Home Projects

Moves are stressful. Joey had made the long move from the South Coast to the East and loved the new little Victorian terrace to call home. But, not all the furniture fit, both in size and style. Especially sad was not being able to find a place for this sideboard that, though it was getting shabby, had been loved a long time. Instead of getting rid of it, Joey found a way to make it work in another part of the home, with a fresh new function and look.

Priyanka’s kitchen was just fine. Not the prettiest, that’s for sure. And it was a little…beige looking. When she was ready to renovate, Priyanka knew exactly what she wanted. Take a peek at what she decided to do with it: Instead of going with color, Priyanka chose clean, basic white — from the cabinet to island countertops to tile — which a touch of black and gray. The result is bright, fresh and classic enough to last for a lifetime.

Amit had been using these two IKEA floor lamps for TEN YEARS — ever since senior year of college. From dorm room, to first apartment, to the first home, which Amit moved into about a year ago. But while they functioned great, they were drab — boring office gray with a plain white plastic shade that disappeared against the new house’s gray walls.

These extra large paper chandeliers make such amazing party decorations. They are colorful, easy to make, and have a huge impact in a room. I recently assembled this one out of movie ticket strips for an Oscars viewing party this year, but you can use other types of paper instead.

After 10 months of searching, Alison and Jovito purchased the home of their dreams: a charming 100-year-old brownstone in Brooklyn’s Ocean Park. There were lots of things that needed updating all over the house, but they decided to focus first on the most egregious spots: the upstairs bathroom and the very, very, brown kitchen. We’ll leave it to Allison to describe the extent of the former kitchen’s ickiness: The kitchen needed a gut renovation.

Kelly and her husband bought their first home in Spanish Town, Baton Rouge and it had a lot of…character. They’ve been sprucing it up ever since and their recent project was to transform this office space into a room to welcome their new baby. Two big challenges: decorating for either a boy or a girl and making this dark, claustrophobic space into a happy, bright room for their child.

This kitchen before and after is a little different from our usual fare because it doesn’t involve a change in style: it involves a change in function. Blaise, Kristin, and their three kids had just made the move from Manhattan to Brooklyn. Their new home was almost twice as big as their previous one, but the kitchen, they found, was prohibitively small. They loved the way it looked, but they didn’t love storing kitchen basics in the basement and pots and pans in the oven.

Fall is officially here, and everything is coming up gold. From garlands and wreaths to pumpkins and pears, read on for simple ways to DIY this metallic into your home for the season. TOP ROW: 1. Falling leaves garland from 6th Street Design School. 2. Gilded acorns available to buy from Light of Day Creations on Etsy, but an easy thing to DIY! 3. Gold-painted branches from Popsugar. 4. DIY no-sew burlap table runner from Inspired by Charm. 5. Gold-dipped log candleholder DIY on the Etsy blog.

This is not an “OMG! You lost 100 lbs.!” kind of makeover. This is more like,”Hmmnn…did you change your hair? get new glasses?” But therein lies the beauty: small changes are sometimes all that’s needed to make a room feel pulled together. The bedroom above belongs to Noah and his little sister Everly and here it is after a few simple changes: So, what changed? The blue paint is gone, there’s a new bedside table, new artwork and a new, cozy rug.

During one of my many trips to the paint counter at the hardware store this week I spied a very curious item from Glade. Since I’m a sucker for scents and it was under $5, I just had to try it and see if it was as exciting/exotic as it seemed. For all you Scratch-n-Sniff enthusiasts, yes, the “smell for yourself” sticker actually smells like the end product.

Forgive the bad pun in the title of this post, but do check out the makeover of this classic Jenny Lind-style chair, recently restored and revamped by Reddit user the Grizzard of Oz. After peeling off many layers of old upholstery, she stripped off the green paint and even used toothpicks to clean out all the nooks and crannies in the wood. The new natural looking wood stain is covered with a layer of wax for added protection.

