Better After

2 In living room

Wood Tile Style

Arranging seating around a fireplace can be tricky business. Many people opt for a pair of chairs flanking the sides, like in the before picture below. That looks fine, but is it really conducive to conversation? Or dreaming by the fire? You can’t really gaze into the fire that way; you can only side-eye it suspiciously. No, that’s not good enough, my flame-loving friends. Consider instead a pair of matching sofas facing one another, perpendicular to the fireplace. What about that?

Also, what about painting your walls charcoal? That’s a pretty cool look too. And you could cover your fireplace in wood tile for a look so intriguing that everyone who comes to visit immediately runs over to it and strokes it gently and exclaims in wonder about it. Then they could all sit comfortably on your sofas, in full view of your awesome fireplace, and ask you again about your genius idea to use wood tile and two sofas, and you’ll just feel very happy about the whole thing.

Get the low-down on this space from Stephanie at The Divine Living Space.

May 4, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

3 In tables/dressers

Lucite Spotlight

Some people might hear the word ‘lucite’ and immediately think …

Yeahhh.

It doesn’t always have the classiest reputation. (By the way, are these shoes ridiculous or what? I mean, there’s no ankle support whatsoever!)

But listen here. Lucite is in fact VERY classy.

How classy? At least $6,247.50 worth.

That’s exactly how much this Lucite chair costs, and it’s pretty darn classy. “Woah, woah, woah,” you’re thinking. “I guess Lucite is TOO classy for me.”

Wrong again!

Christina recently updated this dresser with lucite, and the result is awesome AND affordable.

Not only do I love the combo of the blush pink and white against the gold hardware, but these lucite pulls she created came out to about $21 a piece. Not bad at all for a custom look oozing with chicness. The hardest part was sourcing all the materials, but luckily for you, she already did that part! She can tell you exactly where to find them. Get all the info on her blog Phoenix Restoration.

May 3, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

6 In bathroom

Batchelor Potty

You can deduce a few things about the owners of this bathroom just by looking at it. Judging by the mountain of hair accessories on the counter, I’d say this bathroom belongs to a girl. More than one girl, if you count the poufs hanging in the shower. Who wants to share a pouf? Nobody I know. Also, I’d wager that those colorful papers taped to the mirror are inspirational thoughts, so I’m thinking these are probably teenage girls. Because A: toddlers can’t read, and B: they certainly can’t read anything that high, and C: teenage girls just seem to like that sort of thing.

I’m practically Sherlock Holmes over here. But can you solve the mystery of what this bathroom doesn’t have, my dear Watson?

Did you say ‘storage and style?’ You’re correct! And so smart! But don’t worry, it sure didn’t stay like that for long.

Those teenage girls and their mother Ronda DIYed their way across each inch of this bathroom, adding style to every surface. The vanity got a fresh coat of navy paint and chic new knobs, the countertop and backsplash were updated, the space above the shower was tiled, and the walls received new paint and paneling. Rhonda also sewed the shower curtain and built those shelves herself (for $4)!

But wait! Those shelves are super cute and stuff, but where is the STORAGE we were talking about? Look again at the mirror. She swapped out the flat builder mirror for a huge cabinet mirror that can hold more hair products than a girl will ever use in her lifetime. HA! That’s impossible. But it really does hold a lot. Grand total for this entire bathroom makeover was $420!

Get the whole budget breakdown and all the fun details on Ronda’s blog Batchelors Way.

May 1, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

6 In desks/hutches/buffets

Love Triangles

If you stay abreast of the trends, you know that triangles are currently pretty hot stuff. Hexagons are having a moment as well.

Scroll through Pinterest for half a minute and you’ll see for yourself.

Hexagons, BAM.

Triangles, BOOM.

They’re like the Beyonce and Jay Z of Geometry right now. What’s the next big ‘it-shape?’ I don’t know for certain, but I’m predicting big things for the Trapezium.

But let’s talk about triangles for a minute. This dresser wasn’t sporting a single one, and therefore, tragically uncool. It’s not hip to be square, my friend, Right angles are wrong. All wrong. But there’s still hope yet …

… from none other than Reeves at The Weathered Door who never met a triangle she didn’t like or a dresser she couldn’t revive. Or a roll of painter’s tape that she couldn’t put to good use.

So cool, right? I love how she removed the bulky handles and added simple round knobs instead too. Get this thing on Pinterest ASAP!

April 28, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

1 In bedroom/ chairs/ottomans/seating

A Date for an Ottoman Update

Hey everyone! Did you know that today is National Update an Ottoman Day? What better way to celebrate than with this pair of floral ottomans that desperately needed updating?

And that’s exactly what they got, thanks to Jennifer at Dimples and Tangles, who recovered them in this sassy malachite-inspired fabric. She also fluffed them up with a few layers of extra batting and shared the whole run-down on her blog. Plus Jennifer added hidden casters underneath to help move them from room to room.

Those casters came in handy when she decided to roll the ottomans into her master bedroom, which was suffering from dangerously low levels of sass. It needed a sass-fusion, and fast!

The ottomans did the trick, especially when trimmed in hot pink ribbon, and especially against the new bedding, rug, curtains, pillows, lamps, dressers, headboard, accessories and artwork. Whew! You know what they say though, sometimes you need to spend some cash to get some sass. Read all about this makeover right here on Dimples and Tangles.

PS: I should probably tell you that today is not really National Update an Ottoman Day. I just made that up. But really, are there even rules to these things? What if I just stood outside on my driveway and declared it National Update an Ottoman day? I bet that’s all it takes.

PPS: It IS National Prime Rib day though, so please … celebrate responsibly.

April 27, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

3 In innovative idea/ kiddie

Encores for old doors and drawers!

I’m sitting here at my desk and it looks like a crime scene. The perpetrator? My terrorist toddler, of course.

He has emptied the drawers out, colored all over my chair with highlighters, taken six bites out of two pears and left them oozing on top of a pile of printer paper, and figured out how to pop all the keys off my keyboard. He has strewn the contents of the drawers throughout the house, including some CDs that contained family pictures, which I found inside the rice cooker. This all happened in the span of maybe four minutes while I was making lunch.

Do you think maybe, if he had a desk of his own he would leave mine alone? A mom can dream.

If I ever finish putting these keys back on my keyboard in order, perhaps I’ll make him one of these:

A cute DIY desk made specifically for little ones using repurposed cabinet doors!

This is the brainchild of Autie at iCandy handmade. She reports that her kids ADORE their mini desks and haven’t tried to melt family pictures in the rice cooker even once since she made them.

And just like those leftover cabinet doors getting a colorful and fun new purpose in life, so did this old IKEA drawer insert that Medina had lying around. If you don’t have an IKEA drawer insert lying around, you can always check the IKEA ‘as-is’ section. I’ve found many a good deal there. If you don’t have an IKEA nearby, I am sad for you. But any old drawer should work, as long as it’s sturdy.

Oh, you probably want to know what she did with it, huh? Let’s take a look…

Sweet underbed storage! So cute and functional! She added casters to the bottom so her 3-year-old son could roll the drawer in and out easily, and added dividers because duh.

See the whole tutorial on her blog Grillo Designs.

April 26, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

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