Better After

5 In tables/dressers

Dorm-trooper

If you’re headed to Ikea or Target in the near future, please, I urge you … be extra cautious. It’s dorm room season.

I don’t want you to get trampled to death by some emotional parent, cart careening down the aisles, anxiously searching for the last bed-in-a-bag.

Just keep a safe distance. Watch from afar as they wildly latch on to those large rubber storage containers that everybody hates. The kind with the ‘drawers.’

Consider mentioning that they could probably find a used dresser for next to nothing and make it over themselves, which would result in saved money, more storage, and a sturdier item for their student.

Here’s one now, from Meg at Green with Decor.

Fantastic, right? I would have much preferred this to the dresser I used in college, which if I remember correctly, was legit made from cardboard.

But perhaps now is not the best time for nearly-empty-nesters to consider such projects. Maybe in a little while, when the shock has worn off, and the sadness and now-what-ness has set in, they might enjoy a little makeover projects for themselves.

Awww, how perfect is this one from Better After reader Pam? It looks like a difficult stencil job, but it’s actually a sheet of peel-and-stick lettering! Fresh paint and chunky pewter knobs, and it’s all set for its next phase in life too.

August 17, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

2 In kitchen/dining/ tables/dressers

Of Tables and True Friends

Hey party people, how’s your Tuesday?

“It’s fine,” you are thinking. “But you’ve got me all wrong, Lindsey. I’m no party person. I haven’t had a party in years. I’m too ashamed of my worn out dining table to ever dream of inviting guests over.”

Oh no. Stop talking nonsense. I will let you have none of that. First of all, true friends won’t care if your table is a bit run down.

(I know that doesn’t help much. That’s like when I say I hate my freckles and my friends are like, ‘but I LOVE your freckles,’ and I’m like, well cool beans for you. So glad you get to be the happy one in this situation).

So here’s another idea. You can totally restore your whole dining set. Better After reader Jessica did, and it only took her six months and lots of shed tears and a paintbrush burning party when she was done!

See, either way you get to have a party.

It’s true that fabulous results take time and patience. Jessica worked on this makeover whenever she could and eventually transformed that weathered and worn dining set into the stunning version it is today.

But listen. It also doesn’t have to take six months. True friends will come over and help you paint. Unless your true friends are not so great at painting, in that case you might be better off on your own. Maybe they can just bring the dessert to your dining set showing-off party instead.

August 16, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

5 In outdoors

Pretty Patio Party

Summer is winding down, but there is still plenty of time to get out there and enjoy the outdoors before colder temperatures take over. Unless you live where I live, which is on the surface of the sun. Commonly known as ‘Phoenix.’ Colder temperatures will never take over, I’m in literal hell, someone help.

But if you live somewhere where your flesh doesn’t melt off your bones when you walk outside, here are a few outdoor projects you can try. One for each level of DIY-er!

DIY Level 1: Paint a faded patio umbrella.

Ashley was inspired by a similar umbrella design from Urban Outfitters that cost nearly $300. Ashley’s version … $20! After several coats of paint (using several different techniques – turns out painting an umbrella is more time consuming than you might think) Ashley stenciled on the design and added pom-pom trim. Pom-pom trim improves everything, this is a well known fact. I’m thinking of decorating the terrorist toddler with some.

See more from Ashley at Bigger Than the Three of Us.

DIY Level 2: transform a patio set.

Emily from Our House Now A Home had an old patio table that was not her favorite. She has a much more colorful style, plus the tiles on the top kept breaking. She had dreams for a rustic hand-built table, but didn’t have the time to build one from scratch. Instead, she used the old table as a base and built a rustic tabletop to lay right on top. A coat of cobalt paint and a bright new umbrella completes the look.

Emily says it’s one of those things she’s kicking herself for not doing sooner. We all have something like that in our lives. I bet you could name one right now. Let me go all Tony Robbins on you and serve up some motivation: Whatever that thing is, DO IT TODAY! Paint that trim you’ve been putting off. Repair that hole in the wall. You’ll thank yourself. Then you’ll come back and thank me. And then we’ll thank Tony Robbins together.

DIY Level 3: built an outdoor sectional with pallets.

When Jill decided she wanted more outdoor seating, she was serious. She created this pallet sectional for her back patio that seats 15! I don’t even like that many people. Kidding, kidding, I do.

Almost everything here, including the pillows, cushion covers, and rug is homemade, hand painted, hand sewed, and/or dyed at home, all for less than $250. I mean … you could almost buy an umbrella at Urban Outfitters for that … or you could build an entire suite of furniture for your patio. It’s up to you.

