Saturday, December 31, 2016

A Years Worth of Interesting Homes: Top Tours from September & October — Best of 2016

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Our Best 9 Photos, According to Instagram — Best of 2016

If your Instagram feed is anything like ours, it's overflowing with grids of snaps from the past year as people share their "Best Nine," the pics that got the most likes in 2016. We love this little way to recap the year, and thought it'd be fun to share here. So without further ado, here are the photos those of you on Instagram liked the most over the past twelve months.

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Editing Your Home to Happiness: Our Best Decluttering Strategies — Best of 2016

Clutter, probably more than cleanliness, affects our sense of well-being at home. And in a place where we should feel relaxed, refreshed, and most like ourselves, it's imperative to shed anything that makes us feel otherwise. Here are our top tips for sorting through and shedding the clutter energy-zappers that drag us down. Cheers to a clutter-less fresh start!

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No Excuses: 3 DIY Projects Too Easy NOT to Make in 2017

When we moved to our Canadian home in the middle of the winter, furniture-less and looking for indoor weekend activities, we turned to Home Depot and online tutorials and decided to make some stuff. Here are three surprisingly easy and effective projects we think you should try at home in 2017 — you can see them in our recent house tour.

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15 DIY Bedroom Upgrades for Under $25

(Image credit: Sugar & Cloth)

If your bedroom could use a little pick-me-up, but you don't have a ton of cash, check out this collection of 15 charming DIY projects that will set you back less than $25.

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It's A Small World After All And We Love It: Our Best Small Space Living Posts of the Year — Best of 2016

Living small doesn't have to be all about enduring sacrifice and developing coping mechanisms. There are plenty of upsides to downsized living that should be celebrated: less strain on your finances, fewer things to take care of, a chance to focus on the things that matter to you. But if you're not living both small and smart, your sanity and well-being may take a hit. Here are our best posts from the year about making your small space work for you, take a look.

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A Carefully Crafted Home in Cambridge — House Tour

Name: Caitlin Snyder
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Size: 650 square feet
Years lived in: 3 years; Rented

Caitlin was lucky to score her apartment the old-fashioned way: by word of mouth. Three years later, she's transformed the cozy two-bedroom into her first "adult" apartment. With an intrinsic sense of style and practical skill inherited from her parents—and the blessings of a friendly octogenarian landlord—Caitlin has refreshed the worn finishes of her apartment and filled it with treasures she's collected since college. In an area saturated with millennials in a constant state of housing flux, Caitlin has achieved the improbable dream: a home of her own.

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Step Inside Your Dream Home: These Are Your Favorite Rooms of the Year

House tours — real and unstyled — are an Apartment Therapy staple and we relish the chance to document and share these homes from across the style spectrum and across the globe. Last week we asked readers to weigh in on your favorite rooms from the past year of house tours. They were each beautiful and memorable but, in the end, you did have your favorites. And here they are!

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Unlock Your Ingenuity: 7 Ways to Be Your Most Creative Self

Maybe you feel like you're not a creative person in general, or maybe you just need a little bit of a push to find the solution you're seeking—either way, there are plenty of small things you can do to be more creative. It might not feel like it, but the brilliant thoughts and ideas you're looking for are already in your head, waiting to be put down on paper, you just can't see them yet. These tips can help you see things from different angles and develop habits that will have you feeling more productive and inspired.

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5 Pieces of Advice from Interior Designers that We All Need to Hear

It's great to be able to turn to the experts for decorating advice, but they happen to think there's somebody else more qualified to design your home: You. Here are five interior designers who, by all accounts, know their shit. They make full-time work of putting together the most beautiful homes on the planet, and their best advice for all of us boils down to just the thing we all need to hear: You do you.

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Vote Now: Which 2016 Design Trend is Officially "Over"?

We've been talking about these trends all year long, so now it's time to have your say: Which design trend of 2016 do you hope is no more in 2017? Geometrics, moody florals, rattan furniture—click on the arrow next to the one you're most sick of seeing (and then chime in below with trends you hope pop up in the new year!)

