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3 In bathroom

Double or Nothing

Some things are better in pairs. Fuzzy dice. Roller skates. Concert tickets. Chromosomes.

Some things are called “pairs” but really aren’t, like pants. And tweezers. If your tweezers break in half, do you call them a tweeze? It makes no sense.

But here’s something that makes perfect sense: a pair of shower curtains! Why have one when you can have two?

Jamie decided to double the dosage when she gave this bathroom a nautical-themed makeover.

Nautical Bathroom Makeover | betterafter.net

 

Nautical Bathroom Makeover | betterafter.net

 

She really went ‘overboard!’ (haha, nautical-themed pun). See more on her blog Southern Revivals.

31 In lighting

A Tale of Two Pretties

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. Or something like that.

This is the tale of two thrift store lamps, plain, outdated, and cast aside. But not for long.

Friends Naomi and Sage from Plaster & Disaster bought the lamps and challenged each other to a lamp-off. Each would take one and make it over in her own style.

Two Lamps, Two Designs | betterafter.net
Two Lamps, Two Designs (Naomi) | betterafter.net

For Naomi, this meant high-gloss black contrasted with a glamorous gold-dipped look. I love how she filled the ridges in on the bottom with wood filler before applying the gold. It makes it look authentically ‘dipped’ and not just painted. Fabulous!

 

Two Lamps, Two Designs (Sage)| betterafter.net

Sage also opted to smooth out the ridges on her lamp by sanding the entire thing. It got a coat of turquoise paint, then she layered on thin coats of gold using a mix of paint and water, which she sprayed on with a squirt bottle. Very cool technique! It gives it a shimmery ceramic look.

What fun! I want to have a lamp-off. Who’s with me? You know what else I’ve always wanted to do? I’ll tell you. Find some completely hopeless items at the thrift-store and have a competition to see who can improve them the most.

I would choose a few participants and send them their ‘mystery’ item in the mail, then they would report back with their efforts and we would all vote and have a good laugh.  Oh man, the more I talk about it, the more I want to do it.  Would anyone be interested in that? Let me know. I think we should make it happen.

15 In bedroom/ kiddie

Oscarworthy

Happy Monday! Thanks so much for all your kind words about my mini bathroom makeover!  I truly appreciate it.

So what’s new with you? Did you watch the Academy Awards? I didn’t, but I did scroll through the #oscars hashtag on Instagram, just so I could see what people were wearing. I should teach a class: The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Watching the Oscars.

Don’t hate me, but I think my favorite was Solange, followed by Gwyneth and ScarJo. They were edgy but elegant, and not covered head to toe in tulle and ruffles and sequins.  I’ve made some helpful illustrations to show you my least favorites:

oscar dress

oscar dress2

oscars dress3

I mean, right? Who were your favorites? Seems like everyone always either plays it way too safe or veers into Crazytown on the Oh No She Di’int Express.

 

Anyway, lets get down to it.  Monday morning makeover coming your way, courtesy of Jennifer at Dimples and Tangles who has recently put the finishing touches on her daughter’s bedroom.

Before: simple and sweet, but nothing to get excited about.  Well, get ready to get excited …

Black, White, Yellow Girl  copy

 

Black, White, Yellow Girl Bedroom Makeover | betterafter.net

Bam! Isn’t that fantastic? It deserves a spot on the best dressed list for sure!

38 In bathroom/ My House

My Mini Bathroom Makeover

Hey gang, remember how we’re in the throes of redoing our floors? And how my entire house is a disaster full of rubble and dust and every item of furniture we own is crammed into my office, where I am writing this as we speak, piles of crap teetering dangerously above my head?

Well, the madness was too much. I was overwhelmed with the mess and needed at least one pretty little spot in the house. So I decided now was as good a time as ever to pay some attention to my bathroom upstairs.

