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Living Rooms

Kitchens

Furniture

14 In tables/dressers

Ya heard me?

Suzy from Simply Vintageous has made it her mission to rehab old furniture.  This dresser is one of her most recent pieces, painted with Annie Sloan Chalk Pain in Old White and Paris Gray.
She says, I am torn about whether I should just paint it all white to be honest with you – this one definitely did not speak to me as loudly as they usually do – for the most part as soon as I look at a dresser it 
screams out at me (I have to tell it to keep its voice down) what it wants me to do – but this one
kind of whispered –  “Do whatever you want, I don’t care” so I did – and am second guessing myself
daily on it. 
Suzy!  Don’t second-guess yourself!  It’s fantastic! I think you just misheard the dresser.  What it was trying to say is “Do whatever you want (as long as you paint me gray!)  I don’t care (about anything else besides going to live at Lindsey’s house!  You should send me to her!)  Yep, pretty sure that’s how it went.
 


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April 4, 2012 By
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16 In kitchen/dining

Little on Space, BIG on Style

Does it seem like everyone else in the universe has a huge, fabulous kitchen with custom cabinets, marble counter tops, pizza ovens, vaulted ceilings and four extra sinks (seriously, what are people doing with all these sinks?), and all you have is a tiny little kitchen, barely big enough for one sink?
Don’t be sad.  Because you are not alone.  And you have a hero.  Her name is Mallory from Classy Clutter, and she is here to inspire!  See, your kitchen doesn’t have to be enormous to be beautiful!  Plus, little kitchens take, like 10 minutes total to clean.  I’d call that a perk.  Neener neener, huge kitchens!

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April 3, 2012 By
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5 In chairs/ottomans/seating

Jenice and the Three Chairs

What can you do with three mismatched chairs? Find a fourth mismatched chair and make a set?   Have a very short game of musical chairs? Stage a dramatic retelling of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears?’  Good ideas, yes, but if you’ve recently loaned out your Papa Bear costume, here’s another idea: make a bench! Better After reader Jenice did this herself with three chairs, a board and a few hours of work.  Juuust right!

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April 3, 2012 By
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8 In desks/hutches/buffets

You’re a fine hutch! (such a fine hutch)

“And so I said Brandy! You’re a fine girl!  What a good hutch you steadied!  
Now my pics, my albums, my knick-knacks, aren’t leaniiiiiing!”

Wow.  Sorry if you aren’t familiar with the song Brandy by The Looking Glass, because I probably just scared you a little bit.  But as you can see, Brandy (who has probably had that song sung to her on more than one occasion) had a leaning, busted up hutch on her hands.  So, she fixed it!  With love and tenderness.  And paint and plywood.  And help from her dad!  See how on her blog Home Sweet Here.

“There’s a hutch, on a western bay …” ok, fine, no more song lyrics.  But I do have another hutch makeover for you!  Is this a dresser or a hutch? Let’s not nitpick, because it looks fantastico no matter what you call it. Brit needed an entertainment center on the double after a new TV purchase, so she picked up this little beauty on Craigslist. See how she and her husband made it happen on her blog Interestosity.

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April 2, 2012 By
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5 In living room

That’s Nice

So, did you win the Mega Millions jackpot this weekend?  Yeah, me neither.  Looks like I’ll still be hitting the thrift stores.  Actually, I think I would still do that even if I was filthy, filthy rich, just because it’s fun.  Or maybe I would spend all my time shoe shopping on a rocket ship with Richard Branson instead. Who knows?  All I know is I sure wouldn’t mind the chance to find out …
Anyway, here’s a thrifty little makeover to start your week out thriftily, a living room refreshing from Roo at Nice Girl Notes.  Just a few small changes, like colorful pillows, a cheerful coat of coral on the coffee table (it’s shorter too!), and a rug to center the whole room made a huge difference.  Oh, and art in the frames! (I’m guilty of hanging empty frames, yup).  Psh, who needs millions of dollars when you have creativity!? (Although … if I had to choose …)

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April 2, 2012 By
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488 In Uncategorized

Pearl Blossoms GIVEAWAY! (GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED)

(Now closed!  congrats to winner Jillian from My Split Ends!)
Hey there!  I hope you are in the mood for a sweet giveaway, because I’ve got one for you! Meet Julianne, designer and dreamer behind Pearl Blossoms!

As a wife and mother of three boys, Julianne found herself outnumbered and in need of a little girlyness!  So she nurtured a passion for creating custom jewelry and soon, Pearl Blossoms was born!

Pearl Blossoms offers ‘pearls‘ which is Julianne’s collection of custom bracelets and necklaces:

And ‘blossoms,’ versatile floral accessories that can be clipped to a sweater or belt, or worn in the hair!  (This is just a smidgen of her huge selection, SO much more to see on the website).
The cuteness is killing me!  KILLING ME!
Julianne was kind enough to offer me an item to review, and I chose the “Dalmation” bracelet, seen here:   

(this is actually not my hand.  After many, many failed attempts
to attractively photograph my hands, I decided to use my sister as a
hand model instead.  You can thank me later for not giving you
nightmares about my veiny skeletor hands).
Ok, so I love this bracelet.  Not only is it obviously cute, but do you see the sweet little surprise smiling in there?
That’s right, custom photo charms!  Ack!  My kids were so excited when I showed it to them.  You should have seen the looks on their faces! I think they feel pretty special whenever I wear it, which is often, because it really goes with everything.  
I will cherish this for a very long time. And what’s great is that I know it will last a very long time, because her work is of the utmost quality.  I could tell just from the first time I held it in my hand.

Hey, I just realized that this would be a perfect gift for mother’s day, ya’ll.

 Look!  Here I am with my bracelet! Oh, I hate taking pictures of myself. I truly am happier than I look, I promise.  Don’t you love how my shirt matches my wall?  My name is Lindsey and I’m a grayaholic.  A grayaholic with skeletor hands.

SO!  Guess what?  Julianne has kindly offered not one, not two, but THREE of her beautiful creations to three lucky Better After readers!  
That’s right, THREE WINNERS!
First place will win a bracelet of your choice with up to three charms!

Second place will win a necklace of your choice!

Third place will win a blossom of your choice!
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Entering is easy!

To enter: simply leave a comment here!

For an extra entry:  ‘like’ Pearl Blossoms on Facebook, and say Better After sent you!
For another extra entry: share the giveaway from the Pearl Blossoms Facebook page!

For another extra entry: visit the Pearl Blossoms site and tell me your favorite item!
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PLEASE, oh PLEASITY PLEASE come back here and leave a comment for each extra entry, and don’t forget to leave a way for me to contact you!  

Giveaway will close Monday, April 2, winners will be chosen at random. 
Good luck, I hope you win!

March 30, 2012 By
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