lot of space to work with, but the architects of this tiny German apartment managed to squeeze a lot of living—and a lot of personality—into a very small home. Another thing they managed to fit in? Room for lots and lots of books. The centerpiece of the apartment is the so-called “inhabitable wall”, a bookcase that stretches the length of one wall of the living room, and all the way to the ceiling.

There's a powerful design element at your disposal for highlighting — and creating! — architectural features.

Whether you see it as a throwback to the ’80s or a reflection of changing attitudes about femininity, there’s a particular shade of light, slightly-muted pink whose ubiquitousness is as complete as it was sudden. Call it millennial pink, or dusty pink, or rose quartz—it’s everywhere, and it’s the color that every eye seems drawn to. So we’ve created this roundup of sofas where pink, the color of the moment, meets velvet, the fabric of the moment.

If you’ve ever lived in an apartment, particularly a small apartment, this situation probably sounds familiar: you’ve signed a lease, you’re so excited about your new place, and then you realize—you have no idea where to put the furniture. And that’s where we come in. In this new column, we’re tackling the weirdest and most perplexing space planning solutions. Did the Room Layout Doctor do a good job of fitting everything in? You be the judge.

Vintage dressers are a bathroom renovator’s best friend, as they can lend a healthy dose of character to the old W.C. for a fraction of the price of most (boring) made-to-order vanities. What’s more is, if you know how to drill a hole into wood, you’re half way to repurposing your own vintage dresser into a vanity/ sink console.

Boldly patterned tile is starting to pop up in all sorts of unexpected places - including outdoors.

There’s a color combination I’ve been seeing pop up in bedroom after bedroom recently. From transitional to eclectic to bohemian style, it seems to be the kind of combo that works with any decor look. And considering one half of the pair is very popular (like, the most popular), it’s not surprising that the trend is starting to swing in this direction.

What if...you didn't put your bed on a wall at all?

It’s not just how you work, but also where you work that’s important. Here at Apartment Therapy, we understand the influence that your physical environment can have on your state of mind, and that’s particularly true for the place where you work—whether that work is writing, or catching up on business, or just composing a few emails.

So you just moved in (that, or you’re itching to move some things around in your existing home). Now what? I don’t know about you, but I’m always so excited at the prospects of a blank canvas floor plan, until I actually have to start making decisions on where to put everything. I start questioning everything! Is my rug the right size? Should my sofa go against the wall or float in the room? Do my nightstands have to match?

Some days I’m a boss lady beast, working from sunrise to sunrise getting shit done with perfect posture while I eat three square meals. Other days, I’m amazed if I can even get out of bed and remember to wash off my makeup at the end of the day. All that is to say: Sometimes life gets away from you. Accomplishment keeps you going on those days when you have it together.

With a slogan like "Beautiful design. Customized by you. Accessibly priced." the values of Interior Define are music to our design-loving ears.

I know Murphy beds have a reputation for being a smart choice when space is limited. But are they comfy? Are they hard to fold up and down? Do you have to sacrifice comfort for convenience? I decided to ask the best experts on Murphy beds to answer those questions and more: Three people who actually sleep in a Murphy bed every night. Editor Emily Graff lives in a patterned and pretty 550-square-foot Greenwich Village studio.

Use a bedroom as a living room? An extra office space as a den? A closet as a bedroom?! Yes—though rooms come with “historical precedent” of how they were used in the past, it doesn’t mean you have to use a space in your home the way it was intended. Not only do you have permission to use your home any damn way you please—it just makes sense to do so. Why not craft a home that functions just the way you need?

While Millennial Pink might feel like the color story du jour, paint choices ranging from coral to deep fuchsia are far from a recent design phenomenon. Turns out, renown architects ranging from Frank Lloyd Wright in the pre-war years to Ricardo Bofill in the get-weird 60s were huge fans of pink in all its incarnations, swathing some now-historic landmarks in its cheeky hue.

Having a small living room can be a bit of a challenge, especially if you love to entertain. How do you fit in seating for all those people and still leave room to move?

What’s your style? Maybe you’re someone who has trouble encapsulating that in just a few words. You know what you like when you see it, but the things you’re drawn to are all across the decor spectrum, not fitting perfectly into any one aesthetic. You’re a mixer. You like the unexpectedness of bringing together disparate and contrasting styles.

Anyone who lives, breathes, dreams design will understand the following: sometimes, you become fixated on something design-y, and then —like learning a new word that you start to hear everywhere — you start to see that design-y thing everywhere (much to your delight, but also much to your chagrin because you WANT.IT.) Well, that is me currently with colored glass and mirrors.

Embrace the style of headboard that embraces you.

White is arguably the most versatile of paint colors, especially when it comes to that which surrounds us—walls. Would you agree? Although I love a pop of bold color (or a dramatic dark, or a well-considered neutral…), even I have to agree that white can be seen as one-size-fits-all, serving as a backdrop for spaces overflowing with interest and personality. It seems that no matter the style, from classic and cozy to clean and contemporary, white just works.

