Want to take your makeovers a step beyond plain old paint? Might I suggest using … paint? Wait, wait, hear me out. I’m for serious.
Take these little nesting tables. Jenny at Ava Blake Creations painted them black. And then she painted them black again! She just used a slightly different shadesof black to stencil the top, and the result is the subtle but striking effect you see below. You could also do this using flat and gloss paint of the same shade. Neat, yeah?
Remember when I used to have a nice little list of blogs I like to read called “Inspiration” over there on my sidebar –> ? Well, when I switched over to WordPress, it disappeared. And a lot of you were like “Hey, where’d that go? I liked that thing!” And I was like, “I know! Sorry! I’m trying to figure it out!” And then about a year went by, and you probably forgot about it. But one day I had almost 30 glorious minutes of semi-uninterrupted thinkin’ time, and I figured out how to put it back. And that day was today! So, there it is, my blogroll of blogs I like to read, over there on the right. It’s not finished yet; I still need to add more, so let me know if I’ve left anything out, and please feel free to alert me to any other awesome blogs we should all be reading too.
There are other fun things you can do on my sidebar, like hang out with me on Facebook or follow me on Pinterest. You can also follow me on Instagram too! That would be great if you wanted to do that! Then we’d be like real-life besties. (You can also follow me on Twitter, but I honestly forget that it even exists for months at at time). So yeah. Cool beans.
And now, an easy-on-the-eyes and even easier-on-the-wallet kitchen makeover from Better After reader Ashley. She and her husband recently bought a house with a kitchen that had lots of room. For improvement! It actually was very small. But, the great thing about a small room is that even a small budget can go far! Check out everything they managed to do with just $250! The cabinets are the same, they just added decorative moulding around the edges. Great job!
Are you feeling sluggish? Does your blood sugar need spiking? I gots what you need. It’s a dresser makeover from Christina, and it’s like an energizing glass of orange juice for the eyes! Woo!
Her client delivered this dresser to her with instructions to jazz it up using Benjamin Moore’s Orange Burst. However, that color couldn’t be mixed in the acrylic latex enamel formula she wanted, so she went with an oil-based paint instead. The good news: it looks awesome. So smooth and slick, like it rolled right out of the factory looking that way. The bad news: that paint took FOREVER to dry. Sixteen hours in between coats, and it took SIX coats!! Woah. That is cray to the zay. It also needs 60 days to fully cure. Woah again.
Worth it? Christina says no way. Time is money. But if you’re interested in a flawless finish, and you’ve got hours and hours and HOURS and days and weeks and months to spare, it might be right up your alley! More info on her blog at Phoenix Restoration.
Here come a couple mid-century mod makeovers for your Monday morning in muggy metropolitan MoTown. What? I don’t know. Once you’re on the alliteration train, it’s hard to get off. Anyhoo, here they come.
People tend to get all knotted up inside at the thought of MCM furniture being defiled with things like *gasp* paint and stain, but anyone with eyeballs can see that both of these pieces look way better now than what they started out as. So let’s give them a virtual high-five, starting with Rebecca at Ivy & Co.
This little table was falling apart at the seams and battered with cigarette burns and spilled nail polish. Rebecca fixed her up with lots of sanding, de-stinking, and love, and what appears to be a dark stain, but is actually black milk paint. She mixed with a bit of red to give it depth. Pretty! Check out her blog for a peek at the inside, it’s cute!
This console appeared to be pretty worthless too. I probably would have salvaged just the handles and left everything else behind in a veneer covered heap. But Jen thought it had a chance, especially if she hid that fakey fake wood with a flat graphite gray. Woooo! Look at those handles shine now!
But that’s not all, no sir. She stenciled this funky design in gold on the side, and funnily enough, it looks more mod now than it ever was to begin with! Check it out on her blog Girl in the Garage.
