Home Improvement

A love of restoring junk to its former glory led a professional Porsche driver to build this incredible garage. The 3,981-square-foot space is dedicated solely to his collections; everything in here was trashed at some point but now shines after careful restoration. Gelotte...

Putting up a wall was anything but easy a century ago. Once you framed a wall or ceiling out of wood and were ready to close it in with a finished surface ready for paint or paper, you'd first nail on small strips of wood called laths, then put on several different layers of plaster. The work was time...

Using clever DIY methods, Craigslist bargains and materials from big-box stores, interior design couple Percy Bright and Tara Mangini have fashioned a gorgeous custom style for their three-story, early-20th-century row house in South Philadelphia. They...

This homeowner called interior designer Lisa Konjicek-Segundo of Olive Juice Designs at the last minute, or rather, the last trimester, to transform a junk room into a nursery. They didn't have time for custom or back orders, so they found...

As someone who has been subscribing to the Paleo diet for a while, I find that I'm often asked by people who are trying it out for the first time what they should eat on a day-to-day basis. When I think about it, I realize that it's much harder to find ways of making my daily meals without the proper...

After waiting out The Winter That Wouldn’t End, I found myself avoiding going out into the front garden to to take care of the plants and clean up all of the dead leaves and debris (mostly cigarette butts, grocery bags and flattened Styrofoam cups, with the occasional dead mouse thrown in just for excitement) that had accumulated in front of our house. Sometimes I forget that the front of the house even exists — once we’re inside, we tend to hole up there like hermits. Rake in (gloved) hand, though, I forced myself to do it, and I wound up feeling like I want to make an effort to make the front of the house look pretty again. When we first moved in, one of the first things we did was take care of the outside, which was just dead grass and weeds at the time. It was — and is — very important to us that our neighbors see that we care about our community when they look at our house. At the time, there wasn’t much going on in the way of landscaping/flowers/plants on our block, but over the years, I’ve noticed more little gardens and flowerpots appearing here and there. I’d like to think that’s at least in part due to us. Maybe. Front gardens matter. In 2009, we started working on the exterior of the house itself. We had the bricks repointed and the wood cornice repaired and painted by a contractor, and we gave the porch a pretty substantial overhaul ourselves (here’s a before and after). We still need to have the exterior of the original windows repaired and repainted, but that will take time…and money. It can wait. The house isn’t going anywhere. I just never want it to look like this again. I made this little path a few years out of fire bricks salvaged from our chimney repair. I didn’t do it the “right” way with crushed stone and sand underneath and all that, I really just dug out an area, set the bricks down, and packed dirt into the cracks. I was prepared for it to get out of whack with the first heavy rain, but it’s been just fine. After the winter I do have to re-set them a bit, but I like how soft they look, especially now that there’s a bit of moss growing between them. Under the porch there’s a set of slate steps leading down the the basement entrance. At the bottom are my favorite bricks, arranged in sort of semi-herringbone pattern. They were buried under several inches of dirt when we bought the house…a happy discovery that makes my little path seem pretty silly! I love that these mossy old bricks are still almost completely level after more than 120 years. That’s the whole house! Our property ends precisely at the edge of our house on either side — the white cornice belongs to the house attached to ours (we’re first in a row of four identical houses). It’s CRAZY to see how much the boxwood row as grown in five years. This is what it looked like when we planted it! It’s also crazy to see how dedicated I used to be to planting stuff…and how good our carpet roses used to look. They’re so scraggly now that I didn’t even bother taking a photo. Sigh. Maybe this weekend I’ll head over to the garden center and pick up some colorful things to plant! The main problem I’ve had is that the garden gets SO much daylight — like super intense sunshine all day long (I took these photos in the early evening). There are no trees on our street, so shade is non-existent. Even plants that are supposedly tolerant of full sun have wound up croaking after a month or two. I’d also like to rip out all of the grass between our garden and the sidewalk. It’s impossible to keep looking nice, and mowing it is a pain since all we have is an electric edge-trimmer. Maybe juniper or something else low-lying? I’m sure people will step on it, so it needs to be pretty durable. And for the Sylvester-fans (you know, this guy), you’ll be happy to know the neighborhood tough guy is still hanging in th

Many scientists say that color is light, and because black is the absence of light, it isn't a color. Of course, in interior design terms, we use black pigments and classify the color as a neutral. Black goes with everything, and many would argue that it is an essential element of any design, whether...

This 64-square-foot kitchen in Melbourne might not be terribly small, but it certainly felt that way with a big swinging door and massive brick wall blocking off any open space. The couple who live here wanted to reveal the room's potential, and hired Isaac...

What do you get when you combine the ease of a luxury hotel, the independence and privacy of a vacation rental, and a big dose of high style? Jaw-dropping apartments and homes available to rent for your next vacation. Going above and beyond the typical sandy-floored beach rental, these spaces are design...

It is amazing how much time I put into arranging little details but they made our wedding ours so it was well worth it. I spent so much time looking at flowers; bouquets, boutonnieres, centerpieces and on and on!Top left clockwise: Bridesmaids bouquets, boutonnieres, altar pieces, and my bouquet. I was able to give Ann (from Dedham Flower Shoppe) our colors and preferences and she did an amazing job putting it all together. I was able to pull up my Pinterest Wedding Board to show her things I liked and she transformed them to fit our style. She designed these pew pieces to fit both the end of the pews and the railing at the reception.This pin belonged to my great-aunt Kay, it was a great way to to remember her. My Cape-Cod bracelet was a high school graduation from my aunt Betsy. I've worn that claddagh ring since Nana gave it to me when I was 13; it's a little worse for wear but I love it.I designed and printed our ceremony programs, the trifold programs were from Staples. It was super easy, I downloaded a template and plugged in the details then ran them through my printer.Tables, my mom specifically requested those chairs. The 4x6 frames I picked up at Michaels with lots of coupons then printed the numbers on white card stock. I spent some serious time on Ebay hunting down hobnail milk-glass vases and after emailing with a seller he hunted more down for me and sold them to me at cost! I also bought the same frames as 8x10 for photos of my grandparents, my parents, Bruce's parents and my great-grandparents. (clockwise from top-left) Some of them were at the table with the guest book and some were on the fireplace mantel. I think my mom picked this up at Home Goods? Then Ann supplied the ribbon.Thumbprint guest-book print from Tear Drop WeddingsEscort card holders were sail boats and fish to represent our lakeside location. My mom's cousin John did the calligraphy.Champagne flutes, I nursed that baby all the way through dinner! When we snuck out to take photos on the dock we had a very cute audience.Simple, beautiful and delicious!So many little things that made our wedding so special. I have to give most of the credit away to my mom who organized it all and did so much work. My mom's cousin John who came early (a week!) to help with all the details and the calligraphy. And last but not least Ann who designed all the beautiful flowers!Photos by Jessica DohertyCake by The Bashful BakerFlowers by Dedham Flower Shoppe