Before After

An interior designer helped update this San Diego kitchen for her parents, who requested “a fresh, modern yet classic style” with a generally black-and-white palette. To keep the budget under control, the family turned to inexpensive IKEA cabinets, then gave them a boost with Semihandmade doors. Beth of 1111 Light Lane did a fantastic job giving the kitchen an update that definitely feels fresh and classic. The Shaker cabinetry is a great balance between modern and traditional.

This kitchen had a ton of pros—stainless steel appliances, wood flooring, tasteful paint colors, granite countertops, a window—but its cons were difficult to work with. The owner called it, “poorly lit, claustrophobic, and tight.” With the help of some professionals and the removal of a wall, the kitchen is now light, bright, and feels much more roomy. Jenn Hair of Jenn Hair Photography is the proud owner of this jewel of a kitchen.

The owners of the impressive and inviting converted Sprinter van we featured recently made a conscious decision not to install a bathroom. But, the owners of this van decided a bathroom was a must, and somehow manages to squeeze in a toilet and a shower. Rob and Emily of The Road is our Home—@theroadisourhome on Instagram—transformed an LWB Mercedes Sprinter into a rolling home.

For everyone who has ever mourned the loss of a colorful retro toilet or sink in a bathroom renovation, this project is for you. The cream and white fixtures were replaced with far more charming versions, leading the installation team to clarify, “So you want to put this IN?” Minty vintage perfection! Marley of Bug & Bean—@bugandbeanstitching on Instagram—took this standard and heavily beige bathroom back in time to create a room full of color and retro delights.

Before and After transformations just never get old, especially when the results are utterly unrecognizable. Case in point: Back in 2013, we posted a project about an empty stairwell space that was transformed into something unexpectedly wonderful. Cut to five years later and it’s been viewed almost four million times. We recently went back to see just what made the project resonate so much with our readers.

Take this warm-toned kitchen, add one or two gallons of paint and some well-priced accessories then subtract one wall and the textured vinyl floor, and suddenly there’s a brand-new kitchen, full of life, light, and color. And all for only $800. Kelsey Sigars—@kelseylenesigars on Instagram—made smart, thrifty choices that have transformed this kitchen.

This kitchen had tons of storage space, a generously proportioned island with a breakfast bar, plenty of lighting, and a nice-sized window. But as its owner explained, “It’s actually a great space and it could be way worse but it’s definitely not my style.” Time for a budget-friendly upgrade! Bre Bertolini—@brepurposed on Instagram—transformed this kitchen, mostly thanks to paint.

While this floral fabric is definitely fabulous, the table has tons of rustic charm, and the kitchen as a whole has enviable amounts of both storage and daylight, it was ready for a change. Enter honeycomb tiles, a tulip table, and a whole new look. Tiffany Kalloor—@tiff_kalloor on Instagram—breathed life into this kitchen by going back to the classics: a black-and-white palette, subway and honeycomb tiles, a tulip table and shell chairs, and a simplified ceiling and cabinetry.

As if a plywood stairway weren’t enough, this San Francisco house boasted plywood ceilings, peeling floors, and plastic bathroom walls—all in all, a “really terrible looking” 720 square feet. After a major renovation, the home now looks bright and modern, no plywood required. Reader Stephanie Perry—@stoop_sf on Instagram—shares the love story behind this house—as well the challenges it posed: It was SO SMALL.

After a tiresome year of home searching, Wes—an Alabama native and graphic designer who relocated to Detroit—and his fiancé Ben weren’t very optimistic about seeing this house. It wasn’t the one-and-a-half-story colonial style that they were interested in… and the exterior struck them as being more formal than they liked. Additionally, while it had been maintained by out-of-town family, it had been unoccupied for nearly a decade.

The Philadelphia row house hadn’t been upgraded much in sixty years, so Kristy knew it would be a fixer upper when she bought it. Kristy loves to cook and wanted to create the perfect workspace, so she put a lot of attention into the kitchen. Because of the nature of the renovation loan Kristy took out, she had to hire approved contractors to do most of the work. But that doesn’t mean it was easy.

When Heather Knight moved into her new home, she had to focus on more urgent repairs and wasn’t able to put as much money into the kitchen as she would’ve liked. While the space was in good shape, it was dark and a little too dated for her tastes. With some pretty clever spending, she pulled off a pretty impactful renovation project.

Ida recently stumbled across images she took the day she closed on her condo. Apart from the fantastic light, which is one of the reasons she and her husband were sold on the place, the kitchen was pretty basic and humdrum. It’s come a very long way in the three years since this photo was taken. What was a beige and boring room now feels warm and welcoming. Ida did a wonderful job reviving this kitchen into something totally new, without changing the layout or moving things around.

