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This long, dark hallway was not being helped by the saltillo tile, ugly light fixture, and dark trim. But after stripping away all those dated features in the hallway, it’s now a lighter, brighter, and more welcoming space…We saw this snazzy before and after over on To the Moon and Back — a great little blog documenting a home’s transformation. This project is a true testament to the power of simple changes.

BEFOREJenny had long wanted a chair to sit in as she gives her girls their baths, and with $4.50, paint, and elbow grease she transformed a sad seat and vanity into something that stylishly fit the bill. AFTERJenny of Little Green Notebook picked up the vanity for free from an auction house that wasn’t able to sell it in its beat-up condition. Jenny realized midway through that it wasn’t worth refinishing the wood, and she refreshed the vanity with her Dremel and a coat of paint.

This basement makeover, submitted to us by Re-Nest reader Sarah of cafe + dish, shows just how transformative a few coats of white paint can be. As she writes: “Living in Boston, space is at a premium. The studio is in a “garden-level” part of the basement, so I used lots of white paint to brighten the space. What once was a very dark and dingy corner of a basement is now one of my favorite spaces…”“The renovation took about a week combined to complete.

Nicole picked up this dresser as part of a three-piece set. The other two pieces, matching nightstands, got their own makeovers but Nicole wanted to do something a little different with this dresser. Check out the results after the jump…As Nicole reports on her blog, Scrap Me Baby, the dresser was in great condition structurally so it really just came down to a matter of painting it. Giving this dresser the black-and-white treatment makes great use of the piece’s details!

Linda has a lovely home, outdoors and in, but her entryway was not feeling very welcoming. Besides being on the bland side, this entryway was also seriously deficient in functionality. Fortified with a whole lot of DIY ambition, Linda turned the entryway into a welcoming (and useful) space…As you can see in the ‘after’ photos, Linda went with a more dramatic palette for her entryway.

This chest of drawers was plucked from an alley near some student housing. In its original state, it was a bit boring and beat up. That’s nothing a little paint, paper, and elbow grease can’t fix…Diana over at Fine Diving saw the potential for new life in this dresser. She started out with this gorgeous patterned paper from Paper Source, which she used for the drawer fronts.

I love the story of this chair makeover, largely because it sounds a lot like my own DIY projects — an equal mix of inspiration, serendipity, and hundreds of staples…Back in mid-November Christine, of Bijou and Boheme, blogged about picking up these lovely-lined but shabby (and pink!) chairs, along with an inspiration photo of similar chairs covered in fur. Then Christine lived with the chairs while she decided what exactly she wanted to do with them.

Feather cushioned sofas are oh so soft and comfy — for awhile anyway. Like anything else they can get a little squished and flat. Foam can easily be replaced, but feathers… well that’s a whole different story. So we’re turning to our favorite upholstery pro Shelly Leer.Do you have a feather sofa? Does it need a little love? The good news is there’s something you can do and then there’s what will work in the end.

Walking by this mess is what I suspect most people would do if they saw this sadly torn up chair (myself included). It takes a confident upholsterer who knows their stuff to see its potential.

Whether a glider in the nursery is essential or not is a personal choice. What is well settled is that good looking gliders can often blow your nursery budget. Take matters into your own hands and convert a chair you already own.That’s right, you can make your own glider by converting an upholstered chair. Dina of Honey and Fitz converted her vintage upholstered chair into a functional glider wtih great success. The key is to buy a swivel/rock unit like this one Dina used.

When Jennifer and her husband inherited this dresser from her mom and dad, she was thrilled with the extra storage but not with the look of the piece itself. The piece, which Jennifer’s parents bought back in the 1970s was dark and dated, but Jennifer knew with just a little work she could create a more modern piece for her home.Jennifer removed the handles, painted the frame, and replaced the legs in her quest to give this dresser a new lease on life.

While having a “green” kitchen is a desirable trait these days, it had a whole different meaning in the 1940’s. A green floor, green walls and even a green ceiling is what Linn and her husband faced when they purchased their bungalow last year. But after a month of hard work the only green they’ll have to live with now is the envious kind.

