Better After

12 In fashion/ kiddie

Fashion Friday, er Tuesday: HALLOWEEN!

Let’s pretend it’s Fashion Friday even though it’s Tuesday. No one has to know. Because today’s re-fashions are all about Thursday, aka HALLOWEEN!!

So, I really love a good handmade/thrifted costume. They just have so much more character than a store-bought wad of polyester stuffed in a bag. Not that I’ve never bought those – I have – but they are hardly as fun and cost twice as much money. Phoo! All you need is a little creativity and marginal sewing skills (hot glue is your friend), and you’ll be the talk of the whole party!

Carrie at This Momma Makes Stuff crafted a Rapunzel costume for her daughter out of little more than a thrift-store prom dress and ribbons. How stinking adorable did it turn out? It’s perfect!

And you’ll never guess what Cheri used these clearance toilet seat covers for. Or, rather, you’d never guess that her fierce little viking’s costume had such humble beginnings. SO cute. See it on her blog I Am Momma – Hear Me Roar.

It just took a little bit (ok, probably a lot) of altering for Chantell to turn this woman’s 3/4 size dress into a girl’s size 8. With the addition of a big black bow and patterned tights, her daughter is transformed into a modern Alice in Wonderland!

How I wish I had seen this idea a few weeks ago when someone asked me how they could make a race-car driver costume for their kid. My awesome reply? “Ummmmm. I don’t know.”

What I SHOULD have said was, “Do what Holly at Stitch Craft did. She turned a snow-suit into an astronaut costume with white duct tape! That would work for a race-car driver too. It’s genius I say!”

She even made the helmet. Gah! So cute.

Uh-oh, who is this little rapscallion? That’s MY girl! Yep, here is a Fashion Friday offering from yours truly. She wanted to be a bumblebee, and look what I happened to find at Saver’s for $6. As you can see, it was a little on the … adult side. Yipes.

So, I simply chopped off the classy faux-leather halter-top (saved the flower) and replaced it with the top half of an old black t-shirt that I sewed in place. I took it in a little on the sides, and now it fits great! The length is just right.

And now, some adult costumes! Don’t worry, not like that. Des at Gladness of Heart was inspired by the “bumbling brilliance and understated beauty” of Jane from Tarzan.

She started with a yellow dress-suit, a white button down shirt, a yellow sheet and a tablecloth. And just look what she transformed them into! Absolutely amazing. And about a bazillion times better than a ‘sexy librarian’ or somesuch. Head on over to her blog to see more, and appreciate all the crazy hard work she put into this fabulous costume.

Carissa at Carissa Knits was also inspired by Disney, and set out to make a Cinderella costume with an old wedding dress and two awesomely poofy bridesmaid dresses. But listen here. She wasn’t going for traditional Cinderella with the blue ballgown, no! She wanted to create the look that Cinderella’s little animal friends had re-fashioned for her before her Fairy Godmother ever came around. Such visionaries, those mice and birds.

Isn’t it spot-on? She even has the strand of blue beads! I love it so much.

And Trisha from Feeling Kinda Thrifty got in on the Halloween fun too, emerging from the cocoon of these shapeless thrift-store dresses as a beautiful butterfly! What a magical transformation! (Although that green one might have made a nice Statue of Liberty costume too, for those of us who, you know … rely on the glue gun).

Excited for Halloween? I am!

October 29, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

23 In chairs/ottomans/seating/ decor/ living room/ My House

White Ostritch Pillows of Prettiness

I’m sorry, but I’m about to show you something scary. It is Halloween week after all. Brace yourselves. This is the couch we’ve been living with for several years now:

Lumpy, enormous, sagging in the middle, and “well-loved” as a friend once kindly described it. Despite all appearances, it was also insanely uncomfortable. And sadly enough, this is her glamour shot, all primped and plumped for her Craigslist debut.

It’s funny because my mom has almost the exact same couch, and hers has held up beautifully and is fabulously comfy too. I think we must have bought some cheap knock-off version. (I don’t know why I put a ‘before’ label on this picture, I had zero plans of making it over).

Anyway, I wasn’t a bit sad to discover that it was too huge to squeeze into our new living room when we moved. Shopping time! We went on the hunt for some new sofas, and finally found a set I loved at store in downtown Phoenix:

I loved the color, the fabric, the shape of the arms, and the fat nailhead detail. It’s also a down/foam blend, so it’s super comfy without getting lumpy. Totally happy!

I just wasn’t digging the black damask pillows they came with. I’ve never been a fan of the pillows that come with a couch, it’s kind of like pants that come with a pre-attached belt. They never look that great, amIright?

Anyway, I’ve really wanted to try the look of leather pillows ever since my crazy pal Mandi went and skinned a couch. (Sorry to disappoint you, but I didn’t skin a couch for my pillows). Instead the kind people at Leather Hide Store offered me a swath of leather to play with, and so white ostrich-embossed pillows it was!