As you can see, it was severely lacking in attention. It was on the brink of picking fights with strangers and starting fires at school. It probably already has a tattoo that I don’t know about.

bathroom before makeover | betterafter.net

I’m sorry little bathroom! I have neglected you!

Builder bland bathroom before  | betterafter.net

So here it is after its mini-makeover:

Bathroom makeover with stenciled wall  | betterafter.net

Drifting Arrows wall stencil in bathroom makeover  | betterafter.net

Bathroom makeover with stenciled wall  | betterafter.net

Nothing a little bit of paint and some accessorizing can’t fix! It’s a small step toward my ultimate master bedroom vision of “Monochromatic and Glamorous!” which is prettier in my head than my words are making it sound.

I purchased a few new things, but most everything else were items I already had.  It’s amazing the possibilities that open up when your entire house is turned inside out.

Sometimes we get stuck with things ‘belonging’ in once place that we never bother to check if they would look great somewhere else. Try it! Take some of your favorite accessories on a field trip around your house and see for yourself.  Maybe that jar that is ‘supposed’ to go in the kitchen will actually fit perfectly in the bathroom and you’ll end up loving it ten thousand times more than you ever did before.

Initial jewlery dish  | betterafter.net

My sister-in-law gave me this tiny dish with my initial on it, and while I loved it, I never knew what exactly to do with it. Turns out it wanted to be a perfect little jewelry catch-all on the bathroom counter all along!

silver side table with wood top | betterafter.net

The table is from HomeGoods, and I just love it. I love that the footprint is so small, it only takes up about one tile’s worth of space, so I can move it around.  I’m actually planning to keep it closer to the shower, which I didn’t clean, so I didn’t take any pictures of that side of the bathroom to show you. Ha! But I promise I do have a shower, and I sometimes even use it.

The brush isn’t a prop either, I’m giving this ‘dry brushing‘ craze a try.  Have you ever heard of it? Had amazing results? Do tell, do tell.

The chandelier is a $9 Goodwill find, and while I like gold, I wasn’t digging this brassy gold, so I gave it a quick coat of silver spray paint.

goodwill chandelier before  | betterafter.net

 

Silver painted chandelier makeover  | betterafter.net

In all truthfulness, I went with black first (why? I don’t know), but that made it looked like a scary spider, so THEN I went with silver.  I wish it was a shinier finish, but it was $9, so I ain’t mad at it.

The wall stencil is called Drifting Arrows by Cutting Edge Stencils. It was tricky working around the window right in the middle of the wall, but all in all it probably only took a couple hours. Definitely a two-person job.

Mercury glass vase from HomeGoods  | betterafter.net

 

Pearlized wall medallion from HomeGoods  | betterafter.net

Wall medallion from HomeGoods, stenciled wall  | betterafter.net

I love how the light catches these medallions, and that they’re slightly different from each other too.

bathroom accessories  | betterafter.net

Thanks for looking! Hope you enjoyed it! Here’s a list of sources if you had any questions:

  • Gold book: I made that with gold leaf and hot glue!
  • Vase, wall medallions, silver side table: HomeGoods
  • Rug: Ross
  • Chandelier: Goodwill find
  • Initial dish: Anthropologie (I think)
  • Stencil: Drifting Arrows by Cutting Edge Stencils.
  • Wall Color: Accessible Beige (most boring paint color name of all time) by Sherwin Williams

I sure would appreciate it if you pinned and shared this post!

13 In fashion

Go change your clothes.

Today, instead of digging through the furniture graveyard at the thrift-store, we’re going to head over to the OTHER section. The section that I’m pretty sure is the root cause of that unmistakable ‘thrift-store smell.’  That’s right, the clothing section.  It’s time for a Fashion Friday!

The subject of the day? Dresses.

red ress refashion before

red dress refashion after

This little red number from Ladygirl Vintage makes me want to dust off my sewing machine right this second. (Nevermind that every single surface of my house needs to be dusted anyway thanks to our flooring adventure).

