June before and after!

Hello everybody! It’s time to kick off June (can you believe it?) with another before and after link up. I so enjoy looking through all your projects and homes – blogs are pretty awesome. :)

I’m sharing a few that caught my eye and then we’ll see what you’re up to this month. I was SHOCKED when I saw the before photo of this sofa:

It was a Craigslist find and Cheryl had incredible vision (and a great upholsterer) – it just goes to show that a good quality sofa can be transformed. I absolutely love the new look.

There were two kitchen redos that caught my eye – first up was Laura’s before and after:

Can you believe the difference? Amazing! She shared a whole before and after house tour, be sure to check it out.

Michelle shared the progress her kitchen has made over the years as well:

Her kitchen table is gorgeous too!

I love a good knock off and I love a lighting knock off even more – Tasha’s take on a West Elm light fixture was brilliant:

And Carrie’s fixture was so simple it’s just ridiculous:

I have one of those orbs and the thought never even crossed my mind!

Haeley shared one of the easiest, cheapest tricks for large artwork:

Her whole master bedroom turned out beautifully, check it out here.

So inspiring, all of you!

As always, if you’d like to pin these projects, please do so from their respective sites. :)

Now let’s see what you’ve been up to over the past month! If you’d like to be considered for next month’s review, please include a link to TDC or this button in your post:

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.simplehomeinteriordesign.blogspot.com/" title="TDC Before and After" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/beforeAndAfterButton_thumb1.gif" alt="TDC Before and After" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Here you go!:

Showing off Magnolia Homes

Hello and welcome to the almost weekend! I’m doing the local Dirty Girl Mud Run with some friends tomorrow – anyone ever done one? It looks like fun, should be interesting. I just hope this cold snap breaks.

So I have a love/hate relationship with HGTV anymore. I wonder, where oh where did the decorating go? There are only so many “Hunter” shows I can take. :) I miss the regular decorating shows.

There are some that are a combo of renovations and decorating and I like a few of them – but I’ve found a new favorite. It’s called Fixer Upper and it has a horrible time slot of 11 p.m. on Thursday evenings. (C’mon HGTV, move them up!)

The show follows Magnolia Homes – Joanna and her husband Chip – as they renovate and decorate homes. I LOVE it. Other than Elbow Room it’s my favorite DIY/decor program now.

I’m sharing a few of the photos here but this is just a taste -- you’ll have to visit their site to see the extent of their work. I haven’t watched last night’s episode yet but after these photos I can’t wait! The exterior is just lovely:

And this kitchen!!:

I can’t help it – I’ve fallen in love with white kitchens. Look at all that space!

I love their use of wood and natural elements in each house. The dining room incorporates wood shelves around the fireplace:

Love the pull out wine storage too.

Here are some more chunky wood shelves at another house they did:

Love the little bit of chalkboard accent on the background!

On one episode the house had an odd atrium in the middle. The made it into a cool outdoor eating area – love the lights hanging from the beams:

One thing that always shocks me is the prices of these homes in Texas! I thought our housing was low here in Indiana but there are some great deals down there! I’m sure that is probably just based on location, like anywhere.

Their team does an excellent job at bringing out the classic beauty of a house – the paint colors are always beautiful, the built ins are always spot on. And I love the lighting in each home as well:

Just gorgeous! They mix a lot of new and old in the decor and it always comes together so well.

Their personal home is an old farmhouse they renovated and of course it’s well done as well:

So pretty and serene:

If you like these pics you have to check out their site – you’ll be hooked! :) Joanna also has a decorating blog here. Have you watched this show yet? Do you miss the decorating on HGTV like me?

Have a great weekend my friends! It’s currently sleeting here – seriously??

 

P.S. I have the pin it button installed but ask that you visit their site to pin any images.

May before and after!

Hey all! It’s the first Monday of the month and that means it’s party time! Excellent.

It’s the day you all share one of my favorite things in the decor/DIY world – before and afters. I can’t get enough of them. I will kick it off with a few of the awesome projects linked up last month.

Cassie did one of my all time favorite decorating tricks – painting the backs of her bookcases:

I always love the look (I think it makes everything pop) and her black color is super sexy. I think it just makes all the accessories more dramatic. (You can see my gray blue background on our bookcases here.)

You MUST go check out Tiffany’s new pantry. Must. It is fantastic:

Drawers people. Brilliant. I want drawers everywhere. (And there’s a little surprise on the sides.)