See her budget breakdown and lots more pictures right here.

Happy weekend friend!

August 12, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

9 In miscellaneous/ other rooms

Door to Adore

When I was a kid, someone asked me if I could have a super power what would it be, and I remember very clearly my answer. It wasn’t to fly, or to move things with my mind or anything cool like that. I wished that I could have the power to make things new again. Maybe you think that is a deep and reflective answer? It wasn’t. I literally just wanted to be able to touch old rusty, dented, scratched, ugly things and make them shiny and perfect again. Oh, this old bent stop sign by my house? Poof! New again!

Who would choose that lame super power over FLYING? What kind of weird kid even cares about stuff like that? This kind!

Makeovers are the next best thing. Turning something unattractive into a better, more beautiful version of itself? That’s a super power to me.

Like what Better After reader Christina did with her bi-fold closet doors. Previously, they were … not that cute. Very few bi-fold closet doors are. I’ve yet to meet any.

Until now! Yes, these are the very same doors, just trimmed with quarter-inch pine plywood strips and painted. If you have ugly closet doors in your life, you can do it too! The only super power you need is patience, because Christina reports that this job takes approximately forever.

It required lots of hole filling, sanding, priming, painting, and repeating, plus a top-coat of Varathane to harden the finish. But the end result really is worth it.

August 9, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

3 In kitchen/dining

Glitch in the Kitchen

If you have kids, or have ever met a kid, or have seen kids on TV, you know about Minecraft. If your kids are into Minecraft, then you too have probably spent what feels like an eternal amount of eternity watching them play Minecraft. “Mom! Wanna watch me play Minecraft?” Me, thinking: “I’d rather give myself a root canal.” Me, out loud: “SURE BUDDY!!!”

Then you watch as they build an entire universe, one 8-bit brick at a time. And there is a vast amount of space, and nothing looks quite like what it’s supposed to, and things are floating around, and every now and then, for some reason, there will be like, a pig? That about sums it up, yeah?

That also sums up Eden’s before kitchen. Minus the pig part. As far as I know.

Her cabinet layout was a little nonsensical, the giant white fridge made no effort to fit in, the oven was in the middle of the island, with one heck of an oven vent floating overhead. And the worst part, tonnnns of wasted space in the center of it all!

But Eden had big plans. Hot Minecrafty mess out. Rustic kitchen makeover in!

Obviously her plans were to gut it, throw an enormous chunk of money at the mess and start completely from scratch, right? WRONG!

Eden is the queen of working with what she’s got. She reused and restained the cabinets, her husband build the fantastic new island himself, and the appliances were all found second-hand. They sourced the granite themselves, finding the lowest possible price. Even the fridge built-in was cobbled together from ReStore cabinets and an old entertainment center!

Head on over to her blog DIYHER to get all the details and see her unbelievable budget breakdown. So much good stuff!

August 8, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

2 In bedroom/ kiddie

Promise of a New Room

I promised my oldest son that he could have his own room before school started. He’s been sharing with my middle son, who is well known for many things, cleanliness not being one of them. (Example conversation: Me, dropping him off at school: You brushed your teeth, right? Him: Uhhh, does yesterday count?)

But my oldest is a bit of a neat freak like me, and he’s starting high school, so I wanted him to have his own space. I remember very well the pains of sharing a room with a disaster of a sibling. (Love you Tori). It was laughable how opposite we were. I was the person who literally drew a line down the middle of our desk; my side was pristine, her side was a bio-hazard. I made my bed every day, her bed was a cesspool of laundry and toys and papers and this creepy doll thing she had that had a bunny body but a baby face. I think I’ve harbored some trauma from those days. (Now, of course, her house is always cleaner than mine).

Anyway, so I kept my promise, sort of. We got him in his own room before school started. Like, hours before school started. We just started dragging furniture around the night before, switching beds and dressers and even moving the terrorist toddler out of his crib, heaven help us all, HEAVEN HELP US ALL.

That was two days ago. So both bedrooms are currently an undecorated hodgepodge of random furniture and mismatched bedding. Ugh.

Christine feels me. Her boy’s bedroom used to look nearly identical to ours. But that was then …

This is now! Ahhh, it gives me so much hope! I love every adorable detail in here. The artwork, the triangle decals, the bedding. I love how she stopped the wall color level with the top of the window. Just adds another dynamic and also helps anchors it in place.

Check out Christine’s blog Amidst the Chaos, there’s so much more to see.

Can’t wait to get started on our rooms, I’ll be painting today! Hope you have something fun to keep you entertained this weekend. If not … get over here and help me paint!

August 5, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

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