The following are stellar examples from our House Tours of rental bathrooms done right. While I’ve broken down the images according to categories, a great thing about these bathrooms is that they all have a cross-section of ideas to steal (in a good way, of course), so steal away!

Okay, HomeGoods fans, we’re one step closer to shopping at a new home store by the brand. TJX just announced the name of the new store, and when they’ll start opening. Back in February, we reported that TJX, the store’s parent company, had told investors that they were planning to introduce a new home store concept in addition to the ever popular HomeGoods. On Tuesday’s earnings call, TJX CEO Ernie Herrman gave the new store a name: HomeSense.

Rugs can be a royal pain. While they most definitely can pull a room together, deciding on the right one for your space can sometimes tear things apart (i.e. your cleaning routine, your finances, your chill about pets and kids). If you’re on the hunt for a rug that meets all of your indoor needs but doesn’t break the bank, listen up. Using outdoor rugs inside is a great option for a select group of people, and there’s a good chance you might be one of them. You like patterns.

When you spend all day, every day, looking at pictures of interiors, you pick up a few tricks. Here’s one of my favorites—something I’ve spotted in a few different interiors, and that always looks great. As an added bonus, it’s cheaper than buying new furniture—and a super easy DIY. The styling secret I’m referring to? A single long, low shelf. (You can also double or triple these up, as suits your needs and the architecture of the space.

For just under a year (as of last June, to be exact), I’ve had a serious crush on the Brooklyn home of Jae and Devin. The architecture alone of their brownstone, with those amazing moldings, ceilings and floors would make any design lover completely and totally jealous obsessed. Their lust-worthy abode is more than just really great bones, however, and I’m going to break down why their combo living room and dining room just plain works.

Having the blues isn’t always a bad thing. Just look at these awesome interiors. From Picasso’s Blue Period and Yves Klein’s invention of International Klein Blue to the modern-day fascination with indigo-dyed shibori fabrics and a revived appreciation for Chinese ginger jars, blue has proven to be a classic color that will never go out of style.

If you’re a creative type who’s ever dreamed of having a little spot to escape from distractions, or just a person who occasionally craves solitude and the embrace of nature, you’ll love this little writer’s cabin on an island in the Puget Sound. The house is walled by glass on three sides, opening it up to the surrounding wilderness, but it also has oversize shutters that can be opened and closed, turning it into a tiny little cocoon of a home.

Showering, shaving, putting on makeup, removing makeup, brushing teeth, trimming beards—we spend a lot of our days in the bathroom. With all that time spent there, it should be a place where you feel comfortable and happy. It’s a room that should reflect your personality and aesthetic, but when two people share the same bathroom, it might be hard to keep them both happy if they have opposing styles.

Welcome to the maiden voyage of a new column we’re launching called Why It Works. Here at Apartment Therapy, we publish hundreds upon hundreds of amazing, lived in, real-life homes every year. And though they all are special in their own right, every now and then there comes along a super smart room within one of those homes. In Why It Works, we’re celebrating that notion, and breaking down all the elements that have come together to create a truly spectacular space.

If you've ever wondered about whether the online furniture retailer's sofas were comfortable, we went behind the scenes to find out (and here's what we thought!).

Lauren Singer has a pretty famous jar. The jar itself is nothing special—just a regular pint-sized glass one—but if you’re an average American, what’s in it is mindblowing. The jar holds all of Singer’s trash from the past four years—yes, every last bit of it. Singer began living a zero waste life nearly half a decade ago, and started the blog Trash is for Tossers to help others do so as well.

Arranging furniture in a small space is always a bit of a challenge—and this is particularly true if your space is a bedroom, living room, dining room, workspace, and kitchen all in one. If you’re looking for inspiration for the layout of your studio apartment, look no farther than these five diminutive spaces, whose owners came up with five very clever solutions for one-room living.

Turns out, there’s more than just 36-roll packs of toilet paper and giant muffins at your local warehouse store. We’ve recently discovered that you can also snag an authentic Eames Lounge chair at Costco, for quite a discount. Earlier this week, we were tipped off to the designer deal via a Facebook group for mid-century modern fans. The photo was of the iconic chair and its ottoman next to Herman Miller boxes stacked on pallets in the warehouse. The price for both pieces? $3,899.99.

Let's face it: If you're going to have a conversation with someone, a traditional sofa probably isn't the best place to do it. But this is.

For our series about influential women in design, we’re focusing this week on Patricia Urquiola, the Spanish designer who is one of the most influential figures in the world of contemporary design. Her designs are playful, colorful, innovative, and sometimes a little bit irreverent, and she’s working to redefine the look of the contemporary home. Patricia Urquiola was born in Oviedo, Spain, in 1961.