as most of you know by now, we recently relocated to colorado.  but probably less of you know, just how much stuff we had to leave behind!  the only furniture we brought was one book shelf, our mattress and a little dresser. that’s it! so for the last four weeks i’ve been a regular at all the local thrift stores and hardware stores. i’ve been re-purposing, repainting and reupholstering furniture like a mad woman.  and.. i’m VERY excited to begin sharing them with you!  i’ll try not to bombard you with before and after pics, but i have quite a few projects which i’ll be sharing with you over the next few weeks, yeah!

first up, a few tv tables! as we’re spilling drinks and dropping crumbs, i couldn’t help but suddenly realized that we needed some of our own.  we often eat piled up on the couch, and never have anywhere to put our dinner, the computer or our coffee.  problem solved! (yes, i forgot to take the ‘true’ before pic, so this is after i’ve primed, boo!).

 

 

 
and this is just the beginning of my chevron/herringbone/zigzag obsession.. :)

wrap up: {before and after} {chevron} {furniture} {herringbone} {renovation} {tray} {tv table}

happy friday lovelies!  i spent most of last weekend making over our last-on-the-to-do-list back porch, and i’m to share with you the before and after’s!  with some serious thriftiness and diy projects, i was able to do the entire makeover for under $300.  there are lots of little projects that i’ll be sharing with you over the next few weeks, but here is the big picture of our back porch makeover:

before

after

before

after

this table, fan, tic tac toe game and vase were all thrifted, for under $20!

so, this is pretty much where you’ll find me this weekend! do you have any plans for the weekend?

wrap up: {back porch} {before and after makeovers} {deck} {diy} {living} {makever} {outdoor} {thrift}

happy saturday!  just popping in to say that our home is featured on young house love as a reader redesign! you can see our kitchen makeover with before and after pictures as well as a list of supplies and products that we used.  of course, don’t stop there! young house love features an amazing how-to section, lots of videos and their own house tour- plus sherry and john are two of the most genuine sweethearts you’ll meet.  if you want to explore further, here are a few helpful links!

view the full home makeover

diy thrift store frames

painting your own cabinet knobs

and even more photos over on flickr!

let me know if you have any questions, and i hope you have sunny weekend! xo, bonnie

wrap up: {before & after} {home} {how-to} {kitchen} {makeover} {projects} {reader redesign} {young house love}

as promised when we talked about using picnik to help edit your photos, here are a few of your pictures, before and after editing using picnik!

this darling banner comes from drawn to letters, who has some difficulty taking pictures of banner indoors.  taking pics indoors can sometimes be difficulty, but the most important thing to remember is to get close to a window, turn the flash off and use only natural daylight.

here’s the after of her banner picture, and here’s what i did using picnik:

click on exposure. set the exposure to 5, and the contrast to 11.  then clicked on advanced and set the brightness to -16.
heading on over to colors, slide the saturation 10 and the temperature to 12.
finally, go to sharpness and slide it up to about 6.

this brightened and livened up the photo quite a bit!  warm colors are a bit difficult to work with, but this helped bring some extra life into the photo.

this adorable elephant pillow and fabric basket comes from a new shop on the block, b*lota handmade.  she’s got all the basics of a great photo correct, a nice background with a window near by, and all natural daylight.  perfect timing for a little editing!

here’s the after, and boy did it clean up nicely!  here’s what i did:

first, i cropped in just a bit to bring the attention closer to the product, and delete any unnecessary background.

click on exposure. slide the exposure up to 27, and the contrast up to 16.  looking better already!
next, click on colors and slide the saturation up to 5 and the temperature down to -2.
finally, click on sharpness and up it to about 10. within about 2 minutes, the difference is definitely worth it!

you can of course then play with corners, text and borders, but for etsy photo shots- simplicity is always best.  i wanted to offer you these two examples so that you could play with them yourself and see what works and what doesn’t. practice makes perfect!  let me know if you have any questions!

(for more on picnik, read this article).

xo, bonnie

wrap up: {edit} {etsy shop help} {photos}

hi dearies!  friday already, huh?  did you have a good week?  i sure enjoyed being back and think that i’m finally getting back in the swing of things!  i’m off to charlotte for a wedding tomorrow then meeting up with the hub for a night together in charleston. i haven’t been in years, so i’m really excited!  and, i have a confession to make.  i finally broke and though i had tried to not get involved, it happened.  last week i started reading twilight.  yup, that’s right, and now i can’t sleep because i can’t get my head out of these books!  i’m on page 176 of eclipse already, and my obsession is in full gear.  yes, i feel like i’m back in highschool, but boy am i loving it! ;)

onto what’s we’re really going to talk about today, a before and after project!

believe it or not, in our last house i used this table as-is for about a year.  under the tv it sat in it’s raw state.  but when we moved, i got the motivation to fix ‘er up!

now, isn’t that better?  here’s what i did:

i painted all the wood with a high gloss ultra white paint (standard at the hardwood store) with a brush, and let it fully dry. then i used one of my favorite gadgets from ikea, attached it to the insides of the table and then clipped the curtain to it (fabric is also from ikea).  within an afternoon, this gal had made a complete turn around!

wrap up: {before and after makeovers} {diy} {project} {table}

when we moved to our new house, we really looked for ways to improve the place without spending tons of money.  since we were working on a tight budget, we decided to keep the existing cabinets, and do what we could do spruce ‘em up.  replacing cabinet knobs is an easy way to do this, but even knobs can cost a pretty penny, so we decided to make our own!

wooden knobs cost a fraction of the price of designer knobs and with a little know-how can easily be transformed into something unique.

what you’ll need:

- plain wooden knobs (mine are natural woodcraft knobs)

- a small paint sample of the color you would like the knobs to be (lowe’s offers any paint color in 8oz samples)

- white spray paint (available at your local hardware store)

- 3m all purpose sanding sponge

the how to:

spray paint your knobs all white.  it’s helpful to go ahead and start the screw on the back of the knob so you have something to hold on to.   it’s also helpful to have something to stick the screw into to allow the knob to dry (i used a block of foam).

