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Apartment Therapy: Complete and Happy Home
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
The most comprehensive and complete home book from Apartment Therapy, featuring every aspect of design and decorating from floor plans to paint, specific rooms to style approaches, with the goal of setting up and living well in a place you love.
“A complete and happy home is so much more than a series of pretty rooms. Between these two covers, we’ve captured everything we’ve learned at Apartment Therapy about decorating, organizing, cleaning, and repairs, so you can make and maintain your own fabulous home.”
—from the Introduction
Getting a room to feel right is more instinct than science. You know a great space when you see it. Apartment Therapy trains your eye with more than 75 rooms, from bedrooms to kitchens and living rooms to kids’ rooms and workspaces. Explore every detail—lighting, color palettes, flooring, and accessories—that brings a home to life and, most important, makes you happy in it.
The most comprehensive and complete home book from Apartment Therapy, featuring every aspect of design and decorating from floor plans to paint, specific rooms to style approaches, with the goal of setting up and living well in a place you love.
“A complete and happy home is so much more than a series of pretty rooms. Between these two covers, we’ve captured everything we’ve learned at Apartment Therapy about decorating, organizing, cleaning, and repairs, so you can make and maintain your own fabulous home.”
—from the Introduction
Getting a room to feel right is more instinct than science. You know a great space when you see it. Apartment Therapy trains your eye with more than 75 rooms, from bedrooms to kitchens and living rooms to kids’ rooms and workspaces. Explore every detail—lighting, color palettes, flooring, and accessories—that brings a home to life and, most important, makes you happy in it.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published May 19, 2015
106 people are currently reading
407 people want to read
About the author
Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan
4 books10 followersMaxwell is the founder of Apartment Therapy, initially started as an interior design business. Ryan expanded the business to a website with the help of his brother in 2004 and has since added a home cooking website, The Kitchn, as well.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
February 5, 2016
Ecch.
HGTV, are you listening right now? Apartment Therapy, open your fucking ears and your eyes and whatever other holes you have that can do listening.
You all need to do a show/book/whatever about people who are in ACTUAL apartments with ACTUAL spaces and what they look like and ACTUAL budgets and who DON'T want to spend $10,000 renovating an apartment they'll live in for less than a year.
Seriously, where is that show? Where is that book?
And how great would it be? "Hi, I'm Dan. I'm living in Chicago. I don't own a car and have to live where I can catch a bus or a train, and I have $650 a month to spend on rent. Here are my options, and what can we do to make it not horrible?" THAT'S a show, people. That's the struggle. Screw international House Hunters. Those fools? Who cares what someone with a million-dollar budget can buy on an island paradise?
You want my tips? As a serial renter of shitty apartments? Here you go, Pete's Tips for Moving and Renting Lousy Apartments:
1. If a wall decoration is paper and it's unframed, throw it out when you move. If you don't care enough to buy a $9 frame for something, then it's not that important to you. These things do not move with you.
2. Get a half-height kitchen garbage can and keep it in a cabinet. This reduces the odor, and also means you have to take out the garbage more often, before it becomes a 25-lb. stinkbag. This is a good thing all around.
3. Every apartment I've moved into, without exception, has terrible window coverings. Curtains that are stained and weird and rigged up with some kind of Yugoslavian sliding situation. Get some hooks, hang a bar over the top, and put your own coverings over the ones provided. This is the easiest way to make your windows not look like dogshit while keeping intact whatever craziness the landlord has decided on. Plus, when you move on, you can take that stuff with you, and hooks with adjustable poles are pretty versatile.
4. In the course of living in your apartment, little things will break. A towel bar will come off the wall, a faucet will drip. Fix these things yourself. This is a good opportunity to practice some handyman skills because you can always say, "I don't know, it's just been like that" if you have to sound the alarm and call the landlord. Plus, waiting on a landlord to fix the small stuff is almost always a horrible proposition.
5. Top floor. My god, if you can, top floor. Noisy neighbors above are way worse than beside or below. Trust me on this one, don't fuck around, top floor if at all possible.
