Better After

Here a chair, there a chair.

Hello. I invite you to have a seat. Or rather six seats, because there are six chair makeovers coming your way right now! Actually one of them is not really a chair, and one is kinda sorta of a rug makeover, but that just makes it more exciting, yes? Here we go.

Drake wanted to get down to the bare wood on this spindle chair, but then he realized that the spindles would be super obnoxious to sand and strip, so he simply painted those parts black and left the rest a natural wood. I’m not sure if that’s REALLY what happened, but I know for sure that’s what would happen if I was in charge. Sanding. Not easy.

See it on his blog Gamer With A Hammer. And can I say how fun it is to be getting more and more submissions from the fellas lately? Yay, boys!

Sara at Thrifty Treasures thought this chair could use a ‘mullet-makeover,’ which is to say business in the front, party in the back. The front received a classy damask print, and the back, a zippy chevron.

Wha what? You want MORE chevron? Who doesn’t? Maybe some people, but I’m not one of them. I love this rocker makeover from Kayla at Furniture Remix. Her tagline is “Same stuff, new twist,” which perfectly sums up combination of lime chevron fabric on this bentwood rocker. Doesn’t it look like, ten thousand times happier?

And speaking of happy, Kammy at Kammy’s Korner brought more happiness to this sewing bench than a sack of clowns! A sack of clowns actually sounds quite terrifying, now that I say it out loud. Sorry. Try to get that image out of your head, and get this one in instead:

So cute! But she wasn’t done yet, here is another from Kammy, probably my favorite of the entire bunch. It just looks so regal! But I also love how she kept it playful by reversing the stripes so they don’t run the same direction. Reversing doesn’t seem like the right word … perpendicular-ing? You know. See it here.

And lastly, Leslie at Pillow Love bought this great rug on eBay and couldn’t wait to chop it to bits. There’s a reason her blog is called Pillow Love and not Rug Love, ha! So of course it became a pillow, a long lumbar pillow for her son’s bedroom. But then there was so much of that great rug left over, she decided to recover the chair in the bedroom too. What a great way to incorporate something that you love that doesn’t not fit perfectly in a room as is.

April 16, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

7 In tables/dressers/ wood

My Yard Sale Tale

My neighborhood held their yearly yard-sale this past weekend, where everyone throws a yard sale at the same time, but this year was a total bust! I hopped on my bike early Saturday morning and rode past every one, and didn’t have the urge to stop once. But, it was kind of a nice experience on a bike. Even though you still feel obligated to slow down and do that pretend-to-browse thing, trying to politely seem interested in a stranger’s dusty old Tupperwares, when you’re ready to leave you can zip away on your bike lickety-split, instead of trying to inconspicuously shuffle backwards to your car. You know exactly what I’m talking about. I love yard-sales, but man they can be so weird.

Anyway long story slightly less long, it wasn’t a total bust, because I DID score a bookcase for $2 on my way home. “Two dollars?!” you’re thinking, “I bet that thing is a piece of junk.” Not so! After I got it home and sanded it a bit, I uncovered some really nice solid wood underneath. So I’m excited! I’m thinking I’ll probably stain it. Which is why I’m sharing this dresser from Beth at Sawdust and Embryos. She’s got just about every stain color on display here, ombre style. Did you notice that she and her husband built entirely new drawer fronts too? Fabulous!

April 16, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

5 In decor/ miscellaneous

Reface, don’t replace your fireplace!

If you’ve ever checked out Jenny’s blog, Ava Blake Creations, you instantly know what her style is. Heck, just glance at her welcome photo, where she’s standing against the peeling paint of an ancient building, the few surviving panes of glass in a weather-beaten window dangling over her head. She likes things distressed. Aged. Well-worn. And she ain’t afraid to hide it.

What she is afraid of though, is shiny black tile, as in “I’m afraid this shiny black tile fireplace isn’t working for me.” But you just can’t go distressing tile … or can you?

