The IKEA HUMLESJON timer almost looks like a light switch for a cartoon house, a big marshmallow, or even a kid toy. The pale turquoise exterior is chunky and pleasantly rounded, containing two circular holes. The inside is filled with a fine orange sand, and the sand steadily drains from the upper circle down to the lower one, like a flatter and more unique version of an hourglass.
But the most-clicked-on house tour in all of 2025 might surprise you. It wasn't the biggest home we toured this year, or the most lavish. At 750 square feet, it wasn't even the tiniest home we toured this year. But there was one chic New York City rental apartment we toured in June of this year that readers couldn't get enough of: Sarah and Peterson Almodovar's two-bedroom home they share with their three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.
When a project involves young kids, interior designers know they're striking a delicate balance between sophistication and sheer survival. Behind-the-scenes essentials-stain resistance, sturdiness, safety-quietly shape the most polished rooms. The fantasy, of course, is to have an ivory cashmere-covered sofa-and to let the kids eat cake while sitting on it, too. Lauren Geremia of San Francisco-based AD100 firm Geremia Design had both goals in mind when designing the richly hued, intriguingly layered interiors of this historic house in the city's Pacific Heights neighborhood.