6. A new toilet seat is like 10 bucks. Just buy one. Just assume that the one in your new place has been used by hundreds of strangers. Start thinking of toilet seats not as a part of the structure of your apartment, but as a disposable commodity. Because that's what they are. This goes double for plungers, shower curtains, and basically anything that someone left in the bathroom at your place to do you a favor.
7. You don't need a dining room table.
8. The last place I moved to, I had a dresser, and I screwed an upside-down U-shaped set of pipes onto the top of the dresser to work as a clothes rack. This is like the smartest thing I've ever done. When you're renting, all bets are off on what the closet situation is going to be. Build your own damn closet and you'll never have to worry about it.
9. Lay down mats in your fridge. I got a few placemats from Target for a few bucks, you lay those suckers down on the wire racks, and the whole thing looks a lot better. Plus, way easier to clean.
10. Murphy beds and foldable tables are not good solutions. I can tell you right now, across the world there are hundreds and thousands of Murphy beds that get folded down and stay down for weeks at a time. You don't want to fold up your bed and rebuild a living room every day. The only times these are workable is when the Murphy bed is in a room for guests, and that way you can just have it folded up most of the time.
11. Don't tell your friends that you're moving. All you're gonna get is a bunch of unsolicited advice, most of it from people who have not rented for a decade. They're just going to make you feel like shit about how much you're paying, where you're located, and all that junk. I know they mean well, but it's like having a baby. Tell people you're pregnant, and get ready to answer the same five questions and then to receive a bunch of advice that you probably don't want.
12. If your friends help you move, have ALL your shit packed before they show up, and pay them with money. Be a fuckin' grownup. Pizza and beer is what brings them back to breaking even, so a little cash on top is nice.
13. The poor man's version of noise-canceling headphones is a set of earbuds paired with hearing protection used for construction or at a shooting range. This works pretty great, honestly, and the ear protection is cheap.
14. Don't rent a house, rent an apartment. Seriously, a rental house has all the immutability of an apartment combined with yardwork. It's the worst of both worlds.
15. Indoor succulents are nice, and you can plant that shit in just about anything.
HGTV, are you listening right now? Apartment Therapy, open your fucking ears and your eyes and whatever other holes you have that can do listening.
You all need to do a show/book/whatever about people who are in ACTUAL apartments with ACTUAL spaces and what they look like and ACTUAL budgets and who DON'T want to spend $10,000 renovating an apartment they'll live in for less than a year.
Seriously, where is that show? Where is that book?
And how great would it be? "Hi, I'm Dan. I'm living in Chicago. I don't own a car and have to live where I can catch a bus or a train, and I have $650 a month to spend on rent. Here are my options, and what can we do to make it not horrible?" THAT'S a show, people. That's the struggle. Screw international House Hunters. Those fools? Who cares what someone with a million-dollar budget can buy on an island paradise?
You want my tips? As a serial renter of shitty apartments? Here you go, Pete's Tips for Moving and Renting Lousy Apartments:
1. If a wall decoration is paper and it's unframed, throw it out when you move. If you don't care enough to buy a $9 frame for something, then it's not that important to you. These things do not move with you.
2. Get a half-height kitchen garbage can and keep it in a cabinet. This reduces the odor, and also means you have to take out the garbage more often, before it becomes a 25-lb. stinkbag. This is a good thing all around.
3. Every apartment I've moved into, without exception, has terrible window coverings. Curtains that are stained and weird and rigged up with some kind of Yugoslavian sliding situation. Get some hooks, hang a bar over the top, and put your own coverings over the ones provided. This is the easiest way to make your windows not look like dogshit while keeping intact whatever craziness the landlord has decided on. Plus, when you move on, you can take that stuff with you, and hooks with adjustable poles are pretty versatile.
4. In the course of living in your apartment, little things will break. A towel bar will come off the wall, a faucet will drip. Fix these things yourself. This is a good opportunity to practice some handyman skills because you can always say, "I don't know, it's just been like that" if you have to sound the alarm and call the landlord. Plus, waiting on a landlord to fix the small stuff is almost always a horrible proposition.
5. Top floor. My god, if you can, top floor. Noisy neighbors above are way worse than beside or below. Trust me on this one, don't fuck around, top floor if at all possible.
