My Sister's House: Before & After

My sister bought her first house last August. It was a short sale, so my sister got it for a steal. This house had a lot of cosmetic issues, but after two weeks of hard work, we updated most of the house.


Front door area before:

Front door area after:

Improvements:
-paint
-new baseboard/casing

Living Room area before:

Living Room area after:

Improvements:
-paint
-new baseboard
-new carpet

Kitchen before:

Kitchen after:

Improvements:
-took down horrendous plastic backsplash squares
-raised the cabinets above the mircrowave/fridge
-added crown molding (we are going to paint the cabinets once it gets warmer)
-paint
-added pendent lighting above the bar and sink
-new baseboards/casing

Stair area before:

Stair area after:

Improvements:
-paint
-new carpet

Dining area before:

Dining area after:

Improvements:
-paint
-new baseboards

Family Room before:

Family Room after:

Improvements:
-removed the tile
-installed new tile in the walkway from the backyard to the garage
-removed the door between laundry room and family room
-new baseboard/casing
-new carpet
-paint
-added built-ins from Ikea out of Billy Bookcases

Laundry Room before:

Laundry Room after:

Improvements:
-new baseboard/casing
-paint
-added a wide board to the wall. Eventually, hooks will be added to hang coats on.
-painted the doors white (they used to be black... ya I know, who does that?!?)

Girl Room before:

Girl Room after:

Improvements:
-added board and batten
-new carpet
-paint

Boy Room before:

Boy Room after:

Improvements:
-new light/fan
-new carpet
-paint

Master Bedroom before:

Master Bedroom after:

Improvements:
-added board and batten
-new paint
-new carpet

It's amazing what some paint and new carpet can do for a place. This house went from yucky, don't touch the walls to bright, happy, and homey. I hope you enjoyed the tour....

Pull Down School Map

I really love maps and globes. I think they make great decor. Last month I bought an old school pull down map off of Etsy.com for $75. The map is 72" wide by 54" long. I needed a piece that was large and could take up a lot of wall space. This map does the job, plus it looks awesome. Everyone who has come to my house comments how cool it looks. It has definitely been a conversation piece.

The shop owner who sold me the map has other maps available for purchase. Go check out her shop HERE.

NOEL supersized

I'm sure by now, you have seen this image all over Pinterest. I'm sure, like me, you loved it and had to have it!

Since I have 9ft ceilings, I had to make my letters big.

I used a 3.5"x6' fence slat and made a "N" and a "L". For the "E" I used a 1 inch wide board. I made my letters 22" tall.

I used a twig wreath for the "O". To add some pizazz, I spray-painted it silver.

Lastly, I painted each letter a different color. I painted the "N" gold, the "E" buttermilk cream and the "L" avocado green. After the paint was dry, I sanded the edges of each letter to made it look worn.

This project was fun, and cheap.
Merry Christmas!

Ballard Design's Botanical Prints- Knockoff

Have you seen these awesome Christmas plant/flower botanical prints That Ballard Designs have for sale? They are adorable!!!

Since they are so adorable, I wanted some for my wall. But at $150, that was not going to happen... So, I enlisted the help of my Photoshop savvy husband to make them for me.

First thing I had to do was find botanical prints that look like the ones on Ballard Designs. Thankfully, I found them and all in one spot... Etsy.com. For my project, Matt was able to take the images off the internet and redesign them in Photoshop. If you are not able to do that, click on the flower name and it will take you to the Etsy shops that I found them in...

American Holly

Hawthorne Berry

Amaryllis

Poinsettia

After Matt had designed and sized them to what I wanted them, we sent them off to Sam's Club to be developed. We spent about $12 on four 12"x16" prints. Not too shabby. Once the prints were back, we put them in Ikea frames and hung them on the wall.

Christmas Pillows

I have added some new Christmas pillows to my Etsy shop...

All are available for purchase in my Etsy Shop...