Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure

From not enough space and too many things to not knowing what color to paint the living room walls, many of us struggle with our homes. Now Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, frequent makeover expert on HGTV's Mission: Organization and Small Spaces, Big Style, shares the do-it-yourself strategies that have enabled his clients and fans to transform their apartments into well-organized, beautiful places that suit their style and budget.

Week by week, Apartment Therapy will guide you to treat common problems, eliminate clutter, and revamp even the tiniest space. Here is an eight-step process that includes:

- A therapeutic questionnaire to help you get in touch with your personal taste and diagnose your home's physical, emotional, and energy flow issues
- A prescription with recommendations for each room based on your needs and lifestyle-including tips on how to use color, lighting, and accessories
- A treatment plan, including regular maintenance schedules to ensure the ongoing health of your space
- Illustrations of floor plans and decorative examples that allow you to visualize concepts before you begin

With surprising ease and without elaborate professional help, Apartment Therapy will help you clear a path through disorder and indecision-to reveal a home you'll love.

＂One part interior designer, one part life coach,＂ Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan is the founder of Apartment Therapy, a unique interior design practice in the New York metropolitan area. In April 2004, Maxwell, with his brother Oliver, launched apartmenttherapy.com, now one of the most popular and influential design weblogs in the country.

Maxwell is a regular commentator on the new House & Garden Television show, Small Space, Big Style. Previously, Maxwell appeared on HGTV’s Mission Organization. He has been interviewed in various publications including The New York Times, The New York Post, The New York Observer, and the Wall Street Journal.

A former elementary school teacher, he holds a B.A. from Oberlin College, an M.A. from Columbia University, and a M. Ed. from Antioch. He lives in a 250-square foot apartment in New York’s West Village with his wife, Sara-Kate, a food writer.