Better After

5 In outdoors

Too cool for pool.

We live in a time when the nation is divided. Angry debate rages on each side, neither party willing to concede an inch on their stance. I’m not talking about the presidential election or legalizing marijuana or Common Core. This is way more important than that.

I’m talking about the above-ground pool.

Did you shudder at the thought? Did you picture an electric blue eyesore hogging half your backyard?

Or did you gratefully gaze out the window at your own above-ground pool, counting down the days until summer when you’ll cannonball straight into that sucker and stay there until fall?

Tee was in the first category. Above-ground pool? Ew, no thanks. Then she bought a house with one, and she said “Seriously, no thanks. We will only buy this house if the sellers remove the pool.” And the sellers were like, “HAHA no.”

And her new neighbors were like, “Give it a try! You’ll be thankful to have it when summer comes.”

And Tee was like, I SAID NO, I HATE THIS THING!

And so she endured two sweltering summers watching her neighbors bob blissfully in their own above-ground pools. Finally, she could endure no more. The heat, the swampy eyesore, the possibility that there was a dead squirrel in there (there was). She gave in.

But not without beautifying it first!

She dressed it up with flowers and fresh foliage, new landscaping, and a sturdy deck. Plus some hard-core scrubbing. And now she LOVES it! Who wouldn’t?! It looks so inviting.

She says “I’ve grown to love our pool, “above ground” and all. It represents a metaphor for so many things in life and the home: sometimes you can’t change everything. You may have to work around your limitations. That doesn’t mean that the results can’t be rewarding or beauteeful.”

Love that. Read more on her blog Beauteeful Living.

January 15, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

6 In bathroom

Bathroom Poetry: An Ode to the Commode

Do you yawn when you go to the john?

Does the view in your loo make you feel a bit blue?

Do you hate it a lot when you sit on the pot?

Do you feel rather bitter when you’re using the – OK I think you get the point.

Boring bathrooms are nobody’s friend. They bum us out. (heh heh. BUM.) But it doesn’t have to be that way. Bathrooms are small enough that you can experiment. Go big and go bold and try something exciting!

Let’s see what Sabrina at Pink Little Notebook did to electrify this unexciting powder room:

She went deep and dark and moody! I’m so in love with this look. Those charcoal walls are fantastic. Some people might shy away from painting a small room so dark. “It’s going to make the room feel small!” Well babe, no shade of paint is going to hide the fact that the room already IS small. Why pretend that it’s not? It works especially well here since there is a window (more pics on her blog) which keeps it from feeling constricting. The airiness of the vanity helps too.

So get hip to this look and get more broody for your booty!

(I’m sorry, I tried to talk myself out of saying that, but I could not).

January 14, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

3 In bedroom

Teenage Dreams

If you think that teenagers don’t care about their bedrooms, think again. Sure, they don’t usually care if there’s a petrified cheese stick stuck to their carpet or if they haven’t been able to locate a clean pair of pants in two weeks, but deep down, way down, underneath the laundry and paper piles and whatever THAT is, the they really do care. Try it. Give a teenager a bedroom makeover sometime and they will remember it for the rest of their lives, I promise you.

Kris at Driven by Decor had yet to do much to her daughter’s room in the two years since they had moved into their house. It was very definition of a blank slate. Then one day she decided the time had come!

So she upgraded it in a major way with breezy coastal charm! The walls were done in grasscloth wallpaper (worth the splurge Kris noted), and DIY wainscoting, and the gorgeous new light fixture finished the look.

It’s so cool and grown up, but not too grown up. I mean, there ARE Taylor Swift lyrics on the wall. Which makes for a much better display than what I did with song lyrics when I was a teenager: angstily write them on my jeans during Spanish class hoping no one would notice, but secretly hoping EVERYONE would notice. Sigh.

January 13, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

3 In desks/hutches/buffets

Stripes, stripes, baby

The other night I had a dream that I was in a dramatic blogger competition, where the goal was for each blogger to transform a tiny wooden box. That’s pretty tame as far as most of my dreams go. Normally I would be like, in a time-traveling banjo band with Conan O’Brien and my banjo is actually a tortilla.

So I had this tiny box to transform, and my plan was to paint tiny, tiny stripes across it. Unfortunately I didn’t even get to see how it turned out, because I spent the whole dream just taping it off. Don’t you love dumb mundane dreams like that? One time I had a dream that I swear was seven hours long and I was just at the dentist the whole time. The worst.

But this adorable hutch from Dena at Hearts & Sharts cheers me up, because it’s basically how I envisioned my tiny dream box. I totally was going to win that competition, I just know it!

Even better though, this real life hutch was transformed for a great cause. Head on over to Dena’s blog to see more!

January 12, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

7 In other rooms

Getting Gorgeous in the Garage

Ahhhhhhhh! Do you hear that? That gentle rushing noise? That was the sound of everyone on the planet sighing with satisfaction. That’s because everyone on the planet just organized and dejunked and clutter-cleared everything, because that is what humans are programmed to do in January.

