Before & After (& DIY) Home Decor - April 2011

so there has been a lot happening around my home these past few months. I finally decided it was time to bite the bullet and get the new digs (ok, the "digs" were new in October, but still...) spruced up. I wanted to share a few before & afters to give a little perspective and sneak peak into my un-trained design mind. I should also note that I am an obsessive (or is it compulsive?) re-decorator, I'm constantly shuffling things around, from room to room, from table to table, trying to get things right. It seems once things are right for a few days or weeks, they're wrong again. Am I the only one here like that? Luckily for me, my storage, and my budget I'm more into buying things I love for my home and shuffling them around in stead of buying a ton of new things all the time. So here goes, a break from recipes for a moment...

1) a dresser DIY (inspiration & DIY directions @ Marcus Designs). I saw Nancy's amazing tutorial for her dressers, and I knew it would be perfect for the side table in my living room (+ the price was right!). The gold paint I bought failed, and I'm now deciding if I should just leave off a gold Draper-style design. **My fav feature: I left off the backing of the dresser so I can run cords through the back, store laptops in the drawers, and leave those cords out of site; I love it!!

 Rast Dresser from Ikea ($29.99). I won't show you what was there before. It's too embarrassing! :)

2) A pillow DIY!! I loooved this silk dress and the pattern from  Martin + Osa (which sadly no longer exists). I bought it for a trip to Mexico, and darlings, it was just far too short for me. It worked in Mexico, but not in my normal life. I tried it as a shirt, and no, it looked crazy, so I took the scissors and sewing machine to it and made this little pillow for the couch, which I adore! *My DIY tip is about "up-cycling". If you don't use something as it is anymore, could you use it in another way??

  

sheep skin pillow from west elm

3) the bedroom: bedding & lamps (jewelry organizing, here). I don't have a real before photo (which is a good thing for you) so this mid-way through photo will have to do. I chose neutrals for the bedroom, whites + grays, because I like my bedroom to be as serene as possible. I'm in love with how it turned out.

   

white bedding from west elm, marimekko bedding from crate & barrel, lamps JC Penney

4) Bedroom Dresser - also an Ikea fixer-uper (can you tell we were on a major budget?). I simply bought some new drawer pulls, the ones from the living room dresser, and I think the impact is huge. *Minor (& budget friendly) changes can make a huge difference. New drawer pulls are a great way to modernize/ freshen something up.

5) Last but not least, and I'm a little embarrassed to say this on my blog, in full disclosure, I still have a futon in my living room. Ok, I told you we were on a budget, so a new couch wasn't in store yet. A new pillows are all it took to somewhat hide the fact that indeed we had a futon. A new cover would work great as well, but I tried a white one, and it looked awful, so stayed with navy. Some gold and ikat pillows freshened up the look, don't you think? **Searching the interwebs for ways to update a futon is DIFFICULT. I went with my gut instinct, a) buy what you love and b) lean towards richer fabrics & prints to offset the futon-ness of it all. I think it works well enough for now, and I love the pillows.

  
ikat pillow from west elm. gold pillows from Pier 1

Hope you enjoyed this little before-and-after home tour (let me know what you think)!! I'm headed out of town today to visit one of my oldest and dearest friends and her new bebe in DC. I'll be back next Tuesday or Wednesday with something yummy!