apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

The Pew Research Center recently released findings about people's change in belief between 2006 and 2009 about which household objects they really NEED. For example, in 2006 68% of respondents said they needed a microwave, compared with only 47% in 2009. More results after the jump...

We are smitten with these delicate blankets, made by women in Calcutta who are paid fairly and work from home, according to designer Jeanette Farrier. They are handstitched using five layers of vintage saris and three contrasting color threads...

I'm always looking for ways to reuse what someone already has instead of buying new things— it's the crux of my alternative design business. So when a client needed a little eating space in his tiny kitchen, we decided to repurpose his vintage mosaic tile coffee tabletop and turn it into a counter height nook in his kitchen...

Spencer Peterman turns fallen, rotting trees into beautiful bowls that can stretch far beyond the kitchen. These natural beauties, filled with something colorful, could be used as permanent centerpieces on the dining table or coffee table or simply displayed on a shelf in their own right...

Sure, we're two days late and a dollar short in getting this post up during September's Collections month, but we just spotted it last night. And we couldn't resist this collection — perhaps the most peculiar seen in the array of collections you viewed on Apartment Therapy over the past month...

It was only a matter of time before an eco plumbing association cropped up and that time is now. Within the past year 3,000 plumbers have become certified under the auspices of GreenPlumbers USA...

We've posted about a wall-mount clothes drying rack. The comments circled back to where the clothesline discussion often comes back to: the debate between the right to hang clothes outside and the aesthetics of a neighborhood. We just watched the trailer for a new documentary about this very issue and seeing only five minutes of the film made us want to go shut off the hook-up to the dryer ASAP (see trailer after jump)...

We spotted this sweet little detail in the bathroom of friend of ours who lives with a rented bathroom that's awaiting a facelift sometime down the road. We actually like this idea of using a stair spindle or some other makeshift leg to visually support a floating sink...

Sometimes we get weary of shiny things like chrome, craving a natural, grounding element instead. So for us, this bamboo veneer tension rod is a novel and refreshing departure from the typical shower tension rod...

We must be going through a wall mount phase. Earlier this week our friends at AT:Boston blogged about wall mount cabinets from CB2. Now this: a wall mount drying rack that folds down when not in use. The environmental pressure to air dry our clothes is also mounting...

Most people we talk to detest the idea of moving day. Not so with friends of ours, who recently elected to move the contents of their Jamaica Plain home by bikes and large bike trailers...

For months, we knew they were coming. But when the big blue recycling bins landed in Jamaica Plain recently we were amazed by how LARGE they are. Due to their size people are having a hard time finding a discrete place to tuck them away, which means these bins now pepper the Boston landscape every day, not just on recycling day...

We have a soft spot for characters, particularly when they're illuminated! Helsinki designer Aleksi Hautamaki recently birthed the simple but brilliant idea to refurbish and resell old signage. Typically the characters are demolished at the end of their lifespan...

In response to our recent post about Alexandra Wentworth's dyed rug profiled in Elle Decor, the mother of an Apartment Therapy reader was kind enough to send in her own step by step DIY version for us...