IKEA’s KURA loft bed usually steals the spotlight in terms of hacks and makeovers, but this transformation of the plain Jane MYDAL into a playhouse for an 8-year-old girl shows just how much potential this higher bunk has. With some plywood, 512 screws and some fabric, this bunk became a tented sleeping area (reached by TROFAST “stairs”), a reading nook with a hammock and a mini desk. Not to mention the adorable flower boxes and bucket on a pulley!

This worn, old wardrobe had seen better days, but Beau wanted to cheer it up for her daughter’s bedroom. So she add some fun colors, painted on a perky pattern and completely transformed this old piece into a fun addition! From Beau: This little wardrobe was well beaten up and really sad looking, not solid wood in parts so it needed a paint job.

If you need inspiration for how to turn an old, unused piece of furniture into a new piece with a fresh look and function, you’ll love this dresser makeover. The result is far from where it started! From Karen: We love challenges. So when my husband and I found this broken dresser on garbage day we were on a mission to bring it back to life.

When Sarita and her husband bought an old home that needed a lot of work, they cooked up a plan to keep their two young daughters occupied and not underfoot while they spruced it up. Their mission: transform this unappealing closet into a happy play space. Sarita describes the project: This tiny closet is the first thing you see when you walk in the front door. I work as a muralist for children’s spaces and love colour! I was anxious to play with bold and bright yellows.

Sharon describes her home as a mishmash of styles (mostly tropical-beachy-outdoorsy nature-modern with a little traditional-hollywood regency-eclectic-real life thrown in) with no one dominate influence. When it starts leaning too far in one direction, she switches it up to keep decor in an eclectic balance. Take her family room’s mantel for instance, which was feeling entirely too traditional given her plans for the rest of the space….

If you’re interested in knowing just how you can take a pair of chairs from IKEA and make them unmistakably your own, you’ll find lots of inspiration from Brynne’s project with these club chairs. From Brynne: After searching for the perfect, affordable club chairs for my living room for weeks, I stumbled across a secondhand pair of IKEA Klappsta chairs (no longer carried in store) on Craigslist.

Whether you’re battling dry skin, tending to a sore throat, or just trying to keep germs at bay, rosemary oil is an excellent remedy for what ails you this winter. Check out just a few of our favorite uses and consider adding it to your health and wellness arsenal! Rosemary has been used medically for centuries as an antiseptic, an aid in digestive and respiratory health, and in skincare.

Without fail, every year I end up with half lit (no, this has nothing to do with egg nog) strands of christmas lights. It doesn’t seem to matter if I safely store them away, or throw them haphazardly in a bag, they refuse to ever be on the same work schedule. Repairing Christmas lights is not particularly difficult, but I wouldn’t say that it’s easy either.

Project by: Jenna Piccirillo of PICCISTUDIO Location: Fairfield, Connecticut This bedroom needed to house two growing pre-teen boys and provide space for them to sleep, study and hang out with friends. Jenna Piccirillo’s solution is the stuff kids’ dreams are made of and include a room-within-a-room treehouse.

Project by: Aparna Chacko / AjjC Design Location: Fremont, California This room needed an injection of personality before its new 10-year-old occupant moved in. It also needed a design that could carry this tween straight through the teen years. From the designer: Design brief: To convert the spare room into a space that the home owner’s 10-year-old daughter will not outgrow in the next 6-8 yrs.

Dania was on the hunt for a rocker to go with the fresh blue and cream nursery she was planning for her new son. This old green vinyl rocker from her in-laws worked just fine…but wasn’t quite the look she was going for. And though she had never upholstered anything before, she tackled this task, and the result is impressive! From Dawn: The original chair came from her in-laws, and while it was in great functioning shape, the green vinyl upholstery wasn’t in the best shape.

These conjoined movie benches sat in Natasha’s garage for a while, just waiting for inspired intervention. It turned out that all they needed was a fabric good enough with which to reupholster them. Although they look like classic corporate waiting room fixtures here, the end result is far from staid… Straight from the Brenda Starr book of decorating, this comic-themed fabric is fun and unexpected.

