Two months ago, I set out with a mission to makeover my former condo’s bathroom with a barely there budget of under a thousand dollars. 1k may seem like a lot, but it’s amazing how quickly paint, flooring and plumbing can eat away at that stash of cash. A charming concept image inspired the classic meets mod-industrial aesthetic I was envisioning for my drab and dated bathroom. Here’s a look at the before:
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{ Posts Tagged ‘makeover’ }
I’m thrilled to introduce myself on the blog as part of my first official duties as a new design editor for Style at Home! My first chance to work with the magazine came long before this new job — way back in mid-winter, Erin McLaughlin and Margot Austin decided my rental apartment was worthy of a feature in the mag.
On shoot day, the hallway outside my tiny place was lined with photographer Stacey Brandford’s equipment overflow and buckets of magnificent spring blooms that Margot brought. Thus began a whirlwind day of propping, tweaking, lighting and um… eating. Between the fluffy meringues and macarons that Margot brought for the dining room shot and the greasy fish and chips I picked up for lunch, we were fighting our food comas by the afternoon.
Take a look at what the place looked like before my fiancé David and I moved in (it definitely wasn’t fit for photography) and what it looks like now. The landlord was kind enough to let me spec materials and finishes before updating the unit.
The wooden floor in the dining area was damaged yellow parquet and the exposed terrazzo windowsills and cracked walls made the space feel more institutional than homey. And need I even mention the wicker basket pendant shade?
Fresh coats of Benjamin Moore Cloud White paint, a polished dark stain on the floor and my mix of high and low furniture and accessories helped to brighten up the space.
The original kitchen cabinetry was barely managing to stay hinged, and the ceramic blue knobs and peeling grey vinyl tile on the floor were less than appealing.
The black-and-white retro feel of the kitchen works its way from the checkerboard floor tiles up to the white cabinetry and black laminate countertop, where it explodes in a frenzy of fun bowls, canisters and more.
I don’t need to write much about the 'before' shot of the bathroom as it speaks for itself...eek!
A bold, striped shower curtain, subway tiled walls and a Greek key medicine cabinet that I painted are great examples of creating impact with a black-and-white colour scheme.
I was mulling over what to do with the vintage dresser in my living room for quite some time. I bought the dresser almost 3 years ago at a garage sale for just 15 bucks. The dresser’s top was badly scuffed and scratched, but it was still the deal of the century.
After using it heavily the past few years, the dresser was starting to show its age. I had a couple of ideas for sprucing up my prized piece, but all of them demanded more time, work and commitment than I was willing to offer. When I snagged a set of pink felt placements from the clearance bin at a big box store, I instantly imagined them pieced together to form a runner for the top of my dresser. I loved the placemats’ optical laser-cut design, which happened to mimic the circular motif of the wallpaper in my living room. I was lucky – 5 placements fit the 60″ wide dresser perfectly so no trimming was required.
I love the punchy, vibrant effect of the placemat runner against the walnut wood dresser. The placements hide the scratched surface and make such a statement in the room. The best part is that the entire project cost me only 3 bucks! How’s that for savvy decorating! I’d love to hear about your savviest weekend project. Leave a comment and let us know!
Amy Walters is a Winnipeg-based design enthusiast and blogger. For more design inspiration from Amy, check out her blog aDESIGNdock.
Any Friends fans out there? Admittedly, I was quite the fan (a.k.a. fanatic) of the hit TV sitcom and grew up gushing over Monica Geller’s chic Manhattan apartment. I adored the girlish mix of eclectic furnishings, pretty purple walls, yellow floral curtains and quirky accessories. Looking around my apartment at the melange of styles and colourful accents, I can’t help but think I subconsciously drew design inspiration from the infamous TV set.
My absolute fav detail in Monica’s apartment is the iconic “yellow frame” around her door peephole. I love the simple, yet stylish accent so much that I decided to make one myself. Now I am usually a self-proclaimed DIY-avoider, but this was a project even I felt confident tackling.
here’s the before:
and here’s the after:
1 – frame (new or old – mine was an inexpensive thrift store find)
1 – tube of acrylic or craft paint (any shade)
1 – foam brush
1 – pack of picture hanging strips (I used Command 3M: Medium Picture Hanging Strips)
just two simple steps:
1. Using a clean foam brush, simply give your frame a few quick coats of paint (leaving the frame to dry for about a half hour between each coat).
