Better After

French Dressing

Melody was using this cute little oak desk as a stand for her miter saw – which was fine and good – but it had potential to be much more. That’s like buying a cute desk at a thriftstore and using it to hold tools. (Sorry, I couldn’t think of an analogy. Summer continues to kick my butt and my brain at the same time, which is hardly seems fair). That’s like wearing a new outfit to paint your house? That’s like buying a laptop and using it as a paperweight? I should just stop.

But Melody didn’t stop, not at simply dragging it inside, not at repainting the perfect shades of gray and cream, not until she had really dressed it up with a french script stencil and distressed it and accessorized it with a touch of french flair did it truly earn its place indoors. Muy chic!

See it at My Passion for Decor.

July 21, 2015 By Lindsey @ Better After

15 In kitchen/dining

Pickle Your Fancy?

In case you are tired of seeing white kitchen makeovers, which are always nice, but indeed plentiful to be found, here is something a little different. A Dill Pickle kitchen makeover.

Yessir, that is the name of the paint color that Michelle used to repaint the cabinets in her adobe home in Tucson, and they turned out fantastically!

She also knocked down a wall, rearranged a few appliances and repainted the adobe range hood, which was “painted a greasy, shiny metallic copper.” It’s so much better in white! Note to the former owners: you can’t use copper paint on something as textured as adobe and manage to fool anyone.

Michelle also kept the original floors and bumped up color even more with Mexican tile on the counters and backsplash. So fun! It’s a fiesta for my eyes!

July 20, 2015 By Lindsey @ Better After

5 In tables/dressers

No strain to stain!

Do you have trouble with commitment? I do. I love so many things that it’s hard to pick just one, for instance, in décor. I think that’s why it’s been difficult for me to get my home anywhere near to where I want it, because as soon as I choose a style or direction I think I like, I immediately second guess it and want something else.

Is there a professional decision maker I could hire? Not just for décor, but in everyday life? That would make my life 1000 times easier. Or at least ordering in restaurants 1000 times easier.

But sometimes you CAN have it all! For instance, you don’t need to commit to one color of stain, you can try them all, and they can look glorious together! Check out these dressers from Sarah at Funcycled for proof:

So dynamic! And still harmonious. That Sarah knows what she’s doing.

For further proof, see her ombre stained example below:

Doesn’t it look great with the gold hardware? I’ll say. You can also see more of this beauty right here at FunCycled.

July 17, 2015 By Lindsey @ Better After

10 In living room

Not an advocate for adequate.

This before living room was definitely nothing tragic. But is that the reaction we want our decor to get? “Nice place you got here. Definitely not tragic. It’s positively adequate!” No, of course not! Wendy wanted to aim higher when she tackled her family room makeover.

Mission accomplished! Looks like a page out of a magazine!

One thing that was holding the room back before was the scale. The sofas were oversized, the pillows were undersized, and the coffee table was adrift on a sea of carpet. Now, even with two full sized sofas, their streamlined design keeps them from overpowering the room. The coffee table is substantial, and the rug holds it all together, just like any decent and respectable rug should.

I’m also digging the color scheme. I don’t think she painted the walls; they seem to be the same shade of blue, but they look so much more toned down and refined with the gray accents vs. the yellow. What say you?

Much more to see from the talented Wendy on her blog Designed to Dwell.

July 15, 2015 By Lindsey @ Better After

6 In decor/ lighting

Scavenger Stunt

“Hey, don’t throw that away! I can use it for SOMETHING!”

Has your spouse ever uttered these words? Are YOU guilty of overusing this phrase? Don’t worry. Joan from Scavenger Chic and I are here today to help you find inspiration so you can finally spring into action!

Step one: grab that junky thing you’ve kept lying around for way too long. Step two: turn it into a lamp.

Tada! How easy was that? Pretty easy, if you know your way around a jigsaw and a nail gun and a lamp kit.

Or, here’s another approach for those of us less inclined to fiddle with electricity.

Step one: grab that junky thing you’ve kept lying around for way too long. Step two: turn it into a lantern!

This is what Joan did with the leftover parts of the shutters after she had stripped them to create her lamp. Joan is ROCKIN it! Come to my house Joan and let’s tackle my piles of junky stuff next!

See the lantern how-to on her blog Scavenger Chic.

July 14, 2015 By Lindsey @ Better After

6 In miscellaneous/ other rooms

Did you get a new stair-cut?

Sometimes I think I would like to write another blog about other stuff, and in this imaginary other blog I would have something I’d call #newmusicMondays, and on Monday I would share some new music that I like and that’s about as far as I’ve thought it through.

For instance, today I am listening to Beck’s latest album Morning Phase on repeat on repeat, and it’s just about the most perfect thing my ears have ever heard and I feel like I need to stop every person I meet and shake them by the shoulders and tell them nicely but forcefully to GIVE IT A LISTEN.

This album actually came out over a year ago, so maybe I would have to just call it #musicMonday, but these are just thoughts that I’m thinking. Anyway. Give it a listen.

But this is not a blog about music, no, unless you are talking about the music of makeovers! I have one sure to please your eyeballs right now.

This room needed a whole lotta help, but the biggest offender was not the burgundy carpet, dingy walls or pine-paneled ceiling. It was that tragic staircase, awkwardly taking up half the room and creating a bunch of stupid little corners of worthlessness.

Wowzers! What a change! Meredith and her husband did a little staircase geometry and reconfigured it into a simplified design that maximized every inch of the floorplan.

No more choppy awkward pony walls, no more corners-to-nowhere. It’s simply genius, much like the unsung genius of Beck. Just in case you thought I was done talking about him.

See more from Meredith at Me & My Handyman.

July 13, 2015 By Lindsey @ Better After

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