Also nevermind that I can’t really sew.  Here’s a sad and terrible story about that. I have a friend who is a professional seamstress. For some zany reason she has it in her head that I actually CAN sew. A few weeks ago she called me up and asked how confident I was with my alteration skills because she had “a fun little job” that she needed some help with.

I had to turn her down and admit that my basic sewing skills usually involve a glue gun. Turns out her “fun little job” was doing alterations for the halftime entertainment at the Super Bowl, including Katy Perry and Rihanna.  Not kidding, I almost cried.  I wanted to go back in time and punch myself in the face for never learning how to really sew.

 

Ok, here’s another pretty dress refashion before I start crying again.

vintage refashion before copy

vintage dress refashion

Ladygirl Vintage also updated this denim romper, and it’s so fresh and fabulous! I just want to twirl in that pleated skirt. While I gently weep.

 

This next dress totally looked like an Easter egg, but I didn’t mind that aqua fabric.  Unfortunately, it was also dotted with an assortment of mustard-colored stains. The solution?

lace dress refashion

lace dress refashion after

Dye the whole thing mustard! Or technically ‘goldenrod’ which is a much prettier sounding color. Kara removed all the lacy bits and updated the silhouette and it’s darling!  See it on her blog While Camden Sleeps.

 

Outdated prom dresses are usually pretty easy to find in the thrift stores, and perfect for an ’80s prom-themed party. But if you don’t have a wacky costume party to attend in the near future, you can just make a regular good-looking dress instead.

Fashion Friday Prom Style -Blue -| betterafter.net

Fashion Friday Prom Style | betterafter.netFrom Miche at Buttons and Birdcages, so cute!

 

This next dress also looks like an old prom dress, but further back than the eighties.  More like the seventies. I know that for a fact because my mom’s old prom dress looked almost exactly like this. I even wore it once, but not at my own prom, no gosh no! I used it to dress up like a pioneer for a church activity. Ha!

Fashion Friday Prom Style - Yellow -| betterafter.net

Fashion Friday Prom Style - Yellow -| betterafter.net

It’s flirty and floral and totally modern now! See it on Betsy’s blog Anna Nimmity.

And while we’re on the subject of prom, why not repurpose an old wedding dress as a prom dress?  It just takes a little bit of dye and some basic sewing skills. Ok, slightly more than basic sewing skills, meaning you probably shouldn’t use a glue gun. Whatever.

Fashion Friday Prom Style -Wedding - | betterafter.net

Fashion Friday Prom Style -wedding -| betterafter.netIt’s gorgeous! See it at Lisa Golightly.

13 In other rooms

Can I take your coat?

Every home needs a designated space to stash shoes and hang coats. Well, except we don’t really use coats here in Phoenix, but occasionally when it drops below 60 degrees, we might throw on a light jacket. I actually had to wear a jacket when I walked the kids to school yesterday morning. True, I got too hot after a few minutes and took it off, but still. I can totally relate to you north-westerners buried under your eternal snowstorm. (Sorry! This is my gloating season).

Anyway, if you’re currently housebound and subsisting on melted snow, maybe you could try organizing your entryway to kill some time. It’s not like you have anywhere else to go! (Ok, ok, I’ll stop).

Taryn at Design, Dining, and Diapers spruced up this space with some clutter-busting accessories and a black and white motif.  Isn’t is amazing how even just a few little decorative accents will liven up a space?

Black and White Mudroom Makeover | betterafter.net

Black and White Mudroom Makeover | betterafter.net

 

And Dustin and Whitney had this awkward niche in their home that was formerly occupied by the broom and the trashcan.  No way does your broom deserve that much square footage.

Mud Bench Makeover with Herringbone Wall | betterafter.net

Mud Bench Makeover with Herringbone Wall | betterafter.net

I absolutely love how they put this little space to work now! So functional! So eye-pleasing! I pretty much need to build an awkward niche in my house just so I can stick one of these in there.  See it on their blog The Rooster and The Hen.

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