2. Secure frame to door using removable picture hanging strips.
And that’s really all there is to it. Easy, “I know”! Oops sorry, you might say I “pulled a Monica”. So tell us, what’s your fav TV or movie set design?
amy*
Amy Walters is a Winnipeg-based design enthusiast and blogger. For more design inspiration from Amy, check out her blog aDESIGNdock.
A little while ago I blogged about two paint projects that I was planning to take on and with the dawn of a long weekend, I was finally able to complete one of them. To refresh your memories, I purchased the table below from HomeSense for a clearance price of $50. I loved the shape of it, but wasn’t too fond of the colour.
Anyone who knows me is familiar with my love for neutrals, and I tend to shy away from colour. So, I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to inject some colour into my home without painting the walls a bold hue. I opted for a sexy, deep navy by Farrow & Ball called Hague Blue. The folks at F&B recommended a high gloss for the table and I’m so glad they did! With a couple of coats of paint and a new knob from Anthropologie {on sale for only $4}, the side table is now a seriously hot piece of furniture.
I think my favourite part of the makeover is that the whole thing cost around $80 — totally affordable! What do you guys think of the new look? Let me know in the comments below!
xo,
Lauren
A lot of times when I head out shopping, it’s rare to find exactly what I’m looking for. I’ll fawn over a great duvet cover, but it’s only available in King. I’ll spot a fabulous chair but it has a big stain on the upholstery. More than often, I’ll find a fantastic patterned throw cushion, but it won’t be available in the colour I need. As you can imagine {since most experience the same frustration}, this can get tiring.
Lately though, I’ve embraced imperfections — it becomes an improvement project rather than just a pretty purchase. Below are two pieces I’ve bought because of their shape, but I’m not crazy about the colour. Both are HomeSense purchases (love, love, love) — the mirror was $35 and the table was $50. By default, I immediately thought to spray them white, but now I’m rethinking — should I paint them a bold hue to add a pop of colour to my place?
So this is where I need your help — what colour should I paint them? Most of my walls are a light grey {‘Clamshell’ from the Style at Home Colour Collection} so use that as a starting point. I’m thinking maybe a plum for mirror and a deep navy for the table.
Let me know what you would do!
xo,
Lauren
P.S. You’ll notice there are two random pink tiles in our bathroom. They have been there since we moved in and they are the bane of my existence.
I was away on vacation for the past two weeks but I’m back now and I’m really excited to return my focus to my condo makeover. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m working with Lisa Canning, a wonderful designer who is demonstrating so much patience as I hem and haw over furniture choices, colours, patterns, fabrics. Right now, we’re trying to find the perfect chair. Below are a few we’re considering. Even though you (readers) have only seen glimpses of my space in previous posts, I’d still like to know which one you like best! Leave a comment below and share your opinion!
With the premiere of Pure Design’s sophomore season on HGTV on Tuesday, September 29 Â at 9PM, Samantha Pynn returns to the small screen to deliver another shot of sustainable style.
What can we expect from round two of Pure Design?
“Our interiors are really awesome this year,” Samantha says. “The spaces are really tailor-made for the homeowners this season, ranging from the most traditional to ultramodern.” And that “liveability” is important, she says. “They’re the ones who have to live in the space, so they have to be happy!”
I weaseled an invite down to the Pure Design Production Office to take a peek inside Samantha’s world of beautiful before-and-after transformations, only to find that her office itself was subject to the makeover maven’s magic wand.
“Before,” says Sam, “this office was really cold and the colour was wrong.” She’s hard pressed to put a name to the hue that adorned the walls — “let’s call it ‘beige’” — and the outdated office fittings were anything but inspiring. “The 1980s ‘working girl’ desk gave me the chills, and we could never find anything — it was a state of complete disorganization.”
But armed with her inimitable style — and some fantastic finds from IKEA — Samantha brought order to chaos.
BEFORE… “Very dingy and damp-feeling”
AFTER! 
“I think you can tell this space is very ‘me’!” says Samantha.
