Before and Afters of 2008

Today is the day! The day Southern Hospitality is linking to blogs showing their top 10 before and after projects. Make sure to check out all the great ideas from all the other creative bloggers out there. I don't have ten projects but am showing a few of what I did this year.

I don't have a before photo but I made this headboard for my daughter out of our old coffee table.

This mirror was in the half bath downstairs.

I painted and rubbed antique glaze in the grooves.

Half bath before. Green striped wallpaper, lenolium floor, tulip shaped light fixture, two toned faucet.

After: painted turquoise. We added a wall cabinet for storage. We changed out the light fixture and faucet. We put down wood floors.


Entry before: Our whole house was painted blue-green, even the garage and closets. It looks more blue in this photo but it had green carpet and the wall color had more green than this photo shows. The ceiling are 9 foot first floor and 8 foot second floor so we put up scaffolding to paint and I did a venetian plaster on the tray ceiling.

We changed out the light fixture and this photo shows the tray done with a venetian plaster. We painted a yellowy taupe color.

Desk before. My husband brought this little desk home years ago. It was just a brown desk with no personality. I painted it green and distressed it. I really loved it like this but needed to make it go in my daughter's room so we painted it again.

Painted turquoise. We aged it with stain and sanded it a little.

Desk found at garage sale for $15.00. The right front edge was damaged, but other than that in good condition.

We put wood putty over the damaged edge and shaped it to make a new corner. I painted it a medium brown then applied Elmers glue so that it would crackle when we applied a top coat of a yellowy taupe color. I then applied antique gel stain and sanded parts of it. I also painted the hardware black.

Lamp before. It was blending in too much with the taupe walls and a brown tone tapestry sofa. It needed to be blinged a little.

I added Sophistocate Finishes aged bronze paint with a blonde highlight for the raised parts to bring out the definition of the carvings. It did allow the lamps to live a little longer.

We decided that we didn't need a dining room as much as a bedroom so we moved the dining table and buffet into the foyer and can use it there if we have a large gathering. We closed the wall between the living room and dining room so that we could make the dining room into a bedroom.

After painting, but before changing the dining light fixture into a ceiling fan.

The open passthrough before. This is the color it was painted. We also took up the carpet and laid hardwood floors. We went ahead and put them through the opening so that it can be opened up again later without having to patch floors.

Another photo of the room before. When we moved in we were laying the hardwood in the rest of the house so this room was a storage area for cabinet doors and equipment until we finished.

Foyer before. We removed the carpet and painted 17foot ceilings with a tray ceiling. It took three sections of scaffolding and learning to stand on a rolling board and paint and venetian plaster over your head with nothing to grab onto. I am now ready for the circus.

This is where the furniture is placed but before we did any decorating.