It may look like it, but no, this is not a dollhouse. It’s a very real, completely full size house. More »

Name: Rebecca
Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Size: 553 square feet studio
Years lived in: 10 months

This is Rebecca’s first solo apartment after living with a string of roommates. It is also her first time attempting to design a home. But, because she is efficient, driven, and pragmatic, she studied up, learned the ropes, and jumped right in.

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Last week's news that July home sales were in the tank sent the Dow Jones industrial average below the 10,000 benchmark over worries the economy is heading toward the second plunge of a double-dip recession.

Don't expect the sales numbers to improve for August and September, a mortgage trade group said Wednesday.

In its weekly report on home-loan demand, the Mortgage Bankers Assn. said it tallied 37% fewer applications last week for loans to purchase housing than it had a year earlier.

The purchase applications were down 0.4% from the previous week, although the MBA said that after adjusting for seasonal factors they were up by 1.8%. 

No matter how finely you slice the data, demand for home-purchase loans is sluggish, especially since interest rates continue to set record lows.

The MBA said the average contract rate for 30-year fixed mortgages with 20% down payments fell to 4.43% from 4.55% last week. (Borrowers may have been spending more to "buy down" their rates; upfront payments to lenders, including origination fees, increased from an average 0.89% of the loan amount to 1.34%.)

Michael Fratantoni, MBA's vice president of research and economics, said the housing market remains "exceptionally weak." His quote from the news release Wednesday:

"The sharp decline in MBA's Purchase Application index in May had provided a clear leading indicator of the drops in new and existing home sales that were reported for June and July.  Despite the slight increase in purchase activity in the past week, the continued low level of purchase applications indicates we are unlikely to see an increase in new home sales reported for August or existing home sales reported for September."

The bright spot in the picture continues to be refinancings as homeowners seek to lower their rates and payments. An MBA refinance index increased 2.8% from the previous week, reaching its highest level since May 1, 2009.

– E. Scott Reckard

Annie’s post on wallpapered accent walls reminded us of how much we love multi-purpose twin beds. They’re a perfect way to incorporate guest beds into comfy seating. Here’s a collection of the end-to-end layout from our archives and around the web:

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This contemporary houseboat in Hamburg, Germany doesn’t have a permanent mooring. Pictured here on the
Eilbek Kanall, the floating steel and wood home is easy to move with a tug boat.

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I’ve been wanting to build a small patio at the end of our yard for dinner parties, but haven’t found the patience to get the tools together and do it right. While I’m still waiting for the patience, I decided to just go ahead and lay down a simple slate patio just to test the location. I assumed I’d have to redo it, but after a month on these rustic and semi-uneven slate pieces, I sorta think I might leave it. It works surprisingly well as is.

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Rebecca Orlov is one busy woman. After a stint in San Francisco, she decided to return to Los Angeles, and in just 6 weeks created a home office that would make just about anyone envious. From this glamorous home office for one, Rebecca juggles an assortment of projects: her own design site, loving. living. small., organizing/hosting blogging networking events across the nation and occasionally doing house tours for Apartment Therapy. Her dining-room-conversion-home-office is feminine, sophisticated and beautifully illuminated by the Southern California sunshine glowing through large windows…a perfect reminder being serious about your work space can also mean being serious about the decor that surrounds you.

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Anyone searching for exercise equipment will be able to attest to the impossibility of finding a decent looking machine that won’t look completely awkward in your living room. For whatever reason, the exercise enthusiasts have been largely ignored when it comes to their calls for well designed, well performing products that fit within their home décor. Luckily, Ciclotte has designed a stationary bike that exudes beauty in a bold, functionalist design. Unfortunately the excessive price is going to prevent most from enjoying it when they’re short an arm and a leg after the purchase.

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