apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

The couple who went missing when Christmas tree hunting in Oregon's high country are safely home after three days stuck in the snow. What a relief of an end to a frightening story.

Ah, pine. We paint over you on our inexpensive IKEA furnishings. We complain of your eyesore of yellow and knots. But these Apartment Therapy House Tours prove that exposed pine wood can be perfectly beautiful. These homes use pine at its best, taking advantage of the material's warmth and texture.

We love seeing little signs of the holiday season sprouting up around us. We recently spotted some evergreen boughs tied together on the outside of a neighbor's apartment door. It looks great and adds some cheer to the otherwise drab common space of the building.

What is glitter made of exactly? And spray-on snow or tinsel? How about some holiday decorations directly from the outdoors? You know exactly what they're made of and they create a nice, natural setting inside.

Musical instruments at home can be so much fun when it comes time for holiday entertaining. You know, carols on the piano, singing with friends, relaxing to the music of an acoustic guitar. Here, we've rounded up an orchestra of musical instruments spotted in homes from Apartment Therapy House Tours.

We normally find kelly green paired with red in Christmas decor. We're partial to toning it down, though, with moss green for a little more natural look. For example:

This just in from the Pew Research Center: Overall, the proportion of adults ages 18 to 29 who live alone declined in 2009. Similar drops in the proportion of young people who live by themselves occurred during or immediately after the recessions of 1982 and 2001.

Many of us see Thanksgiving as a threshold into winter and the full-fledged holiday season. Today, we're there and we're looking to Denmark's Tine K Home for inspiration.

It's early, we know. But inspiration proceeds action, so we thought we'd put these out there in case you're considering a less-than-perfect Christmas tree for holiday decor this year. We think these meager trees can be charming in their imperfection.

What was it we were saying about gold? Despite our silver tendencies, we've found a way that we can absolutely warm up to gold: It's the combination of gold and gray.

Holland knows a thing or two about flowers. So, I think I'll take notes on these arrangements presented by the Flower Council of Holland.

A thrifty but really elegant-looking decoration for winter is a grouping of white-painted branches. Birch or Aspen bark is probably the inspiration here, but white paint achieves a similar look if those species aren't available to you.

We love the bright jolt of orange paired with more muted colors. But what happens when you tone down the orange, too? Pairing a burnt, rusty hue with other muted colors gives you results that are somber but beautiful.

A little tabletop inspiration from good old Domino: this is a simple, beautiful option for Thanksgiving. The overall tone of the room is pretty calm and quiet, excepting this large, dramatic pheasant feather centerpiece...