Miranda found this shapely chair on the side of the road — and it looked like it. But, this piece had a great form, and with Miranda’s lovely DIY changes, is now on the road to being an awesome addition to a home! From Miranda: I am always so jealous when I hear about people finding gems on the side of the road. Finally the selvage gods smiled upon me and one of my neighbors put this baby on their curb!

Recliners don’t usually grab attention for their design, but after Claudia made some quick and easy changes to this one, a corner of her home is much cheerier! From Claudia: This recliner was so ugly, even my cat got depressed by it, so I couldn’t wait to give this chair a fresh update. It is my husband’s grandfather’s chair, so I kinda had to tread carefully.

We wrapped up a Style Cure the week before Thanksgiving. For those of you who haven’t heard about our Cures, they are month-long group projects where a big bunch of Apartment Therapy readers and editors work through a series of daily assignments with a specific goal in mind. This time, it was to refresh one room in our homes in time for the holidays.

When Emma’s family purchased this aging row house in Kingston, Ontario each of the three floors was a separate apartment. This room was occupied by a student and was filled with cheap furniture and textbooks. It needed a lot of love to match the vision she had for her 5-year-old son Angus’s space.

A recent search for an “elaborate, colorful chandelier” for our living room lead me down a fantastic pająki rabbit hole. The paper and straw sculptures, typically Polish folklore holiday decor, were originally constructed to hang from the ceiling to resemble elaborate crystal chandeliers found in homes of the upper class. Pająki are usually made using wood straws but I wanted lots of color, so I changed it up a bit and used printed paper straws.

Project by: Allison Harlow of Curio Design Studio Project type: e-design Location: Miami, Florida This space provided lots of challenges! It was long and narrow, did not have a natural focal point and the budget needed to remain around $1000. To make things more complicated the client wanted to keep the gender of their baby a surprise and create a nursery that was modern, gender neutral, mature and utilized mostly neutral colors.

This old Victorian bathroom is typical of Glasgow tenement buildings —super narrow and definitely hard to maneuver in. Since the original tub wasn’t salvageable, Anne scored a couple more square feet from its removal: From Anne: The bathroom is a very awkward long and narrow shape typical of Glasgow tenements—making it particularly hard to photograph! The end result, £2000 later, is a complete difference.

Not many would see this old media stand and think “play kitchen,” but ChiWei used what she had and came up with a pretty fantastic result for under $90: From ChiWei: I got tired of pulling my 1 year old daughter out of the dishwasher and drawers where she liked to pull out Ziploc bags from the package one at a time. I thought if I gave her her own kitchen, she’d leave mine alone!

This vintage chair was in rough shape, but when the Craigslist seller ended up living across the street, Vanessa knew it was meant to be. With some patience (and a lovely surprise!), the chair has a new life: From Vanessa: I found this worn-out vintage chair on Craigslist and when I found out the seller lived across the street from me, I knew it was meant to be!

While not totally her taste, Meaghan’s bathroom was functional. The tile floor had been cracking though, so she waited until it was time to replace it to brighten up the rest of the space and add her own touches. From Meaghan: There was nothing functionally wrong with our bathroom and it was generally nice to look at, so we did not really need to do a complete remodel.

Changing tables aren’t usually very memorable which is why we like this simple idea for customizing and adding color to one. This nursery DIY is quick, non-permanent and only requires a pair of scissors and some yarn. The folks at bedding company Little Auggie gussied up this IKEA Gulliver changing table with four colors of yarn which they wrapped around the side dowels. You can create any pattern you fancy – perhaps an ombre or just one single color you love.

I’m so excited to share with you today a before & after of my very own kitchen! I live in a converted hard loft in the eclectic neighbourhood of Kensington Market in Toronto. It was converted to lofts in 1999 — which you can see by this before photo. There was nothing absolutely terrible with this kitchen (well maybe those countertops), but it just felt dated and didn’t match my colorful and eclectic personality and the rest of my space. I decided to give it a major makeover.

Kitchen trends will come and go, but some things never go out of style. If you want a kitchen that will stand the test of time and still look as beautiful twenty years from now as it does today, consider incorporating one of these seven elements. Just for fun, here’s a gallery of 1920s kitchens. Even though these kitchens are nearly 100 years old, you’ll spot some of the same features in the modern kitchens below — proof that these elements are truly timeless.