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Friday, December 30, 2016

In Memoriam: A Few Famous Names We'll Miss the Most

With only a one day left in the year, we can say without a doubt that we're more than eager for 2016 to quietly bow out and exit stage left. If we based our expectations for this year off of Pantone announcing Rose Quartz and Serenity as 2016's colors of the year, we would've been wrong in anticipating 12 months of pastel-inspired peace.

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By the Numbers: Our Most Read, Most Popular Posts of the Year

We published over 6,000 posts this year! On the off chance you didn't catch them all, perhaps you have time to read or revisit the ten posts that most captured readers' attention this year. The list offers insight into what you are most interested in doing at home: spiffing up your rental, making the most of your small space, taking on diy projects to improve your home's look and...well, I'll let you find out what readers' number one interest was this year. Take a look at our top ten countdown of the year's most read posts.

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Before and After: A Dark, Uninspiring Basement Turned Streamlined Shared Office Space

This "office" space that was shared by Sarah and Keith in their dark, uninspiring basement in their New England Craftsman Colonial didn't seem to have a clear design or purpose — or you know, much style. But they lightened, brightened and turned this space around!

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15 Tricks Every iPhone User Should Know How to Do

Whether you're new to iPhone or you're on your third or fourth model, I'm willing to wager that there are still plenty of tricks you've yet to learn. It turns out those brains over at Apple have thought up and built a few simple tools and shortcuts to make the things you do every day on your phone a little easier.

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Mortgage Rates Slightly Lower to End 2016

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates moved lower for a 3rd consecutive day to end 2016, bringing them to the lowest levels in more than 3 weeks for many lenders. December 8th was the last time rates were lower. As of yesterday, 4.25% regained the status of the "most prevalent" conventional 30yr fixed quote on top tier scenarios. Quite a few lenders remain at 4.375% and a scant few are down to 4.125%. While this is all good news in the context of the past few weeks, 2016 nonetheless ends with one of the worst 2-month losing streaks in the history of mortgage rates. Specifically, the 5 weeks following the election were the worst 5 weeks on record, going back to the Spring of 1987. For anyone considering locking or floating into the 3-day weekend (markets and mortgage lenders are closed on Monday, by the way), it's...(read more)
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Mortgage Rates Slightly Lower to End 2016

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates moved lower for a 3rd consecutive day to end 2016, bringing them to the lowest levels in more than 3 weeks for many lenders. December 8th was the last time rates were lower. As of yesterday, 4.25% regained the status of the "most prevalent" conventional 30yr fixed quote on top tier scenarios. Quite a few lenders remain at 4.375% and a scant few are down to 4.125%. While this is all good news in the context of the past few weeks, 2016 nonetheless ends with one of the worst 2-month losing streaks in the history of mortgage rates. Specifically, the 5 weeks following the election were the worst 5 weeks on record, going back to the Spring of 1987. For anyone considering locking or floating into the 3-day weekend (markets and mortgage lenders are closed on Monday, by the way), it's...(read more)
Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.


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A Chicago Couple's "So Us" Vintage & Modern Mix — House Tour

Name: Jill and Mickey
Location: Logan Square — Chicago, Illinois
Size: 1,200 square feet
Years lived in: Rented 4 months

My partner Mickey and I have been renting our current apartment for about four months now. We often struggle to settle on just one design style, so our two-bedroom apartment is a mix of mid-century, Scandinavian, and urban-modern details. I think we're able to keep a cohesive aesthetic because we always return to a few basic elements: furniture with clean lines, decor with pops of color, and rooms with lots of natural light and plants.

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Hacks, DIYs and Creative Uses: The Most Popular IKEA Posts of the Year — Best of 2016

IKEA is a perennial favorite topic among Apartment Therapy readers and we love to write about it, too. From the best products to customize, small space problem solvers, ingenious hacks and creative, I-never-would-have-thought-of-that uses of IKEA products, we've covered a lot of ground this year. Before you make your next trip to the blue and yellow wonderland, check out our 15 most popular IKEA posts of the year.

