The Latest: 2013

Emily of Chez V joined in the One Room Challenge this year, a semi-annual event where 20 design-oriented bloggers transform a room of their own, from start to finish. Emily threw herself into renovating her master bedroom and, over the course of six weeks, sanded the walls, painted, printed fabric, and shopped for the perfect pieces. See the finished product next… Yes, yes, before you say anything — no, there is nothing wrong the before, it’s lovely, blah, blah, blah.

Irina had a few extra things taking up space in her garden so she found a way to transform a boring brown shed, an old bed and an IKEA side table into a wonderful surprise for her daughters. She gave the inside of the shed a coat of white paint and made the side table into an adorable play kitchen by adding silver coasters and knobs. The bed frame transformed into a comfy bench for playroom naps or lounging.

This is Mattie’s old bathroom, pre Style Cure. Even though she was a little off of the usual Cure schedule, due to some conflicts with work and potty training, it doesn’t make her results any less impressive. The best part? The budget for her entire bathroom redo was a low low $49. After: what a difference a little paint makes! The blue walls, with a pattern of little birds and clouds, lend just the right amount of color and whimsy to this previously drab bathroom.

Mia’s kids scribbled on her microfiber sofa with an extra-strong, “rub a dub” Sharpie which is marketed as, “stays permanent through washing and dry cleaning.” But instead of getting mad (well, she was probably a little mad), she found an easy way to hide the marks, while including a clever nod to the makeover’s inspiration. From smudged scribbles to lyrical script! Now, it looks like a glam accent rather than a messy accident.

This space-starved NYC couple is practical about their design choices so when the time came to furnish their first nursery (congrats!), they were horrified at the choice in baby furniture — most of it was insanely expensive and huge. But thanks to some lucky thrifting, great directions from Honey And Fitz and a very handy husband, Alison got the perfect, customized rocker on the cheap!

It was time for Danielle to update her 2-year-old son’s space from baby blue nursery to little boys room. She found this dark brown laminate nightstand on Craigslist for just $10, and knew it had serious potential. She painted the entire surface with Martha Stewart’s Driftwood Gray then used painter’s tape to add the adorable white stripes. Danielle says: I normally remove the old dated hardware when refinishing furniture. But I loved these handles.

Maria in Argentina tells us that she recently started restoring furniture, but based on her skills with this slipper chair, we’re wondering if there’s a bit of a language barrier. Did you mean, “I’m a reupholstery genius,” Maria? That’s one sexy slipper! We love the neutral yet textured fabric Maria chose. From Maria: It’s exciting to undress and dress furniture. I like reaching the bones, the roots of a piece.

We’ve all seen these plastic playhouses that are relatively inexpensive but don’t really wear well with time. In addition, they usually come in colors that shout “this is what we think kids like!” They are so ubiquitous that you can often find them at garage sales or even thrift stores. But whereas you might’ve passed them over before because of their less-than-pleasing aesthetic, this simple makeover might change your mind.

Katja’s entryway was pretty, but plain, and needed a good dose of something. Turns out that something was turquoise paint and a lot of graphic pattern. To create the accent wall, Katja first painted it a light turquoise. Then, strips of painter’s tape were placed vertically every 14 inches. Smaller bits were taped at an angle off those stripes, to create the arrow effect. She then painted over the whole thing with a darker turquoise and removed the tape.

Rafal bought and moved into this 1925 house in the spring and, while it was structurally sound, it needed a cosmetic overhaul to really add some curb appeal. From Rafal: I really wanted to clean up the appearance, so we ripped out the old windows and doors and repaired and repainted the stucco and trim. The colour palette chosen ended up with a neutral warm-gray, bright-white trim, and finally accented by a punch of burnt orange for the door.

When Paul and Erin found this antique armoire on Craigslist, they knew they had to save it from its current state of Shabby Chic hell. And rescue it they did. From Paul: Shabby Chic is all the rage, take a beautiful piece of antique furniture and slather it in latex paint, then rub some of that paint off to make it look antique. In other words, take something that looks like an antique, cover up all the real signs of age and then make it artificially look antique. Still not make sense?

Plenty of people redo old furniture to give it a second life but most of them don’t transform their former changing tables into super-chic, almost unrecognizable pieces. Claire did. From Claire: This particular DIY dresser makeover project is extra special. It’s a very common pine dresser; you’ve probably seen a million of ‘em. I have too. But this particular dresser was my childhood changing table.