6. A new toilet seat is like 10 bucks. Just buy one. Just assume that the one in your new place has been used by hundreds of strangers. Start thinking of toilet seats not as a part of the structure of your apartment, but as a disposable commodity. Because that's what they are. This goes double for plungers, shower curtains, and basically anything that someone left in the bathroom at your place to do you a favor.
7. You don't need a dining room table.
8. The last place I moved to, I had a dresser, and I screwed an upside-down U-shaped set of pipes onto the top of the dresser to work as a clothes rack. This is like the smartest thing I've ever done. When you're renting, all bets are off on what the closet situation is going to be. Build your own damn closet and you'll never have to worry about it.
9. Lay down mats in your fridge. I got a few placemats from Target for a few bucks, you lay those suckers down on the wire racks, and the whole thing looks a lot better. Plus, way easier to clean.
10. Murphy beds and foldable tables are not good solutions. I can tell you right now, across the world there are hundreds and thousands of Murphy beds that get folded down and stay down for weeks at a time. You don't want to fold up your bed and rebuild a living room every day. The only times these are workable is when the Murphy bed is in a room for guests, and that way you can just have it folded up most of the time.
11. Don't tell your friends that you're moving. All you're gonna get is a bunch of unsolicited advice, most of it from people who have not rented for a decade. They're just going to make you feel like shit about how much you're paying, where you're located, and all that junk. I know they mean well, but it's like having a baby. Tell people you're pregnant, and get ready to answer the same five questions and then to receive a bunch of advice that you probably don't want.
12. If your friends help you move, have ALL your shit packed before they show up, and pay them with money. Be a fuckin' grownup. Pizza and beer is what brings them back to breaking even, so a little cash on top is nice.
13. The poor man's version of noise-canceling headphones is a set of earbuds paired with hearing protection used for construction or at a shooting range. This works pretty great, honestly, and the ear protection is cheap.
14. Don't rent a house, rent an apartment. Seriously, a rental house has all the immutability of an apartment combined with yardwork. It's the worst of both worlds.
15. Indoor succulents are nice, and you can plant that shit in just about anything.
September 6, 2015
I picked up Apartment Therapy: Complete and Happy Home by Maxwell Ryan and Janel Laban because I thought it was going to be a helpful book for getting ideas for apartments; you know, those places where you have little decision in floor plans, can’t really change appliances, can’t paint walls, etc. Basically, I was really excited about the “Apartment Therapy” part. Though most wouldn’t know it, I do like interior design—the artist in me can’t not care about it. I tend to lean in the practical, functional, and economical (#cheap #poor), so I was hoping for some ideas in aesthetic appeal with my frugality. Well, “Apartment Therapy” is a company (see the website of the same name), not the leading title of this book. So, approach it as the follow: Complete and Happy Home: Some Helpful Tips and Inspiring Picture for the Wealthy, Brought to You by Apartment Therapy. Yes, my dreams were dashed, and my humble apartment will likely benefit very little from this book. That said, let’s move on to some substance.
The authors went around the world looking at different homes and apartments and used a collection thereof as examples of different kinds of spaces, styles, etc. in this beautifully organized and bound book (seriously, I really like how this hefty hardback looks and feels). They begin with some general tips on where one may begin with determining his or her own style (home type, style, color schemes, etc.). (Minor peeve: In the first few pages, someone forgot to put the image layers below the text layers in the page layout, so some paragraph text gets cut off and is not visible. Oops!) These offerings are extremely general and sometimes pigeonholed, but the reader isn’t really expected to run with them as they are. One is encouraged to determine his or her style according to what makes one happy (that’s often emphasized throughout). So, one must prepare to do more research after getting a few insights from this book.
Complete and Happy Home is broadly divided into three parts: setting up your home, living in your home, and maintaining you home. The latter section is surprisingly encouraging and helpful! I particularly appreciate the brief “year-round healthy & happy home calendar” (278–81). It offers a sentence or two on what to do each month in the following areas: clean, maintain, let go, decorate, and enjoy. Good stuff that may find its way being copied into my actual calendar.
The book is a bit too general in its tips and too specific in its examples for my preference, but I do want emphasize that it’s my preference that gets in the way of my appreciating this book more than others might. Someone else may love it. Though there are tips on saving money and repurposing things, those on a tight budget won’t benefit quite as much from this read. (Note to authors, publisher, etc.: Consider making one of these for those who tend to live like college students even when approaching their 40s? Thanks!)
