Better After

Bed, Bench and Beyond

Do you have an old crib hanging around your crib? Maybe you kept it for so long because you had big plans for it, like donating it … if you could find all the parts. Or making something cool with it … if inspiration would strike. Well, consider yourself struck. Dust that thing off and pull out the power tools, because look what Gail at My Repurposed Life did with hers: she turned it into a storage seat toy box! And it looks amazing. All the other toy boxes will be so jealous.

June 12, 2012 By Lindsey @ Better After

537 In Uncategorized

BeddingStyle Giveaway! (now closed)

(now closed)
Hey there! I’ve had a great giveaway lined up for you for several weeks now, only I didn’t realize I had agreed to schedule it on a Monday, instead of a usual Friday post. I hope you don’t mind! But I don’t think you will, because this prize is super cool.

Perhaps you’ve heard of BeddingStyle.com? They are celebrating seven years in the bedding business and are spreading the love by giving away a FREE designer bedding set of your choice, up to $250 in value!

They have a large variety of brand-name bedding, such as Tommy Hilfiger, Vera Wang, Steve Madden, and Nicole Miller to name-drop a few.

Not only that, the prices are great and the quality is too. And I’m not just saying that! I happen to know for a fact, because they were kind enough to send me some bedding as well. This came at the perfect time, because we recently upgraded to a larger mattress. I couldn’t handle sleeping in a queen with my husband, AKA Mr. Jabby McKnobby Elbows for one more minute.

Anyway, I chose the l’erba Sanctuary Quilt, seen here:

(no, this is not actually my bedroom, wistful sigh).

It is so silky soft and fantastic. It’s a bit more lightweight than it appears in the picture, which is fine with me, because have I told you I live in Phoenix, where the average temperature is 9,000 degrees? I have? Ok, carry on then.

Bedding Style is really on the ball with customer service too. When my order arrived, I was missing a sham. I sent one quick email to let them know, and it arrived on my doorstep a couple of days later, no hassle at all.

(THIS is my actual bedroom, for your viewing pleasure. Sorry that I forgot to turn on the lights).

Up-close detail on the quilt. Es muy lovely, no?

So, here’s how to enter to win a FREE Designer Bedding Set, up to $250! Get excited!

To enter: Visit Bedding Style and let me know what you’d choose in a comment.

For an extra chance to win, either:

Follow Bedding Style on Twitter, link to this giveaway, and mention @BeddingStyle in your tweet,

‘Like’ Bedding Style on Facebook, link to this giveaway, and mention http://facebook.com/beddingstyle in your post.

(don’t forget to come back and let me know in a separate comment!)

This giveaway ends one week from today! (That’s Monday, June 18th, should you be wondering). Please, PRETTY PLEASE leave a way for me to contact you! Winner will be chosen at random.

Good luck!

June 11, 2012 By Lindsey @ Better After

10 In kitchen/dining

Lin-OH!-leum

Hello there! Did you have a great weekend? Did you win the PrintRunner giveaway? (If your name is Allie S. you did!) Did you want me to post a different giveaway later today? I certainly hope so, because I kind of accidentally scheduled one. Whoopsie! I didn’t realize that the date I had agreed on weeks and weeks ago with this sponsor happened to be a Monday, which kind of throws off my whole posting mojo, and puts two giveaways back-to-back. But I think it’s a great prize, so I hope you will enjoy it. Stay tuned for that later today.

But anyway, down to business. Sally’s kitchen here needed an update, that’s for sure. White paint on the cabinets, new hardware and backsplash, and butcher-block counters were enough to do the trick, but was there any money left in her budget to do something about that old linoleum? Yes! Because all she needed was two gallons of paint and a stencil! SO charming.

See the whole tutorial on her blog A Warm Conversation.

This post brought to you by:

June 11, 2012 By Lindsey @ Better After

77 In Uncategorized

Printrunner Giveaway! (GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED)

** GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED**

Happy Friday! I have a cool little giveaway for you today from one of the web’s premier online printing companies, PrintRunner.

They recently contacted me to host a giveaway, and gave me an option of which prize to choose for you, so I chose the custom stickers. Because how fun!

I know lots of my readers run small businesses or etsy shops, and I thought these would be a great way to help you label your items, or use for packaging purposes, or simply use as return address stickers.

Since they are customizable, you get to upload your own design, so I played around with a few:

(I have a friend who always sends the most insanely awesome Christmas cards every year, and every year she has the cutest address labels, and every year I get very jealous. Well, not this year, pal!)

PrintRunner has offered one Better After reader a chance to win 250 stickers!
Three chances to win, enter now!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here are the specs, should you be interested to know:

Sticker Shape: Standard Stickers

Flat Width: 2″”

Flat Height: 3.5″”

Quantity: 250

Paper: Premium Sticker Stock

Colors: Full Color ( 4 Color Process), Black and White

Proof: NONE

Ready to Ship In: 3 Business Days

*Giveaway is open to US Residents only, ages 18 years old and above. Disclaimer: I will receive a set of stickers for hosting; thank you to Printrunner for hosting this giveaway for my readers.

This is a short one, enter now! Giveaway ends at midnight, Sat., June 12th.

Good luck, I hope you win!

June 8, 2012 By Lindsey @ Better After

6 In desks/hutches/buffets/ tables/dressers

Tag Team Turquoise

I would like to give you some witty little something to start this post, but to be painfully honest, I’ve been sitting here for a long time, and the only thing my brain is producing are the lyrics to “Whoomp! There It Is!”

Whoomp! There it is!

(c’mon)

Whoomp! There it is!

I apologize.

So let’s get to it anyway. Here comes a sweet turquoise radio cabinet redo from Jess at J. Paris Designs. Looks totally updated, especially with the door removed. Whoomp!

And also, there it is! And when I say ‘it’, I’m talking about this table, rocking some bits and pieces of turquoise as well, and also a great neo-Navajo design. I must ask you: Here’s a shovel, can you dig it fool? I certainly can. From Better After reader Jessie.

June 8, 2012 By Lindsey @ Better After

4 In bathroom

Set in Stone

When life gives you lemons … wait, maybe this isn’t an appropriate way to start a bathroom post. What I mean is, Laura had a lemon tree mural. In her bathroom. She had also painstakingly applied a plastered faux stone treatment to the wall, and she loved it all to pieces. Until one day she didn’t.

Well, problem is, you can’t just paint over a plastered “stone” wall. So, she decided to work with it, and simply colorwashed it with white and gray to lighten up the look. She reports that it actually looks even more authentic now! More to see on her blog Top This, Top That.