A humble tuna can has more possibilities than filler for your recycling bin. Give it another life with a pinch and a pull. Want to see what it looks like now?We checked in with Camilla over at Family Chic and although this craft isn’t a lavish one (heck there isn’t even a hot glue gun involved) that doesn’t mean there isn’t beauty in its simplicity.

When Elisa picked up this vintage dresser for only $60 at her local secondhand shop, she knew the horrid brown paint just had to go. Though she initially considered repainting, once she revealed some of the wood grain below the paint, she decided this piece deserved a full refinish all the way down to the bare wood.Using a hand sander and liquid stripper, Elisa was able to remove all of the dull brown paint from her vintage dresser.

This isn’t your average DIY; I can’t give you simple step-by-step instructions or promise that you can get this done on a Saturday afternoon. After all, these chairs took me months to complete.A few years ago, I enrolled in a just-for-fun, one-morning-a-week course in Traditional Furniture Upholstery. The idea had been at the back of my mind for a while, as something which would combine my background in fashion textiles with my burgeoning interest in interiors.

This kitchen was a total disaster when owner Dorie bought her 1916 bungalow in Mesa, Arizona. The builder-grade cabinets and oven were fixed awkwardly in the center of the room while a huge custom wine rack took up the entire back wall — perhaps because it required serious wine goggles to look at that room without cringing? Dorie’s new kitchen is gorgeous even when you’re stone-cold sober.

What happens when you take over your sister’s bedroom? You scramble to rid the space of everything pink and girly. Even after a great deal of elbow grease had already gone into this space to rid it of girl cooties, Max’s room still needed a little punch of hip and cool to better represent the grownup teenager he’s become. Want to see what it looks like now?

Katie bought this table 4 years ago for $30 at a yard sale, and has been using it in all its scratched glory in her master bedroom ever since. Now that she is redoing that room, she knew the time had come for the table to receive a little TLC as well. Unwilling to go through the time consuming process of a full refinish, Katie was able to transform the look of this table with just an hour of work.

We’ve taken a look at many a tufted upholstery project in the past, but not many take the time to document every single step along the way. This transformation is fit for a king with its new purple hue. Want to see what it looks like now?Over at Little Green Notebook Jenny Komenda always has a great project happening. Back in November she took on this amazing headboard project and shared all sorts of tips and tricks along the way.

I am fairly certain I have passed this dresser by at numerous thrift stores over the years. And I can almost swear I have passed by its ugly cousins as well. This transformation will certainly give me pause in the future.Suzy from Saved by Suzy has a habit of breathing joyful new life into some pretty sad thrift store furniture. This $10 chest of drawers became a gem of a dresser with the addition of legs, a cool yellow paint job and the coup de grace, a bold stencil on the drawer fronts.

Jenna sent us an email about her recent renovation project: Last week we just completed our big kitchen reno… on a budget! Here are some before & after details:Before:Pink walls, beige formica counters, old white tile floors, chrome and brass fixtures, 90’s whitewashed oak cabinets, mismatched fluorescent panel lighting, empty unused walls and lack of counter space.

Molly sent us an email sharing her take on the ever popular with DIYers IKEA Rast dresser. She wrote: After searching for a campaign piece I could fit in my dining room and having unsatisfying results, I decided to redo the Ikea Rast dresser (like many before me!).I patched up the knob holes and painted the dresser, and drilled on these flat corners. Then I measured and drilled holes in the center of each drawers for the campaign style pulls from Ansaldi and Sons.

Many of us can relate to Gemma’s situation. She knew that, down the line, she’d be taking on a full (read:expensive) renovation. But she wanted to do something to make the kitchen a fun, fresh place to be in the meantime.

Jill picked up this old dresser for $25 with the intention of refinishing it as a gift to her brother. In order to match some of the other furnishings her brother already has, Jill decided to go dark with this blond dresser…After removing the old handles from the dresser and doing a little patching, Jill stained the dresser a bit darker. To further modernize the piece she replaced the old handles with new, shiny drawer pulls.

