Better After

6 In living room

From Whoville to Ooohville!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Specifically, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. (If you are looking for a holiday movie to base your home decor around, that’s not the one. Home Alone is a good one, but that’s not the point). Here’s the point: Nancy’s before living room was dark, dated, and looked a bit like the Grinch himself had shimmied down the chimney and stolen every last crumb of cheer.

Nancy was not having it. Let’s see how she worked her magic:

Hello cheer explosion! It’s like a perennial springtime in here now. So fresh, airy and light. Nancy says one of the most helpful changes was mounting the TV over the fireplace, which freed up tons of room and allowed furniture placement to flow.

And wouldn’t you say that it’s true … that this room seemed to grow three sizes too? I would.

High five Nancy! Much more to see on her blog Artsy Chicks Rule.

November 10, 2015 By Lindsey @ Better After

8 In chairs/ottomans/seating/ tables/dressers

Hotline Ring

*ring ring!*

Hello, you’ve reached the Furniture Rescue Hotline. How can I assist you today?

Hi. I need your help. I don’t know what to do.

Well, that’s what I’m here for. What’s the story?

I … I found a dresser. It looks bad … really bad.

It’s ok. We’re going to get through this. How bad is it?

It’s missing some drawers.

How many drawers?

ALL of the drawers.

Ok, ok. Stay calm. Is the dresser in a safe location?

Sort of. It’s in my garage. Next to seven other dressers I’ve ‘rescued.’

Oh boy. Has your husband seen it yet?

Not yet.

Good. That’s good. We still have time. Do you have access to plywood, stain, and beadboard?

Yes.

Great. Listen carefully and stay on the line. Here’s what you need to do. You’re going to break down four drawer spaces. Use the plywood to create a bench, then line the rest of the empty drawers with beadboard. Paint it a pretty color and stain the top. Drag it into your entryway, dress it up with pillows and adorable accessories. Boom. It’s a totally unique foyer bench and totally NOT another rescue dresser. Your husband will be none the wiser.

ARE YOU STILL WITH ME!?

Yes! I’m here. It worked. It worked! It looks beautiful. I don’t know how I can ever thank you.

Don’t thank me. Just doing my job. But you can thank Brooke over at Start at Home for the ingenious idea.

November 9, 2015 By Lindsey @ Better After

6 In tables/dressers

Postfab Cabs

Storage cabinets are great for storing things and holding things. They are also a great place to set things and put things. What’s more, you can even organize things and arrange things in these hardworking cabinets! Wow!

But sometimes they are so busy storing your junk, they start to look like junk. That’s not cool. Let’s give them a little makeover to say thanks for doing a great job!

Harp’s cabinet below did not actually look like junk and was doing a fine job at holding wine and such. But she thought it could use a little more foxiness, so …

… that’s literally what she did. Check out her page at Lovely Things by Luna Claire to see the details, including those new pulls. (Spoiler alert! They’re foxes!)

Speaking of wine, that’s what Stephanie’s cabinet was designed to hold, I think. It could also be a mail sorter, or a shoe holder, or a system for inefficiently storing firewood. WHO KNOWS.

But I do know that it looks better now! She updated it with metallic silver paint, nailhead trim, and a cute little set of feet to raise it up. Just those few inches off the ground really matter in making if feel like a true piece of furniture. I’d say she ‘nailed it,’ if I enjoyed corny puns, and I DO. See more at The Styled Soul.

Vicki and Amy added some punch to this cabinet that they fixed up to sell, with a hand-painted vintage bicycle graphic. Hand-painted! So well done.

If you want to learn the secrets of how they do it, they are happy to share over at Canary Street Crafts.

And right as you were starting to wonder if silvery/gray distressed cabinet makeovers were all I had for you today, enter this showpiece from Kandice at Just the Woods, LLC.

Before: boring cabinet.

After: vintage Navy-poster emblazoned cabinet! Amazing. It gets my SEAL of approval. (Corny Navy pun, CHECK!)

November 6, 2015 By Lindsey @ Better After

12 In bathroom/ laundry rooms

Budget Bathroom and Being a Belieber

There are three things we need to talk about today.

First of all: the Biebs. Justin Bieber AMIRIGHT? And NO, I’m not talking about his nakkie pictures you perv, I’m talking about his latest music. It’s … good. Ugh, I feel like I’m admitting something sinful here, but I REALLY LIKE IT. So catchy! So dance-y! Who’s with me?? Get on this train!

Second: Walmart grocery pickup. GAME CHANGER. I finally decided to give it a try for the first time yesterday, and now there’s no going back, ever.