Bethany’s kitchen has been undergoing a redo and it looks SO good:

I especially love the detail they added to the island and I dig the blue color. (My island is light blue and I still love it.) Her before and after is pretty amazing, check it out here.

Man, I love a bright white kitchen, but I love contrast too. Julie’s black cabinets look so good, and she shares a GREAT, detailed tutorial on tiling your backsplash:

That choice of tile is perfect with the black cabs and stainless appliances. Love it.

Sometimes the simplest project make the biggest impact. Kammy took a regular rug and turned it up a notch with paint:

What a difference! Stripes make many things better. :)

Jaime’s mudroom underwent a little redo with paint and a few little details:

Again, it wasn’t a big reno, but little projects like paint and hooks that make the difference here. Love her door with the window too. You can check it all out here.

Andrea finished off her dining room with new chairs (that are lovely): 

But it’s that stenciled wall and wood starburst mirror that really stood out to me. Such a beautiful, well done space!

It’s always hard for me to pick just a few projects to highlight! If you’d like to be considered for next month’s round up, be sure to include a link to TDC in your post or add this button:

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.simplehomeinteriordesign.blogspot.com/" title="TDC Before and After" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/beforeAndAfterButton_thumb1.gif" alt="TDC Before and After" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

I have the pin it button installed but I ask that you pin from each respective site instead of mine if you want to save these projects.

Now it’s time to see what you’ve been up to lately! I hope to see some outdoor projects creeping in. :) I’m finally starting some of my own! It’s about dang time.

Showing off Michelle!

Hello and happy Friday! It’s spring break for us as well, whoot! It’s actually warming up just a bit, right on time. I’m looking forward to spending time with my boys and perhaps working outside a little. We’ll see about that last bit. :)

I’m highlighting another fabulous blogger today, this time Michelle from Iron & Twine! Her home is just lovely and homey and so pretty, I know you will love it!

Her living room is beautiful – love the mix of the colorful pillows and the neutral walls and furniture. It’s filled with personal touches too:

Everything works so well together, right? So well done.

I love her simple updates to regular items too – these were boring cardboard boxes before, and look what she turned them into!:

You can find the how-to here. So many possibilities with that project!

Her kitchen has been transformed with basics like lighting and paint – check out the before:

And the after!:

I have been doing this blogging thing for a long time and I am always amazed at the power of paint!

Her IKEA Expedit project was so simple but brilliant!:

This corner is now the ultimate organized space – love it!

And her mud room/studio had me drooling – it looks like a beautiful antique store, right?:

I love how Michelle effortlessly combines the old and new to create such beautiful spaces. Be sure to check out more of her lovely home here.

Have a great weekend my friends! I’ve got a couple of DIY projects in mind – one big and one small. Hoping to get both accomplished. :)

 

P.S. I have the Pin It button installed but I ask that you visit Michelle’s site to pin any of these images.

March before and after!

Good Monday to ya! We only got a few inches of snow this weekend instead of the up-to-14 that was predicted, so although the grass is covered once again, I’m OK with it. The sun is shining today and I think this was the last snow of the season.

I cannot WAIT to get outside working in the dirt again!

It’s time for another before and after shindig, and as always I was completely blown away by the projects linked up last month. I hope you enjoy these recaps – I for one love the thrill of finding a new blog to follow. :)

First up, my friend Myra knocked it out of the park with her gorgeous bathroom redo: 

SO pretty right? It makes me want to tear out our bathroom and start over.

I’m a sucker for the light walls in Myra’s bathroom but I am still so taken with a deep color too:

Tasha’s family room looks SO good. I loved all of her choices (especially that paint color!) and her cement fireplace look amazing, you must check it out here.

Lindsey made a space in the basement into a craft room and all the storage has me drooling:

There’s even a hidden door to get into this space. I have a thing for hidden doors/rooms – they are just the coolest.

Cristina shares another fantastic tutorial, this time for DIY pull out drawers:

Which is perfect timing because I’m planning to do this in our closet! 

Speaking of closets – they’ve been on my mind a lot lately. :) Sharon’s gorgeous master closet redo had me drooling:

Wow it looks so good! That stenciled back wall totally glams up the space. Love it!

Elisha knocked off a World Market coffee table that I’ve been eyeing for while:

The girl even welds! I’m totally impressed, it looks so good. And I love her blog name. :)

Brooke restained her oak banisters and the difference is so dramatic:

You’d be surprised to learn that there’s not a ton of sanding involved! She shares the whole how-to in the post.

So much talent, so little blog space. :) As always, please visit the respective sites to pin any of their images.