When Sausha first encountered this hutch she thought it was too far gone to be worth refinishing. It had been repainted more than ten times and was in need of a major sanding effort, among other things. But instead of trashing it, she took it as a challenge and made plans to repurpose and refinish the piece…Sausha chose to work with just the lower portion of the hutch and began by sanding it down to remove the build-up of paint.

When Connie found this coffee table at a thrift store, it was in pieces and the tabletop, meant to open to accommodate a leaf, was nailed shut. Though this bulky wooden piece had seen better days, it was clearly a sturdy table with a lot of life left in it — it just needed a little love and attention.Connie wanted to highlight the routed detail of the table so she used putty to fill in the split down the center to create a solid base.

We love it when readers send us their projects to be featured. Kelly emailed us about her fabulous kitchen makeover, taking it from the dark and dated room you see above to the bright and updated space you can see after the jump…When Kelly and her husband bought their 100-year-old house that needed renovating, she was thrilled to get the chance to design her dream kitchen. And a dream kitchen it is! Kelly had the old kitchen torn out and started fresh.

As a frequent thrift and yard-sale shopper, I often come across brass or gold-colored objects. The shape and style might be perfect — like the classic set of heavy candlestick holders I recently scored for a couple of bucks — but the finish doesn’t match the rest of my decor. That’s why I love this simple lamp redo. It follows my thrifter’s motto: Spray paint to the rescue!

I posted this Before & After on Design Sponge a couple of years ago, but I never had the chance to show how I did it. You can figure out the paint part, obvi, but here’s how I actually tufted the seat. Enjoy!What You Need: 1 yd.

Imagine if you will, a room with some pretty bold stripes on a sloped ceiling and a standard IKEA bunk bed, both in cool shades. Some time later a big, bold, red carpet is added to the mix and suddenly it’s time for a makeover. Are you curious to see what they do with the stripes in the new and improved room?They kept them! Well, they kept the idea of them, they actually painted over them in hot hues that go with the new rug. And the IKEA bunk bed got a nice clean white wash.

Although most of us have big plans for our bathrooms (someday!) sometimes big long expansive vanities with oversize mirrors can seem like a hindrance and leave you with less of a personal feeling. Want to see a neat trick to not only add storage but a bit of a custom built-in look as well?Over at Home Talk, there’s a great example of what a little trim can do for your bathroom. It’s a simple way to get a customized look on the cheap.

This is a classic tale of boy-meets-pair-of-monkeys, monkeys prove too expensive, man loses monkeys, man finds single monkey years later, man questions monkey love, man gives monkey a chic and sleek make-over (monkey) tale/tail.

What do you get when you have a vision, passion, finances and patience? The re-birth of a 100-year old building into an astounding renovated home that will be cherished for a lifetime.Amy and her husband spotted this beat up century old brick building that used to be a trolley depot back in the day and just fell in love with it’s look, feel and history. They saw tremendous potential in this bare bones space to be the start of something much larger.

While adding a pull can seem like a minor home project, if not done correctly, it can quickly make your head ache. I have drilled pilot holes in the wrong place, made them too big, too small, jammed hardware in the door, broken hardware in half, cracked knobs, and lucky me, ruined fresh paint in the process. Follow these simple steps to learn from my mistakes.

One way to remove the evidence of my, er, I mean ANYONE’S serious Diet Coke addiction is the recycling bin. That way may be eco-savvy, but the neighbors can count, so it’s not terribly stealthy.Perhaps illustrator and character creator Eric Barclay’s way is better. And way more colorful than just green.“Ranjit and Indira,”Eric then applied gesso so that the surface had a bit of texture to it (acting somewhat like a high-adhesion primer).

This before & after renovation stars a once messy, chaotic laundry area in the home of four small children and their busy, creative parents. What’s truly wonderful is that they took an area that’s usually an afterthought, the laundry room, and turned it into a well-organized, cheerfully stylish space.According to Katie from Potluck Love, her old laundry room wasn’t a proper room, but a “hot mess of laundry” crammed into a hallway in the back of their home.