One final note: Melanie Acevedo did a great job with the photography, the bulk of the book’s real estate. If nothing else, this could be a helpful coffee table book in a waiting room for people to browse and perhaps feel a little inspired. That’s likely where my copy will end up. Kudos, Melanie!
*I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
The authors went around the world looking at different homes and apartments and used a collection thereof as examples of different kinds of spaces, styles, etc. in this beautifully organized and bound book (seriously, I really like how this hefty hardback looks and feels). They begin with some general tips on where one may begin with determining his or her own style (home type, style, color schemes, etc.). (Minor peeve: In the first few pages, someone forgot to put the image layers below the text layers in the page layout, so some paragraph text gets cut off and is not visible. Oops!) These offerings are extremely general and sometimes pigeonholed, but the reader isn’t really expected to run with them as they are. One is encouraged to determine his or her style according to what makes one happy (that’s often emphasized throughout). So, one must prepare to do more research after getting a few insights from this book.
Complete and Happy Home is broadly divided into three parts: setting up your home, living in your home, and maintaining you home. The latter section is surprisingly encouraging and helpful! I particularly appreciate the brief “year-round healthy & happy home calendar” (278–81). It offers a sentence or two on what to do each month in the following areas: clean, maintain, let go, decorate, and enjoy. Good stuff that may find its way being copied into my actual calendar.
The book is a bit too general in its tips and too specific in its examples for my preference, but I do want emphasize that it’s my preference that gets in the way of my appreciating this book more than others might. Someone else may love it. Though there are tips on saving money and repurposing things, those on a tight budget won’t benefit quite as much from this read. (Note to authors, publisher, etc.: Consider making one of these for those who tend to live like college students even when approaching their 40s? Thanks!)
One final note: Melanie Acevedo did a great job with the photography, the bulk of the book’s real estate. If nothing else, this could be a helpful coffee table book in a waiting room for people to browse and perhaps feel a little inspired. That’s likely where my copy will end up. Kudos, Melanie!
*I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
October 25, 2015
3.5 Stars
This is a decent decorating book, containing some beautiful pictures. I found the sections related to floor planning to be the most useful. This book is more inspirational than instructional, with the majority of the book displaying various interiors. Many of the rooms features were too esoteric or eclectic for my personal tastes. I didn't find many ideas I could use in my own decorating plans.
This is a decent decorating book, containing some beautiful pictures. I found the sections related to floor planning to be the most useful. This book is more inspirational than instructional, with the majority of the book displaying various interiors. Many of the rooms features were too esoteric or eclectic for my personal tastes. I didn't find many ideas I could use in my own decorating plans.
December 1, 2017
I enjoyed the wide variety of homes shown in this book. More often, it taught me what I don't like than what I do like, which is still valuable info. The book claims to celebrate every style, but of course it does have a point of view. It's a more moneyed, sophisticated city perspective. As an example, the flooring options didn't mention any sort of vinyl product, and it says to get an antique when you can't get something custom.
January 29, 2016
My eclectic collector/simple chic/organic modern self really enjoyed this book!
July 18, 2022
As always, Apartment Therapy (tm) has written an informative and inspirational book on design and styling a home. Large or small, rental homes, apartments and condos are a challenge. Not only are you limited to the space and room size; but there will always be a hurdle to get over in a space that is on the small side. Renovation isn’t an option but that doesn’t mean you live in a box. This well known blog, videos on YouTube, and books are some of the very best inspiration out there. Enjoyed this book immensely and found loads of inspiration for our next home.
December 30, 2024
The title is misleading. This book is not for small home or actual apartment dwellers. It features landed properties, and big ones. Where you have space for lots of stuff. Also, it's not as comprehensive as it seems. Yes, there are lots of tile types, flooring types, lighting types, etc featured, but it doesn't cover all of them. So if you're looking for more eclectic options, you have to get the know-how to implement them elsewhere. It's a huge book with seemingly lots of content, but at the end of the day I came away not having gleaned anything new.