April 15, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

9 In living room

Upstage The Beige

You might be surprised to learn that beige walls and beige carpets can be major suckers-of-light. It just has nowhere to go! But look how much light is bounced around here with the addition of hardwood floors and super-white walls. Better After reader Lynn also painted her ceilings a flat white and ditched the beige vertical blinds, which helps spread the love around even more. Besides, think we can all agree that vertical blinds are an abominable scourge to mankind and should be destroyed by any means necessary. It would have been an improvement if she had replaced them with a set of Spongebob sheets. But a trio of classy curtains works just as well.

See her fabulous kitchen makeover I recently featured here!

Do you have a before and after project to submit? Please share! BetterAfter(at)live(dot)com

April 15, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

20 In tables/dressers/ wood

Mid-Century Modern Magic

If your heart weeps a bit when you see a good mid-century modern piece buried under a sloppily slapped-on coat of cheap paint, dry those eyes. Or .. heart. Or whatever.

Because today I am sharing a few MCM lovelies that have been brought back from the brink of destruction. Stripped and sanded, salvaged and saved!

First up, this formerly navy and maroon nightstand from Renee at Upscaled and Upcycled. Even if it wasn’t a shame to paint over the solid maple, I don’t think I could ever get behind that color combo. It’s like the official color of bruise. She sanded it down, (no chemical strippers involved!) stained it with a natural wood stain that highlights the grain, and repainted the handles a complementary gun-metal gray. So much better!

Remember when I mentioned cheap paint jobs? I hope so, because it was like 12 seconds ago. Well, this is what I was talking about. Yikesness. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about spray paint, we are like high school sweethearts and everything, but I can’t imagine what possessed the previous owners to take a can of basic black spray paint to such an incredibly beautiful dresser. Luckily it eventually fell into the hands of Sarah at Trevi Vintage Design, who restored it to it’s rightful glory.

But! There is no rule that says you can’t EVER paint MCM furniture. I say go for it. Just go for it carefully. For example, I wouldn’t go replacing this dresser’s handles with antique glass knobs, giving it a distressed chalk-paint job and and tracing a vintage soap ad on the front. That would be like Lady Mary Crawley shacking up with Greg Brady. Awkward for everyone involved. But a fun outline of lime totally jibes with the dresser’s modern vibe, and boy, did she do a fantastic job restoring the wood too. Also from Sarah at Trevi Vintage Design.

So, what if you really dig the look of MCM furniture but don’t have any of your own? Pssst: you can fake it. I won’t tell. Like Better After reader Sally who had this kitchen table for 21 years and was thoroughly sick of it. She didn’t like the chunky farmhouse legs, the apron, the rounded tabletop edge, or the color. Basically it was the right size, and that’s about it.

Well, that was more than enough to work with, and after trimming, sanding, re-staining, and re-legging (what?), she’s got a perfectly modern table, good for another 21 years or more.

And lastly, check out this amazing side table project from Hank at Toshmahal. If you live in Dallas and have a need for furniture restoration, I would look Hank up. And if you live in Dallas and don’t have a need for furniture restoration, I would look him up anyway just to give him a high-five.

PS: Would you be interested in a free month’s worth of advertising on Better After? Then enter to win Andrea’s giveaway over on Project Simple Home!

Do you have a before and after project to submit? Please share! Betterafter(at)live(dot)com

April 12, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

9 In living room

Who’s The Boss?

Your house is not the boss of you! Just because there’s a big wad of cable and power outlets on one wall does not mean you have to put your TV right there. Heck, Rita at Suburbs Mama didn’t put hers anywhere. She swapped out her set entirely and replaced it with the colorfully cozy scene you see before you.

I love the extra high gallery wall too. Genius, because A: nobody is going to smack their head on it when they sit on the sofa, and B: kids won’t be knocking stuff down left and right, like the poor battered gallery wall next to my stairs. I just threw away a frame that took a fatal fall this very morning. Seriously considering using some industrial strength Velcro on that thing, or just forbidding everyone from going upstairs ever again.