apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Because we like to wear the same type of clothing on a daily basis, the jewelry we wear tends to also stay the same. We hardly ever take off our necklace and wear a ring that our grandmother passed down to us--same story with the earrings. While we like to wear the same thing everyday, it wouldn't be difficult to switch our jewelry up a bit--if only it was displayed. Because of our small space, our jewelry boxes live in the top corner of our closet (not the best place to keep our bling if we wanted to actually wear it). We've rounded up some creative jewelry display options (to better our chances of accessing our gems) after the jump.

We spied this chic and airy room yesterday on our Apartment Therapy LA Group Pool. Once we found the The One and Only Jet Guer's photostream, we noticed that he completely changed the look of his bedroom by simply changing the bedding. Take a look at how he transformed his space after the jump.

Gift wrap storage is a year-round issue but it becomes much more apparent when you throw holiday wrapping paper into the mix. If you're like us and go all out when wrapping gifts, it's important for your paper to have a place to land (and always be in it's place when you need it). We've rounded up a handful of our favorite gift wrap storage solutions after the jump.

We were listening to NPR this morning and overheard that some gift cards given this season might not be valid by the time they're used by the recipient. Because of the current economic crisis, companies that go bankrupt probably won't be honoring your gift card (which is the case currently with The Sharper Image). We've included some tips from the NPR story to help you avoid this unfortunate situation.

We had the amazing opportunity to hold an organizing workshop at Cal Tech this past Friday. While we love educating the public with organizing how-to's and basics we always are amazed at what we learn from the crowd. One gentleman in particular asked a great question. He wondered, "How come, when we go to our friends' houses, it's always so pristine and organized. Don't they have the same issues we have?" Our first response was, "Well--you never know what's hidden behind closed doors or who owns a set of keys to a storage shed..."

Just in case we don't give you enough organizing solutions here on Apartment Therapy, be sure to head over to Martha Stewart's website (she recently started giving daily organizing tips). A few of the tips come from Blueprint (which we really miss) and other organizing tips are new to us. We picked a handful of our favorites (but we're sure that number will only increase as the months continue).

We love getting holiday invitations--whether they're from Evite or a paper invite in the mail. It didn't occur to us that some folks have pretty strong opinions on the way they receive and send invites until last week. A friend sent us a standard email invite to his Christmas party and we wondered, why not Evite? Not only do we love seeing who's attending the upcoming festivities, we also get a kick out of reading the responses. All our friend would say is that he hates using Evite. We are hoping to get a little more insight on this topic--so if you'll help us out with this particular AT Survey, How Do You Invite: Evite, Socializr or Old Fashioned Snail Mail?

We've been organizing a client's garage for the past week and it's been a rough few days. Sawdust from house construction and sun that just won't quit--we're beat. Not to mention the black widow we encountered first hand on day one (but it's all in a days work and we can't imagine doing anything else). We took preventative measures to avoid being bit (we have a slight case of arachnophobia) and we wanted to share the tips with you.

We're not commitment shy by any means but we love how you can achieve the same affect by painting just one wall in a room opposed to painting all four walls. We've rounded up a handful of painted accent walls from previous posts that will leave you inspired and hopefully a little less shy when it comes time to pick a paint color for your space.

We found these before and after pics on Flickr and thought they'd be great to show how just by rearranging some furniture, your space can look and feel completely different. While the objects in this before photo are organized and symmetrical, something feels a little off. Perhaps it's because the furniture is placed out in the open but gorgeousfootsteps reworked the space to give it a completely different vibe.

Organizing products are supposed to make your life easier, right? Unfortunately, that's not always the case. Take for instance, the paper tray. Used to keep different types of paper organized, they wind up being used incorrectly, therefore causing lost papers and frustration. Find out how paper trays are misused and tips to keep your paperwork easily accessible after the jump.

We just had our third annual pumpkin carving party and it was a blast. Lots of friends and good times and our small space was able to accommodate a large group of people. Granted, we weren't sitting down having a 5-course dinner but we made our space work for the event. We've got a few tips for entertaining a large group--no matter the occasion, after the jump.

We loved Rebecca's post yesterday on What Makes You Smile In Your Home. We have plenty that makes us smile but we started thinking about how things in our home rarely change. We've been here for almost three years and haven't changed much (except a roommate). We are definitely the type of personality that loves wearing the same type of clothing every day (to clarify; same type, not same clothes). We have also noticed that we aren't alone in that category. Many people in the public eye never stray from a uniform. Take Michael Kors for instance. Same black jacket every single week on Project Runway. While we welcome change in our lives we started to wonder, is it important for our apartment decor to change with our lives?

We know, we know, the official start of winter is a full month or so away--but we really love winter. Perhaps it's because we had milder winters growing up (lows around 32 degrees, which is actually pretty bearable). Or maybe it's because we romanticized every John Hughes movie where winter was itself a character. So when we saw this inspirational drawing by Koko Studios, it kick- started our excitement for the upcoming holidays. Read a few of our favorite winter favorites after the jump.