February 14, 2017
Nice to flip through pretty homes while the kids are in swim lessons. Tiny bedroom on p. 231 is great. No ideas I really could/would use, but just looking at other people’s clean and decorated spaces makes me happy.
I like the year-round maintenance calendar on p. 278. Not comprehensive, but it’s a start.
I like the year-round maintenance calendar on p. 278. Not comprehensive, but it’s a start.
April 15, 2023
The photos were severely lacking - just one or two very limited views is not enough to get a feel for anything when you’re looking at an entire room. The homes used were also far from an inclusive sampling. They’re all in NY, LA, and Chicago with a couple extra thrown in. Hardly the wide variety the book advertises. Just meh.
December 8, 2020
Cool, felt kind of dated but neat. Kind of eye candy for quick visuals on what one would want in their home/life. I enjoy the small footprints and how people managed life in these spaces and helped shift my perspective on the space I have and the potential of what it can be.
May 15, 2017
Fantastic collection of photos of small space living areas. Perfect for eclectic mixes of personal items mixed with really good interior advice.
February 9, 2019
I really enjoyed the photos.
September 9, 2021
The pictures gave a lot of good ideas that I made note of. And some of the tips at the end of the book were helpful.
February 22, 2022
Some nice pictures and ideas.
May 9, 2022
Read on my Kindle Paperwhite & can only assume would be much better in color.
March 19, 2025
Plot twist- not just for apartments. Fun book about decorating home spaces.
October 6, 2015
This book is full of beautiful home decor pictures that will inspire great ideas for your own home! The book is broken down in to three main parts: Setting Up Your Home, Living in Your Home and Maintaining Your Home. It helps you chose the right type of house, and different styles of decor to fit your lifestyle and tastes. Don’t let the title fool you though. This isn’t so much about an apartment as it is a house. But the concepts can apply to both.
There are sections of the book that break down how to have a good flow through the home, what the appropriate type and size light fixture is for a bed side table, even framing unexpected pieces like sports equipment or functional items to create a differnent vibe and added storage space!
I am not going to lie, I absolutely judge a book by it’s cover. When I saw the Apartment Therapy Complete and Happy Home cover I thought….I want to live in that living room!!!
Not all of the design styles are my taste, but it provides great ideas to apply to things that I do like. It talks about what to do with small rooms to make them look larger, how to chose paint and floor finishes, etc. Plus, there is an outdoor section! Learn how to have a garden with minimum acerage, set up your deck to entertain and maximize your small patio space.
One of my favorite sections of the book is in the back. There are useful guides with home repair tips and other great information. When you first purchase your home, you are just so excited and overwhelmed with the newness of it all that you’re not quite thinking what it is going to take to maintain it!!! And the best part? There is a yearly guide broken down by months to keep you on track with keeping your house clean, healthy, and happy! Starting January 1, 2016, I plan on writing down each month’s goals in my planner and see how the schedule works for me. I think I am going to love it!
**I received this book from Blogging for Books but all opinions are honest and of my own. **
There are sections of the book that break down how to have a good flow through the home, what the appropriate type and size light fixture is for a bed side table, even framing unexpected pieces like sports equipment or functional items to create a differnent vibe and added storage space!
I am not going to lie, I absolutely judge a book by it’s cover. When I saw the Apartment Therapy Complete and Happy Home cover I thought….I want to live in that living room!!!
Not all of the design styles are my taste, but it provides great ideas to apply to things that I do like. It talks about what to do with small rooms to make them look larger, how to chose paint and floor finishes, etc. Plus, there is an outdoor section! Learn how to have a garden with minimum acerage, set up your deck to entertain and maximize your small patio space.
One of my favorite sections of the book is in the back. There are useful guides with home repair tips and other great information. When you first purchase your home, you are just so excited and overwhelmed with the newness of it all that you’re not quite thinking what it is going to take to maintain it!!! And the best part? There is a yearly guide broken down by months to keep you on track with keeping your house clean, healthy, and happy! Starting January 1, 2016, I plan on writing down each month’s goals in my planner and see how the schedule works for me. I think I am going to love it!
