Better After

Let’s talk about stripes, baby.

If you ever find yourself in decorating paralysis, here’s a tip. Go take a nice long look at your closet. “Lindsey,” you are thinking, “be serious. I need help decorating my living room. I can’t even pick out a throw pillow to save my life. How is staring at my closet going to help? Am I in time-out?”

No, no, no, of course not. There’s just no better place to find your own personal style than … hello … the place where you physically keep your personal style. What looks do you gravitate toward? What patterns and colors you are attracted to? Would your favorite sweater serve you better if you chopped it up and turned it into that throw pillow? All good questions to ask yourself.

If you looked into my closet, you would find a lot of black and gray because I’m very boring (but at least I know what I like) and lot’s of stripes! I do love a good stripe.

So, if you are a fellow stripe-lover, you are sure to find inspiration with today’s makeovers, starting with this adorable nightstand.

Gray, white, and red can never be wrong together. So darn cute. I feel like the handles are coming in for a hug. From Danielle at 2 Little Super Heroes.

Shanna’s side table was very similar to Danielle’s, but she sent her stripes in the opposite direction. Oooh, slimming! I love the punch of the red handles here too.

See more at Restoration Redoux.

And lastly, who says your fridge needs to be boring? Well, nobody actually ever says that, but we’ve come to accept it as truth. Nuh-uh. Not for Katie. Why not have a striped fridge? I certainly can’t think of a good enough reason not to.

She created this look with nothing but black duct tape, and it’s amazing, and you can see it at Kate’s Design Space.

April 10, 2015 By Lindsey @ Better After

15 In office/ other rooms

What do you call an office in a closet? (Don’t say cloffice).

You know how sometimes you think you have a boring old closet, but it turns out it was actually a wonderful little office all along? You know that feeling? It’s similar to the feeling I had the other day when I was bummed out because I felt like I had suddenly gained a bunch of weight, but it turns out I just had my pants on backwards. All day.

The sad thing is, that’s happened to me more than once. But the happy thing is, Jennifer now has an adorable little office (I refuse to use the word ‘cloffice’) to enjoy instead of a dreary closet, and it has faux wood planks that are super cool, and you can see more at The Old Painted Cottage.

April 9, 2015 By Lindsey @ Better After

12 In kitchen/dining

Hold the Avocado

My grandpa always used to say “Do something new to your house once a year.” Repaint, replace, repair, update, upkeep, whatever it needs. That’s probably why his home and yard were both immaculate well into his eighties.

When Better After reader Elizabeth got married, she moved into her husband’s home and inherited quite the opposite. It was the home he had grown up in, and it hadn’t been updated once in 30 years! This is exactly how you end up with an avocado sink in 2015. Heed Grandpa’s advice, my friends. Heed it.

Fortunately, she was able to do it all at once, and replaced everything from top to bottom. I love the marble herringbone backsplash, and look! Cabinets that aren’t white! (I do love white cabinets, but it’s always nice to see something different for a change). Fabulous job Elizabeth!

April 8, 2015 By Lindsey @ Better After

13 In desks/hutches/buffets

If you have paperfilia, I feel ya.

Remember in the days of yore, when people relied on things called ‘maps’ to find where they were going? And once they got there, they sometimes used things called ‘postcards’ to send messages to people back home? I remember those days.

Nowadays, however, I need GoogleMaps just to find the addresses of people IN MY TOWN that I’ve KNOWN FOR YEARS. How sad is that? (That is also kinda Phoenix’s fault for making every single neighborhood look the same). I don’t know how we did it back then.

I remember one time in college I was going to a football game in a city I’d never been to. No cell phone, no Google, no map, none of that. This was my plan: to drive into the city and look for the football stadium. Haha, I was very naive and of course that plan didn’t work. But I stopped at a gas station and asked someone for directions. And that’s how I met my husband.

Not really, but I found the football game, and the point is that postcards and maps are way more romantic than text messages and Siri’s bleating.

Make no mistake, I would be lost without technology, but there’s just something about the physicality of paper. So here’s the word of the day: paperfilia: “a deep appreciation for the aesthetic qualities of paper; a preference for reading items printed on paper rather than displayed on a screen.” I think I have it.

Better After reader Ronja ‘mapped out’ this abandoned sewing cabinet and I think she has it too.

This desk from Brittany at By Brittany Goldwyn features vintage postcards and the effect would please any paperfiliac.

Do you think someday our grandchildren will print out our text correspondence and lovingly decoupage it onto their furniture? LOL, probz not. #justsayin #forrealdoe #twerk

April 7, 2015 By Lindsey @ Better After

12 In Uncategorized

Marsala make ya holla

Let’s check in on how Marsala – the Pantone “color of the year” – is doing so far. It’s April now, so it’s had plenty of time to gain some footing. I’m sure you’ve already painted half your walls and converted most of your wardrobe into this trendy shade.

No? I’m shocked!

Of course I’m not. I don’t HATE it, but I think it looks less ‘fresh and fashionable’ and more like ‘freshly bruised.’ (Why won’t they hire me to name paint colors already? Fresh Bruise is a winner if I’ve ever heard one).

Holly couldn’t take another second of her Marsala-soaked bedroom, not to mention the yellow window trim and electric blue closet thing, so she started back at zero with clean, crisp white on white.

Ahhh. My eyeballs just sighed with relief.

But Marsala wasn’t all she had to contend with, there was also this Tangerine Tango wall, a throwback to the color of 2012! At least someone out there has been taking Pantone seriously all these years.

She ditched the blue closet and opted for an ‘open wardrobe,’ and if all of my clothes and shoes were that lovely, I would too. They look more like perfectly planned accessories. My paint-stained yoga pants and piles of ugly shoes that I don’t even wear anymore but keeping holding onto for some reason just could not hang.

See more from Holly on her blog Avenue Lifestyle.

April 6, 2015 By Lindsey @ Better After

5 In decor/ miscellaneous

A tisket, a tasket, an easy Easter Basket

Pssst, I don’t mean to scare you, but EASTER is TOMORROW! Do you have your eggs and and baskets and goodies all ready to go? Yes? Well then. Good for you. Way to be prepared and stuff.

Some of us, on the other hand, will be picking out way through what remains in the Easter section of Target at around 10 pm tonight. And some of us might have forgotten where we stashed the Easter baskets last year. Luckily, Jess at Live Randomly Simple has a quick and easy Easter basket project made with minimal supplies and maximum cuteness.

A simple crate, wood strips, and wire is all it takes. Stuff it with some fake grass and you’re practically done. Just kidding. I actually don’t condone using fake grass. You will be cleaning it up until Christmas, trust me on that.