A Note from Maxwell, Our Founder

Maxwell Ryan
·3 min read

About two years ago, we realized that we WANTED to completely reimagine the Apartment Therapy experience — not just to keep up with the evolution of digital media, but also to make it even more useful for YOU. I’m not going to lie — we were so busy that we pushed it off FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE.

Websites have changed a lot in the past decade “under the hood,” but home pages and what you see everyday haven’t changed much. The common perspective in digital media land is “get really good at writing your posts for Google and Facebook, and then worry about how folks use your site.”

101% of our energy has been focused on producing the very best writing, photography, and video, making sure it’s always available on many platforms.

Somehow we found an extra 10% of energy in our reserves and decided to go for it with a total site redesign. For the first time in years, we started sketching totally different ideas on paper and user testing simple mock-ups with home design fans across the country — some of whom had never heard of us before. We quickly realized how much what people expect of websites had changed, and real user feedback took us far beyond where we started.

I am happy to report that we believe you will not only be surprised, but you will also be inspired, and the new site will EXCEED YOUR EXPECTATIONS.

Starting today, and rolling out over the next four months, your Apartment Therapy will become more personalized, easier to use, and offer more services and features that will help you build the home you love. It’s not just about our writing anymore — it’s about offering more solutions and deepening our community.

In saying, thanks to all those user testers for pushing us WAY out of our comfort zone. And thanks to ALL OF YOU for continuing to support us in what we do. 

Maxwell   

Apartment Therapy Founder

From Kylie, Editor-in-Chief

We’re so excited about all of the ways you’ll be able to read, use, enjoy, and talk to us as part of our new site experience! Here’s a look at some of the coolest features and tools we dropped today.

  • A personalized experience

    • By signing in (or signing up — it’s free!), you can save stories, create a vision board, start your first Cure (and track the tasks you’ve completed), follow your favorite topics, and get our newsletters. You’ll also be among the first to get a sneak peek of The Apartment Therapist, our members-only community, launching later in May.

  • An all-new way to browse images

    • We’ve made it easier than ever to explore thousands of images from the real homes we’ve toured from all over the world, and now you can search thousands of photos by room, color, and decor style to get endless ideas for your space. You can also search our library of images by home type, home style, location, view rentals only, and so much more.

    • We also have two new custom search pages: our House Tour search page, where you can peek inside thousands of inspiring, real-life homes and filter by home type, home style, bedrooms, view rentals only, and search by location; and our Before & After search page images and filter page, where you can filter by hacks, budget- and renter-friendly DIYs, paint-only projects, and so much more to find all the best tips and tricks to inspire your next project.

  • A place to see all of our shopping recommendations

    • Whether you’re looking for a brand-new bathroom organizer or a breathable duvet, our stylish editors have tested and tried thousands of products to bring you the best picks for all your needs.

  • Our editorial team 

    • You can meet our editors! We publish the best decorating advice, ingenious organizing tips, clever hacks, and more day in and day out, and now you can get to know us.