apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

A recent party at a new friend's house led to an interesting topic for discussion. With three young kids, this family had a kid-sized table and chairs set up next to the kitchen table where the children eat their meals together.

The sound of wet shoes squeaking on hardwood floors is one of our pet peeves. It means dirty shoes are tracking in things we don't want into the house. The solution for us is a storage bench in the entryway where the kids can sit down, remove their shoes, store them away and go off to play.

A question we get asked a lot by parents involves front facing book displays - where to buy and how to make.

If you're putting together your holiday gift list, think about this ukulele kit. We love a DIY kit, part store-bought, part homemade.

We hope you've been inspired by all the great ideas for advent calendars we've blogged. If you're looking for something even easier than what we've been talking about, consider making an advent wreath.

The advent calendar officially comes out of storage today. Like many of you, we struggle year to year coming up with fun things to tuck into our advent calendar. Many of you really enjoyed the list of activities we told you about. Here's another fantastic idea for your family.

We've seen paint, murals and decals on nursery walls, but don't forget about wallpaper as a decorating option.

We love retro children's books for their illustrations. They all seem to have a certain amount of detail and charm. So we were super excited to find these retro animal pillows by Etsy seller Vintage Jane.

We love this stylishly sophisticated living room in a winter white palette. It's well-suited for a grown-up cocktail party, but it also works for family night.

Parents increasingly are throwing birthday parties that specify NO GIFTS. My mom taught us not to show up to parties empty handed so not buying a gift goes against our nature.

Saturday evening dinner consisted of Korean food with friends. When the beef kalbi was ready to eat, I started looking for the waitress to bring me a knife.

Wise friends of ours told us before having our first child that scheduling in couple time should be a priority. It took a few months of being new parents before we understood the importance of couple time.

A friend called last week while shopping at Target. She wanted to me know about a new kids table and chairs set she eyed.