Better After

2 In tables/dressers/ wood

Hip Bone Connected to the Herringbone

Hey there! I am sending you a few favorites from the archives for the next few days, as I am away on a very last minute trip to LA. My sister scored us tickets to this week’s taping of So You Think You Can Dance, and I’m so excited I can barely breathe. Follow our adventure on Instagram @betterafterlnz if you’d like!

Originally posted May 30, 2011

Check out these too cool for school redos by Matt. First he lacquered up the side table and built the tray out of reclaimed cherry wood and gave it a little extra zing with cowhide glued inside. Seriously awesome. I could easily see this for sale somewhere like Z Gallerie or CB2.

As for the dresser he reports that the herringbone pattern on the drawers is actually vintage house shutters that he took apart and rearranged. The handles are vintage belts. How utterly hip is that? So hip that I feel unhip just looking at it, because I could never come up with an idea that hip! If you are also struck by the hipness, then you are in luck because his designs are for sale on his etsy right now!

Check him out and say hello here: Spruce Up.

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July 22, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

25 In decor/ other rooms

Sheer Mapness!

Hey, look, I did a project! I had this flimsy map kicking around the house forever, so I chopped it up and Mod Podged it onto a bunch of 8×10 canvases, and now it is decor! It is no longer educational, because I had to hide that big black logo in the corner somehow. So in my world, Hawaii is now located off the coast of Chile. Sounds kind of nice, actually.

Anyway, the map now occupies an area that was formerly occupied by sadness, as seen below. This little “art station” (ha!) was an awkward nook right in the middle of the upstairs hallway. My husband, bless his heart, tried to put a built-in desky sort of thing in there, which was entirely ineffective, because it was too close to the height of the stools for anyone with legs to actually sit there, and so shoddily constructed (I still love you hunbun!) that I was afraid for anyone to actually use it. Young House Love we are not.

So one day my favorite gals, Jilly and Mia from Girls With Good Taste came over, and helped me rip it out. The big plan was to simply stick a hutch in there for extra storage, and we found a beeeeautiful one, but once I got it upstairs, I decided I liked it better in a different spot. I’ll show you that another day.

For now, I just dragged a bookcase I’ve had forever over there instead, but I was surprisingly happy with how the whole thing came together:

Now storage AND artness can happen here! I didn’t really plan for it to function as a desk; I just wanted some shelves to store a few things, but my daughter pulls her little stool up to it and colors here everyday, so it’s a happy little spot that is working for us.

And, you may notice that going along so nicely with the map theme is this lovely from Map My State:

They were kind enough to send me my choice of prints from their shop to review, and I was glad to do it, because maps and typography in one? Love. Obviously I chose Arizona, but they have all 50 states, several major cities, Canadian provinces, and even a few countries in the mix. And not just prints, mugs too!

They offer several customizable color choices, and even let you choose which cities you’d like included on your print. My hometown is tiny, and wasn’t on their original design, so I asked them to swap it out for a neighboring town, and they were happy to do it! (Can you guess which one it is?) They can also highlight a city in a certain color, or add personalized text below the design too.

I’m thrilled with this high-quality print and happy to offer you a 20% discount to Map My State using the code betterafter at checkout. Good through next Friday, July 26th!

Please do check them out and say hello, and have a great weekend friend!

July 19, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

8 In chairs/ottomans/seating/ kiddie/ outdoors

Chairs baby, Chairs mama!

It’s Friday! You’ve probably been working hard all week, haven’t you? You poor dear. You deserve a break. So kick up your feet and settle into your chair, and enjoy these chair makeovers hand-selected just for you!

Let’s start with this well-loved (or badly abused, depending on how you look at it) 60’s chair from Deborah. She sanded and oiled the wood back to a healthy shine, then whipped up a fresh new cushion and cover accented with a teensy bit of yellow. Adorable. Check it out on her blog Mid Century Reworkked.

