Remodeling

If granted the ability to go back in time, I would zoom straight back to when my boyfriend and I signed the lease on our one-bedroom downtown apartment. We told each other we wouldn’t invest in design decisions that were “too involved,” because we’d only stay for a year or two tops. Why go through all the hassle if we’d have to undo it all come moving day? Fast forward to today, going on 3 years in the same apartment, amidst a global pandemic that meant staying home more than we ever could’ve expected – and we’ve learned the hard way just how worthy an investment renovating our rental would be. Let our story be a cautionary tale for fellow renters out there: renovating your rental is 100{2b694241afe913bbe4076d34ac32a9acff19d6f186473c8db19075f1bb6af8dd} worth the time, elbow grease, and probable back-and-forth with your landlord. Because you deserve a space that feels like home, even if it’s not for forever. With a little bit of creativity and the right modern home decor, you can makeover your rental space without any fuss, read on to learn how.

Cover Your Floors

If you’re not loving the flooring in your space, you’ll be amazed at the difference large area

Sabine Zetteler, founder of PR and consultancy firm Zetteler, is typically sharing other people’s work as part of her job. This time, she’s welcoming people into Zetteler’s new London-based headquarters, designed in collaboration with Rhonda Drakeford of Studio Rhonda. Two important factors that needed to be considered were Sabine’s severe conductive hearing loss and her desire for all materials used to be vegan. Sabine and Rhonda worked together to tackle both challenges by incorporating materials and partitions to create a deaf-friendly space, along with sourcing vegan alternatives for paint, fabrics, and even non animal-derived glues. The end results are a transformed office space that’s more flexible for new ways of working post-pandemic, as well as visually enticing with color shifts designating various zones.

The new modern space both serves as the comms agency’s new offices and its surrounding community of start-ups, charities, journalists, and creatives. Located in Hackney, East London, the design-focused HQ houses a once-empty white unit, aka a black canvas. Multiple zones serve various functions, each with its own color, for client meetings, strategy-planning sessions journalist events, and workshops.

The color palette ranges from soothing tones to rich shades that work together, from duck-egg blue to

We have a fresh tile collection to share with you today: Mar Di. Portuguese brand Theia created the four tile designs in collaboration with Studiopepe, inspired by the motion of the sea and its waves. It’s a theme of travel and exploration, and the surface of each design responds differently when light hits them. The colors and shapes chosen for the Mar Di Flores, Mar Di Banda, Mar Di Giava, and Mar Di Kara tiles are punchy and lively, adding to the collection’s personality.

Theia has a continuously growing collection of handmade tiles that work really well for contemporary surfaces. Their tiles are designed by the studio and sometimes in collaboration with other designers, such as Studiopepe. Each tile is crafted out of earthenware, a simple eco-friendly material. The earthenware is pressed, fired, and painted, using ancient techniques that result in a truly unique product.

To learn more about the Mar Di tile collection, visit theiatiles.com.

Located by the canals in Amsterdam, a neglected 17th-century canal house has been reimagined by design studio i29. It took the design teams over two years to complete the renovations after many years of deterioration. Built in 1675, Canal House Amsterdam is now a light-filled residence with colorful, hidden rooms. The new interior keeps original details while adding modern elements that will take the home into the future.

i29 used color to draw the eye through the spaces to end up on the chosen colors. For instance, the dining table extends into the kitchen to become the countertop and just beyond is a deep green, glass-enclosed space that opens to an all-white guest bedroom and ensuite bathroom.

The kitchen is grounded with white concrete floors that are paired with light walls and oak cabinets.

When the green door to the guest suite opens, it reveals the white guest room.

Grey-stained oak marks the opposite end of the kitchen with a staircase that leads to the study above.

The grey continues into the living room in a fabric wallcovering designed for acoustics.

A white bookcase rotates to reveal another hidden room – this time a bedroom in a soothing, monochromatic

Choosing the right lighting is one of the single most important design decisions you can make when furnishing a space. From impacting the look of your wall color (light can make the difference between a warm, neutral beige vs. a sallow cream for example) to setting the tone for how you’ll use the room going forward, light fixtures have the potential to transform the experience of being in a space, which only makes finding the right ones all the more intimidating if we’re honest. The good news is there are key pieces of light knowledge that’ll take the guesswork out of finding the right fixtures and illuminate the way you see lighting going forward. Let’s get started!

First, ask yourself these important questions

Before you even look at potential lighting options, ask yourself this, “how do I plan to use this space?” Knowing the primary function of a space will help guide you toward the specific lighting needs for that room, and save you time (and money) in the process. For example: if you’re looking for fixtures for your living room, where you plan to mostly cozy up, watch movies and relax – you’ll want soft, indirect light (also known