Some bathrooms are modern and sleek, others are luxurious and spa-worthy. And then there are those adorable ones that you just want to squeeze. This is one of those bathrooms. If the diminutive size wasn’t enough, it also helps that this bathroom is now blush pink, which ups the cuteness factor by 100 times. (For the color curious, the shade is Sherwin-Williams Intimate White). The shade looks great with the brass accents and black hardware and fixtures.

When reader Chantel Breault decided to give her living room a makeover, her chief incentive was to give it some life. The space before didn’t evoke much at all in terms of feelings or aesthetic. It was “Neutral, lacking personality, not even cozy,” and Chantel wanted to make the space feel more cohesive and classic. With solid bones, there fortunately wasn’t a huge amount to tackle with this project.

If your weekend plans include bingeing all of season 3 of “Queer Eye”—now streaming on Netflix as of today—you’re not alone. The Fab Five quickly became our internet BFFs when the reboot dropped last year, and now the boys are back—this time in Kansas City—to help some more deserving folks. Luckily for us, the hardest working designer on TV, Bobby Berk, gave us the exclusive tea on one particularly special makeover from this season.

Elise’s bathroom was tiny and a hodgepodge of somewhat new, but super generic, finishes and fixtures, and a mismatched paint job. She wanted to both enlarge and update the space for her planned family, and do it on a very tight budget. The bathroom is now an incredibly relaxing, earthy space that Elise loves to be in. The stone countertops, combined with reclaimed wood vanity and black fixtures is a great combination that feels rustic and comfortable.

This kitchen was small and it didn’t help that it had a tiny, barely usable breakfast nook just off to the left. Honestly, I don’t think a bagel, let alone a human, could fit in that space, so it just didn’t make sense to keep it. On top of that, the small kitchen was dark and uninviting.

This 925-square-foot apartment was renovated in about 3.5 months.

“This dilapidated historical home in Lake Arrowhead, California, was brought back to life,” explains Lauri Carleton, the owner and creative director of Mag.Pi Shop and a partner in Goods Co.Op. “The town of Lake Arrowhead is located 80 miles from Los Angeles, and since the late 1800s has been a retreat for Hollywood icons and Southern California families. It still serves that purpose, and is a growing place of expression for creatives.

It’s been two years since readers gave Laura advice about increasing the curb appeal of her rental property and she’s back with an update. Her plan was to make the lawn healthier and add some shrubs. She was also considering painting the shutters or siding and asked readers to help decide what color might go nicely with the yellow. So, let’s find out how this house looks now and which advice Laura ran with!

Project by: Ashlea Location: Red Deer — Alberta, Canada We purchased a 1940s farmhouse complete with just about original everything. While our little home was big on charm, it was also big on orange, lacquered wood trim, doors, floors and cabinets. Our dated kitchen cabinets were cute, but the swan and fruit basket decals weren’t quite our thing.

Here we have a perfectly ordinary drop leaf dining table. You’ve seen its ilk at thrift stores, and maybe one is in your home right now. This particular one, however, has been totally transformed by a talented Game of Thrones fan into something you might see in The Red Keep. Get the look: How amazing does that look?? It could basically be used by Daenerys to take the Iron Throne. The step-by-step was posted to Imgur yesterday by smife0, whose brother updated the table.

Project by: Émilie Location: Quebec City, Canada We bought our 1970s bungalow almost six years ago and we’ve been renovating it ever since, from the roof to the basement. Our biggest and most challenging project was definitely the kitchen. My husband, who is quite handy but no professional carpenter, decided to make all the hardwood cabinets by hand.

Project by: Meena Location: Ashbury Heights — San Francisco, California This converted bedroom project comes from first-time parents who recently bought a house in San Francisco. After spending nearly 10 years on the East Coast, they returned back home to the Bay Area in January to raise their daughter. The family moved in the home when the baby was just two weeks old, so needless to say it was an exhausting and whirlwind experience.

Project by: Dona Location: Shelter Island, New York My husband’s hoarding habit paid off. Once I learned that the bed of a truck is the same size as a queen mattress we took his rusting 1965 Chevrolet truck and turned it into a guest bed! We worked on this project together, it required sawing the cab (now it’s the headboard) in half; sawing the tailgate off the truck body; wire brushing the rust off , etc. We carried the pieces into the house where we put the truck together again.

