Better After

6 In kitchen/dining

Brooke what you’ve done!

If the thought of staring at your basic boring builder-grade blah kitchen for one more millisecond is more than you can stomach, look to Brooke! There’s nothing basic about her catalog-worthy kitchen now. Not only did she customize every single fixture and surface, she also made the room look twice as big with one of my favorite tricks: one single type of flooring throughout. That’s not really a trick. That’s like, common sense. (You would think). Look how tiny the kitchen looked before, on that sad swath of linoleum. It looked like a kitchen-themed mini-golf hole. Now the whole room is so dang gorgeous it makes me want to punch myself in the face. That’s high praise indeed!

See more from Brooke at B in Real Life. Want to know more about her light fixtures or paint colors? It’s like she’s read your mind. Check out her kitchen Q and A HERE and HERE.

Seriously. Punching self in face.

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April 19, 2012 By Lindsey @ Better After

18 In bathroom

All opposed, say NEIGH!

HOLLLLLYYYYY ILLLLLLLLNNNNESSSSSS YA’LL. Ugh. Did you miss me? I’ve been face down in bed for a few days. It turns out I have strep. And it turns out that strep is like death climbing into your body and turning it inside out. I always thought it was like, a really bad sore throat. Ahaha. No. I got a big shot of antibiotics in my behind though, and I’m hoping I’ll feel more like a human soon. And holy crap, let me tell you, that shot is no joke. I can still feel it 24 hours later. Woof.

Speaking of woof-y things (leave me alone, my brain is overheated) check out this fantastically bad bathroom. I would describe all of its design sins for you in great detail if I wasn’t already sick. But Kristen reworked every single element in here to create a master bath that whispers “serene relaxation,” instead of shouting “Somebody actually thought this space-age-porn-star-equestrian-themed-thing was a good idea once!” *sigh* Those were different times. Hear the whole story of this fabulous transformation from Kristen on her blog My Covered Bridge.

Kristen also reports that the huge window next to the toilet was a street-facing window, not to mention the toilet was window-height … AWKward. By removing the jacuzzi tub they were able to lower the floor, so that little privacy problem is better now!

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April 17, 2012 By Lindsey @ Better After

16 In chairs/ottomans/seating

Top That!

Hi friends! Thanks so much for all the well-wishes and encouraging emails and comments after my little whine-fest this weekend. You know just what a girl needs to hear. It really meant a lot to me and totally boosted my spirits. You rock. I would love to say that I’m all better, but ha! No, sad to say I’ve been tackled and beaten with what I can only describe as the El Niño of flu/head colds, complete with aches, seizure-like shakes, buckets of snot, and feverish night terrors involving Gandolf stalking me at Disneyland.

It’s been fun. So anyway, I’m going to pretend I’m relaxing in the spring sunshine in this lovely Adirondack chair makeover from Laura and not shivering on the bathroom floor in my bathrobe. Power of positive thinking, right?! See more from Laura on her blog Top This Top That. (which totally reminds me of this awesomeness.)

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April 16, 2012 By Lindsey @ Better After

52 In Uncategorized

Feeling Off-ul

Blerg.

I am having an ‘off’ week.

You ever have those?

Perhaps you thought you were going to come here and see some before-and-after action, or a giveaway, because it’s Friday and I like to do that for you on Fridays, but NOPE! I have failed you!

It’s just that I was going to do this neato fabric spray-paint giveaway for you, but so far, it is not going as planned. I had finally found a cool chair to paint, you know, to show you how the stuff works, only to discover that the chair has been heavily peed upon by an animal of some kind, for what I guesstimated to be 10 years or more. No amount of anything can fix that. So that’s going to have to wait.

Then, a while back, the super cool girls at Girls With Good Taste held a giveaway, and the grand prize was a fun-filled day of thrifty shopping and lunch, and they invited me along! We coordinated our schedules and planned it for yesterday, and I was SO EXCITED! Then my daughter got really sick and I spent the day cleaning up puke instead. That ranks right up there with the time in fourth grade when I got sick on the day the zoo-mobile came to school.

THEN, I grew a coldsore on my face the size of Texas.

THEN, my husband got robbed at work today.

THEN I read this plea for help for orphans in Pleven, Bulgaria, and my heart just broke. I put my head down on my keyboard and cried and cried. And then I felt very selfish, because all my “problems” seemed pretty darn trivial.

THEN I wrote this bummer of a post, and felt bad about THAT! Sorry to be such a bummer. Things will be back on track next week, I’m sure of it! But thanks for letting me whine a little. I feel better. And my daughter is better. And my husband is fine. And I donated to the orphans. And maybe you could click that link to see if you could help a little bit too.

And now I am leaving you with a funny picture of a goat:

Have a great weekend friends.

April 13, 2012 By Lindsey @ Better After

10 In chairs/ottomans/seating/ kitchen/dining/ tables/dressers

Ebony and Irony

Don’t despair if you haven’t mustered up enough bravery to try reupholstering something yet. Look to Amy for inspiration! She took this freaky old chair and successfully reupholstered it with houndstooth fabric ON HER FIRST TRY! How ironic is it that someone once gave me two chairs with this exact same fabric and I donated them to Goodwill because I had never upholstered something before and was too scared to try? Wow, I am being totally uninspirational today. Ignore me! Go reupholster whatever you want to your hearts content!

And see more from Amy the upholstery wunderkind on her blog Queen of the Crazies.

But if reupholstery isn’t your bag, and it’s the sweet harmonies of black and white that captured your attention today, then check out this redo from Meg and Mum’s. Perfect for piano teachers, music lovers, and anyone with a soul. Seriously, how could you not love it. Plus: so shiny!

What’s that you say? You want MORE black and white deliciousness? Then how about a black and white kitchen remodel from Heather at Decor4Poor? The only thing ‘poor’ about it is that it’s not in MY house! Doesn’t it look like it grew about 50 square feet? Knuckle-bumps to you Heather!

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April 13, 2012 By Lindsey @ Better After

4 In living room

A Close Shave

This before picture was from Rita’s first walk-through of what is now her home. Obviously, she was able to see past that pukey mint color on the walls and the perversely unattractive valences. They’re like mustaches for the windows! She de-creepstered them by hanging bamboo shades instead, and gave the whole room a neutral palette to serve as a backdrop for her colorful accessories. Would you believe the yellow windows haven’t changed? I think the color of the walls isn’t such a jarring contrast anymore that you hardly notice them. Pretty cool! See more on her blog This (Sorta) Old Life.