There’s really no better time. A new year, a fresh start! Now would be a perfect time to play ‘Feeling Good‘ (the Bublé version) while rolling around on your freshly waxed garage floor.

But if you haven’t gotten quite that far yet, let me offer up some garage inspiration via sisters Jodie and Paige at Sypsie.

I mean. So much to love. That pegboard is fantastic. I’ve always hesitated with pegboards because I think they can look unfinished and flimsy, but HELLO beefy wood frame, you’ve just solved all my problems.

And this is just a taste! They went full throttle on the whole garage. There’s cute little accessories, wall decor, and even *whispers* a throw rug. Check it out.

January 11, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

23 In My House

One more time: favorite moments from 2015

Are you tired of looking back on last year yet? WELL TOO BAD! I already recapped my favorite reader features of 2015 this week (here and here), but today I thought we could revisit some of my own projects from throughout the year, mostly to remind myself that I actually sometimes accomplish things.

And THEN we’ll move on to 2016. We will. I’m 80% sure of it.

So here are some blasts from the past, starting with this little thrift store unicorn makeover that I’m still quite fond of.

Always remember what it taught us: “You should never not buy a unicorn when you have the chance.”

I did a quick mini-bathroom makeover in my master bathroom with nothing more than a few pretty accessories and a stencil.

And a thrift store chandelier that hasn’t killed me yet, despite the warnings I received about hanging it over the tub. DISCLAIMER: Don’t hang a chandelier over the tub, apparently that’s bad. So don’t do it. Definitely don’t do it and say that you saw it here.

Last year I also put together this handy guide to home decor catalogs you can get for freeee!

I have signed up for most of these, and it’s like a happy little present in my mailbox every time I get one. (There’s actually more than 13 now, the list just keeps growing).

This black, white, and gold tablescape was a fun project for HomeGoods. I was so in love with the gold flatware that I had borrowed from my friend for the pictures, that I made an desperate plea to the universe to provide me with my own. Here is exactly what I wrote back then: “Unfortunately, this gorgeous gold flatware does not belong to me *sob!* I borrowed it from my most fabulous friend Denise, who ordered it from Horchow. Please join with me in telling the universe to send a set my way. (((((((())))))))) <–universe vibes.”

Well homie, the universe vibes WORKED because a few months later I found a nearly identical set at a flea market for way way way less money than Horchow’s set, plus it was a huge service for 16, so I felt like I won the gold flatware lottery, as sponsored by the universe. Thanks universe!

Next, I painted this behemoth set of bookshelves for my office, and gave you the rundown on paint sprayers vs. spray paint. The results might surprise you!

Thanks to Lumber Liquidators, I was able to install new floors and shared the pros and cons of laminate flooring.

Lumber Liquidators was then embroiled in a huge national scandal like literally the next day, so that was … awesome. Still loving the floors though! Read the whole saga here and here.

I joined with a few other bloggers to share what we love to collect. I shared my collection of white candles, obviously.

Just kidding. I obviously shared my collection of brass candlesticks, which is still growing. I’m running out of places to put these things.

2015 was also the dawn of a new contest, The Mystery Thrift-Off! I had such a great response from you wonderful readers about participating.

It was really fun, but SO MUCH WORK though, so please send some enthusiastic feedback if you’d like to see it happen again. Your feedback is my lifeblood. LIFEBLOOOOOOD!

Did you catch my gallery wall with a secret??

The secret was that it is magnetic. Yep, there are nothing but magnets holding all that junk up there! Get all the info here.

This next picture needs to come with a warning, because it is the 2015 winner of the Ugly Lamp Contest. So please be prepared for terror and usher small children from the room:

I keep thinking each year that we’ll never top the year before, and yet somehow we do. We really do. Ok, but confession time: After five solid years of ugly lamps, I am wondering if it’s time to move on to uglier pastures? Should we do something new? Ugly chairs? Ugly pillows? Or do you still have room in your hearts for ugly lamps? Please advise.

If you’ve ever wondered how to paint a polk-dot chair, wonder no more.

Ever wondered what the best part of my dining room makeover was? You probably haven’t. But in case you have, I’d say it’s this light fixture. Or the black ceiling.

Or maybe the scarf that I used as a table runner until Christmas time, when it served as a tree skirt, until New Years, when I wore it as a scarf, until the flight home, when I used it as a blanket on the airplane. It’s key to look for versatility when choosing your decor, that’s what I say.

And one last time, my computer nook makeover. (The kids have yet to use this for homework. One of my boys just told me yesterday that he needed a desk in his room, and I was like “Hey, why don’t you use the COMPUTER NOOK?” and he was like “Oh. I thought that was just for decoration.” I have taught them well. Too well).

Well, that was Better After in 2015 in a nutshell! Thank you ever so much for choosing to hang out here. Truly. I’d give you all a sloppy kiss and a bag of candy if I could. Can’t wait to see what 2016 holds!

January 7, 2016 By Lindsey @ Better After

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