Sometimes, it’s impossible to remember what we did before the internet existed. For example, how did we decorate our homes and offices? Sure, there were magazines, but the design inspiration they offered tended toward the highbrow. Now, thanks to the magic of the interwebs, we can all be DIY designers.
Here are 10 can’t-miss blogs for anyone who wants to redo a space.
1. Apartment Therapy
No list of design blogs would be complete without a mention of Apartment Therapy. The House Tours alone are worth the price of admission. (Which is, admittedly, free, but work with us here.) There is no other place we’d rather go to figure out what our house will look like when we’re rich. It also has some pretty great tips on making your present cruddy apartment worthy of your future self.
2. IKEA Hackers
Fans of IKEA furniture will enjoy this awesome DIY blog, which takes your favorite Swedish pre-fab furniture and re-assembles it in ways the IKEA dude wouldn’t recognize. The author, who took her pseudonym Jules from a chair in the catalogue, has been running the site since 2006. If we were redecorating an office, we would totally use this site as a model.
3. PadStyle
Maybe our favorite recent post on this design blog is Make an Office Space Without an Extra Room. The site is run by a furniture supply store but offers a wide variety of design inspirations.
4. Design Sponge
Design Sponge is an interior- and product-design blog started in 2004 by Brooklyn-based writer Grace Bonney. Four years later, The New York Times deemed it “Martha Stewart Living for the Millennials.” We particularly like the before and after furniture makeovers.
5. The Nest
Brought to you by the folks at the Knot, the Nest focuses on newly married (or at least co-habitating) readers. It encompasses food, money, and relationship advice, as well as home decor ideas.
6. The Decorating Diva
Our favorite feature on the Decorating Diva is the how-to section. Check out their 10 Home Office Design Tips. Founder and editor Carmen Natschke started her career as a software engineer, and then went on to run design workshops, as well as serving as a home decor expert.
7. decor8
One of the prettiest design blogs on our list, decor8 is the brainchild of interior design consultant Holly Becker, who founded it in 2006 “long before design blogs were a popular source of information on the web.” We loved her tips and shopping advice, but were most intrigued by her blogging e-course, in which she teaches other would-be blog mavens to follow in her footsteps.
8. Material Girls
This blog lives up to its tagline – “Design Inspiration From Coast to Coast” – but even if it didn’t, we’d love it for its name. Also, the logo appears to be Marie Antoinette preparing to reupholster a sofa. As you might imagine, this blog has a focus on fabric.
9. Design Milk
Design Milk is run by Jaime Derringer, who aptly describes it as “online magazine dedicated to modern design.” The look and feel is indeed delightfully magazine-y, and there’s something for every lover of modern art and architecture here. Even if we can’t figure out how to work these awesome paper-y chairs into our office design.
10. The Office Stylist
One of the rare, totally-office-focused blogs on our list, The Office Stylist offers everything from listsicles of snazzy office supplies to profiles of real-life awesome offices.