Better After

2 In other rooms

Mudroom Magic

So, I was reading an interview with Erykah Badu recently, and she something that struck me hard. “Spelling is a spell,” she says. “Everything we write down happens.” Maybe it sounds super obvious, but it was seriously a “stop what I’m doing and gaze into space in deep contemplation” moment for me. We hear advice to write down our goals all the time, but do we realize how much power the physical act of actually putting pen to paper holds? These are thoughts to think about.

Guess what? It works for home improvements too. Sarah at Little Red Brick House always wanted a mudroom-type area in the entrance of her home. One day she decided to give a little more life to her dream, so she sketched out an approximation of what she wanted it to look like directly on an empty wall. You’ll never guess what happened next. Ok, you probably will …

She made it happen! Spelling IS a spell. So interesting, don’t you think?

January 26, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

8 In kitchen/dining/ Uncategorized

From Pretty Good to Hollywood!

Lindsey lived in West Hollywood, but her kitchen was from Anywheresville, USA. Not that Anywheresville isn’t nice, but you wouldn’t want to, y’know, LIVE there. It’s just a little too close to Snoozeburg, and nothing exciting ever happens there.

No, she was in Tinseltown, and her kitchen needed to look the part.

I love how she went white, not only because I do love me a white kitchen, but because now the cabinets blends so seamlessly with the soffit and crown moulding overhead that the ceiling seems twice as high!

New overhead lights and glass tile backsplash round out the look, and speaking of rounding out, does this round wall on her peninsula remind anyone else about that episode of The Hills when Spencer paints a terrible graffiti mural that says “HOLLYWOOD” on Heidi’s similarly-shaped peninsula in her apartment and hilarity and rage (mostly rage) ensue? No? Just me? Carry on then.

Anyway, gorgeous job Lindsey! Be sure to check out more on her blog The O’Donnell Collective.

January 25, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

1 In desks/hutches/buffets/ tables/dressers

Diva Ikea

Everybody knows IKEA is a great place to shop for inexpensive home furnishings and meatballs, but do you ever think GLAM when you think IKEA? You should. You should yell “GLAM! IKEA!” whenever you walk through their doors and do a little shuffle-ball-change-karate-kick with jazz hands. I did that the last time I walked in, and the employee at the door said I’d find the GLAMIKEA by the curtain rods. I think she missed my point.

But you feel me, don’t you? IKEA has a lot to offer if you look beyond the basic assemble-it-yourself offerings and jump in there with your own flair. Like the ubiquitous RAST dresser. I’ve seen so many RAST hacks, I’m convinced there’s nothing you can’t do to one of these. Cover it in snakeskin, turn it into a hot-dog cart, or add antiqued mirrors like Sara at Sincerely Sara D did. Wise choice.

Does this look like a $39.99 dresser? No it does not!

And while there are plenty of TV console choices at IKEA, Sabrina designed one herself using a set of their kitchen cabinets instead. These specific cabinets are the 35x15x20″ size, aka the cabinets that go above the fridge.

She and her husband wrapped the cabinets in fiberboard, hung pre-finished doors and built the legs themselves out of pine. But my favorite touch, of course, are the brass pulls hung vertically! Say it with me now, “SO GLAM!”

Get the how-to over on her blog Pink Little Notebook.

January 22, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

11 In chairs/ottomans/seating/ kitchen/dining

Pottery Barn Knock-off Knockout

What happens when you have PB dreams on PB&J budget? And by PB I mean Pottery Barn, that lustful land of $400 dining chairs. Well what happens is, you have to get creative. You hit up Craigslist and find a set of harvest gold velvet dining chairs at $20 a pop. You convince your husband you aren’t crazy. (You aren’t entirely convinced yourself).

You haul them home and worry that you’re in over your head. No. You can DO THIS! You fist-bump yourself in the mirror.

You decide to remove the strange and dangerous-looking finials. You also streamline the curvy top by slicing it off with your jigsaw. You paint and stain over the wood and manage to create a perfectly weathered finish. You pat yourself on the back because things are going pretty good.

You work on the upholstery. There is foam and adhesive and drop cloths and cardboard templates and nailheads involved. It’s intense. But you power through because you’ve GOT THIS.

Yes. You’ve totally got this. You’ve also got $2160 left in your bank account, because you managed to keep your cost at $40 per chair, including the $20 you paid for each chair to begin with. You think rather smug thoughts towards PB. Go ahead, you deserve it.

Also, your name is Lauren and you blog at Bless’er House. Fabulous job Lauren!

January 21, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

6 In desks/hutches/buffets

Where hutch is given …

Gilly was broken-hearted when she finished painting this hutch. No, not because she regretted painting it. Not because it had turned out badly. Nope, it was actually so lovely that she didn’t want to return it to the client who had asked her to paint it in the first place.

She considered running away with it to Mexico, but couldn’t fit it in her suitcase. She tried to disguise it, but her client saw right through the fake mustache and demanded that she hand it over. Then she pretended that she forgot how to speak English, but that only worked for a few seconds.

Finally, she gave in and let her client have her hutch back. Most of that story is false, except she really did love how it turned out and wished she could keep it!

Who could blame her? It’s so pretty! She used Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint in Typewriter on the body of the hutch and Grain Sack for the back, with only the faintest of distressing. You must check out Gilly’s blog at Colour Saturated Life to get an up-close look. The finish that she achieved here really is magical.

January 19, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

6 In kiddie

All Work, No Play-Kitchen

Kids these days don’t know how good they have it. Why, when I was a kid, the only electronic device I had was an electric blanket. I had to share with my sister so we wouldn’t freeze to death in winter. What fun!

I never ‘texted’ my ‘friends.’ I didn’t have friends, because I was too busy doing things like hauling rocks from one side of a field to another. Hooray!

And there was no such thing as fancy ‘play kitchens.’ *scoff* No, we played in a REAL kitchen. And by ‘play’ I mean we peeled potatoes until our knuckles bled. Wheee!

OK, my childhood wasn’t quite THAT rough. Although, I did actually do all of those things. And I never did have a fancy play kitchen. But I turned out mostly pretty fine. Still, why take that risk with your own kids? You’d better build them that fancy play kitchen of their dreams just in case.

Lydia and her husband set out to do just that for their little girl. They started by trolling Craigslist and found a little dresser to serve as the stove and oven. When her husband went to pick it up, he returned with a file cabinet that the seller just gave away after hearing what they had planned to do with the dresser! He was so excited he even gave them a piece of plexi-glass to make the oven window. People are cool.

They also ran into some luck at Lowe’s when they went looking for a faucet. Her husband was adamantly opposed to buying a real faucet for a fake kitchen. Can’t say I blame him; those things are pricey. But when an employee heard their predicament, he reached under the counter and gave them this perfectly adorable one for $5. It was a broken return that he hadn’t gotten around to sending back to the company yet. Isn’t it great when things just come together like that?

Grand total for everything including supplies and accessories: $82!

See more on Lydia’s blog Huckleberry Love.

January 18, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

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