Better After

13 In miscellaneous

Golden for Goldie

I recently teamed up with HomeGoods to help share some sparkle this holiday season. I absolutely love HomeGoods, and I love partnering with them even more. Their goals of spreading happiness through creating beautiful homes is something I truly believe in. That’s pretty much my life vision statement.

When they challenged me to create a gift basket for a deserving person in my community, I saw in my mind exactly who it should go to.

Without divulging too many details, I’ll just say it was a friend of mine who lost a daughter this year, a beautiful baby girl named Goldie. It’s been absolutely devastating for her. As a friend, there’s not a more helpless feeling in the world. What can you possibly do? Send a card? Take flowers? Drop off a dinner? Will any of that mop up utter heartbreak? Of course not, but we try as best we can.

This time of year is especially tough on those dealing with the loss of a precious loved one, and while I know a gift basket full of treats certainly won’t take the pain away, it can maybe bring a little ray of golden sunshine to light up a dark day. So that was the plan.

HomeGoods is currently busting at the seams with golden goodies, perfect for a gold-themed gift, perfect for honoring little Goldie.

The hard part was narrowing down the choices. So. Much. Gold.

This basket was the first thing I grabbed, followed by this gold-dotted table runner. I love the designs on both!

There were tons of sentimental gifts: journals, photo albums, picture frames, memory boxes, but I kind of went in another direction with a loose “Christmas Morning” theme. I did get this journal though. (I loved it so much I got two and gave one to myself!)

Other items include a gold-wrapped box of chocolates, a ceramic muffin tray and muffin mix, hot cocoa mix, a cozy blanket and a golden mercury glass Christmas tree.

I love that HomeGoods has such a varied selection. Need a tea kettle? And a gift for your best friend? And a new set of sheets? And an enormous gingerbread man cookie cutter?

They’ve got you covered.

Look, I made a gif! This is my first one ever. Here you can see the step-by-step creation of the gift basket, a very technical process that required this gif. (Not really, but it was fun. Click over if you are in a reader and can’t see it, and really want to see it for some reason).

I topped it all off with a big golden bow, and took it over to my friend. Based on the amount of hugs she gave me, I think she really liked it. She took the bow off and put it on top of her little golden-themed Goldie tree, which put a tear in my eye. So bittersweet life can be.

Thank you HomeGoods for being so generous, and for spreading happiness, and for helping me bring a little golden sunshine to a friend who could use some.

Happy Saturday.

December 13, 2014 By Lindsey @ Better After

6 In miscellaneous

Movie Trailer

((This makeover a little out of the norm today, but I loved it so much I just had to share!))

I have an unhealthy addiction to celebrity gossip magazines, and one feature they all have in common is candid pictures of celebrities living their everyday lives.

“STARS! THEY’RE JUST LIKE US!” They pump their gas! They buy groceries at the store!! They take their kids TO THE PARK!!!

It’s true. Sometimes celebrities are just like us. Sometimes they live with a space that they hate for so long, that they eventually become blind to it. Such was the case with Grey’s Anatomy star, Ellen Pompeo and her depressing work trailer. It was boring, outdated, and had not a shred of personality. She’d been using this trailer for ten years!

She hooked up with a designer who helped her transform it into a super chic space worthy of any celebrity superstar. And the best part is they did it on a budget too – there is plenty of IKEA in the mix. They really are just like us! I feel like Ellen and I could totally hang out in here and paint each others nails and talk about life and our favorite things to buy at IKEA. (meatballs, duh).

More to see from this makeover over on Domaine.

December 12, 2014 By Lindsey @ Better After

8 In kitchen/dining

Boy-Approved Kitchen

As the mother of three boys, I can attest to the fact that they don’t walk into a kitchen and notice outdated light fixtures or tired appliances. They don’t see worn linoleum and fading formica countertops. They don’t care if the cabinets coordinate with the backsplash. They are there for one reason alone: to get food into their mouth hole.

So when Erin’s son kept referring to their kitchen as “the ugliest kitchen in the whole town,” she knew it was beyond time for a change.

Spending less than $4,000, nearly half of which went to new hardwood floors, she achieved a gorgeous new look that they can both be proud of!

See the whole budget breakdown on her blog Red House Renovations.

December 11, 2014 By Lindsey @ Better After

53 In My House

My Home for Christmas

Oh, hi. Looks like I arranged for myself to share a Christmas home tour with you today. Nevermind that I have done zero Christmas shopping and we’re still eating off Halloween themed-paper plates over here and these types of things give me the sweats. You don’t mind, right?

What’s that? I can’t hear you over the store-bought sugar cookie I just shoved in your mouth. Here, have some eggnog. Let’s look at this one square foot of cuteness at my front door:

I like this little spot. Nice and simple. I painted the white pine cones, but the others were an experiment from last year where I attempted to bleach them. It works and looks pretty cool. Just soak them in a bucket of bleach for a few days, then let them dry out completely (far away from pets and kids duh).

Down the hall a bit we run into my Christmas mantle which you’ve seen before. It’s still there, but the baby has pulled down the stockings a few times, that jerk.

Just kidding, he’s the best and he can’t ever make me mad, even though he broke, knocked over, pulled down, and tore up about a hundred things yesterday. If you missed the post, there is somewhat of a stocking tutorial in it, so check that out if you wanna.

Now we come to the dining room, which I lovehate.