I would give you a tutorial here, but I am not a sewist, and pretty much just winged it (wung it? Wang it? NO, that definitely does not sound right). Anyway. Mandi has a great tutorial over on her site. BUT, I will give you my three biggest tips for working with leather.

ONE: use needles made specifically for leather. They are unsurprisingly called “leather sewing needles.”

TWO: Unless you are trying to make a flotation device, don’t make an 100% leather pillow. Use something breathable on the backside. My backing fabric here is a simple gray corduroy.

THREE: Leather doesn’t come in a nice neat rectangle like regular fabric. My piece was shaped like Idaho. You might have to patch some pieces together to get the sizes you need, but hey, I think that adds to the look anyway.

I didn’t realize my living room was so animal-kingdomy, but think the ostrich will fit in nicely with my zebra print rug and alligator embossed tray.

Goodbye light sucking pillows of darkness!

Hello light and bright!

(And yes, I do have a matchy-matchy living room. That’s fine by me. I also have a thing for symmetry. Whatever makes us happy, right?)

Check out Leather Hide Store for a huge selection of leather. They are awesome to work with and will gladly send you free samples til your little leather-loving heart’s content!

>>Disclaimer: Leather Hide Store provided me with product for this post, all opinions are, as always, 100% my own.

October 28, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

6 In kiddie/ other rooms

Pack it up, pack it in, let me begin …

My kids think it’s perfectly acceptable to hurl their backpacks across the house the moment they arrive home, a comet tail of papers, folders, shoes, socks, and leftover lunch paraphernalia spewing behind them. I don’t know where they got this idea. It goes against everything I’ve ever taught them. I certainly did no such thing as a child.

I recently attempted to conquer the backpack beast with this simple DIY coatrack, which has helped a bit, if only they didn’t need to be reminded to use it EVERY SINGLE DAY, GAH!

But if I had a blank wall or empty corner to spare, I would love to do something like Bethany did here, chalkboard wall/command center/priceless photo of adorableness station. I bet her kids pause thoughtfully at their appointed hooks before gently hanging up their backpacks with words of thankfulness falling from their lips everyday.

More to see on her blog Scatter Shot.

October 28, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

8 In kiddie/ other rooms

Have a look at this book nook!

I wish Kate would just adopt me already. We’ve already see her child-friendly creativity at work in her brilliant play store and kid kitchen, but she’s back again with a book nook that will make you want to curl up on a cushion and never, ever leave your childhood.

Formerly a walled-off coat closet that hoarded the room’s only available source of natural light (so strange,) Kate made better use for it by tearing down the wall and incorporating the little corner into the rest of the playroom. Seriously, ADOPT ME Kate.

Take a tour on her blog Kate’s Creative Space.

The light fixture is the coolest!

October 25, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

3 In kitchen/dining

Banquette Reset

I’ve never had a banquette area for seating, but I love the look and practicality they offer. I DID have a friend who had … not really a banquette, but an entire booth in her kitchen. Like straight out of Burger King. Two big molded plastic benches and a table on a pole. Like this:

Ha! It was totally strange and out of place, but the kids loved it, of course.

But anyway. We are talking about banquettes, and Brit at House Updated had one that not even a child could love. The cushions were so matted down and uncomfortable that the kids didn’t even try jumping on them. It was also weirdly short, more of a step-stool than sitting-height.

So, she ripped it right out and built a new one! Raised it up and scrapped the cushions altogether for a solid wood seat: stained and shiny and easily wiped.

Beautiful built-in banquette makeover! betterafter.net

She still wanted to offer a little comfort, so she added pillows in to soften things up. “Gasp! The stains!!” you are thinking. But fear not. She hand-painted the designs on washable pillow-covers and reports that they are holding up just fine.

October 24, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

3 In desks/hutches/buffets

Get hutched!

When Zorrie and her husband got hitched, her parents surprised them with a complete Kate Spade china set. Those pretties were way too fabulous to hide away in a random kitchen cabinet, so Zorrie made it her mission to find the perfect hutch to rightfully display them in.

Luckily, the gods of Craigslist delivered, (not literally, but wouldn’t that be nice? Zorrie agrees, she had to go pick this monster up from across town in LA traffic!) But anyway, at a mere $50 it was worth it, and for another $25 in paint and supplies, she now has a equally glamorous home for her super glam china.

Invite yourself over for dinner on her blog Sugar & Chic.

If your dishes aren’t worthy of such a display, no biggie! Make your hutch the star of the show with eye-popping colors like Sarah at FunCycled used here. I want to call them aqua and yellow, but the actual paint color names are Vintage Teal and Lightning Bug which just proves that maybe I’m not cut out for my dream job of naming paints after all.