Merci bought her San Francisco condo a couple years ago, and has been turning it into her dream home. See how this staged space went from dated to modern: From Merci: I bought this San Francisco beach condo about two years ago and worked over the first year to decorate with minor renovations to make it the home that I’ve dreamt of. Wanted to feature how color can make a difference in changing a home and low cost renovations to home (e.g.

Tranae picked up this Louis chair in good condition, but was less than excited about its outdated fabric. She paired it with a cheery modern floral that’s more suited to her style: From Tranae: After months of looking for a Louis chair at yard sales and thrift shops, I finally found one for $40. The chair was in good condition but I hated the fabric. First, I removed the old fabric and padding using a staple remover and pliers.

Amanda’s boys had defaced this plain Jane dresser, so she decided to give it a heroic update with some super fabric: From Amanda: After years of carrying around these boring dressers that my children had graffitied, I figured it was time for a new look. A random stop into Walmart yielded the motivation I needed: 2 yards of Marvel comic book hero fabric. A little mod podge and some bright color paint was all I needed to make the magic complete.

This floral patterned chair may not look classic, but with some Pottery Barn inspiration, Brittany was able to transform it into a stunning staple: From Brittany: Before reupholstering this armchair, I’d done a few smaller projects (think loose cushions and wood-framed side chairs), but this was my first time taking on a fully-upholstered piece. It was also my first time doing upholstery work for someone else.

Washington Heights homeowners Pepper and Marshall were thinking about combining the two bathrooms in their two-bedroom co-op into a single, much larger, bathroom. But they changed their tune when they realized how much the combination would hurt their home’s resale value — and how much additional money and time they would spend moving all that plumbing around.

For those amongst us who have a strong urge to stick with “perfectly good” spaces that have “nothing wrong” with them, either look away or be inspired. Becky’s kitchen was fine, but she didn’t love it. So she and her husband ditched what they didn’t like and made it a room they truly love: From Becky: Right from the start we kept the upper cabinets empty, just to see if we could live without them.

Chelsea picked up this chair for free, and dove into her fabric stash to find some new life for it. Check out the makeover that cost her $0: From Chelsea: I had been looking for a simple modern chair to use in our office makeover, and when I saw this sleek, chrome number in a garage sale leftover free pile, I jumped on it!

Although they originally thought about combining the two baths into a single much larger one, budget considerations prevailed, and they decided instead to keep the bathrooms separate and make the most of each. Here you see ‘before’ pictures of bathroom #2 — if you missed the first one, you can witness its transformation here.

This is Marissa’s old bathroom. It’s certainly not the worst ‘before’ we’ve seen here on Apartment Therapy — but beneath its bland, dingy-80s exterior lurked a nasty surprise. The previous owner of Marissa’s co-op spent a lot of time away from home, and didn’t realize that leaks were causing extensive water damage. On top of that, the random dropped ceilings were making this tiny space even more claustrophobic. It was time for a change.

Our home is full of lots of really gorgeous original details—and some not so gorgeous, not so original details. Somewhere around 1980, our fireplace’s original cast iron surround and summer cover were removed and replaced with plug-in, light-up logs and delightful glass doors.

With such a large and in charge antique headboard, Chelsea’s bedroom was looking one-note. Deciding to create an accent wall behind it, she fell in love with, and then rejected, some really expensive wallpaper. See how she transformed this bedroom for $40! From Chelsea: For years I have had the pleasure of owning an antique family heirloom bedroom set, (my great-great grandmother was born in the bed….TMI?)!

This tallboy dresser had been relegated to a garage to store junk, but Polly saw some potential. Inspired by the beach, this dresser got a wavy makeover. From Polly: I got this beat up old tallboy from a lovely lady on Gumtree. She used it for junk in her garage. I kew the draws and feet would make it a really interesting piece to upcycle and I have been wanting to try a really different paint technique for a while.