*once dry, paint the top coat color on with a brush, i used color #A64-2 called ‘sweet pea’ by valspar.

*once both layers are fully dry (usually after sitting over night) take the sand sponge and rough up the edges and center.  all of them will be a little different- which creates a cohesive yet eclectic vintage look.

easy breezy, right? :)

well i’m signing off for the day, it’s raining so i’m going stay in and start planning my garden for this summer, yay!  i also wanted to remind you that this weekend is the last chance you’ll have to take the roost survey and enter the giveaway!  i’ll be collecting all the data this weekend and will announce the winner on monday, good luck!

last chance to:

(don’t forget! make sure to leave a comment on this post to be entered in the giveaway!)

what are you doing this weekend?  love! bonnie

wrap up: {craft} {diy} {home} {knobs} {materials} {paint} {survey}

hi lovelies!  finally, i’m going to be able to share with you what i’ve been working on!  i’ve been trying to take the official ‘after’ pics of our home for a while now, and i’m very excited to finally share them with you!  though some of the decorating isn’t finished (is it ever?) most of the renovations are, so i’m going to go ahead and let you see our new house! most of you know, we just bought it in november and have been busy doing projects ever since. 

i hope you enjoy our before and after pictures!

LIVING ROOM BEFORE

this is the living room the way my grandmother had it.  we took down the railing, gave everything a fresh coat of paint and replaced the chandelier with a clear acrylic ceiling fan.

LIVING ROOM AFTER

it feel a lot bigger now! we’ve got plenty of room to spread out and entertain now.

LIVING ROOM – BEFORE

this is the living room from a different angle. we added some shelves and dressed up the windows a bit.

LIVING ROOM – OTHER SIDE AFTER

we tried to make it as bright and cheerful as we could, and all the natural sunlight fills the whole house!

KITCHEN BEFORE

this is one side of the kitchen, before.  we replaced the flooring, painted and added some storage on the far end for food.

KITCHEN AFTER

all of the ‘pretty’ food is displayed in labeled glass jars, and the cereal boxes and tortilla chip bags are nicely concealed behind the doors.

KITCHEN BEFORE

KITCHEN AFTER

KITCHEN- BEFORE

this is the working side of the kitchen.  we painted, replaced the counter tops as well as the door knobs.

KITCHEN – AFTER

as you’ll see below, we took out a few walls! therefore, we were able to add this island in the middle, giving us so much more work space!

KITCHEN – BEFORE

here’s that wall we took out..

KITCHEN SIDE – AFTER

we actually took out both sides of that wall (below) to open the living room and kitchen  up.

see?  now, we have so much more space and light!

DEN TO MASTER BEDROOM – BEFORE

the den just so happened to be connected to the master bathroom (which also had a closet in it)- and since it’s the biggest room, we decided to make it our bedroom!

DEN TO MASTER BEDROOM – AFTER

just some fresh paint and new carpet here..

DEN TO MASTER BEDROOM – BEFORE (other side)

DEN TO MASTER BEDROOM – AFTER

DEN TO MASTER BEDROOM – BEFORE

DEN TO MASTER BEDROOM – BEFORE

GUEST ROOM BEFORE

here’s the (messy) guest bedroom.  we just painted and dressed up the windows here.

GUEST ROOM AFTER

i’m not done with this room yet, but here’s the start.  it’s going to have a bit of a ‘fishing getaway’ theme- see the vintage hooks on the wall?

MASTER BEDROOM TO OFFICE – BEFORE

this was the master bedroom, but we decided to make into our office.

OFFICE AFTER

i have a think for vintage prints- and the art on this wall changes constantly.  but, this is where i blog and write to you, every day!

OFFICE (OTHER SIDE) – BEFORE

OFFICE (OTHER SIDE) – AFTER

this also ends up being david’s guitar room, the yoga room and 3rd bedroom when we need to accommodate more guests.

SEWING ROOM BEFORE

this is the sewing room- before we painted, and added some shelving and counter tops.

SEWING ROOM AFTER

all of the lower cabinets are what we took out from the kitchen, and ikea counter tops and upper cabinets made this renovation very affordable.

SEWING ROOM BEFORE

SEWING ROOM AFTER

SEWING ROOM BEFORE

SEWING ROOM AFTER

i bet you couldn’t guess that this is my favorite room in the house! it’s where i get away, and get creative.  it’s a big change from my little sewing table in the corner of our bedroom in our last house!

happy monday dear ones!  we’re kicking off this week with one of my before and after projects- then make sure to check back later today for some sweet cyber monday deals!

i found this poor pitiful chair sitting in the corner of one of my favorite thrift stores.  so, i paid $5 for her and brought her home!  after a nice coat of primer and a fresh coat of yellow paint- below is what she had in store for me!

i couldn’t tell it at first, but i when i started to remove that drab burgundy cover- i found a whopping 9 covers that previous owners had just stapled on top of each other.  and, they were all really gross.  so one by one, i got down to the wooden board.  i replaced their ‘cushion’ with some batting of mine and simply stapled the cover to the underside.  after i got all the covers off- it only took me about 10 minutes to actually recover it!  now it sits in my sewing room and is perfect at my machine.  so bright and cheerful!

wrap up: {before and after makeovers} {chair} {cushion} {diy} {paint} {recover}