apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time


Posts By Sarah Rainwater

Exercise Balls as Home Decor?

Maybe it's just guilt from yesterday's gorge-fest, but we think that an exercise ball placed in the right space actually becomes an interesting sculptural object. It can serve as extra seating when needed and will strengthen your core a lot better than flopping on the couch will. What do you think? Is there a place for exercise balls outside of the gym?

Apothecary Style Containers for Post-Holiday Painkillers

Are we looking forward to food, drinks, family and friends tomorrow? Of course. Have we, in the past, occasionally, overdone one or all of these things and required some post holiday painkillers to make it through the night? Yes, we'll admit it. And wouldn't those Extra Strength Tylenol look much nicer in one of these apothecary style containers than in that cheap plastic bottle? Without a doubt.

Inspiration: Plants in the Dining Room

Winter may still be a month away, but it's cold and gray enough for us for us here in New England. Some indoor greenery would be an excellent way to make the chilly days ahead just a little more bearable.

Etsy Find: Vintage Organizing Solutions

A big part of getting ready for the holidays is getting ourselves cleaned up and organized now so that the holiday chaos won't feel so overwhelming. After browsing some uninspiring small storage offerings at almost every big box store we could think of, we found some vintage options on Etsy that we love for about the same prices.

Glow-in-the-Dark Letterpress Lunar Calendar by Alec Thibodeau

Let this be the year we finally buy a calendar before the year is half over! Tiny Showcase is accepting pre-orders for Providence artist Alec Thibodeau's letterpress printed glow-in-the-dark 2010 lunar calendar, which is based on the skies here in little Rhode Island, but is within a day of accuracy for any location in the Northern Hemisphere.

Grown-Up Furniture for Containing Toddler Clutter

No matter what I do to organize my house, the sad reality is that this is what my living room couch looks like at the moment. Creating this little piece of installation art was quite an labor of love for my 2-year-old and though thankfully he's pretty good at putting things away, there just aren't enough places to put it all.

Do You Keep Menus from Dinner Parties Past?

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We almost always try and take a copy of the menu when we eat out at fancy restaurants — it's a perfect memento of an evening that can be a bit hazy if there was more than one glass of wine involved. So why not do the same at dinner parties?

Curated Wall Decals from Bodega at Arkitip

Further proof that vinyl wall decals aren't just for kids anymore: Bodega unveils a "curated collection of large scale, eco-friendly, temporary indoor art" by Barry McGee, Cody Hudson and other artists available online at Arkitip.com.

DIY Kitchen Wallpaper: Vintage Recipe Cards

This wall treatment using vintage recipe cards in the kitchen of a Providence art space reminds us of Depression-Era interiors where newspapers were often used as wallpaper. While the results might not be beautiful in a conventional sense, they show that you can be creative about your surroundings no matter what your economic circumstances.

10 Serene Spaces

While I’m usually not a minimalist, the gloomy weather and the looming holiday frenzy have made me long for calm, light-filled spaces like the incredible black bathroom I photographed this week for an upcoming house tour. If there is such a thing as vicarious rest & relaxation, staring at these monochromatic, simply adorned rooms would be it.

Playful Party Accessories from Fred & Friends

Fred & Friends (which happens to be based right here in Rhode Island) has made an art of creating well-designed products that don’t take themselves too seriously. Here are 10 of our favorite Fred & Friends tongue-in-cheek party accessories.

3 Super Easy DIY Thank You Card Ideas

There's no shortage of beautiful handmade Thank You cards out there, but they tend to be on the pricey side. With all the parties and gifts to give thanks for this time of year, we tried to come up with some simple DIY card ideas that would be unique on the cheap.

Asya's Luminous Loft
House Tour

Name: Asya Palatova of gleena
Location: Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Size: 750 square feet
Years lived in: 5

The first thing we noticed about Asya’s light-filled loft was how similar her home feels to the delicate ceramics she creates under the name gleena. Both the space and her handcrafted porcelain dishes have a minimal quality, but her playful color palette and use of graphics give both the loft and the tableware a warm approachability.


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Neverwas Haul: A Steampunk House on Wheels

Try as I might, I’ve never quite gotten the whole Steampunk thing, but after seeing this incredible Victorian Steampunk house on wheels, I’d say I’m pretty much sold.

Elaborate Entertaining Versus a Simple Setting?
Survey

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Our post last week about the grand dining rooms of the Newport mansions got an interesting response both from readers who like the idea (if only the idea) of ornate dining room décor and those who prefer a more minimal approach. When it comes to entertaining we tend to hop back and forth to both sides of the elaborate versus simple debate. Which do you prefer?