Name: Nadia Location: London, United Kingdom A few weeks ago I decided to participate in a six week makeover challenge. I chose to do my bedroom and closet, but the funny thing is that I had no idea what I would do when I started. No real plan, I was just obsessed with a gorgeous dark floral wallpaper so I wanted create something dark and moody. Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford to buy that beautiful and pricey wallpaper.

Project by: Nadya Location: Brisbane, Australia Our small home was built in 1959, and when my husband and I bought it, I really thought I could deal with the “charming” old galley kitchen.

Project by: Angela Location: Portland, Oregon I’m a professional apparel / product designer who loves the idea of dabbling with spaces that could use a little TLC. I enjoy bringing new life to pre-loved spaces and things. In 2015, I purchased a small (semi fixer upper), 1906 Victorian, in Portland, OR. My neighborhood is a neighborhood that prides itself on not selling out to the modern condo developers that are changing the landscape of the city.

Project by: Rochelle Location: Wolverton, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, UK We moved into our Victorian terraced house a few weeks before the birth of our first child. We knew we would need to redo the bathroom as it was in a terrible state, though we didn’t expect to have to wait so long to do it! It was finally finished just before Christmas – almost exactly seven years after we’d moved in.

Eric’s Eames chairs were sitting stylishly in his dinning room for years, complimenting a blue cloth on his old table. After picking up a Saarinen style table and ditching the cloth, he found himself missing the pop of color. Rather than cover up that lovely marble table top, he found a fresh and inexpensive solution. From Eric: Sometimes, buying a new piece a furniture can make other pieces in the room feel mismatched.

Wendy is doing Florida her way. After snatching up a beach condo with a view, she set about giving the outdated kitchen some much needed pizzaz. Treating her new digs as a blank slate, she added color and mid-century flair, giving the kitchen updated style. From Wendy: Move over snowbirds, soon the sounds of The Rolling Stones, The Cars and even a little Pink Floyd may be drifting through your condo corridors as your new Baby Boomer neighbors move in.

It was blessed with good bones, but also cursed with a purple laminate counter—and swinging saloon doors.

This homeowner took her inspiration from the past, including '70s and '80s-style touches.

Lindsay thought she found a “sturdy, but out-of-style wood coffee table” at her local thrift store—but when she got home, she realized she’d been fooled. The ugly veneer made this piece impossible to restore, paint, or reshape. “At that point, I wanted little to do with the table,” Lindsay says. But she’d already dropped $15, so she decided to figure out some solution.And it’s a good thing she kept trying.

Lindi wasn’t sure what to do with this awkward space on the side of her living room. “It didn’t really have a function and was largely unused,” she says. But soon she found her vision: Her home lacked a community work area where her kids could hunker down over homework and Lindi could edit images for her blog. Black vertical shiplap anchors the space, and floating wood shelves in a dark stain add depth—and match the desk.

Katherine‘s master bathroom was filled with wasted space, with a wall of closets and a separate room for the toilet and tub contributing to the cramped floor plan. In order to reveal this space’s true potential, “we pretty much had to start from scratch,” Katherine says. “It was in need of a major facelift.” They started by ripping out everything: unnecessary walls; the dark, gloomy builder-grade cabinetry; even the toilet.

Suzanne’s daughter used to enjoy her own room—but with a new baby on the way, she’d need to start sharing space with her sister. “I wanted to make their room a special space for them to enjoy together,” Suzanne says. Before, “It was just furnished, but not a lot of extra detail was added.” Luckily, both girls are “head-over-boots” (as Suzanne puts it) in love with horses, so picking a theme was easy.

Name: Katherine, one roommate, and a three-legged cat, Baby Location: Austin, Texas Size: 800 square feet Years Lived In: 3 years, renting My apartment occupies a single unit in a quaint four-plex on a gorgeous residential street just west of downtown Austin. I was lucky enough to discover it on Craigslist, and rushed to see the rental and to meet the tight-knit community of residents who’ve lived there for years. Needless to say, I was sold, and I rented it that very same day.

Erin‘s small, square master bathroom was cramped and outdated, with brown tiles and a builder-grade sink that offered no inspiration. But a trip to Italy did: “I kept talking about how I envisioned a master bathroom that looked like it belonged in a boutique hotel in Italy, and my partner surprised me with a vacation to one of my favorite cities in the world! Rome!” Erin says.

Cat and her boyfriend, Brian, seriously lucked out: His family’s hunting lodge in southern Utah is the perfect weekend retreat. But over time, the cabin has transformed from a yearly hunting haven for the boys to a family vacation home. “Naturally, it was in need of some decor and interior design,” Cat says. Cat and Brian’s upstairs bedroom had an awkward slanted ceiling and standard white wall.