Odd-n-ends. That’s what I’ve got for you today. Cute and clever little projects that don’t really fit in anywhere else. (They are secretly my favorite kinds of projects. Anything that can be accomplished in less than an hour while I’m watching Jimmy Fallon is alright with me. PS: I’m just putting it out in the universe right now that my ultimate goal in life is to one day compete in a lip-sync battle with Jimmy Fallon. Just so the universe knows. Dream big, kids).
Also, I thought I would give you a quick recap of my month of Paleo dieting, because I know like … two of you might be wondering how it went. Answer: eh. It was fine. I didn’t hate it. I thought it would be harder than it was, because I’ve never ever tried any type of restrictive diet in my life, unless you count that one time that I tried to be a vegetarian but kept forgetting. I’d be like, halfway through a bag of beef jerky and then think, “Oh, yeah!”
So I didn’t really struggle with it, but I did get a little bored of what I was eating. That was my fault, there are tons of awesome Paleo recipe sources out there, and I just got lazy by the end. I also ended the month on a downer, I got pretty sick last week and just kind of felt down in the dumps in general, so I didn’t really end with a bang. More like a weary sigh. I lost about 8 pounds though, so I’ll call that a success! I do think I’ll keep it up for the most part, just not so hardcore. Mama needs her butter.
ANYWAY. Moving on. Here are some fun odd-n-ends, and you should probably do some yourself this weekend and send the pictures to meee!
Firstly: this pink mirror makeover from Shanna at Restoration Redoux. My daughter would go nuts for this. Such cute and easy decor!
Better After reader Teresa updated this little crate, and my eleven-year-old self wept, because the before would have matched my 1992 bedroom perfectly. I could have stashed all my Baby-Sitters Club books in there. My current self likes it much better now though. Fun fact: this entire makeover cost a cool $2.
Ok, so maybe this one took a little longer than an hour. You might need to find a good series on Netflix before you tackle reupholstering a vintage shampoo chair. First things first, you need to FIND a vintage shampoo chair. Good luck with that. Let’s just enjoy Dena’s work instead, more of which there is to see on her blog Hearts & Sharts.
This portrait of a palm tree in a pot might have been the saddest thing the thriftstore had to offer, but Katy at A Shade of Teal changed that in a jiffy by turning it into a burlap covered corkboard. Such a quick and gratifying project! Right now Wal-Mart has some wooden pushpins that would look super cute on a bulletin board such as this, just an FYI.
I just love these hip little planters that Rebecca made using dollar store pots. Before, they were more along the lines of something you’d give to a kindergarten teacher. If you hated her. But with a little chalky paint and some vinyl circle stencils, anyone would be happy to own one now! See the striped version she also made on her blog The Crafted Sparrow.
And here’s another one from Dena at Hearts and Sharts, who had a big pile of worthless china, and a big box of paint pens. So she put the two together, and … magic! Check out her entire plate gallery, you don’t want to miss it. Trust me. There’s a Tupac plate.
Last one! It’s so whimsical and fun! Lindsay at My Creative Days found a set of wooden salad bowls and turned them into … well just scroll down and see for yourself.
SO cute, right? And if you liked that, wait til you see her bowling ball caterpillar!
Happy weekend friends!
Powder rooms are tricky business. Not a lot of room in there to DO your business, if you know what I mean. (I mean painting and decorating. What were you thinking?) They’re just so cramped and teensy. What’s the point in trying to fix them up at all?
TRICK QUESTION! Of course you should try and fix them up! I firmly believe that if it makes you happy, you should go right ahead and paint your pantry, lay hardwood in your closet, or hang a chandelier in your laundry room. Small changes can have a huge impact in little spaces. Powder rooms are no different. Check out all the WOW Andie managed to pack into hers with nothing more than paint and a few fun accessories.
See more on her blog A Mile in Mom’s Manolos.
And I’m happy to announce our two winners of the NineRed string-art giveaway! Congrats to Stephanie Knobel and Shannon Alford! I will be emailing you ASAP. Yay!