Believe it or not, this dresser is not vintage. Nor is it a high-end retail piece. Thanks to the ingenuity of Sarah Sherman Samuel over at Smitten Studio, a basic, no-frills IKEA staple was transformed into a sleek, beautiful, and functional feature. Hard to believe this dresser is not vintage or a high-end retail piece, right? The IKEA Tarva is as basic as it gets.

Mandy’s first-floor master bedroom was strangely laid out and not particularly “master-sized.” She and her husband decided to sleep in another room upstairs, and completely change this one to something they always wanted—a library. The “before” faces the window that’s on the left in the “after,” since they completely changed the floor plan and that door no longer exists! From Mandy: My husband and I bought our first home last October.

Ok, so here’s a fun one. I know you guys love seeing transformations that involve entire rooms, and especially entire apartments, and this ‘before’ was particularly bleak. It’s not the worst we’ve ever seen, but it is a perfect example of the kind of soul-deadening blandness that afflicts NYC postwar apartments. In addition, the homeowners, who had just moved from a two-bedroom, were expecting a new addition.

Kari’s cottage used to be a rental. The kitchen had been “updated” with the cheapest options available, so she set out to give it a bit more style and functionality, while sticking to a first-home budget. From Kari: I purchased my home in 2012. It is a 1950 post war cottage with 2 bedrooms and 770 sqft. Prior to closing, it had sat vacant for 8 months and prior to that it had been a rental.

With shag carpet, vintage wallpaper, and a mustard counter, this bathroom was firmly planted in the 70s. Rosalind decided to bring it into this century with a dark and dramatic makeover. From Rosalind: Our master bathroom in our new-to-us house was lacking, to say the least. It had not been updated since our house was built in the 70s. A mixture of wallpaper and shag carpet had us dreaming of a renovation. It also sported two long, narrow closets that housed clothes for the master suite.

Lana’s home was built in the 1930s, and the separate rooms made it tough to entertain. She was also lacking counter space on either side of the stove. See how she opened up the space while keeping the same layout: From Lana: Our old kitchen was a great size and decent layout, but was difficult to entertain in— I always felt like I had my back to the conversation and only had 12 inches of counter on either side of the stove.

Our eat-in nook is in the shape of half a hexagon. And our “temporary” table was a hand-me-down Craigslist loaner from some friends — in the shape of an octagon. I should have known we were destined for each other.

This is an especially interesting project because it shows how an older home can be adapted for the needs of a modern family without sacrificing the things that made the home charming to begin with. The owners of this Eichler home home in Mountain View, California were in love with the home’s midcentury detailing… but not with the midcentury floor plan.

Maggie and her husband are in the process of renovating their Pittsburgh home, transforming it room by room from a dark, dated place into a light and bright space that’s a joy to be in. One of their favorite projects-in-progress is this window-filled room, which they has tons of potential… So far they’ve ditched all the wood paneling, raised the roof, and installed drywall.

With Erica and her husband hoping to sell their home, they wanted to differentiate their builder-grade kitchen from their neighbors’— without spending a ton of money. See how they transformed the space: From Erica: With the knowledge that kitchens sell homes and our goal being to move out to the country, we needed to upgrade our builder-grade ’90s time warp.

Sarah wanted this cedar-lined chest to serve as extra seating in her music room. Instead of simply upholstering the top, though, she was inspired by a White Stripes song to try something a little more advanced. From Sarah: During my recent music room makeover, I found myself looking for ways to incorporate some extra seating. My sights settled on an old cedar-lined storage chest, which was the right height for seating but didn’t present the most inviting surface.

While glad for the extra space, the addition made on Amanda and Dustin’s Sears Kit home felt out of place. So, when they started an update on its bathroom, making it fit in with the rest of the home was a priority. From Amanda: My boyfriend and I bought a 1925 Sears kit home in December of 2014. The entire house needed improvement, but the worst part was the way the addition they added on in the 70s felt too much like an addition.

