Before and Afters – Page 14

Fix Up That Old Piece of Furniture in the Basement – DIY Painted Bookshelf

FIX UP THAT OLD PIECE OF FURNITURE DOWN IN THE BASEMENT My oldest daughter, April, had an old bookshelf down in her basement that she wanted to use for her homeschooling books. It looked like it had been in a circus wagon! She bought white primer and a gallon of dark brown paint from Menards and used a hand sander on the bookshelf to ready it for the primer. I was supposed to help her, but had guests on the week she wanted it done so she forged on alone. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Here is the “before” bookshelf. She sanded it, primed it, and then painted it dark brown. After April painted the bookshelf, she took a sanding sponge to it to rough it up a bit to give it the old and worn look. The Shabby Chic look is in these days. Here it … Read more

Easy DIY Fall Kitchen Decor

Nine projects – one day. Add half a dozen more. Try ths easy DIY fall kitchen decor – you will enjoy your kitchen more if it's pretty to look at. Are you happy with how you store your kitchen goods? This is how I kept my dry goods for years tucked away in my pantry – pretty unimaginative, I know. Not being a "pink" person, I was glad to get rid of that bucket. What do you have sitting around that you hate to look at? There's nothing I can say about the baking soda. It is what it is. Enter the mason jars. Five dozen mason jars in varying designs allowed me to pick out some of the unusual ones to use for my kitchen fall decor. Paint mason jar rings your accent color and then fill them with dry goods. Make use of … Read more

Painted Fall Decor Accents – Before and After

Today is the day I get to use all the things I bought this week Let’s do some Fall Decor! I can’t wait to show you what I did today. I need to hurry or I will have to change that to “yesterday.” This is what I started with: Bag of 12 hand painted ceramic pumpkins – $4.00 at Goodwill Funky Candle Holder – $3.00 at Goodwill Little metal vase – $.86 at Nice as New consignment shop Metal hanging thingy – $1.50 Nice as New consignment shop Ugly green pumpkin – $1.99 at Goodwill Little orange pumpkin – $.75 at Goodwill Black sequin pumpkin – $1.00 at Target (Tar-jay as I like to call it) Blackboard spray paint – $3.98 at Menards Jelly Jar – old deco from years ago Two decorative glass canisters – $1.99 & $1.49 at 2 different Goodwills Bag of caramel chocolate brownie flavored Cameron’s … Read more

Front Room Transformation

Blah…Boring….Antiseptic! The last two days I was in Virginia, my daughter Jillian and I pulled together all our furniture DIY redos, and roped Taylor, my son-in-law, into hanging the curtains, shelf, and travel posters. I used a couple of Pinterest ideas to make the jobs easier. I will post those in a couple of days. But for now, I want to show you our transformation. As you can see, the front room in the duplex consisted of three white walls with tan carpet, two windows and a door. Blah…Boring…Antiseptic! We found a used dining room table and 4 chairs in a local second hand shop for $200. That in itself brought hominess into the front room. Though we mostly used deco she already had, we went out to Kohls and Ross to find accent pieces to pull it all together. We found a large clock that was originally $150 on … Read more

Redecorate easily with paint and a little imagination | Love My DIY Home

Small Changes, Big Result – Furniture and Room Accessories Transformed

I took an old deacon’s bench to Jillian out in Virginia. After Taylor, my son-in-law, re-assembled it, he didn’t like it in their front room, nor did I. But Jillian insisted it stay for memories’ sake. She said, “I don’t care that it’s country looking, It’s from my childhood and I like it.” Her dad made it, so that was enough for her. Sometimes memories are stronger than decorator savvy. She doesn’t decorate in country, nor do I any more, so we had to do something to make it fit. Here it is the “before” picture: So, since my mantra lately has been, “Just spray paint it,” I will now show you the “after” picture – I’m sure it will be no surprise to you all! Click here to view the post that tells you how we prepped and painted it. She used Rustoleum’s Painter’s Touch 2x Coverage Satin Espresso. … Read more

Carla Aston Kitchen Makeover {Love My DIY Home}

Dramatic Kitchen Makeover

I found this dramatic makeover of a kitchen that went from drab to amazing on Designed with Carla Aston. Her story originally appeared several years ago in the Kitchens and Baths magazine. Her challenge was to take builder standard oak cabinets and make them look good. Well, let me tell you, she did more than make them look good! Homeowners who are searching for Roanoke kitchebn cabinets may contact Roanoke River Cabinetry. Check out https://peelandstickwallmurals.com/ for a wide range of themes and styles to transform any room. Since I like to work with what I already have because I am frugal and try to be a good steward, I see this as a great example of how you can make drastic changes without ripping everything out and starting over. But, on the other hand, if your space needs that major makeover, you can put your trust on companies like the … Read more

Old Baby Dresser into Master Bedroom Lingerie Chest & Matching Desk DIY

OLD BABY DRESSER TRANSFORMS INTO MASTER BEDROOM LINGERIE CHEST Get Creative With That Old Unused Furniture Don’t give that old crummy dresser away! A couple of years ago just after my daughter was married, she called me up and said, “What are you going to do with that old baby dresser I used to have in my room?” Translated, that means, “I need a dresser and I can’t afford to buy one. Can I have your old junky one?” As a mom, you need to learn to read between the lines when you get those calls. Since I have an emotional attachment to that old thing, I told her, “Umm, I don’t think so.” She of course knows how to read in between my lines as well. She knew it meant, “I’m attached; I have no idea why I’d like to keep it, but you can’t have it.” … Read more

Before and After Half Bath

BEFORE & AFTER HALF BATH We Moved into our house October of 2012. It was a foreclosure that had sat for a year unoccupied. The story of how we found it was quite miraculous. We had moved from the Kalamazoo area in Michigan to Wausau, Wisconsin about 2 1/2 years ago into a tiny rental house. We didn’t want to rush into a new house, partly because we had some pretty specific needs in our next house, and partly because we wanted to get a good deal. Hiring a professional moving company such as https://threemovers.com/germany-international-moving-companies/ made the transition smoother. We must have looked at 100 houses over the two year span…but that’s another story for another day. But today, I’m sharing our little half-bath redesign. It is simple – just a bit of painting made all the difference. I’ve had a lot of requests to show before and after … Read more

Re-purpose Old Chairs

Re-purposing Old Chairs More on my Porch Decor series… Often when you buy things at auctions they offer a smattering of this and that hoping to snag you on one item just to get rid of a dozen others. Some days my husband announces he won an auction and lists the different things in the grouping. It’s not uncommon for him to submit a low ball bid just to see if he can win. (I think it’s a sickness we’ve both contracted!) There is usually only one thing he wants in the group. If he wins, he brings the whole lot home and asks me if I want any of the extra stuff. Recently he won an auction that had 3 old chairs – dusty grimy old chairs that would only be valuable to someone wanting to have a bon fire… or a DH DIYer (die hard do it … Read more