apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We have a confession to make. A while back we were channel surfing and came across Thom Filicia's show Dress My Nest and we became insta-fans. His enthusiasm and fun attitude were infectious and the whole way that he helps women define their style is creative and smart (despite what the New York Times had to say). Plus the fact that they showcase 20 and 30-something women gave us something we could, um, relate to. Well, the show shoots in LA and they're looking for homes to makeover. Are you a contender? Jump below for all the details:

If you're having people over this month, no doubt you've spent a good amount of time considering the guest list and what you plan to cook. You've probably started cleaning in advance and have a lot of details you'd like to take care of. Don't forget to have fun dressing the table and making it festive and inviting for guests. Don't worry we don't like a formal fussy table, but planning out what you want to do ahead of time will make it easy and fun. Plus the ideas below won't cost you a lot of time or money:

Beverly Hills just got a little hipper. NotNeutral, the company most known for the city-themed plates and bright poppy wall decals is opening a mini pop up store with their top selling furniture, tabletop items, textiles and decorative accessories just in time for the holidays:

This is the start of Week 5 (can you believe how quickly the time has gone?) and this week we're spending more time in bed: reading, sleeping and...ahem..stuff. We're taking time to enjoy being domestic by eating in most of the week and really luxuriating in being able to do things slowly. We're media fasting for a day and picking up those piles of paperwork, organizing and shredding them (jump below for Beth's organizing tips, she's a pro!).

Leo is a cat loving designer who recently applied his creativity and love for modern design to create a minimal structure to house his kitty, Olive:

Santa Monica has a bunch of great public programs for learning more about living green. This month they're hosting lectures and classes that teach you how to plant an edible garden, put together your own drip irrigation system and eliminate toxins from inside your home. Coming up next month is an eco gift fair. Jump below to see all the events and details:

What: Tiles on the side of a building
Where: Main Street in Santa Monica
When: Sunday Morning, a late breakfast.
Why: We've often admired this old candy, cigarette and cigar distributor building which now operates as a production company (we think). We love blue, we love midcentury and we love simple. The small square tiles in blue, white, grey and turquoise right next to that red brick remind us more of a Palm Springs swimming pool than a cigar distributor, but we'll take it anywhere we can find it. Plus we're pretty sure the building and its tile is original...

It's no secret that we're pretty into encaustic tiles (see here, here and here) so when we saw these tiles sold by the piece we started thinking about what we could do with a tile or two:

We love it when nature is brought indoors, so we loved this modern take on an indoor forest. As a part of Tokyo Design Week, architects got to realize their ideas for an organic living space with natural room dividers:

Last week we unveiled a new little plant that we started as a part of our commitment to making more of our gifts this year. Since projects can become time consuming, we've started early with the goal of having a lot of it finished by Thanksgiving so that we have free time to decorate, host parties and go to parties in December instead of running around looking for last minute gifts (and spending more than our budget). Jump below to find 9 ideas for DIY holiday gifts:

One of our tips for making a space feel bigger is cleaning it (this also helps it to feel cozy and comfortable) but what do you do when you live with someone who's messier than you, or shall we say, has different standards for cleanliness?

We've been crushing on the amazing porcelain pieces that Matin Gallery in Culver City shows. From Edmund de Waal to John Pawson the look is minimal, elegant and beautiful. So we were really excited to catch a glimpse into the curators' own home in the Hollywood Hills:

Did you guys enjoy the weekend's gloomier weather? The rain gave our plants some much needed water and it gave us a chance to hang out indoors more than usual. We took it as an opportunity to do some nesting and feel a little cozy. With halloween behind us we're starting to plan to host some events over the holidays and we're full of ideas for DIY projects. With all these big ideas, we tried to keep this weekend simple and just did a couple of things to make our home feel more comfortable: