I‘m sitting here multi-tasking: surfing the web, looking at entries for today’s blog post, searching inspiration (I could look at beautiful homes all day long), taking a break for dinner, trying to figure out how the Nook works that I got for my birthday and watching “Speed” out of the corner of my eye. Anyway, my point is…I came across Elizabeth’s home tour, before and after transformations and DIY projects and knew right away that I wanted to introduce her to you. I love that feeling – motivation that I get from the blogging community, don’t you? Elizabeth will inspire you.
Her blog is dedicated to her obsession with interior design, do-it-yourself projects and other daily musings. :)
Here are a few before and afters of her gorgeous home.
Kitchen before had charm but an outdated feel with what she calls ‘groovy gold’ countertops and matching dishswasher…
Kitchen after is so pretty with even more charm. I’m glad she kept the sink – love that! The open shelving is so convenient and a great way to bring more interest to a wall of cabinets.
Bedroom after…chocolate! I spy with my little eye something beginning with a L-O-V-E (remember that car game?!). A couple of things I want: that bedding, the chairs, that rug and chandelier!
I want to curl up on the couch with a throw blanket and good book and never leave this living room:
Elizabeth’s husband also contributes to The Mustard Ceiling blog. I love this post about the “Cloffice“(closet office)and living with an interior designer…
Learn how to DIY these chevron magazine files at “Dressin’ it Up“. So cool!
See more of Elizabeth’s DIY projects as listed below:
Tutorials
It makes me want to get up off the couch and tackle every project all at once, not knowing where to begin! Thank you so much for sharing your before and afters and DIY, Elizabeth (and Alfred). Beautiful job on every single detail!
Elsa from Casa Greer is very excited to share her before and after transformations and I’m honored to share it with you today. We all know the power of paint. It can be scary but overcoming fear and doing something fun can work miracles and magically transform boring and sometimes even ugly to SHAZAM! Wow! Gorgeous!
Take a look at Elsa’s plain but clean and tidy laundry room before…
After is Charm and Beauty…fun stripes and gorgeous accessories:
{View from hallway.}
{View from garage.}
{Opposite wall with door leading to garage.}
{Close up of cute baskets from TJMaxx.}
The baskets and ironing board cover (TJMaxx) are a perfect accent for her aqua/white striped walls.
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Elsa’s office before was a place that collected everything and anything that didn’t have a ‘home’, storage for things that needed organized (sounds familiar is it just me?).
Now it’s an organized space to get serious about creativity, DIY and fun projects…
Beautiful job, Elsa! Thank you so much for sharing your hard work!
Want to see more?
Head over to Casa Greer! She’s started a DIY tab with some great projects!
Sometimes “before” is pretty and sometimes “after” is stunning. That’s what I see in Joon’s office/craft room/studio makeover reveal. Here it is before. Pretty and fun:
You’d think that was her “after”, right? You’d be wrong (me too). Here is her amazing reveal:
I love the gray and white horizontal stripes, the chalkboard wall (great space for notes, ideas and inspiration) and her over all organization. Don’t forget the beautiful coral drapes and frames.
So envious of her craft stash! See more pictures on her original post.
You can see more details (tons of accent and organizational eye candy) at her
OFFICE REVEAL.
One of the things I love about Joon is she gives her decorative accents and accessories names and personalities! It’s so fun reading her posts!
MEET STANLEY (Stanley’s just 1 example of the accessories you’ll meet! Darla and Stella are shown above too!)
Head over to meet Joon – you’ll need a little time to visit her posts though (warning – it’s addicting!). She’s also hosting a Follower Appreciation Giveaway you don’t want to miss!
Joon – I love your creativity and style. Your projects are awesome! Thank you so much for sharing!
Shoshana from
Love Your Room has some amazing talent. She’s an interior designer and has been featured at HGTV and Houzz.com. Let me show you why that is! She can be inspired by a pizza box and make her home office look like this:
What?! Yep. Huge pizza box = large stencil. Gorgeous, isn’t it? I love it! You can see her full post with more pictures at Home Office Inspired by a Pizza Box (including a how-to).
She also has a Super Easy (at least her headboard tutorial makes it look easy) DIY headboard. Cost = $63!
And finally, looking for more photo wall inspiration and tips on how to make it look great?
Shoshana – LOVE YOUR ROOM! Thank you so much for sharing your awesome, helpful tutorials!
See more of her blog at Love Your Room<
span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"> for lots of great tips and inspiration for your next DIY project.
With a new baby on the way and a craft room turning nursery, Amber from More than Rubies was looking for a place to organize her craft supplies and create an office space. After a lot of research, they decided to turn the guest room closet into an office. Here are some pictures of her inspiration:
First, they cleaned out the closet (before):
Second step was to re-vamp an old computer desk (a GoodWill find).
They used 7ft piece of plywood to extend the desk top to fill the closet.
Sanding, priming, and painting.
After getting the painted desk and desktop into the closet, they added some side shelving for additional storage…
As a finishing touch, they added a piece of molding to the front of the desk so that the plywood addition wasn’t so obvious. It worked out perfectly!
Now, they have an fun space for Amber’s craft supplies and a small organized office area!
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The total cost of the closet re-model was about $100 dollars. Amber plans to find curtains to cover the opening for when it’s not in use.
Creative use of space, Amber – I love that it’s so organized/out of the way! Thank you so much for sharing your hard work!
Emily from Jones Design Company is a sort of new blogger and you’re going to get your DIY/decor fix when you meet her. Her entire home is gorgeous and I’m so honored to share a peek with you but then you have to head over to her blog to check out more of her DIY and decorating talent. Be prepared for lots of pictures, i.e. eye candy but I just couldn’t pare things down.