A crisp coat of Benjamin Moore’s Dune White CC-70 set the stage for Samantha’s office refresher, and by laying down gorgeous copper-tone seagrass carpet from Carpet One Floor & Home, the room shed all vestiges of its cold, institutional vibe. A new boardroom table flanked by IKEA’s contemporary classic Tobias chairs makes for an inviting meeting space that Samantha’s reluctant to take full credit for. “Pure Design Senior Stylist Malcolm Patterson helped me design the space,” she says. “He balanced my feminine style with some midcentury modern pieces from IKEA.”
And in keeping with Samantha’s environmentally-conscious approach, the old office furnishings found new homes at other offices in the building instead of ending up on the scrapheap.
BEFORE…
AFTER!
The production office is home to Samantha and six of her staff, but everyone’s got ample workspace in the new layout, thanks to new desks (in actuality, four Melltorp dining tables pushed together to form one gigantic worktop), and rolling under-desk filing cabinets from IKEA. The table lamps are from IKEA as well, but Samantha customized them by mixing-and-matching the lamp base with a different shade. “It’s always good to put your own spin on a piece,” she says. “Make it your own!”
The walls are lined with Samantha’s inspiration boards, complete with tears from her favourite photos from Style At Home magazine. The boards themselves are upholstered in pretty lavender fabric from Robert Allen. “I love how the lavender works with the apple green and pink accents in the room,” she says. “I wanted it to feel like a floral arrangement come to life.”
To create privacy without sacrificing natural light, Samantha selected translucent window treatments from Hunter Douglas Canada. Below the windows, acrylic trays from IKEA ensure fabric swatches stay neat and tidy — and save time when Samantha’s hunting for a particular sample, as the clear acrylic means all swatches are visible without having to dig.
Unfinished magazine boxes and filing drawers from IKEA were painted a perky apple green — another case of Samantha putting her personal stamp on mass market merch.
Adjacent to the conference table is this sweet little lounge. I love the Karlstad sofa from IKEA in this Linneryd Natural-colour slipcover, which is paired with the Vejmon coffee table — repainted, of course, this time in Benjamin Moore’s Violet Mist CC-880. Eagle-eyed Samantha fans will recognize the pink tufted chair from her own home, featured in Style At Home back in June 2008. Pretty patterned pillows break up the solid, softly-hued upholstery and add a hint of romance.
And those gorgeous floral arrangements that are among Samantha’s trademark flourishes? “One of our producers has a beautiful cutting garden,” Samantha says. “We always have fresh flowers here at the office.”
You’ll see more of Samantha’s office in Season Two of Pure Design!
Premiering Tuesday, September 29 Â at 9PM, HGTV
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Well everyone, the deadline for submitting entries for the Style at Home Makeover Contest 2009 is drawing near so I invite you to submit your entries before it’s too late! Brought to you by the Fall Home Show, the contest is a great opportunity to win gift cards from Home Depot that can help you turn your decorating dreams into reality. Visit the Style at Home Makeover Contest for full details. Deadline for entries: September 24, 2009. Good luck!
Above is a photo of a bedroom from the West Elm website. Love it! This is the kind of look I’d aim for in my bedroom if I were in makeover mode. Alas, I can’t win the contest; better luck to you!
I love my condo. I really do. When I first moved in, I spent so much time choosing the paint colours, furniture and accessories. The result is a warm and cozy space that I just love to spend time in. But … as the editor of a design and decorating website, I`m continually surrounded by new and exciting ideas. My mind is always whirling with just one more change I could make to my home, a tweak here, a new item there … it`s a hazard of the job, I suppose! Pictured above are rooms that totally capture my imagination. It`s a hot and sticky August here in Toronto and these interiors are light and bright and if I could, I`d makeover my home to look like these! (Photography by Gap Interiors.)
Do you have a room in your home that`s in desperate need of a makeover? If you said yes, then I encourage you to enter the Style at Home Makeover Contest, brought to you by the Fall Home Show. Simply upload a photo of a room in your home that`s in desperate need of an overhaul and tell us why you need a makeover. You could win one of two $2,000 gift cards from Home Depot to help you turn your design dreams into reality. Visit the Style at Home Makeover Contest for full contest details and for your chance to win. Good luck!
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