Tricks and a Treat

This post is a Halloween favorite, so here it is again, with a couple new pics added. Enjoy!! (originally posted Oct. 30th, 2009) 

Here's a little Halloween trick for you. You know what else is "better after?" Anyone! After some serious Photoshopping, that is.

Do you despair when you see makeup ads featuring pore-less faces? Or smirk at the Victoria Secret models splayed across the catalog, like, do they even NEED push-up bras? Ever wonder why Madonna, at age 53, barely looks a hair over 20? Well, she doesn't.

Whatever you do, don't let some pretty picture in a magazine get you down, because only about 5% of the images we see in the media have any sort of basis in reality. I just made that statistic up. But it's probably true.

Tyra: not flawless, but still fierce!

Mariah: Riiiiiiiight.

Jessica Alba is so slender and well-lit in the magical land of Photoshop! Even the wrinkles on her clothes disappear!

 

If you want to be on the cover of a magazine, prepare to have half of your arm shaved away. Isn't she good enough as-is?  I think so!

Hi Britney! Have you had some ... work done?

I don't know who this girl is, but she either has a case of Photoshop-itis or secretly hates her glossier, perkier, symmetrical-ier twin sister.

Kim Kardashian is a pretty gal, no question. Her top half doesn't seem to be altered much, but her bottom half sure does.

 

Koy asked "Mom, is that you?" Ha! I should be so lucky! My after shot couldn't live up to Naomi Watt's before! 

 

Look, Photoshop can even take away your scowl and replace it with a sexy smirk! Not to mention your years of hard partying!

Or take decades off your face AND boobs!

And no, the men aren't immune to it either.

Hellooo magazine editors?  Mick Jagger is 45 billion years old, he's supposed to look like it!

Oh, Justin, don't be mad at me. You know I love you. 

Rowr.

Happy Halloween!

Read more...

Skull on a Shelf

Admittedly, this is not the same pile of stuff, or even the same shelves in the before and the after, but you get the idea. And hey, if you really did polish off several bottles of wine, er cider, making that Halloween craft I posted this morning, look!  You already have the skeleton's nose!  (Teeth too, if you kept it classy). 

From Hero, the Feng Shui consultant (dream job!) at Style It Chic.

Read more...

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!  Here's a spooooooky little redo for you from Ginny at Ginny's Art Blog.  I guess it would be smarter of me to post these holiday redos before the actual holiday, in case you wanted to recreate them yourselves and enjoy them for more than one day, but hey, it's early!  There's still time!  Break out the spray paint and get drinkin'!  

(I'm talking about apple cider, of course...)

Read more...

Lauren's Living Room

Wow. Just wow. Laura inherited quite the stunning living room when she and her husband purchased their house. Pros: um... fireplace? Cons: just about everything else.

First step, burning that slap in the face to real mantles everywhere. I mean, C'MON! Then they salvaged the fireplace with a modern stacked-rock facelift, tore out those 'handy' built-ins, (where do you suppose that one small door led? Fire escape? Firewood storage room? Rabbit hole?) and updated the lighting, flooring, and feel of the whole room.

 Much better! Check out more on Lauren's blog Studio Orange. Thanks for sharing Lauren!

Read more...

Fashion Friday

Hey everyone!  It's time for Fashion Friday!  Put on your excitedface!  Today, for your viewing pleasure, we have dresses turned into shirts and shirts turned into dresses.  Wha?  I know, I can't hardly picture it myself either.  Let's take a look.

Alida found this dress that was matronly, mauve, doily-ed and dotted.  But the fabric was soft and sumptuous, so she knew there was hope.  All the mauve needed was a few cute yellow accents to update it (plus everyone likes polka dots, admit it), and the doily ... well, it went to live with Grandma on the farm.  Super duper cute.  See it on her blog I Make Stuff.

Speaking of Grandma, it's time to raid her muumuu stash, because this t-shirt looks like the 3rd comfiest item of clothing ever invented, right behind the Snuggie and Pajama Jeans. Who would have predicted that the fabric would look so fresh and fun too?  Check it out at Finger, Chopsticks and Bobbins.

Ellen was excited to find not one but two of these matching shirts, not because she was headed to a luau-themed Sadie-Hawkins dance with an open-minded date, but because she knew she could transform them into the cutest, most colorful little dress you've ever seen.  I want!  See it on her blog To Catch a Thrift.

And finally, next time you're out thrifting, take a walk through the men's clothing section and see if you see any potential skirts hanging in the racks.  I like the tapered edge here, but a straight edge would look fantastic too!  And in pinstripes ... ahh, so many possibilities. But first I need to uh, learn to sew. See the whole tutorial on Ninth and Bird

Read more...

Back in the Saddle

Ugh!  My blog feed was constipated all week and finally relieved itself yesterday, which you may have noticed by the sudden onslaught of new posts in your reader.  (Many thanks to Nick at Lindauer Designs for fixing the problem! What a nice guy. Virtual knuckle-bump!)   Anyway, the whole headache really screwed up my blogging mojo, so I'll just try to finish off this weird week as best I can.  Here we go!