**I received this book from Blogging for Books but all opinions are honest and of my own. **
September 25, 2015
Having recently moved into a new apartment, and on my own for the first time, I started visiting the Apartment Therapy site multiple times a day. For advice on storage, living in a small space, how to fit all my stuff into my small kitchen, and how to make it MY home. I was excited to get a copy of their new book to review, "Apartment Therapy Complete and Happy Home," so I could lay on my new couch and stare at photos of beautiful homes for hours, and what enjoyable hours they were.
While this isn't Apartment Therapy's first book, I like that this one focuses on what can be really hard to achieve when decorating, "how it makes you feel." The book walks you through how to move in and decorate from scratch, shares photos of some gorgeous bedroom, and ends with a section on how to maintain it.
For me, the most helpful section was on hanging art. I usually just guess where it should go, so it was nice to get some advice on how to hang it so it feels right in the space. And the section on plants has me seriously considering a "no-lawn garden" when I move into a place with more outdoor space.
A great book to give anyone inspiration on redecorating, or setting up their first place. Only downside, I couldn't click "pin it" on the lovely photos;)
While this isn't Apartment Therapy's first book, I like that this one focuses on what can be really hard to achieve when decorating, "how it makes you feel." The book walks you through how to move in and decorate from scratch, shares photos of some gorgeous bedroom, and ends with a section on how to maintain it.
For me, the most helpful section was on hanging art. I usually just guess where it should go, so it was nice to get some advice on how to hang it so it feels right in the space. And the section on plants has me seriously considering a "no-lawn garden" when I move into a place with more outdoor space.
A great book to give anyone inspiration on redecorating, or setting up their first place. Only downside, I couldn't click "pin it" on the lovely photos;)
October 2, 2015
I have seen various diy aspects to Apartment Therapy and loved the rooms they decorate. So, when I saw this book was up for review I decided to try it. I was hoping for some diy decorating but didn't quite get that. It is mostly for decorating in general and it has some beautiful pictures to go along with their examples.
While I don't think I'll ever achieve a perfect Apartment Therapy house, I do like looking at the pictures and perhaps get an idea or two to incorporate into my own home. While I did like the 3 aspects to the book, I did want more diy ideas on a budget (there were a few in there). Still, it is a great coffee table book and a great idea book if you are wanting a totally new look to your home. I recommend it just to look at the pictures.
I give this book 4 stars and recommend it to anyone who likes looking at the pretty pictures or is just going to decorate their home. The last section might be of interest to anyone maintaining a home and a few ideas on how to diy fix things. I was just disappointed that it didn't show me how to get a swoony handsome guy to come over and clean. ;)
While I don't think I'll ever achieve a perfect Apartment Therapy house, I do like looking at the pictures and perhaps get an idea or two to incorporate into my own home. While I did like the 3 aspects to the book, I did want more diy ideas on a budget (there were a few in there). Still, it is a great coffee table book and a great idea book if you are wanting a totally new look to your home. I recommend it just to look at the pictures.
I give this book 4 stars and recommend it to anyone who likes looking at the pretty pictures or is just going to decorate their home. The last section might be of interest to anyone maintaining a home and a few ideas on how to diy fix things. I was just disappointed that it didn't show me how to get a swoony handsome guy to come over and clean. ;)
August 31, 2015
I love home decorating and organizing books. I love peeks into people's homes, peeks into their style, peeks into who they are (because you can tell a lot about a person by their home).
Though I long ago figured out that my decorating style is a bit of whimsy and a lot of vintage, paired with a teeny amount of kitsch (seriously!) this book just sealed the deal for me when it described the one bedroom I loved with the title "The world-of-whimsy bedroom" (I'll take everything but the creepy cat!).
It also has helpful fix-it-yourself tips, a handy monthly home calendar, and so much more.
This is a great coffee table book just to ogle over. My two year old even sits in bed and "reads" this book, pointing out rooms that she wants!
This book was sent to me by Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest opinion.
Though I long ago figured out that my decorating style is a bit of whimsy and a lot of vintage, paired with a teeny amount of kitsch (seriously!) this book just sealed the deal for me when it described the one bedroom I loved with the title "The world-of-whimsy bedroom" (I'll take everything but the creepy cat!).
It also has helpful fix-it-yourself tips, a handy monthly home calendar, and so much more.
