Better After

7 In living room

Bibbidi Bobbedi Boom: a fabulous front room

You know what this room needed? A fireplace. Wouldn’t a fireplace look great on that big blank wall — hold up. There WAS a fireplace in there. It was just completely camouflaged by being the exact same shade of beige sadness as the rest of the room.

The whole space was crying out for brightness and light. And that window was pining for a window seat, and the big empty walls desperately desired some built-in storage, and the carpet just wanted to get the heck out of there altogether. Boom! Wishes: granted. All thanks to Jamie at Better With Age.

May 1, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

9 In tables/dressers

A Tale of Two Teal Tables

When Jesse at Nine Red sent me this nightstand makeover, he said, “Think the internet has too much teal? You’re right. It does. And here’s another!” Ha! But I still love this color, and so does half the internet, so I think we’re in good company. Head on over to his blog to see more, plus his step-by-step for making your own chalk paint while you’re at it!

And here’s another little teal table makeover from Emily at Fay Grayson Home. Teal? Turquoise? Aqua? Blue-ish? Bluey? Blue-adjacent? Anyway. You know.

I see these barrel tables all the time, but I’ve never even given them a passing glance. To boxy and squatty for me, bleah. But it never occurred to me to remove the doors like Emily did! Makes it so much more current! And she didn’t stop there, she also sawed off the side panels with her jigsaw to really open it up. After a few date nights with wood filler and paint, she’s got a table worth talking about.

April 30, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

16 In kitchen/dining

Kitchen Out of the Box

Mallorie was a little boxed in. Her cramped kitchen felt walled-off at both ends, with narrow doorways and zero views into the adjoining rooms. It must have been like cooking in a cave, which seems like a good excuse to me not to cook at all.

But, if her gourmet cookbook collection is any indication, Mallorie actually enjoys cooking. So a major overhaul was in order, because you might as well do what you love in a space you love, don’t you agree? It’s such a bright and open room now, beautiful! Lots more to see on her blog Frazzled Grace.

April 29, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

1 In decor/ wood

Bookcase In Point

I scored something pretty cool at a yard sale this weekend. Come visit me on Instagram @betterafterlnz to see what it is! (Is that mean? I mean, you’re already here. OK, I’ll just tell you. It’s a telescope. But you really do have to see it to believe it!)

Anyway, Leigh Ann’s little bookcase reminded me of another yard sale score, the $2 bookcase I found a couple weeks ago, (which is still awaiting a transformation in my garage). But I’m so inspired by what she did with hers. Notice the new wider top? There’s even new trim underneath it too. And I’m also loving her burlap dog art above the bookcase, all of which you can see on her blog The Butlers.

Speaking of art, don’t forget to enter the My Own Art giveaway going on now! And check out my Sunday Sweets post over on Cake Wrecks too, you know, if you like that sort of thing.

April 29, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

67 In Uncategorized

My Own Art: Giveaway!

Hey you! I’m excited to offer a really fun giveaway today from My Own Art!

My Own Art specializes in turning your basic snapshots into gallery-worthy art, positively bursting with life and color. Bursting, I tell you! To see exactly what I’m talking about, here is one of my favorite options they offer, Zebra and I:

Is that not the funnest thing ever? I LOVE it!

So, when My Own Art contacted me to do a couple of my own prints, I was wasted no time sending over some pictures, and told owner and illustrator Elin to have at it.

I sent her a selection of photos and let her decide which ones she thought would work best, but I insisted that she use this one, my favorite picture ever of my Italian greyhound, Paulo:

Whooo’s a good boy? Yes, you are!

And here he is after Elin artified him:

Ha! It just makes me smile.

Since I wanted a pair of pictures to hang together, Elin did the same Blue Aboriginal treatment on this picture I took of my two boys sharing a laugh:

I wish there was a better way to take a picture of a picture, so you could see all the detail and care that went into the print up close, so you’ll just have to take my word for it! It’s just so fun and whimsical, and about ten thousand times more interesting that hanging up that plain before pic would have been.

The colors of the prints went perfectly in my son Koy’s bedroom, and I’m pretty sure he loves them as much as I do. (I’ve never seen a seven-year-old boy care so much about how stylish his room is, but this one has got OPINIONS).

Anyway, there are so many options available at My Own Art for adding flair to your photos, here are just a couple more of my favorite styles:

Etching Origami and Watercolor.

And now, you can enter to win two digital transformations and two 8×10 prints from My Own Art of your own! Woo!

Entering is easy, simply leave a comment here!

Check out My Own Art and let me know what style you might choose.

(Plus get an extra entry if you’re a Better After Facebook fan!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway closes one week from today. Good luck friend, I hope you win!

April 26, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

3 In decor/ tables/dressers/ wood

Feeling Trunky

Happy Friday to you! I hope you were hankering for some trunk makeovers, because I’ve got some in store for you right now. In store?!? Ha! Get it?! Trunks? They store stuff? Oh, nevermind.

When Jenny discovered this trunk at an antique mall, it had been abused, forgotten and heavily Sharpied. But with the help of some chalk paint and vintage graphics, she made it look like an old trunk is supposed to look: like it’s proudly carrying evening gowns across the Atlantic, not harboring dirty laundry and dirtier magazines. See it on her blog Ava Blake Creations.

But wait, there’s more! Jenny actually has quite a few trunk makeovers on her site, and here is another of my favorites, en route to Paris via rolling farmland. I feel like that after picture is the beginning of a novel I’d like to read. See more right here.

And here’s an idea if you have a little trunk. Jen’s was too small to sit there on the floor by itself, but too big to put on a shelf or a countertop. Hmmm, how about adding a set of long legs and making a trunk table! Did you see that coming? I think this would be perfect for filling a small and narrow space. Head on over to Jen’s blog, Girl in the Garage to see exactly how she did it.

Ok, I love this next story. This rusty old hunk of a trunk caught Jamie’s eye at a yard sale, but she ultimately ended up leaving it behind. It was her husband who insisted on going back to get it! One hundred times out of a hundred it is the other way around, at least in my experience. Anyway, once they got it home, she managed to seal off the rust with paint, though she left the original wood slats as-is, and I couldn’t love it harder. See it on her blog Better With Age.

And lastly, this before trunk of Sarah’s was giving off major coffin vibes. Nobody wants that. Well, I can think of maybe two people who might want that, but they don’t actually exist in reality.

So, she cleaned it up big time, then had her local ironsmith hammer her a custom set of corner brackets. No biggie, doesn’t everyone have an ironsmith? I talk to my local ironsmith like, every other day. But seriously, it really gave it that extra special touch it needed, and then she topped (bottomed?) the whole thing off with casters from an old engine cart. Just fabulous. See it on her blog Funcycled.