So Laura picked up this dresser on Craigslist, and don't be fooled by its decent appearance.  Girlfriend had all kinds of chipped veneer and warpage to deal with, not to mention a dubious husband.  Aren't they all?  She tamed the beast with Covington Blue from Benjamin Moore, paintable wallpaper and glaze, and the perfect knobs to finish it off.  And her husband was so pleased with the results he even asked her if she'd considered selling it.  That's high praise in husband-talk.  

Check out the whole process on her blog Our Prairie Home.

I truly thought Clydia's dresser here was identical to Laura's up there, but that must have been the Halloween candy I've eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner talking.  But they are pretty similar, and I love how different each of their results are.  The baskets in place of the missing drawers look great, they seem like they've been there all along!  See it on her blog Three Mango Seeds.

Thanks ladies! 

(and Nick!)

Read more...

Pink Eye-sore

Sally and her family moved into this house seven years ago.  It was a nice house, but smelled faintly of the early 90's.  You know that smell, right?  Smells like shiny brass fixtures and pink stucco? 

That was then, because look at it now!  See what a huge difference just painting the pink trim made?  They also hung new shutters (made 'em themselves), updated the light fixtures and door hardware and added lots of plants and grass, but I am still marveling at that new trim!  It made the biggest impact of all, I'd say, and I kind of like to think I'm right about these things.  What do you think?

Check out more on Sally's blog, Love of Homes.

Read more...

Chi-Chi Cheering you on!

Kristen had a vision for this shabby dresser that she picked up at a flea market, and went straight to work to make it a reality.  Actually, she admits, she let her painting-pro friend Paula do most of the work.  I'm right there with you Kristen.  Somebody has to offer moral support and icy drinks!  If not us, who?  We truly are the DIY world's unsung heroes.  

Check out more projects on her blog Chi-Chi Studio.

Read more...

There's a hole in your bathtub.

We seem to be on the topic of bathrooms today, don't we?  Bathroom makeovers are great because just about everyone can use them for inspiration, because pretty much everybody has a bathroom.  Maybe you don't have an office or a craft room or a laundry room or a formal dining room, but chances are you DO have a bathroom.  Unless you are some mountain dwelling hippie who doesn't have a bathroom and uses a hollowed out tree trunk, in which case A) you could still totally paint it, and B) how are you connected to the internet, hippie?

So anyway, this one is from Genia at Wheeler Three, who was forced to cut a big honkin' hole in her otherwise perfect bathtub to replace the faucet.  No other way around it, they tried.  But rather than rip out the whole tub and start over, they just built a fake front instead!  I think this would look great on any bathtub, honkin' hole or not!

Read more...

Pink Stinks! (Aww, I don't really believe that).

There is a movement taking shape these days.  A movement protesting the wrongdoings of our current culture. A movement asking us to consider if we have strayed too far from our past.  It's not Occupy Wall Street.  No, I'm talking about Save the Pink Bathrooms.  Their pledge is simple: to preserve vintage pink bathrooms everywhere.

Hmmmmmmmm.

I'm all for preserving the past and what have you, but do you know what comes with vintage bathrooms? I'll tell you. Vintage germs.  Carpet so full of old cooties that it crunches when you walk on it.  I do believe I'll pass, thank you.  And besides, these bathrooms were lacking in vintage charm anyway, they just looked tired.  And pink. 

Catherine updated her bath with all new fixtures and a paint color she likes to call Superman Blue!  She reports that it the room now feels "so clean and fun!"  See?  Cleanliness is #1 in the bathroom, fun is #2.  Uh, you know what I mean.

And Autumn from Apollo's Idea could have simply replaced that painful pink paint color and called it good enough, but she went all out with a new counter top, shower, toilet, tile-work, mirror, and light fixture.  Love the stripes too. I'll bet in a few decades our grandchildren will start a movement called "Save the Striped Bathrooms!"  Mark my words.

Read more...

A Lightier Light

This chunky old chandelier looks like it came straight from a saloon in the wild west!  Or, more accurately, like it came straight from a low-budget movie, set in a saloon in the wild west!   Not something that would really catch my eye.  But in white?  With new shades? And sparkly beads?  You bet your sweet behind it will.  See it on Lisete's blog White Glam.

Read more...

Dreamy Design

Ok, I truly thought I had already shared the following makeovers by Jeremy and Adrianne from Dream Book Design, but apparently I have not.  What I suspect happened was that I found them once online and marveled greatly in their awesomeness. But then, the more I realized how abundant their awesomeness was, I began to berate myself for not being nearly as awesome, and then I probably blacked out in an uncontrollable rage of jealousy.  So you can see how that would mess with one's memory.  Anyway, I'm all better now, so let's check out their kitchen shall we?

When Jeremy and Adrianne moved into their home, it had little galley kitchen.  So they fixed it up the best they could with paint and moulding, but realized they could do so much more.  Like fit a couch in there! Isn't it fantastic?

And in another instance of awesomeness, they repurposed this old drafting table into a dining table fit for royalty.  I'm seriously trying to talk myself out of breaking into their house and stealing those chairs for myself.  Um, ignore that last sentence, that was the green beast of jealousy talking. 

See the table makeover HERE.

Thanks guys!

Read more...