The end result is cheery and modern.

Innovative DIY projects are always inspiring, but even more so when they’re budget-conscious! All of these Before & After DIY projects can be done for under $50. So pick your favorite and get to it!

There’s a big misconception in the renovating and real estate world that kitchen remodeling needs to be flashy and expensive to be good. That’s simply not true! We’ve found that with a little creativity, some reuse, a new coat of paint — and sometimes not even that much work, kitchen renovations can be not only eco-friendly, but also inexpensive. Here are our 15 best before and after kitchen posts of the year!

The power of paint can’t be denied – we all know how it can transform a room, but the effect is also powerful when it comes to projects that involve the application of paint to furniture and cabinetry. Here are ten examples from the archives (including one where the “furniture” didn’t even exist prior to the paintjob!); check out the befores in this gallery and then click through on each for the always-fun-to-see afters.

Erin and her husband Ken purchased their 1934 Tudor-style home in July 2015 and spent that summer and fall renovating much of the house. They were working with a very tight renovation budget, which made tackling the kitchen a particular challenge. It had bug-infested cabinets, a crusty radiator, and a tin backsplash held on with double-stick tape. Since Erin is a DIY blogger and Ken is a commercial construction manager, who better to handle the project?

Ashley Crites, one half of the team of Relative Renovations, described her master bedroom as “bland, gray, and the dumping ground for old furniture”—not exactly an ideal place to spend a third of your life. So when she had the opportunity to take part in the One Room Challenge, she knew exactly which room to choose. Inspired by Brady Tolbert’s gorgeous tufted headboard, Ashley chose a deep green velvet to upholster headboard panels that span the width of the room.

Vancouver-based Kristina Steinmetz knows her way around a good DIY. Her site, Ich Designer, is filled with clever and sophisticated home projects and IKEA hacks that have surprisingly humble origins and price tags. We recently featured her re-done mudroom, and her latest living room makeover might be even better. Here’s a wider shot, so you can get more of a sense of the whole room. It was in good shape but definitely needed an update.

Before Ashley put her guest house up on Airbnb, she wanted to give the bathroom a fun update. It was simple and sparse in comparison to the rest of the home, so, even though she was working on a tight budget, she was determined to use her DIY tricks and unique style to make it an exciting space for guests. Ashley carved as much time out of her schedule as she could—during nap times, evenings, and weekends—to work on the bathroom.

The little nook at the bottom of these stairs wasn’t really serving a purpose. The steamer trunk is undeniably cool, but it couldn’t do the heavy lifting of filling out the otherwise blank question mark of a space. Suzanne was transitioning into her new life as founder of a design company and really needed a place to work until she could move into an office. She thought about using the basement, but it was dark and sparse.

This north-facing, low-floor unit lacked natural light, but Paige replaced blinds, ripped out a built-in bookshelf, and painted the walls a bright, fresh white.

The work paid off.

After living in her house for five long years, Kate felt a burning need to shake things up. She admits her style has a tendency to change and evolve, and periodically needs to explore a completely new aspect of her personality. This time, she scratched that itch in her home office. The home office had a lot going for it, with its soothing gray-green walls, comfy furniture, and plush shag rug.

There are only so many changes you can make to a kitchen you do not own. Jess Bunge, Senior Market Editor for Emily Henderson, faced many of the classic challenges of a rental—dated floors, lackluster countertops, an oddly shaped floor plan—but brilliantly worked around them to make the space one to sigh over. The real star of this new kitchen is the countertop cover. With help from her dad, Jess cleverly cut plywood to fit over the gray granite, and built a matching backsplash.

And it only took four hours.

This garden-level space was the home’s entrance, office, guest room, and living room all in one, and though it was full of intriguing art, fantastic patterns, and great furniture, it needed a little something to make it as welcoming and cozy as possible. Removable wallpaper to the rescue!

While this bathroom would have been the absolute height of luxury and style a few short years ago—and it’s still extremely nice—it was basically the opposite of its owner’s style. After a creative, approachable DIY, this went from earth-toned bath to brightly colored… ball pit? Roxanne of @daintylibrarian is a visionary who saw a spa tub and thought, probably, “This could be a lot more fun.

This master bathroom was perfectly fine, but certainly not in keeping with the rest of Studio DIY’s vibrantly playful, creative, fun, and always-intriguing design sensibility. This one is definitely not a minimalist, monochromatic makeover. Studio DIY turned an ordinary bathroom into something undeniably fabulous. The green tile on its own is utterly glorious, a lush color that would be the statement in many bathrooms.