Better After

14 In decor

Sticky Style

If you know me, or have been reading this blog for any amount of time, you know this: I like things easy. Easy like Sunday morning. Give me a project that requires one coat of spray paint and I’m a happy camper. Give me a project that requires less than that? Now you’re just being crazy!

But that’s what I came up with when I was recently asked to try out some of the new products from Scotch Colors and Patterns Duct Tape. Have you seen this stuff? It’s not your grandpa’s roll of silver duct tape, that’s for darn sure.

So many fun designs, it basically does all the work of a makeover for you. For instance, I went to my local Goodwill and found these beauties:

$1.99!?! Tell me that’s not ridiculous. That thing is a total piece of crap. The checkout guy thought it “looked like ivory.” The checkout guy was insane.

(The Starlet one is pretty rad, though.)

But, with just a quick rip, tear, and sticky, stick, stick, and look what I have here!

Pretty cool, I think!

And while I was at the Goodwill, I also picked up these boring things:

Snoozefest alert.

But not anymore!

I was planning to keep them in my closet for jewelry storage, but I like them so much I think I’m going to put them on my desk so I can see them all the time.

After that I went a little zany and ran around the house looking for more things that needed some Scotch Duct Tape flair. I decided my over-the-door-mirror could benefit from some girliness.

The corners were easier than I’d hoped. I just overlapped the tape then pulled it it back at an angle and cut.

I hope you enjoyed my little projects! There’s a million and a half fun duct tape projects out there from quick and simple to downright jaw-dropping.

Right now you can take the Scotch Duct Tape Style that Sticks quiz that will help line you up with patterns and projects to fit your personal style.

Plus, you could win hundreds of free combo pack samples that they are giving away everyday.

Check it out!

This post is a collaboration between Better After and Scotch Colors and Patterns Duct Tape. Take the quiz to help you find your style that sticks!

August 29, 2012 By Lindsey @ Better After

13 In chairs/ottomans/seating/ kitchen/dining

Sitting Prettily

Better After reader Raquel didn’t want to pay and arm and a leg for new dining room chairs. Who would? I can only imagine the bummer of a vibe that would cast around your dinner parties, if you were sitting there with only one arm and one leg, bitterly informing your guests that they could all thank your bloody stumps for being able to sit at all. Urg, I think I just ruined my own appetite.

No, let’s be sensible. Raquel found these ornate old chairs on Kijiji for only $10 apiece and fixed them up nice and pretty. Doesn’t the black and gold look so regal? And I’m not just saying that because those were my high school colors. Go Elks! (That was our mascot, I’m not even joking. Yes, plural and everything. I know.)

Hey now, here’s another makeover in the dining department from Melissa at I Will Joy. She found this mismatched set for $40 on Craigslist and updated it with a little paint and probably fabric, although I can’t tell from the pictures. I’m sure whatever it is under there, it’s lovely. The rest of it sure is. I just can’t get enough of that soft aqua color lately.

August 29, 2012 By Lindsey @ Better After

14 In desks/hutches/buffets

Either Oar

Ally had loved this buffet long and hard, but it just wasn’t working with her new white walls. So she toned it down with a lovely gray, (Ashwood by Behr), and distressed it ever so slightly. Now it looks fabulous against the white, which is maybe, subconsciously, why I wear so much gray. Maybe it looks fabulous against my paler than pale skin. Shh, I can dream. I love the nautical accents she accessorized with. Hmm, maybe I should start wearing those too.

Check it all oot, (she’s Canadian), on her blog Wish Simple.

August 28, 2012 By Lindsey @ Better After

13 In outdoors

I Propose a Change

A wedding proposal should be one of the most memorable events of your life. It should be special. Maybe you want your family and friends there. Maybe you want it a private affair between the two of you. Maybe you want to trip over a wadded up bunch of weather-beaten AstroTurf. But probably not.

That’s why this future groom enlisted his How-2-Home friends to help him jazz up his balcony before he popped the big question. They decked the whole place out in greenery and lights for a romantically magical look, and his fiancee was thrilled! Check out the link to see how to make the faux-box shrubs.

Funny proposal story: one of my best friends was proposed to at midnight on New Year’s Eve in the middle of the skating rink at Rockefeller Center. How romantic right? Problem was, she was planning on breaking up with the guy. Ruh-roh. So, as thousands of strangers skated around them clapping and hooting, she smiled a big smile, nodded a huge nod, and hissed “We’ll talk about it,” through gritted teeth. Nobody was the wiser. Except for the poor guy!

August 28, 2012 By Lindsey @ Better After

68 In chairs/ottomans/seating/ outdoors

A Mill-ion Times Better

Remember back when it was cool to furnish your home with heavy wooden couches upholstered in the finest ‘quaint-country-millhouse’ velour that money could buy? No? C’mon, how could you forget all those luscious shades of brown, yellowish brown, orangey brown, browny brown, and brownish brown? The withered sunflowers?

Well, at one point, this set was the height of chic. (Chic had lower standards back then.) But check out what Better After reader Amber recently did with the set she bought off Kijiji. It’s undeniably cool. Again!

August 27, 2012 By Lindsey @ Better After

15 In bathroom

Back to Black

So, you may have noticed that Better After has changed a wee tiny bit. Now, instead of betterafter.blogspot.com, it’s simply betterafter.net. It really doesn’t change anything, all old links should still redirect here, but in case you wanted to update your reader feeds or what-have-you, feel free to do that. Plus, I think there are less restrictions with a .net vs. a .blogspot.com, so now you are free to browse around the blog at work or school! (I won’t tell.) Any questions? Please ask. I will do my best to pretend I know what I’m talking about.

Also, please check out my most recent Sunday Sweets post on Cake Wrecks, if you like that sort of thing.

And now, back to the business of before and afters. Remember Tabatha from Turn Right at Lake Michigan? She had that intensely black bedroom makeover that set tongues a-wagging. People either really loved it or really … didn’t. She didn’t give a hoot though, because she likes the dramatically dark look so much, she did it again in her bathroom! I personally think it looks amazing. So glamorous. So chic. And SO much better than before, cuz wow.

August 27, 2012 By Lindsey @ Better After

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