KAYT BRUMDER, a fifth-year architecture student at Cooper Union in New York City, has an advantage when it comes to home design: She owns her apartment, so she can make structural changes. Ms. Brumder, who is 31, bought the 600-square-foot studio in East Harlem — which she shares with her boyfriend, Jorge Pereira — for $280,000 five years ago. In their renovation, Ms. Brumder and Mr. Pereira, who graduated from Columbia’s school of architecture last…

As young couples blend households and decorating tastes, for better or for worse is becoming an increasingly less abstract concept. Hence the proliferation of shows such as Lifetime's "Merge," WE's "Mix it Up" and HGTV's "Designing for the Sexes." Find me a couple who blends their two decorating styles effortlessly, and I'll show you a couple where one of them is design guru Colin Cowie. When one person's trash is another's treasure, Cupid seems to…

APARTMENT BLOCKS JUST KEEP GOING UP. That's because more and more people want to live in them.

Moving beyond milk crates, boxes and dorm posters can be a daunting decorating task for the novice. But several African-American designers and interior decorators have advice for new apartment dwellers who are design-challenged ...

Where others see garbage, students see potential: a wooden futon frame, less the futon, becomes a towel rack. An old-fashioned school desk and bench that might well have come out of a...

You and your roommate have successfully navigated the early days of sharing a household: who gets the larger room, who takes the first shower of the day, and how to correctly install the toilet paper roll (the great “over versus under” debate).  You are now ready to add a new member to your household: a pet.  But which one is right for you?  Before you head to the local animal shelter or pet store, consider…

The University of California, Berkeley -- already home to the nation's first eco-friendly dorm room -- has expanded its "green" footprint this year with a two-bedroom apartment that showcases sustainable living. "We want to show people that it's possible and just make it easy to live a sustainable life," said Desirae Early, a UC Berkeley environmental economics and policy major who sits on the Green Room Committee that put the Green Apartment together.