This is a great coffee table book just to ogle over. My two year old even sits in bed and "reads" this book, pointing out rooms that she wants!
This book was sent to me by Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest opinion.
July 11, 2016
I have been wanting to get my hands on this book for too long and when I finally did I found myself disappointed. Don't get me wrong this book has some great inspirational photos, sound advice and seems to have some apartment friendly ideas , however, it seemed to me as if this book was geared toward apartment owners and not renters. If I was to ever create an apartment space from the ground up this book would be a better match. There are a ton of ideas/tips suggested that most renters would never be able to do. On the positive side, great advice on lighting, art, cleaning, repair and making your small space look bigger. I would definitely rename his book "Small Space Therapy". There's my two cents and three stars.
November 7, 2015
I was expecting to get a lot more out of this book. It's billed as a how to interior design book but there weren't that many useful tips. There was a small section on floor plans that was nice and I also enjoyed the section about organizing but this book didn't motivate me to start decorating. It's mostly filled with pictures of people's homes in a "look at their aesthetic" way, not a "here's how they did this and how you can apply it to your own home" way. This is something that I flipped through pretty quickly and I don't really have any desire to look at it again.
I received a copy of this from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.
I received a copy of this from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.
January 4, 2016
This was a good book for design ideas. While it's by Apartment Therapy, it focuses on the whole home, with an emphasis on small spaces.
I wasn't too keen on the first part, finding a home. But when they got to the rest of the set up, the diagrams for room flow were helpful. And the photos are beautiful, with lots of great ideas by room.
The maintenance section is good, though a little ambitious for me. But this would be a good gift for a first-time home owner. I checked it out for decorating ideas and found it to be very helpful. While many of God ideas focus on smaller spaces, they require changes that many renters might not be able to make to their space.
I wasn't too keen on the first part, finding a home. But when they got to the rest of the set up, the diagrams for room flow were helpful. And the photos are beautiful, with lots of great ideas by room.
The maintenance section is good, though a little ambitious for me. But this would be a good gift for a first-time home owner. I checked it out for decorating ideas and found it to be very helpful. While many of God ideas focus on smaller spaces, they require changes that many renters might not be able to make to their space.
October 26, 2015
This book was very interesting and fascinating. There were aspects of home decor I had never thought of (home decor is also not my strong suit), but I was a little disappointed that it became another book about homes, not so much apartments. I read this in the hopes of being able to make a comfortable space out of an apartment with all the restrictions that may come with a typical apartment complex. Though it did give me ideas and was helpful in some aspects, it seemed to require more than what the average apartment would be.
May 10, 2016
I rarely "read" design books. I don't care anything about the advice, all the foundation work, etc. I just want to look at pretty pictures and maybe read a little bit about why people made certain design decisions. That's all. So I enjoyed this quite a bit -- loved all the different "styles" combined with different rooms. This is something you can pick up and browse through randomly, which is usually what I'm looking for in design books.
September 3, 2016
The advice is okay but too basic, like the intended audience was high school students. Some of the photographs contradicted the otherwise pretty good advice and depicted garish, cluttered, dysfunctional, unwelcoming, trying too hard and failing spaces. What's with this dreadful fascination with layering throw rug upon throw rug upon throw rug? What a mess. Two good takeaways: the monthly cleaning calendar and advice on how high to hang pictures.
October 5, 2015
This is essentially a frozen snapshot of the best of the blog, which isn't a bad thing at all. Some new extremely helpful charts are included between chapters, loads of glossy to die for photos of other people's homes.
November 2, 2015
Really? I am supposed to buy this book before I have an apartment/house? Really?
Someone did not think that assumption through, resulting in useless filler at the beginning of (and throughout) the book.
Someone did not think that assumption through, resulting in useless filler at the beginning of (and throughout) the book.
October 20, 2015
I enjoyed the organization of this book ( setting up your home, living in your home and maintaining your home). I still love Apartment Therapy -- but wish the book highlighted "realistic" interiors more.
November 15, 2015
nice photos. hip. practical advice. eBook seems to dropped the end of chapters, like a maintenance/cleaning plan for every month but Nov & Dec. need to compare to print. focus was on houses. would've liked to see some advice for standard apartments, too.
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