Better After

Dining Switch-er-oom

For a long time – seven years to be exact – Laura loved her family room. She felt perfectly cozy all cuddled up in her big comfy chairs next to the fireplace. Then one day she looked around and realized something. It wasn’t actually a family room at all! It made more sense with the design and flow of the house to be a dining room. So the family room moved off into the sunroom, and the old dining room moved into the new dining room, and the red walls went adios, and a bunch of painting and accessorizing happened, and now the whole thing looks ultra flipping fab.

Do you have an old room that could use a new identity? What are you waiting for? Go for it! See the whole story on Laura’s blog Top This, Top That.

Have you entered the Custom Art Giveaway from Nine Red yet? Do it here!

February 21, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

3 In kiddie

School, dude.

Better After reader Jane wins Aunt of the Year for buying this $35 Craigslist desk for her nephews. But buying it wasn’t all she did, silly goose. First she had to scrape away the rust that was eating through its sloppy gold spray paint job and sand away the declarations of love carved into the desktop. Then she repainted the base, stained the seat, and used chalkboard paint on the top for extra fun. Her nephews love it so much, she’d better keep an eye out for another one.

And Kelly at A Swell Place To Dwell also fixed up a sweet little desk she found on Kijiji for $15. She painted to match furniture she already had, so it blended in nicely with the decor and wasn’t all like “YO, THERE’S A HOT PINK KID TABLE OVER HERE!!!” But she also added plenty of charming little touches, like the fabric which you’ll have to pop over to her blog to see more clearly, as well as the chalkboard labeled storage rack on the other side. Mucho cute.

Have you entered the Custom Art Giveaway from Nine Red yet? Do it here!

February 21, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

6 In tables/dressers/ wood

Secrets of a Happy Ombre

Pop Quiz: Name three things that make you happy.

Did you say before and afters, the color yellow, and smiles? If so, you will be overjoyed with this dresser from Mollie at Mollie D, because it is all of those things. A fabulous ombre makeover in cheerful tones of yellow on a dresser with upturned drawers that appear to be smiling. It’s like a hug for your eyes!

Have you entered the Custom Art Giveaway from Nine Red yet? Do it here!

February 20, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

2 In other rooms

Alcove Alchemy

People ask me all the time, “Lindsey, what are your FAVORITE kinds of makeovers?” No one really asks me that. They mostly ask me what Funky Junk Donna is like. (Answer: Awesome). But if people DID ask me that, I would say that my favorite types of makeovers are something like what Julie at Being Home has done here: reclaimed a wasted little space and made it functional and beautiful.

She built the bench, shelving, and even the seat cushion out of scratch; literally making something out of nothing. I just think this is so inspiring. Don’t we all have space-sucking spots or nooks or alcoves like this hiding out in our homes? Let’s take them back!

Have you entered the Custom Art Giveaway from Nine Red yet? Do it here!

February 20, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

2 In tables/dressers/ wood

Chippin’ Tales

Better After reader Julie is a daredevil. She lives on the edge. When she decided to use milk paint on this makeover, she opted out of the bonding agent that adheres the paint to the furniture (*gasp!*), and decided to just let the chips fall (off) where they may.

And fall off they certainly did, for a certifiably chippy look that I really love here. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, sure; she even had to convince her husband that it was SUPPOSED to look like that. But guess what? He eventually decided he loved them too and wouldn’t let her sell them as she had originally planned. Score one for the chippy team!

And here’s another deeply distressed look from Pelham at Renewals by Pelham Hebert Designs. The original looks pretty good, in fact, I accidentally deleted it from my “before” files, because I thought it was in there by mistake. But according to Pelham, it was actually a horridly horrible paint job up close, all sloppy and drippy – and when he went to remove it, he discovered FIVE layers of paint underneath. So, right then and there he decided not to fight history and instead let the dresser proudly tell her long story. LOVE.

February 19, 2013 By Lindsey @ Better After

10 In kitchen/dining

A Splashy Backsplash

Why is it that one measly three-day weekend is enough to throw me off for the entire week? I can’t handle a Monday that is actually Tuesday because real Monday felt like Saturday. And tomorrow is Wednesday? Can’t … compute. Why aren’t all three-day weekends Friday off instead of Monday off? Would that really be such a big deal? Am I the only one who seems to care this hard about it?

Anyway. Sorry for the barrage of whining. Here is a lovely kitchen makeover from Better After reader Tanya who recently upgraded her builder-grade kitchen about a thousand percent. She kept the original cabinets but added new shaker-style doors and a second-layer of upper cabinets up top. The microwave is now concealed behind a cabinet to make way for the new vent hood which adds a lot height and shows off that sexxxy backsplash (which replaced the former version that was simply matching floor tiles).

But would you believe it’s the SAME granite countertop? It might just be the pictures, or they were really pulling from the colors around them, but they sure looked pinky pink before! Great job Tanya!