It’s a cool room with these fun pillars, but I’ve given this room hardly any attention at all since we moved here in May. It just has a long way to go. I will now refrain from pointing out all the things I don’t like about it. Man, house tours make me anxious! Why am I a blogger again?

The last three Christmas’s we have been in three different homes, so it’s a little crazy trying to figure out new places for old things over and over. But I love this new guy here:

I found the cake plate and the oversize cloche at TJ Maxx, and they were each around $10 or so. Bargain alert! I’ve had it on my table since Halloween, where it housed my glitter pumpkins. It has yet to house a cake. But I think it looks pretty cute with some bulbs stuffed inside. Tip: fill the center with white cotton batting first, then arrange the bulbs around that for a fuller look.

We don’t have a chimney here in Arizona, so we have to leave ol’ Santa a key.

In case you’ve been hitting the eggnog extra hard, you’ve probably noticed a gold/white theme happening here. For the longest time we had a red and white theme, which gave way to gold and white, but I think I’m going to try black and white next year, still with plenty of gold. I don’t aim for a ‘trendy’ tree, but I do feel the itch to switch things up much more often now. I blame blogging for my short attention span. What were we talking about?

Basically my tree looked exactly like this last year. I didn’t handcraft any new ornaments or come up with a super hip tree theme that will blow the mind of the blogosphere, but it’s a nice tree. Even if it kind of feels like Santa barfed on it. I guess I’m feeling the urge to switch it up and simplify at the same time. Too much. Not enough? Is this the most depressing Christmas tour ever? I’m sorry! I’m the worst. Here, have more eggnog.

I love how the tree skirt turned out, if you can even call it that. Its just a set of those $4 tulle curtains from IKEA with Christmas lights underneath. Easy.

My gold glitter deer silhouette art held up nicely from last year.

And since I don’t want to leave you without a before and after, let’s pretend this counts:

Woah! What changed? Nothing, other than the settings on my camera.

If you’ve been trying to get pretty glowy pictures of your Christmas tree and failing, here are a few tips. I am by no means a pro photographer, and there are plenty of tutorials out there that can give you much more technical information than I can, but these are a few simple tricks I’ve learned.

1. DON’T USE FLASH! Ew! Gross! No!

Even if you don’t have a fancy DSLR camera, your basic point-and-shoot should still have the option to turn off the flash.

2. Use a tripod.

If you don’t have a tripod, that’s ok. Use a stack of books or something similarly sturdy, but don’t rely on a steady hand.

3. Play with the settings on your camera. You can see the settings I used on the right picture above, and it makes a world of difference. Many point-and-shoots even have settings you can play around with, so give ’em a go. It’s not like we’re paying for film anymore people.

Well, that’s it. Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Hey, don’t forget your cookie!

Check out more home tours from my blogger friends:

Monday

Postcards from the Ridge

Tuesday

Confessions of a Serial Do-it-Yourselfer

Wednesday

anderson + grant

What Meegan Makes

Cupcakes and Crinoline

Thursday

All Things Heart and Home

Friday

Beyond The Picket Fence

December 10, 2014 By Lindsey @ Better After

9 In desks/hutches/buffets/ tables/dressers

The Dark Side

You know what I’m craving lately? If you said brownies, you are wrong, haha! Because I currently have one in my mouth right now. But you were half right, because the answer is browns. Deep, dark, earthy colors. Wood tones. What has gotten into me?

I wasn’t even mad when I saw the color of the year for 2015 is Marsala. A) that’s a tasty pasta sauce and B) it’s a rich, robust, red/brown which sounds terrible when I describe it, and pretty much everybody else hates it, but you know what? Consider me the one lone fan in the grandstands waving my tiny Marsala-colored flag saying “Hey, it’s not so bad!”

So let’s get down and dirty with a few full-bodied makeovers today, starting with these side tables from Bre. She tore off the old leather of nastiness and used an adorable french stencil in its place, along with a two-tone paint job that screams sophistication. But y’know, sophisticatedly.

See them on her blog BrePurposed.

Megan didn’t care for the light wood of this armoire and she had nothing to lose since it was a freebie. So she decided to go all the way. That’s right, this was her FIRST furniture makeover ever. (I hope you used protection Megan. Gloves of course! Stain is a nightmare to get off your hands, amiright?)

Great job. Let’s give her a communal high-five.See more on her blog C’mon, Get Crafty.

And lastly, a lovely set from Sarah, whose thirsty pieces were crying out for a long deep drink of drama. Coaxing out that wood grain and a slick coat of black gloss around the frame did the trick. Schmancy.

See more on her blog FunCycled.

December 9, 2014 By Lindsey @ Better After

12 In other rooms

I see a boring door and I want to paint it black.

It’s time to pull out the LBDs and get ready for holiday party season! While nothing glams up a gal faster and easier than a little black dress, I’m actually talking about Little Black Doors.

That’s right, I am advocating for painting your doors black. Right now. Just don’t come looking for me if/when your husband freaks out.

But don’t worry! It will look fantastic and you’ll only wish you had done it sooner. Don’t take my word for it, here’s an example from Erin at Red House Renovations who gave her foyer a quick and easy transformation with black paint.

As quick and easy as painting a banister around a ton of spindles is. So … not all that quick. But I love the look. It’s daring and traditional at the same time. If my plan to “paint now, repent later” hasn’t convinced you, here’s more evidence from Thrifty Decor Chick, who has painted every door in her house black and has some great tips too. Do it! And then come over and help me do it too!

December 8, 2014 By Lindsey @ Better After

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