Better After

14 In tables/dressers

Back in the Saddle

Ugh! My blog feed was constipated all week and finally relieved itself yesterday, which you may have noticed by the sudden onslaught of new posts in your reader. (Many thanks to Nick at Lindauer Designs for fixing the problem! What a nice guy. Virtual knuckle-bump!) Anyway, the whole headache really screwed up my blogging mojo, so I’ll just try to finish off this weird week as best I can. Here we go!

So Laura picked up this dresser on Craigslist, and don’t be fooled by its decent appearance. Girlfriend had all kinds of chipped veneer and warpage to deal with, not to mention a dubious husband. Aren’t they all? She tamed the beast with Covington Blue from Benjamin Moore, paintable wallpaper and glaze, and the perfect knobs to finish it off. And her husband was so pleased with the results he even asked her if she’d considered selling it. That’s high praise in husband-talk.

Check out the whole process on her blog Our Prairie Home.

I truly thought Clydia’s dresser here was identical to Laura’s up there, but that must have been the Halloween candy I’ve eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner talking. But they are pretty similar, and I love how different each of their results are. The baskets in place of the missing drawers look great, they seem like they’ve been there all along! See it on her blog Three Mango Seeds.

Thanks ladies!

(and Nick!)

October 28, 2011 By Lindsey @ Better After

6 In outdoors

Pink Eye-sore

Sally and her family moved into this house seven years ago. It was a nice house, but smelled faintly of the early 90’s. You know that smell, right? Smells like shiny brass fixtures and pink stucco?

That was then, because look at it now! See what a huge difference just painting the pink trim made? They also hung new shutters (made ’em themselves), updated the light fixtures and door hardware and added lots of plants and grass, but I am still marveling at that new trim! It made the biggest impact of all, I’d say, and I kind of like to think I’m right about these things. What do you think?

Check out more on Sally’s blog, Love of Homes.

October 27, 2011 By Lindsey @ Better After

5 In tables/dressers

Chi-Chi Cheering you on!

Kristen had a vision for this shabby dresser that she picked up at a flea market, and went straight to work to make it a reality. Actually, she admits, she let her painting-pro friend Paula do most of the work. I’m right there with you Kristen. Somebody has to offer moral support and icy drinks! If not us, who? We truly are the DIY world’s unsung heroes.

Check out more projects on her blog Chi-Chi Studio.

October 27, 2011 By Lindsey @ Better After

3 In bathroom

There’s a hole in your bathtub.

We seem to be on the topic of bathrooms today, don’t we? Bathroom makeovers are great because just about everyone can use them for inspiration, because pretty much everybody has a bathroom. Maybe you don’t have an office or a craft room or a laundry room or a formal dining room, but chances are you DO have a bathroom. Unless you are some mountain dwelling hippie who doesn’t have a bathroom and uses a hollowed out tree trunk, in which case A) you could still totally paint it, and B) how are you connected to the internet, hippie?

So anyway, this one is from Genia at Wheeler Three, who was forced to cut a big honkin’ hole in her otherwise perfect bathtub to replace the faucet. No other way around it, they tried. But rather than rip out the whole tub and start over, they just built a fake front instead! I think this would look great on any bathtub, honkin’ hole or not!

October 26, 2011 By Lindsey @ Better After

2 In bathroom

Pink Stinks! (Aww, I don’t really believe that).

There is a movement taking shape these days. A movement protesting the wrongdoings of our current culture. A movement asking us to consider if we have strayed too far from our past. It’s not Occupy Wall Street. No, I’m talking about Save the Pink Bathrooms. Their pledge is simple: to preserve vintage pink bathrooms everywhere.

Hmmmmmmmm.

I’m all for preserving the past and what have you, but do you know what comes with vintage bathrooms? I’ll tell you. Vintage germs. Carpet so full of old cooties that it crunches when you walk on it. I do believe I’ll pass, thank you. And besides, these bathrooms were lacking in vintage charm anyway, they just looked tired. And pink.

Catherine updated her bath with all new fixtures and a paint color she likes to call Superman Blue! She reports that it the room now feels “so clean and fun!” See? Cleanliness is #1 in the bathroom, fun is #2. Uh, you know what I mean.

And Autumn from Apollo’s Idea could have simply replaced that painful pink paint color and called it good enough, but she went all out with a new counter top, shower, toilet, tile-work, mirror, and light fixture. Love the stripes too. I’ll bet in a few decades our grandchildren will start a movement called “Save the Striped Bathrooms!” Mark my words.

October 26, 2011 By Lindsey @ Better After

3 In lighting

A Lightier Light

This chunky old chandelier looks like it came straight from a saloon in the wild west! Or, more accurately, like it came straight from a low-budget movie, set in a saloon in the wild west! Not something that would really catch my eye. But in white? With new shades? And sparkly beads? You bet your sweet behind it will. See it on Lisete’s blog White Glam.