Archive | Reader Redress RSS feed for this section

Living Room Makeover – Warm and Dated turns Cool and Zen

by on October 6, 2012

This is one of my favorite before-and-afters ever.

Take a look at Becki’s warm but dated living room when we started.

She had never loved it, and for the longest time had wanted something more reflective of her zen and minimalist taste. Many months of planning and hard work later, (and trips to Pier 1, Lowe’s, and Chik-fil-A!) here is the reveal.

I still can’t believe it.

Before:

After:

The yellow and red window dressings were replaced with these lovely rich and textured brown tones.

Before:

After:

(Had to get a live shot of the desk in use.)

Bookcases before:

Bookcases after:

(Next up will be spray painting the brass accents on the fireplace to a black.)

We found baskets that carried the accent colors of dark brown and sage into the shelves.

Drapes before:

Drapes after. (Click here for the how-to on making these DIY painted drapes.)

We were able to keep papa’s favorite chair which brought a nice industrial and minimalist element to the space.

I somehow forgot to take pictures of the sofa wall before we started work, but just imagine a completely blank yellow-y wall above a tired tan sofa.

And now, the wall is this:

We brought in textures, color and contrast with the sofa fabric, pillows, blankets and rug.

The walls are painted Sherwin-Williams Amazing Gray  in flat and the floors, stairs and banisters were stripped and stained to a walnut finish.

The picture frames were all spray-painted the same shade of espresso.

Okay, one last look at the dramatic change from this:

To this:

Be still. My heart.

Comments { 2 }

Before-and-After Kitchen Makeover

by on May 14, 2012

My parents still live in the house that I grew up in. It’s soaked with memories and seared in my mind’s eye the way it looked when I was a kid.

But the kitchen had been showing its age for a long time and was ripe for a makeover. After talking about it for many, m a n y  years, my parents finally settled on a plan.

Here is where we started:

A typical 1970s kitchen, but they’d already begun a transformation by updating appliances and flooring a few years ago.

I helped them pick out colors, paint, finishes and hardware but they did all the work themselves. (Mom is now an expert painter!)

Before:

After:

OH. MY. GASP!

You can see that the counter top is still pale yellow (they’re planning to update it) but even so, the improvement is massive. The green is Sherwin Williams ProClassic “Sliced Cucumber” in smooth enamel satin finish.

Here’s another Before:

After:

I didn’t even realize there was a tile backsplash until now!

Goodbye 1970. Hello 1940…in 2012.

Dad put LED lights underneath all the cabinets too. Talk about bright and airy!

.

The kitchen facelift inspired some painting in the adjacent family room too. Now the hutch on the other side of the room looks happier.

(Sorry for the grainy Before shot.)

I can’t get over how the wood grain pops against that warm gray wall. Yummy.

Before:

(I know Mom had the place spick-and-span when we arrived. Can I blame my 3-year-old for this mess?)

After:

I SO want to sit down in those cushy chairs.

Oh YES.

Nice work Mom and Dad! It turned out beautifully!

 

 

 

 

Comments { 0 }

Reader Redress: Dining Room Update

by on January 30, 2012

This was my good friend Becki’s dining room two months ago.

With warm paprika walls and warm wood furniture, it was a monochromatic color scheme with little punch or contrast to focus the space. Becki felt the room needed something more in line with her personal tastes. She realized that she had tried to retrofit the style of this room to the style of her previous home’s dining room, but in the end compromised her own taste.

In a few weeks we transformed this room into something that feels right for Becki’s family and brings in modern design elements.

(The left wall is gray…not sure why it’s showing up pinkish here.)

Here are the drooly (!) before-and-shots, and then I’ll get to all the details that took this room from ho-hum-holiday-only use, to a sleek and modernized space perfect for weekly poker and high balls.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

This was a fun project because while I guided the process, Becki and her oh-so-handy hubby Ben did most of the work themselves. I love honest to goodness DIYers like them!

Okay, so what changed?

1. They painted the area below the chair rail white. This opened up the room to feel larger.

2. They installed new molding below the chair rail for architectural interest.

3. The old paprika color was repainted and restriped in Sherwin-Williams’ Moody Blue. It’s a blue/green/gray tone that works well with the adjacent rooms of the house but also provides calming contrast with the dark wood furniture in the dining room.

4. The formerly buttery yellow window wall was repainted Sherwin-Williams’ Amazing Gray, a sophisticated soft gray that adds to the sleek feeling of the updated room.

5. The china cabinet (made by Becki’s woodworking genius father) was moved from the long wall to the short wall to make the room feel larger.

6. The builder-standard chandelier was replaced by a contemporary gray linen drumshade chandelier with black and white cathedral photography imprinted on the inside of the shade. This piece brings a flavor of urban chic to the space and serves as the artistic focal point of the room. Because of that, the large wall feels sufficiently styled with just the chandelier as artwork.

7. The big splurge was the upgraded hardwood floor which was stripped from its original warm oak look and stained a gorgeous dark walnut.

Restyling the china cabinet was an especially fun part of the project, since we took the cabinet from a functional storage unit to a stylized space for Becki to display the pieces that hold special meaning for her.

Best of all, the only things purchased for this room were molding pieces, chandelier, two colors of paint and a few plate stands. Everything else was either repurposed from other rooms of the house or rearranged from the previous dining room decor. Now THAT’s thrifty re-decor.

It’s Sleek. Minimal. Modern. And best of all….It’s Becki!

 

 

 

Comments { 4 }