It works like this: you order your groceries online, schedule a time to pick them up, drive up to the reserved parking spot, someone wheels out your whole order and puts it in your car for you, and you’re done. You don’t have to drag your terrorist toddler inside. You don’t have to stand in line. You don’t have to wander the aisles for twenty minutes trying to remember where the olives are. You don’t have to guess what items you need because you undoubtedly forgot your list at home. You don’t even have to wear pants. You probably should wear pants. BUT STILL. I could go on and on, but Walmart is not even paying me to say this, so I’ll leave it at that. But seriously, try it.

Thirdly: Here is your Better After of the day. It’s a budget bathroom makeover by Jen, who plans on someday gutting and re-configuring this whole space, but in the meantime decided it could use a little cosmetic update.

Now everything is clean and serene. And did she replace those pizza-joint-esque tiles? Nope, just painted right over them! Brilliant.

She carried the same scheme over into the adjacent laundry room, which nicely ties everything together. I’m a big fan of uniform paint colors throughout a house.

It never ceases to amaze me what a little paint and some accessorizing can do! Check out the whole rundown on her blog They Say a Picture is Worth A Thousand Words.

November 5, 2015 By Lindsey @ Better After

9 In chairs/ottomans/seating

Dying for a Change

You know how sometimes you can meet an attractive person, but then as time goes by and you get to know them better, the more UNattractive they become? I’ve known a few people like that in my day. Same goes for the opposite. You might initially think a person is rather unattractive, but as you get to know them better and discover their awesome/hilarious/fun-loving personality, all physical flaws melt away, and you find yourself totally enamored.

That was sort of the story with this yard-sale chair. At first, Sarah was repulsed by its overpowering ugliness. Then she sat down and quickly realized her tush had never been more comfortably embraced by any other chair. She couldn’t bear to leave it at the yard-sale. Her husband was unconvinced. Then HE sat in the chair.

They bought the chair.

Still … it was eye-searingly ugly. Sarah decided she would try to dye it, to help it stand out a little less. I didn’t even know you could do this, but apparently all it takes is a few bottles of Rit dye and one of those high pressure tank sprayers that you can find for around $10.

She says “In the end, I now have an uber comfy chair that is thankfully more decade appropriate. The entire make-over cost less than $20, including the cost of the chair, the sprayer, the dye, and the scotch guard. Now instead of this chair being an eyesore, it is not only a unique, beautiful piece, but a real conversation item for those familiar with how it looked before.”

Check out the whole process on her blog Backwoods Babies.

And for another groovy trip down Seventies Street, check out this bench that Better After reader Shannon found at a rummage sale for five bucks. FIVE BUCKS! I would have bought that too, even if I had no idea what to do with it. I would have probably just kept it in my garage for months and months until my husband offered (threatened) to give it a one-way ticket to Dumpstertown.

Funnily enough, that’s exactly what happened to Shannon. Once she realized her husband was probably serious, she hustled down to Hobby Lobby and found some adorable fabric on clearance …

… and gave this old girl a bright new look. Isn’t it sweet? This is Shannon’s first ever project! Let’s all give her a collective high-five!

November 4, 2015 By Lindsey @ Better After

13 In kitchen/dining

Toddler Terrorist and a Kitchen Makeover

I wish I had some fun words of funness to share with you today, but I don’t. All my mental energy has been spent dealing with my toddler, which is roughly equivalent to high-stakes terrorist negotiations. If you have a toddler, or have ever met a toddler, you know. They will relentlessly dictate every aspect of your life, from eating to sleeping, to using the bathroom, to merely walking from room to room. Let me give you a rundown of our last five minutes:

He is happily playing with his toys, so I sneak away for a quick minute and get on the computer.

He immediately senses something productive attempting to happen.

He dramatically bangs open the office door and announces “HELLO! I POOPY!”

I pretend I don’t see him. He bangs both fists on my keyboard. He throws the computer mouse across the room.

I say, “Go play!” He pulls the paper out of the printer and stuffs it back in.

“Just give me one minute!” I plead. He empties my desk drawers and screams so loudly my vision blurs.

“I’m going to write all about you and put it on the internet,” I threaten. He sweetly holds up a toy giraffe, “Horse?” he says. Awww. He’s adorable.

“Let’s go change that diaper,” I say and pick him up. He immediately begins thrashing wildly about while clawing at my face and yanking my hair as if he has never met me before and I’m attempting to kidnap him. I’m 90% sure he just pulled off one of my moles.

I collapse on the floor, defeated. He happily resumes playing with his toys, on my face.

Anyway. I’m tired.

In other news, here’s a gorgeous kitchen makeover from Nina. Perhaps I too will have a beautiful and sparkling kitchen one day, when my toddler has outgrown his ‘forcefully-spit-everything-you-put-into-my-mouth-out’ stage and I return to feeling like a fully-functioning human again.