This chair was also far from sitting-in-condition, unless you were some kind of adrenaline junkie who loved the thrill of never knowing when your lawn chair was going to decompose out from underneath you. Better After reader Sarah had saved the grommet and fabric idea from a Better Homes & Garden article from 1997! She figured it was finally time to put it to use, and got busy scrubbing it down and fixing it up. Looks so comfy!

Better After reader Patricia scored this rocker for $2 at a rummage sale, at which point I would have been thrilled enough with life. A $2 rocker! But she had bigger plans, plans that included a bright coat of red paint and a cushion so thick and cozy, once you get in, you’re never getting out.

How cute is this vintage high chair? Super cute, if you can ignore that brown vinyl. Good luck with that. Amber was no fan of the brown either, so she recovered it in a simple white vinyl, which makes the so-cute-it’s-nearly-painful tray shine like the star of the show it is. Check it out on her blog Dimples and Pigtails.

And finally, if I could express to you how much I love this last makeover, I’d probably have to break into song. Liz picked up this set of vintage chairs at a consignment shop for $175. The vintage grime and animal damage was free of charge. She deepened the blonde frames to match her table, then recovered the seats with a super groovy ikat fabric, keeping the nailheads intact, although it’s a bit hard to see them in this pic. Get an up close look on her blog It’s Great To Be Home.

July 19, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

11 In decor/ innovative idea/ kitchen/dining/ miscellaneous

Masterful Masquerade

In the mood for an innovative idea? At first glance, this kitchen makeover from Susan’s friend Robert might not look like anything out of the ordinary. Pretty standard makeover here: new counters, sink, and appliances. And he obviously installed new set of cabinets. But wait! Did he really? Turns out he just flipped the cabinet doors around, and used the plain profile on the inside instead of the beveled edge on the outside! Don’t you think that is pretty durn genius? I do.

I looked inside my own cabinets and it’s the same story, maybe yours are the same too. Although mine already have the hidden hinges, so it would be a lot harder to disguise that once flipped around since they are set so deep in the wood. This could be accomplished much easier if you were starting with standard hinges like Robert was. Not sure how he achieved the look on the lower cabinets and drawers though, hmmm. Check out more details on Susan’s blog Saf Affect.

Here’s a glance at the inside, formerly the outside:

And a side-by-side!

And here’s one more little makeover from that crafty Robert, who concealed his thermostat so cleverly he probably forgets that it’s even there. The mask is perfect for providing enough airflow to the unit while looking about 100% more attractive than before. See that, plus one more sneaky hiding place on Susan’s blog right here.

July 18, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

8 In chairs/ottomans/seating/ desks/hutches/buffets

Coral Curriculum

Krista had looked for a desk for a good six months, so she was thrilled when this one popped up on the curb for free. Never mind that it was so grody her child was actually scared of it. She cleaned it up and gave it a coral-colored coat of paint and a little extra detail on top to keep it modern. How much do you love those lion pulls? Would you love them even more if I told you they were only 65 cents apiece?! Find out where she got them, plus get a good look at all her ridiculously (unfairly) great-priced Goodwill accessories over on her blog Goodwill Glam.

Heyo! What good is a desk without a chair? Not very much good. Krista transformed this $3.99 chair (see what I mean? Where is this Goodwill?!) with a little paint, fabric, and Rub ‘n Buff, and you can see it in action on her blog right here.

July 18, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

11 In bathroom

From stinky pink to super chic.

I’m sure there are a few people out there who appreciate an all-pink bathroom. Brit wasn’t one of them. But it wasn’t just the pink that was so offensive … it was the stink. The stink that can only come from the most sinful of all bathroom decorating practices: wall-to-wall carpeting. Why hasn’t this been outlawed already, seriously? Call your congressman today. Other notable features included an even ancient-er layer of brown linoleum under the carpet, lacy cat curtains, and strangely rubbery wall tiles topping off every other available surface.

For Brit, the only possible solution was rip it down to the studs and create a completely modern and pink-free bathroom landscape in it’s place. Believe it or not, everything is still in the same general location, even though it looks insanely different. Don’t you want to rub up against all that penny tile? Just me then? Much more to see on her blog House Updated.