apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Tired of posting your own furniture ads on Craigslist? Looking for a great local resource for gently used furniture? Chameleon Consignment is a husband/wife team operating a 6,000 square-feet consignment warehouse in Lafayette, and they provide a hassle-free way to show and sell your furniture.

Doors are no longer just doors with The Sliding Door Company, an innovative design company specializing in clean and contemporary clear, frosted, laminated or linen glass.

GreetQ is a Seattle-based greeting card company that enables customers to pick and personalize paper greeting cards and then put them in a "queue" to be mailed out on the designated day. It's a practical yet personal way to celebrate your family and friends.

After 13 years of operating two brick-and-mortar store locations, Big Pagoda is now an online-only destination. The designs strive to stay true to the essence of traditional Chinese furniture: "the sense of proportion, the integrity of the materials, and the joy expressed in the artisan's work." It riffs modern on a traditional Asian vernacular by simplifying and streamlining its classic forms and adornments.

We admire the way Bae's co-owner, David Caler, describes himself: "a weird guy who likes weird things." One's own quirky taste is the most important guiding light you can have when taking on an aesthetic project like the creation of a store...

Vintage Danish furniture is alive and well in Emeryville. Founded in 2002 by Danish-born Lynne Jensen, Klassik by Lynne specializes in vintage Danish (and Swedish) furniture sourced and imported directly from Denmark. On any weekend you might find items from designers such as Arne Jacobsen, Hans J. Wegner, Kai Christiansen, Arne Vodder, and Peter Hvidt spread out across their 5,000 square-foot showroom.

Rare Device is one of our favorite stores. We were so excited when they opened last October. Rare Device carries beautiful and unique products, and the store is a wellspring of creative and inspirational designs from a wide variety of designers, artists and artisans.

A husband-and-wife-owned neighborhood furniture store with a DIY spin, Stumasa custom builds reasonably priced bookcases, cabinets, desks, and tables, and stocks environmentally-friendly paints and stains to make them your own.

As egg & the Urban Mercantile say on their website, they are "one of San Francisco’s most unique purveyors of sublime and refined household goods." We couldn't have said it better ourselves. Everything in this small neighborhood store feels special and personal.

Pop Cling is a fine art and pop art reproduction company specializing in wall decals and graphics. A little different than the average wall decal, Pop Cling's selection consists of limited edition art prints from established and emerging artists.

Maison d'Etre is one of our very favorite stores. We were trying to pinpoint what makes shopping there (or merely browsing) such a satisfying experience: it's a domestic sensualist's delight.

Lost Art Salon owners Gaetan Caron and Rob Delamater

Buying artwork, whether purely for aesthetics or as an investment, can be an intimidating process. Thankfully, those of us in the Bay Area who are just starting out have a great local resource. Nearly everything at Lost Art Salon is under $1000. And it is indeed set up like an early 20th century European salon, so you'll instantly feel at ease when you walk in.

We first spied Greenspace during a day trip to Santa Cruz. Greenspace makes it easy to transform any corner of the home into an eco-friendly zone.

We first stumbled across Howard Street's foam superstore online, and slowly have discovered what a great resource it is. More than just a soft, hypo-allergenic substance upon which to rest your weary head, foam is good for insulation, sound-proofing, mattress topping, and costume-making.