The Latest: 2011

This kitchen seems to be suffering from a bit of a brown overload. With the combination of wood cabinetry and hardwood floors, plus the black appliances and dark green paint, this kitchen is looking a little dark. Jessie agreed with that assertion and decided to lighten up the room:Isn’t it amazing what a little white paint can do? Of course, it’s a lot more than just a little white paint at work here.

Sometimes I think that, with the power of paint and elbow grease, there’s never a need to buy anything new again. And seeing a before and after like this one just lends support to that theory. That something so old and battered can be freshened up to look so beautiful gives me hope that there’s plenty of life left in a lot of old things (myself included).When Terri, over at Crafty Workin Mommy, brought these two chairs home from a garage sale, her husband thought she was crazy.

Though painted furniture isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, it is makeovers like this that demonstrate why this technique is so popular. This yard sale find with fabulous curves was transformed with a little elbow grease, some leftover paint, and a mix of old and new hardware.We have written about Sarah’s magic touch wth paint before (Sarah’s Delightful Dresser Redo); now we’re starting to wonder how she has so much luck finding dressers with such appealing lines.

The red and white tile, the white laminate vanity, the past-its-prime bathtub and tile… this bathroom needs an update. Enter designer Jason Wong to save the day!That after photo is totally inspiring, right? As if replacing the vanity and sink weren’t improvement enough, adding the window to that area really opens up the space (and adds some very appreciated sunlight where it’s needed most – at the mirror).

When Tiffany found this chair she was immediately in love. What she didn’t love was the scratchy, ripped fabric covering it. As we all know, DIY upholstery projects can be daunting so Tiffany decided to leave the recovering to the professionals. To the auto body professionals, that is.Upon the recommendation from a friend, Tiffany, from the blog Living Green with Glamour, decided to take her old chair to a local auto repair shop to have it reupholstered.

Ikea markets the Gorm shelf as lowly secondary shelving for the pantry or garage. Well, take a look at this makeover, Ikea. We think this transformed Gorm belongs in the living room, office, or even a lucky kid’s room.After!Shauntelle from A Beautiful Abode snagged a $15 Gorm off Craigslist and with some silver spray paint, wood stain, and some boards, turned it into this amazing industrial chic shelf.

Remember when you were a kid how magical it was when the summer sun finally set at the end of the day and the fireflies came out and you never wanted to come inside even though your older sister told you your house was built on a graveyard and the zombies would come out at night? Well, here’s a super quick craft to help your kids feel a little bit of that magic. These fireflies are super easy to make. Just pop a flameless LED tealight into a plastic Easter egg.

A few months back I busted out some fabric spray paint and painted a pretty chevron on my carpet. Although the looks are alright, there’s a new trend sweeping around the internet that will most likely yield better results. See that sofa up there? It’s about to get painted — with house paint.Over at Fabric Bliss a vintage sofa was purchased for the small price of $45. It had great bones but those flowers just had to go.

It takes a little imagination sometimes when you see a tired little piece like this at a garage sale or flea market. But Carrie at Fine & Handy had the vision and turned it into a sweet piece for her daughter:A little pink paint, new knobs for the sliding doors, and two adorable painted birds transform the old toy box. The end result is wonderful and makes us want to run out and scavenge for a unique piece of furniture like this one.For more on the before and after, head to Fine & Handy.

A little over a year ago I shared with you the house tour of Derek & Jennifer’s Dashing Digs. It’s an homage to mid-century furniture that they found on craigslist and got amazing deals on. Even though their apartment is fancy and quintessential city dwelling; they’re actually very budget conscious, which is why their subtle budget friendly kitchen renovation is inspiring.

Danika found herself in a spot that many renters and homeowners can relate to — her countertops were dated, and a “real” renovation wasn’t in the cards. Fortunately she has some impressive painting skills, and her kitchen has seen one good-looking makeover.While in my mind “faux” can often immediately go to “tacky,” these results prove that categorization to be unfair.

One look at this kitchen sends me back to the early 1980s, when I was a wee lad ambling about the kitchen in my parent’s Indiana home. This kitchen reminds me a lot of my childhood kitchen, complete with dark wood paneling and yellow appliances. A lot has changed since the 80s… and now it’s time for this kitchen to get with the times, too.Looking at the before photo, it would be easy to think that this kitchen was beyond help.

When Casey bought a condo in the Minneapolis loft building where he had been renting, he transferred his luxurious style to his new home. Luckily for us, he had the foresight to snap some before pics so we could witness the transformation …Casey’s Loft Life house tour was a highlight of my summer house tours last year. When I heard from Casey that he was moving to a new, larger unit in the same building, I was anxious to see how he would transfer his style to his new home.

When looking at the many before and after posts here at Apartment Therapy, it’s easy to think that everyone makes these amazing transformations over a long weekend. Truth be told, most of the projects we see take much longer. This dining room makeover, for instance, took four years of collecting appropriate pieces to go from bland to grand.Elisabeth over at bova goods developed this new look for her dining room over a span of four years.

Oh IKEA, where would our homes be without you? You offer us one product and the world turns it into 100 new designs and custom pieces for their home. This room is no different and this window area is about to go from drab to chalkboard fabulous!They’ve been busy getting organized at Repurposed Playground and although this transformation is similar to ones we’ve seen in the past, there are a few ideas to glean from this set-up that are perfect for any home.

We’ve seen the transformational power of paint here at Apartment Therapy many, many times. And yet I am still awed when I see that, with a little paint on the cabinetry, an entire kitchen can be transformed …Kimberly, over at Restoration House, has slowly been rehabbing her kitchen over the past five years. She had already added a backsplash, switched out the countertop, and traded out the old appliances for new stainless steel units.

This small wall isn’t an eyesore, but it’s just kind of “there”. It’s between the bedrooms of Kimba’s sons and she decided to make it not just a place to display their art, but a space for creating art too. Check it out:It’s nothing terribly tricky or time-consuming, but what an impact!Kimba painted thrifted and craft store frames to provide visual cohesion and filled them with her boys’ artwork.

This poor mirror. Naked as the day it rolled off the assembly line, with its exposed edges, cracked with age, right out there in plain daylight for all the world to see! Something must be done about this!Faced with naked, builder-grade mirrors in her bathroom, Amanda over at The Ivy Cottage Blog, did what any adventurous DIYer would do — she made frames for them!

When I bought these mismatched flower pots at the end of the season last year, they were so hugely discounted that I purchased them without a plan for their use. After a long winter to ponder it, I finally pulled the pots out of storage, gave them a little makeover, and put them to use.It’s not that these pots were ugly to begin with, they just didn’t match anything in my house. Spray paint to the rescue!

When I moved into my brother, Matt’s newly purchased bungalow, I brought with me an heirloom farmhouse-style dining room table which just barely squeezed into the 9’x9′ dining space. Since the space exists in the corner of an open kitchen and living area, it was doable, but the traffic space was limited and storage non existent.