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Head Over Heels with Someone New? How To Keep Your Friends in Focus, Too

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy )

The honeymoon period of a new relationship is great—you're getting to know your partner and getting closer with them, and every date gives you those same butterfly feelings. But in the "not so great" camp? Getting so caught up in spending time with your partner that you forget to spend time with your friends. It doesn't always happen, and it's usually not intentional, but when it does happen it can really negatively impact your friendships.

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Updates on 2nds; Pricing/Fee Changes; United Shore Settles with DOJ on FHA violations

Posted To: Pipeline Press

Overheard: “I have a feeling that my ‘check liver’ light may come on this weekend.” I guess drinking helps some people forget, and it’s been a rough week for celebrity deaths with George Michael, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, and now…Pan Pan. The world's oldest male panda has died in China aged 31. His more than 130 descendants account for a quarter of the world's captive-bred panda population. While we’re on foreign news, UK mortgage approvals posted a 9% year-on-year fall in November, the British Bankers Association said. The decline puts Britain on track to have fewer total mortgage approvals for all of 2016 than in 2015. United Shore Financial Services will pay $48 million to settle allegations brought by the Department of Justice, which accused...(read more)
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MBS Day Ahead: (And Maybe "The Recap" Too): Limited Data, Early Close, No Major Expectations

Posted To: MBS Commentary

NOTE: This paragraph will be at the top of the Day Ahead for a few weeks. Once you've read it, feel free to skip it. The Day Ahead has long been my venue to offer deep thoughts with a mix of big-picture and near-term technical considerations. I'll still be doing that, but in posts on MBS Live and under the 'General Commentary' heading (which still shows up on MND for free, but delayed). The Day Ahead will quickly evolve into a more cut and dried run-down of the events of the day (as it should be). Some days are more interesting than others, so some posts will be almost comically short, depending on the slate of events. It will still contain charts from time to time, but generally just to lay out technical levels we should be watching. -- Today's Day Ahead may also be the...(read more)
Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.


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Updates on 2nds; Pricing/Fee Changes; United Shore Settles with DOJ on FHA violations

Posted To: Pipeline Press

Overheard: "I have a feeling that my 'check liver' light may come on this weekend." I guess drinking helps some people forget, and it's been a rough week for celebrity deaths with George Michael, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, and now…Pan Pan. The world's oldest male panda has died in China aged 31. His more than 130 descendants account for a quarter of the world's captive-bred panda population. While we're on foreign news, UK mortgage approvals posted a 9% year-on-year fall in November, the British Bankers Association said. The decline puts Britain on track to have fewer total mortgage approvals for all of 2016 than in 2015. United Shore Financial Services will pay $48 million to settle allegations brought by the Department of Justice, which accused...(read more)
Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.


from Mortgage News Daily http://ift.tt/2ifk0zi

MBS Day Ahead: (And Maybe "The Recap" Too): Limited Data, Early Close, No Major Expectations

Posted To: MBS Commentary

NOTE: This paragraph will be at the top of the Day Ahead for a few weeks. Once you've read it, feel free to skip it. The Day Ahead has long been my venue to offer deep thoughts with a mix of big-picture and near-term technical considerations. I'll still be doing that, but in posts on MBS Live and under the 'General Commentary' heading (which still shows up on MND for free, but delayed). The Day Ahead will quickly evolve into a more cut and dried run-down of the events of the day (as it should be). Some days are more interesting than others, so some posts will be almost comically short, depending on the slate of events. It will still contain charts from time to time, but generally just to lay out technical levels we should be watching. -- Today's Day Ahead may also be the...(read more)
Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.


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Ideas to Steal from 5 Gorgeous Scandinavian Kitchens

Scandinavians are always right on the cutting edge of things when it comes to design, and kitchens are no exception. So I dug through my treasure trove of lovely kitchen images to find these five especially beautiful spaces, full of ideas worth stealing for your next renovation.

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It's So Hard to Say Goodbye: 2016 Trends That Are Maxing Out (But We Still Love Them Anyway)

In terms of decor, 2016 had something for everyone. Artful bohemian? Global textiles and/or tropical prints were your heroes. Classic glam? There was so.much.glam to go around this year. I took stock of 10 of my favorite design trends from the past 12 months that I'm just not ready to see go just yet. Once you peruse my list, please add some of your own in the comments...

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