It takes some serious vision and determination to buy this enormous desk on Ebay for $15.50 in Vienna, Austria. Transportation of the beast alone is hard to execute. But this didn’t stop Liza, who knew she could transform it with some high-gloss paint and a bit of elbow grease. She and her husband brought back the desk via cab from the owner’s apartment, and the taxi ride ended up costing more then the desk!

Timothy and Laura are busy folks – they have a blog (make that two) to run and a new baby. A secret to their “do it all” success? They know that one key to handling new challenges is to plan ahead and do what you can when you have the time to make life easier when you no longer have the luxury of that time.

I am busy preparing to move my indoor gardening efforts outside and part of that means that I get to reclaim my sun porch for the spring through autumn season. In the winter it serves as my makeshift greenhouse for all the pots and container plantings that come in for the season. This year, part of that transition was getting the place organized and re-working some furniture.A friend gifted me a sideboard that was in relatively rough shape.

After Rachel had her new wood floors installed, it was clear she had a problem- her always darker than desired kitchen was now even more basement-like because her cabinets now matched the tone of her floor. Determined to create a lighter, brighter space without spending a lot of money, Rachel decided to use paint to transform her kitchen.Rachel used a Rustoleum Countertop Transformations Kit to transform her counters from dark grey to desert sand.

When Angie decided to move one of her boys into his own room, she knew she needed to find some unique pieces to help make the transformation. This retro dresser had seen better days, but the shape and the size were perfect for the space. Given her son’s love of all things orange, Angie decided to add a little pop of color to the frame of this piece.

The 80 degree weather we’re having here in Chicago (in March?!) is making me feel a little Alice-in-Wonderland, like suddenly, oddly neat things are possible, like say, Mandi from Vintage Revivals turning old, mismatched thrift store lamps into something utterly modern and so very cool.

While researching yesterday’s post on the comeback of wood paneling, I was delighted to discover this beautiful remodel of a kitchen from the 1960s. Homeowners Bret and Mary Peyton did a great job of updating the kitchen while keeping the design true to the home’s midcentury roots. Take a look.The wall between the kitchen and the dining room was removed, which really opens up the space.

Seeing potential. Not everyone has this gift to see beyond an aged surface, weathered finishes, a far from perfect interior space, or even damaged furnishings.

Is there anything more ubiquitous than the IKEA LACK series? I remember it being amongst my first purchases coming out of college, thanks to its neutral-modern design and affordable price. It’s no surprise it remains popular to this day for the same reason. Here’s an example of someone taking a me-too LACK and converting it into a me-only TV stand… I searched and searched for a TV table I could live with, and finally came across this cool Jetson-esque one at Logue Studio.

Garden pests make otherwise enjoyable gardening frustrating. Whether it’s snails taking over your lettuce or aphids sucking on your roses, a pest infestation is definitely disappointing, but it’s not a reason to reach for harmful, toxic sprays. The sprays might eliminate the pesky culprits, but they are harmful to you and the environment. Instead, try whipping up one of these simple recipes with ingredients you most likely have on hand.

Brooke has turned her very generic and all too common country kitchen into a classic, clean space which will no doubt increase the value of their home.It may have taken five months of work, research, hunting and juggling two two-year-olds to get this project done, but it was worth every minute. The result is simply lovely and creates an updated and warm new feel for the main area of Brooke’s home. I think it’s a good example of refreshing a kitchen on a budget without demolition.

This bathroom had lots of color in all the wrong places prior to its renovation. Old cabinetry and cheap teal tile made this bathroom makeover a must. Check out the fresh and modern facelift that this bathroom desperately needed after the jump… When selecting materials for a bathroom, the most important material to start with is the stone or tile, along with the cabinetry.

Sean has been transforming his white box of an apartment into a stylish and personalized home. In one of his recent blog posts Sean shows off this DIY bathroom lighting makeover that works around an existing awkward location in a creative way.This lighting over the double basin sink in Sean’s bathroom was unattractive – both as a light fixture and in the shadows it cast on the folks under it.