Here is her daughter’s nursery. Love the soothing muted color scheme. It’s so pretty and so comforting. And the vintage details make me want to live in this room.
My heart is happy every time I walk past Audrey’s nursery. The colors, the patterns, the fact that it is the girliest place in our house. At first, when Ryan saw the color I was asking him to paint, he questioned me. Why blue? It was my one chance to go pink, and I chose blue. I guess I’m just not as crazy about pink as I am blue. I’ve realized as I’ve spent time in her room, that if I could decorate my home any way I wished {without considering the four males that reside with me} it would look very much like our sweet Audrey’s room.
So let me welcome you to the nursery {beware, there are many photos!}
First, the before.
This was previously a boy’s nursery {go figure} and I loved the stripes. I originally wanted to use our guest room as the new nursery and us this room as the guest room so that I wouldn’t have to paint over the stripes, but that didn’t happen. So goodbye stripes.
And here it is now:
We’re still missing a few key elements {a chandelier – I just haven’t found the right one; a large sheepskin rug; a canvas painted with her scripture verse on it; a few more pillows}, but it is as good as it will get for today. The rest will happen over time. I’m learning to be okay with that …
Some of my favorite things:
:: the wallpaper {actually flat sheets of gift wrap that I have adored for a long time}
:: the ruffles on the curtains
:: the old gold frames {from my grandparents’ collection. They passed before I really knew them, but I think we would have gotten along beautifully. Both were actors and artists – my grandfather did set designs for theater, my grandma taught acting classes to Judy Garland. My mom mentions often that I would have loved her home growing up – glamorous and eclectic at the same time.}
:: the vintage little dresses {I bought one before I was even married and the other was my mom’s}
:: the pink ruffle pillow {I was not planning on putting pink into the room, but I found the pillow and then my mom gave me the crown artwork and it just came together.}
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I really love all of the room. I was concerned that I had a vision that I wasn’t going to be able to translate into real life, but I think I got it pretty close.
So, I wanted to live in the nursery but then I saw her amazing office transformation. I just love Emily’s style. Pretty, feminine details and the ‘painted wallpaper’ is stunning (tutorial HERE) and my office needs a chalkboard wall.
When you walk in the front of our home, to the right is this room. It started as my office, then we switched it to be Ryan’s office, then a sitting room and now back to my office {can you tell we’re a little fickle about decorating?}
Anyway, here is the room when we first moved into our home.
And, after hours of painting and a little fluffing, here it is now.
I wrote about the start of the project here & about the chalkboard wall here.
One more then you’ll have to visit her at her blog for more decor magazine worthy living. Her dining room is by far one of
my favorites. I agree with her. Barn door tracks are so cool and we plan on using one for a French door in our dining room that leads to our office but now she has inspired me. We have the perfect spot for a big beautiful window too. I love the glam-country atmosphere in here:
The first room you see when you walk in our front door is the dining room.
While we don’t use it often, it is such a luxury to have when we’re hosting a big party or holiday meal {in fact, my mom got engaged around this table at our Thanksgiving dinner last year!}
We had been wanting to do something to separate the space from the entry and when we saw this window at our favorite salvage shop, we knew it would be perfect {if not totally impractical}.
Ryan hung it from barn door tracks so that we can slide it open if we need to {but mostly just because barn door tracks are cool}.
Fortunately the boys have not paid much attention to the gigantic hanging single-paned window because old window + three rambunctious boys will never equal anything good.
Our massive table {shown here without the leaves} is from Restoration Hardware {bought at the outlet store for a bargain}, the chairs are slipcovered Parsons from Ballard Designs and the seagrass chairs are from IKEA {although I don’t see them on the website so maybe they are discontinued}.
The big dresser {affectionately called ‘the black thing’} in the corner is one of my favorite pieces we have. It swallows our linens, napkins and serving pieces.
The chandelier is also one of my favorite things … crystally, sparkly and old. We took it from our old house and guess it is from the 1950’s {although now that I think about it, we really have no reason to think that. Regardless, it is great}.
The table is all set … I think we need to have a party!
I almost don’t want to share this with you because it lessens my chances but she is having one amazing giveaway!
Thanks Emily for sharing your gorgeous home! I have to tell you that I am so inspired. Your decorating talent is simply beautiful.
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Apparently, my hubby was bored and needed a project.
He never liked the wall between our bedroom and the office. So, the bricks started to come off.
They learned how to tear down walls.
Even the princesses.
I think they enjoyed themselves.
Now for the bedroom side…
We don’t let them cut their own meat but…
Then, an accident occurs…makes me glad I’m in Dallas.
Thankfully, no injuries.
Well, the window…but he was leaving anyway.
Okay, glass is cleared up. Big hole in wall. 
Kids are so proud of themselves.
Curtains always makes things seem right.
Now for stage 2: (Spring)
We usually don’t encourage our sons to hit windows with hammers…
We also had to take off the ugly siding and add nice siding.
The black paper is a weather barrier and it
STINKS!!!
Window is in… 
We need to take out these windows…again, not energy efficient.
This had to be done with extreme caution…
Because under the window…
was a precious gem. 
Our sweet friend B. came over!
He was paid with a pancake supper. I’m telling you – those 
The gem (Amaryllis) bloomed like the next week.
Here is his brush…
Here is his brush working…
Like peace and tranquility. Or really just our room completed. Which is peace in my book. 
Cider Toddy from Lowes.
We really like it. It is very warm and neutral.
Remember the lights, aren’t they fantastic? 
th="184" border="0" height="273" /> We are so happy! 
