apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We discovered IGo power adapters at Radio Shack a few years ago when we went on a long road trip with a friend and her son. My friend and I had different cell phones, and her son had a Nintendo. Instead of packing three different car chargers, we packed one IGo car charger and three different tiny plugs (called power tips) that made it compatible with each of our devices. Now IGo has adapted that same ingenuity to the problem of vampire power...

Over on the Los Angeles site of Apartment Therapy, blogger Jenny Butler, who hails from Australia, has really opened our eyes to what's going on in the land "down under." It's a place full of cutting edge design and fascinating ideas (filtered through Jenny's discerning eyes) with a hearty irreverence. That same attitude shows up in G Magazine...

You know that person who stands in the aisle at the grocery store, unscrewing the bottles of shampoo or dish washing liquid or laundry detergent to see what they smell like? Yep, that's us. We're picky about how things smell. That's why we lost our mind a little bit when a friend pulled us into a Bath Junkie store while we were in Palm Springs this past weekend...

Cross the re-purposed milk crate trend with the "boxes into shelving" trend and you come up with this bookshelf by 20.87 Estudio...

Once you've furnished your home, it's time to layer on the things that make it truly cozy and comfortable like the throws and blankets to snuggle under. To complement the amazing furniture at Environment Furniture, Heather Heron has created the lifestyle collection...

Cherokee Studios is the place where many of rock's legendary musicians have recorded the albums that have gone on to garner Platinum status. But the former recording studio, now converted to live-work lofts, has won Platinum status from a completely different source: The US Green Building Council. Tonight they're celebrating their opening by partying in true rock star style...

The other day we posted some easy bathroom fixes. And, in fact, the bathroom's an ideal spot for starting, or tweaking, your eco-friendly life. Here are five easy tips from National Geographic's new True Green Home book for practicing conservation in the smallest room in the house...

We're totally on the reusable bag train. We've been championing it since... well, way before most of our friends jumped in on it, driven by their lust for the Anya Hindmarch bag. We've got small bags, big bags, cold bags, bags that fold up into tiny packages and bags we keep in the car. The problem is when we get up to the check-out counter and realize that we forgot our bag...

A few years ago we accompanied our mechanic on a trip to an auto graveyard — row upon endless row of old cars scavenged for their parts, with more cars on flatbeds waiting to be squeezed in beside them. It was a striking contrast to the shiny new vehicles we encountered every day, and we wondered what happened to these old vehicles when they were nothing but empty shells. A small company in Portland took that wonder and turned it into a business...

We often come up with great ideas for our apartment, but our non-existent handyman skills prevent them from ever becoming a reality. (You ever wonder who hires those people who'll put together IKEA furniture for you? We do.) But that doesn't prevent us from accumulating the pieces. Like that piece of marble we found on the street and lugged home that we though would make a great kitchen island, or the live-edge slab we bought on eBay with the thought of making a coffee table (we're not kidding). Problem is, you need to attach legs. Yeah, right...

With a little more than a week left until Halloween, our neighborhood's festooned with fake spiderwebs, witches, and pumpkins that will welcome costumed trick or treaters in their annual quest to collect candy. And then? Most of those decorations and costumes will go in the garbage. Here are some ways to make this holiday a little less black and orange and a little more green...

A serene bathroom is not only beautiful but functional. Unfortunately, for most of us something in the bathroom always causes us problems, whether it's a running toilet or a dripping sink. But before you call in the plumber, see if you can tackle it yourself. (And if you're doing the Green Cure, this week calls for you to fix one thing yourself in your home.) Here are fixes for some of the most common problems...

We've spent the past few days cleaning out the closet, giving away or donating things that no longer fit or that we no longer wear. But there are some things that have sentimental value that we can't bring ourselves to givea away. Then we thought of a few ways we could hang on to them...

Okay granted, unlike most of my fellow Re-Nest bloggers, I live in Los Angeles. Lately, however, we've had quite the spell of cold and rainy weather, and the same thick plaster walls that keep my home cool in the summer now make it distinctly chilly with even the slightest drop in temperature. How to stay warm at home without resorting to blasting the heat? Here are some thoughts...