The Spruce Ideas, Tips & Guides

It’s nearly spring, and there’s no easier way to celebrate the season than by DIYing some seasonal candles. Though it’s fairly easy to find decorative jar candles or tasteful scented ones, pillar candles are a whole different story. You might get lucky and spot a few cute colors to include in your spring decor, but more often than not, you’ll only end up with plain white candles.

It’s time to start thinking about getting your garden ready for spring, and with the season comes new (and timeless) garden trends. If you haven’t heard of a moon garden before, the idea is both straightforward and unique. A moon garden allows you to focus not only on how your plants will look in the daytime, but also at night.

Having lived in six different apartments over the course of my 20s and early 30s, I've become accustomed to moving—and all of the packing of decor that comes with it. I've learned to hold onto only the pieces that are my absolute favorites, and below, I'm sharing 15 timeless home items under $100.

Who says you can’t make home improvements on a budget? Amazon’s hidden outlet has tons of Presidents’ Day deals under $25—including top-rated kitchen gadgets, must-have garden tools for spring, and so much more. 

While it's all too easy to track in debris from the outdoors or fall victim to other common winter messes, professional cleaning and organizing experts are determined to help you keep your space looking as fresh as possible this season.

What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than with a classic bouquet of freshly bloomed roses? Not only are they the most sought-after flower for gift-giving (especially when it comes to romance), they’re practically synonymous with the holiday. 

While it's all too easy to track in debris from the outdoors or fall victim to other common winter messes, professional cleaning and organizing experts are determined to help you keep your space looking as fresh as possible this season.

When was the last time you cleaned your dishwasher filter? If your answer is never, then you're in the right place.

The next time you empty a glass jar of pasta sauce, you may wish to think twice before tossing it into the recycling bin—there are many creative ways to repurpose empty glass jars to add function to your home without spending a penny in the process.

When it comes to organizing your space, are you on Team Decant or Team I Just Can’t?

I know I'm in the minority here, but Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday. I love the cheerful pops of red and pink it offers after a cold and gray January.

We aren’t all blessed with magazine-worthy kitchen layouts. Maybe your kitchen is cluttered with appliances because you lack counter space, or maybe a closed-off footprint makes entertaining tricky. Unless you’ve renovated your kitchen exactly to your liking, kitchen layouts can be luck of the draw, and some are better than others.

Bookworms rejoice—one of 2024’s most popular design trends involves a new kind of bookish aesthetic.

Do you store countless cleaning products under your kitchen sink—perhaps some that have only ever been used a few times or have never even been opened? Sussing out the good cleaning products and tools from the subpar ones usually requires a lot of trial and error. But if you don’t have the time or patience for all that guesswork, looking closely at customer ratings and reviews is a tried-and-true way to find which cleaning products are actually worth the hype. Reviews are full of helpful anecdotes that give you a better idea of what to expect; say you’re looking for a scrubbing brush and you find that someone shared that it was able to remove a months-old stain, wouldn’t that convince you to give it a chance? Shopper favorites with loads of high ratings are more likely to be the ones you’ll actually reach for over and over again—and they’re also more likely to get the job done right, too.

You can’t talk about the new year without hearing “resolution.” The term is polarizing—it inspires hope for some while evoking dread in others. When it comes to the home, cleaning and organizing are particularly top of mind.

With TikTok and Instagram churning out new micro-aesthetics fast enough to give you whiplash, the number of new design trends that popped up in our social media feeds throughout 2023 was seemingly endless. Unsurprisingly, not all of these trends were a hit among the professionals.  

When it comes to bathroom design, striking the perfect balance between functionality and aesthetics can be a big challenge. Everyone wants their space to look beautiful, but as one of the smallest and most frequently used rooms in the home, practicality plays a huge role too.

Trim, from crown molding to window casing, offers an air of elegance and dimensionality that many homeowners desire. But sometimes they’re so eager to incorporate such detail that they don’t think through some of the faux pas they may be committing.

Unlike exterior columns, interior columns can stick out like sore thumbs. Acting like visual barriers, they block clear lines of sight across a room or simply take up space. But if they are structural to the house, columns just have to be accepted as is—or, at least, that’s what you might think.

HomeGoods is one of the best places to go when you’re in the market for a home refresh. With aisles upon aisles of on-trend home accessories, it's a serious treasure trove. From coastal grandma to Barbiecore, you can probably find whatever you need—you just need to know what look you’re going for.

If you've ever wondered what kinds of steps professional interior designers take prior to selecting wallpaper for their client's homes or have any burning design questions, we're here to give you a behind-the-scenes look.

As February is Black History Month, it's an excellent time to celebrate the incredible Black designers who contribute to the design world all year long.

As 2024 home trends rise in popularity and take over our spaces, we are seeing everything from earthy color palettes splashing interior walls to thrifted decor being styled in charming ways.

Kitchens are often the “hearth of the home” because they're actively used every day and are often the main gathering and socializing spot for family members and friends.

When you've finally finished putting away your holiday decor for the year, it's totally normal for your home to seem a bit barren. If you're someone who loves the pops of color and life that the holidays bring to your home, you should consider decorating for all four seasons.

Dated cabinets, dingy backsplashes, and forgettable generic light fixtures, oh my—designing any room on a budget is a challenge, but that’s especially the case with a kitchen. Every element in a kitchen, from appliances to tiles to cabinets, can becostly to replace. Still, there are easy and wallet-friendly ways to create a classic kitchen that looks expensive—without maxing out your credit card.  For insiders’ knowledge, we asked interior designers how to make a kitchen look expensive, even if it’s not. Your secret’s safe with us—no one has to know.

Cherry wood-stained cabinetry was once a popular home feature in the 1990s. But after years of use, these cabinets started to feel outdated in some homes, especially in the wake of light wood cabinets and all-white kitchen trends.

Not all shades are fair game in every room of the home—interior designers are adamant that some home decor items are better off left neutral in color. If you're planning on purchasing some accent decor or piece of furniture for your home, you'll want to be mindful that bright colors are not always the answer.

On the one hand, the start of a new year is an excellent time to update your home. With fresh eyes and your goals for the months ahead in mind, you can assess your living space and see how you can make it better. On the other hand, though, upgrading your home can quickly become expensive—especially after the excess of the holidays.

Candles can be necessary in any home you want to smell fresh, delicious, and homey. But there are a few issues with lighting candles throughout your house: they can get expensive, you shouldn't leave fire unattended, and some candles may have toxic materials in them. 

When it comes to a kitchen’s design, one dingy appliance can distract from the coolest of cabinets and most eye-catching countertops. A yellowed refrigerator or scratched dishwasher can create a serious sore spot in your kitchen.

If your basement just isn't serving you but you're not looking to invest a ton of money to make over this space, note that there are many budget-friendly hacks you can take on to make this room of the home feel brand new.

Now that 2024 is in full swing, it’s time to refresh more than our calendars and wardrobes—our homes could use some love, too.

If you're wondering whether your dining room is designer-approved, you'll want to keep reading. The pros often notice a variety of mistakes in this room of the home, pertaining to lighting choices, furniture size, and much more.

When designing a monochromatic space, there are many considerations to keep in mind to ensure that the room looks as elevated and sophisticated as possible, and we asked designers to share their top tips.

If your closet is in desperate need of a good re-organizing, you’re not alone. Professional organizers spend tons of time helping their clients come up with practical closet organization systems that will last—it's one of their most in-demand services. Whether you are dealing with a bedroom closet, linen closet, or front hall closet, the right closet organizing products can make all the difference in the final result.