Homeowners Shannon and Scott loved their home, except for one problem: their two-story house didn’t have a bathroom on the first floor. This was particularly annoying and inconvenient for Shannon — at home during the day with their young daughter, she found herself constantly running up and down the stairs. So Scott and Shannon turned to architect Andrew Mikhael, who identified a spot where they could add a bathroom, without adding to the home’s foundation at all.

In Ashley’s family farmhouse, only main floor bathroom (and only shower) hadn’t been touched in decades—and was carpeted. She decided to make it more welcoming, without spending a ton of money. From Ashley: We’ve recently moved to my husband’s family farm and into the house that he grew up in. The house is a turn-of-the century farm house, but has had an addition added to it in the late 80s/early 90s.

At 50+ years old, this vintage bathroom was starting to show its age. The sink and tub were pitted and dented, and since replacing them would mean subbing in new tiles that didn’t match the old, vintage ones, the homeowners decided to go for a full remodel — and bring this aging bathroom into the modern era. Between them, these two homeowners knew quite a bit about interior design.

It took three years, but Misha finally worked up the courage to tackle reupholstering this $5 Craigslist chair. We’re so glad she did—check out the impressive after: From Misha: After weeks of scouring Craigslist, I found the perfect chair – it was in good condition, only a few minutes away, & cheap ($5)! Then I began the search for the perfect fabric. After weeks of online searches & trips to Jo-Ann, I finally decided on a medallion print in a purple colorway.

DeaAnna really wanted a caged geometric pendant, and she saw potential in this ’80s brass fixture. See how she made it modern: From DeaAnna: Over the past year I have been obsessing over the open metal geometric shaped chandeliers that are popping up just about everywhere. I love the modern yet classic look they give a space and I have been wanting a more interesting light for our eat-in nook in the kitchen.

If you’ve ever embarked upon (or even have just priced out) a remodel, you’ll realize that flooring is one of those things that seems like not much of a big deal but can actually add up to a whole, whole lot of money. So today we’re taking a look at inexpensive flooring choices: ones that initially may not seem particularly glamorous, but might actually wind up looking really great — and saving you a lot of money in the process.

After too many dinner parties in view of the litter box, Tina decided to DIY a solution. Here’s how a $10 Craigslist find became a cat box: From Tina: I live in a small apartment in Chicago that has no room for a litter box, so the idea for this project came from one too many dinner parties where my guests had to look at the catbox while eating at the dining room table. I wanted a furniture unit that would cover the catbox and also fit in with the decor of my dining room.

Claire and Mike loved everything about their co-op in a converted Brooklyn industrial building, except for the kitchen. In appearance it was rather inoffensive — not nearly as terrible as some of the ‘before’ kitchens we’ve seen on this site — but in storage ad counter space it was seriously lacking. Also, with its standard-height cabinets, the kitchen looked awkward and squatty in such a tall space.

Dena picked up this pair of Danish chairs at an antique market. The fabric was nasty, the finish not great, but she saw the potential. They look much more modern and fresh now: How much do you love that Nate Berkus fabric?? From Dena: A few months ago I spotted a pair of chairs hiding underneath a rug at Scott’s Antique Market.

After living in their apartment for twelve years, Carrie and Jack felt that the time had come to overhaul their bathroom. They’d tried little, inexpensive fixes over the years, like a new medicine cabinet and new lighting, but nothing made their bathroom feel any less cramped and, with grout stained by years of use and tiles replaced haphazardly over the years, just plain dirty-looking.

Jill purchased a foreclosure last year, and her first project was fixing up the kitchen which had seen better days. This casita said adios to laminate, honey cabinets, and fire-starting stove! From Jill: I bought this casita in August of last year. It was a foreclosure and a fixer-upper – and it had apparently not been cleaned, much less updated, in what appeared to be a long time. My first priority was improving the horrible kitchen.

Molly scored this free dresser, and gave it a mix of staining and painting in line with its mid-century roots. From Molly: I was home with a sick child one sunny Friday, so I decided to browse the free pages of usedvictoria.com (used everywhere.com). I found a gem of a mid-century dresser posted for free, and I happened to be Lucky Caller Number One!