Now it’s time to see what you’ve been up to lately. If you’d like to be considered for next month’s recap, please link back to TDC in your post or include this button code in your post:

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.simplehomeinteriordesign.blogspot.com/" title="TDC Before and After" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/beforeAndAfterButton_thumb1.gif" alt="TDC Before and After" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Here you go!:

My sister’s blog

Hello and how are ya? I’m knee deep in a bunch of projects in the house – after I showed you the new floors in the master yesterday I went in and tore all the door casings down to do my DIY craftsman trim in there. What the heck -- the house is already a disaster right now, why not add to it?

So today I’m sharing a blogger very close to my heart…my sister. :) I actually have four sisters but this one is the one I grew up with so we have a special bond. She’s also ten years younger than me (she likes to specify that it’s really nine and a half) so I still tell what to do a lot. And she gets stuff for me. It’s going to be that way till we’re old and gray – I’ll be all, go get my my teeth! She’ll be all, whatever, get your own teeth! And then I’ll pull the older sister card and she’ll get them.

Anyway. Back when I started this blog my sister Elizabeth was known as “stink eye” around these parts. She lived with us for a while after college and it’s so crazy that she’s now a married woman with a blog of her own. Sniff. They grow up so fast.

My sister is a great cook and loves to be in the kitchen (that gene skipped over me), so that’s what her blog, Organizer By Day, is focused on for the most part. She brought some of these over yesterday and I ate four within minutes:

I would have eaten more but she had to take the rest back home to take “pictures for the blog.” Blah blah. (It’s a little weird to know someone else who uses that phrase all the time now.)

These strawberry cupcakes were delish!:

We always go strawberry picking together in early summer so I’m hoping she’ll make me some more of these. :)

Her 20 crock pot meals post was super popular:

She makes them ahead of time and freezes them – brilliant!

This apple pie chex mix was super yummy too:

I love how she changes things up – she likes to experiment with ingredients and try new things and it usually ends up pretty darn good!

These homemade cheese its looked so good:

That cute cutting board was from me. Just sayin.

And this loaded baked potato chip dip looked amazing…but I wouldn’t know how good it tasted cause she didn’t bring me any:

Whatever.

My sister Elizabeth is so creative and loves to craft – I thought this wine cork heart was SO cute for Valentine’s Day:

Love it!

By the way, she goes by Elie on the blog, but don’t listen to her. Her name is ELIZABETH. Whole word. I don’t know an Elie.

As you can tell, it’s fun to have younger siblings, cause you get to harass them. :) But in all seriousness I don’t know what I would do without her and I am so proud of her!

Check out her site if you love to cook or bake or even if you just want some easy snack ideas. Be sure to tell her her awesome older sis sent you. ;)

Showing off Sarah

Happy Friday to you! We were graced with more snow yesterday so we’ll be heading out in a bit to dig out…again. It’s so dang cold too – I can’t wait to hibernate away for the weekend!

I figured it was about time to show off another awesome blogger and today it’s a fellow Sarah (of course she’s awesome) at Life on Virginia Street. I love finding new bloggers to follow so if you haven’t been to her site this will provide you with plenty of weekend reading. :)

Sarah’s decor style is understated, with a lot of trim and molding and soft colors on the walls. Her master bedroom is gorgeous:

She does a wonderful job at mixing fabrics too – that bed looks so pretty and comfy. :)

I love her board and batten wall painted a dark gray in her office, it’s so dramatic:

The rest of the walls in a lighter color keep it from feeling too heavy.

Sarah loves the look of the wood beaded chandeliers so she figured out a way to make over another fixture to get the same look:

Her style is classic and the paint colors throughout her house are so soothing. The foyer is a favorite of mine:

That beautiful door and the awesome stair railings sure don’t hurt. :)

You can see more of her entryway here and more about this pretty table:

I’ll take the table and the mirror, any time. :)

She shared an easy to follow tutorial on sewing zippers into pillows and I truly believe I can do it myself after reading through her clear instructions:

See that – more with the mixing of the fabrics. I love the combos she comes up with!

Another bedroom that has turned out so beautifully is Sarah’s guest bedroom:

Love that navy headboard! The simple edge on the roman shades is a great way to add some detail to the room too.

So pretty, yes? She’s inspired a project in my house that I hope to get started on soon. :) I promise you’ll be inspired by her home – go check her out!

Anything fun planned for the weekend? I’m excited that we don’t have any plans at all – those kinds of weekends are far and few between and I’m looking forward to it. Stay safe and warm peeps!