The Latest: 2015

Seduced by the siren song of free, Angelica scooped up this cabinet—as the panels started falling off. Not to be deterred, she took some fabric remnants and transformed it into a versatile piece: From Angelica: This modest wine cabinet was a free find. It looked like all it needed was a fresh coat of paint and it would become a great piece for extra storage in our home. But as I got it out of the car, the panels started falling off. I could not complain as it was free!

It’s been over a year since my partner and I moved into our home. There were plenty of things to occupy our attention, such as getting rid of the garish mixture of red and yellow walls in the downstairs living area, installing a new door, fixing some damaged exterior portions, and so on and so forth. But finally, enough was enough, and we decided to tackle the one room that hadn’t gotten a speck of attention: the bedroom. Feast your eyes on that peachy-beige wonder.

These blah shutter bi-fold doors appear in many a rental, and Jessica’s was no exception. While she decorating her daughter’s room, she had an idea to transform them into something a little more glam: What a difference! From Jessica: While redecorating my girl’s room, I had a big Ah-ha moment.

Erin’s dining room suffered the same fate as most of its kind. Hardly used except for special evenings, it was a blah purgatory for clutter and unused stuff. It needed a style boost to get the family to use it more often. And here’s what it looks like today. Erin took her time getting it fully decorated, and gathering things for the walls. She also used a lot of items that she already owned — like the table and rug — and swapped from other rooms in the house.

IKEA’s VITTSJÖ line is a sleek and modern staple as is, but Lidia took hers and gave it a minty fresh look. From Lidia: Being a a big fan of interior design, I find myself in constant decorating mode. I really enjoy bringing to life an idea or creative project and recently found myself doing it with our small living room. After painting the walls and rearranging the furniture, I noticed my small living space could fit a coffee table and would be more inviting.

We love a good “shop your space” room transformation. Jay is a Minneapolis-based designer and this bedroom project was completed in a day (another benefit of using a lot of what you’ve got!). With a few new elements and a shift in the space, there’s now a blissful new bedroom: From Jay: This bedroom redo was really fast and really easy.

The bathroom in Amy’s Brooklyn Heights condo wasn’t terrible or falling apart. But after living there for a while, she started to notice how the finishes picked by the previous owner weren’t in line with the style of the rest of her home, and the vanity cabinet and countertop extension were making the narrow bathroom feel unnecessarily cramped. So she decided to swap out a few fixtures, and replace the tile, to make her bathroom feel bigger and give it a classic, timeless feel.

Since they’ll eventually sell this house, Kelley didn’t want to spend too much money in updating the place. So when this bathroom was feeling a little bit country, she set a short budget, and made the existing vintage tile shine: From Kelley: We live in a small cape cod house built in 1951. We love it, but can’t stay here forever because the layout and size doesn’t really allow for a family in the future.

While she was overseas with their daughter, Jeffery decided to surprise his wife with a total living room transformation. See the new room—and read about her reaction—after the jump! From Jeffery: My wife and daughter went to the Philippines for 3 months. I wanted to surprise my wife with a living room makeover, which I tackled in the two weeks before their arrival home. Our living room was boring. The last owners had a thing for wood grain and dull colors.

It’s not uncommon to work on every room in your home before you get to your bedroom since it’s a room guests often don’t see. This was the case with Autumn and Justin whose Michigan home we toured last year. They felt great about the rest of their home, but really wanted a “grown up” master bedroom. Seems like they saved the best for last… Ta da! Lighter, brighter and with a soothing, calm vibe.

A vintage cart from a friend came with a challenge that Monica readily accepted: try to make it modern. See how she did after the jump! From Monica: A good friend of mine passed along an old, brassy, rickety cart with the challenge to revamp it and modernize it. We immediately agreed it would make an awesome bar cart for my new Milwaukee apartment! Challenge accepted. I started by removing the trays and setting them aside. I spent a nice day outside with gloves, a cloth and a can of Brasso.

Sarah scooped up this basic rattan chair for $10, but thought it could use a little more interest. She tried her hand at recreating a classic pattern for the chair back; see how it came out: From Sarah: After finding a plain rattan chair for $10 at the thrift shop, we transformed the boring back into a Chinese Chippendale inspired design. Using thinner dowel rods from the home improvement store, we measured, cut and secured them in place to create the Chippendale look.

What to do when you have a nasty old rug that you can’t replace? Sarah decided to paint hers, using a technique she usually reserves for getting paint out of the carpet! From Sarah: I needed a way to bring some rock-n-roll attitude into this music room, and I couldn’t afford to replace the nasty old beige carpet.

Kristi’s guest bedroom is a walk-through room, so a regular bed just doesn’t work. But neither was this plain futon, so she decided to build something more functional. So stylish, and we love that it’s on casters! From Kristi: Our guest bedroom is a small room, and a walk through from the kitchen to the back of the house, so a traditional full-sized bed wouldn’t work.

Amanda’s late father collected over 10,000 pennies in his lifetime. She turned those cents into a gorgeous patterned floor inspired by Paris. From Amanda: Ever since visiting Parisian cafes, we’ve always had a thing for hex or penny-tiled floors. It just so happens that my late father left a collection of over 10,000 actual pennies. Four years ago, I started packing my carry-on full of them each time flew across the country to visit my Mom.