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Posts Tagged ‘Before’

One of the first design blogs I read when I started following them a couple of years ago was Brooklyn Limestone, which chronicles the adventures of a couple renovating and decorating their fabulous old house. I love their style and have been in awe of their dramatic before and afters, so I thought it was about time I shared one of them with you.

See that room above? That’s what their master bedroom looked like when they moved in. Looks pretty daunting to me. But here’s what it looks like now:

And from the other side of the room:

I think they did a beautiful job with it. It has inspired me as I try to figure out what to do with my own bedroom. Many thanks to Mrs. Limestone for letting me share her makeover with you. She says it’s not finished yet, so you’ll have to you’ll have to stay tuned to her blog to see what else she does with it.

Visit Brooklyn Limestone for more photos and details about this room. There are many more fabulous makeovers to ooh and ahh over while you’re there, too!

Visit my Before & After page to see more great rooms!

***Note: if you are reading this through Google Reader or some other reader, you may only see a partial post. Something has gone crazy with my feeds. I’m looking into it and hope to have it sorted out soon.***
Since the Before & After post about our kitchen on Pure Style Home last week, there have [...]

Readers send me the most interesting e-mails! I recently heard from Rene, who wrote, “I found your blog because I caught a stranger outside taking pictures of my recently renovated 1890 Victorian. I asked her what on earth she was doing, and she blushed and directed me to this blog. I had to laugh because I have done the same thing!”

Now I want to know which of you was the one taking the pics? ‘Fess up!

Rene also sent me photos of the exterior of her house, before and after they restored it. Check out this one taken of it in 1912 as a parade was passing by:

The women in the parade were members of an auxiliary known as the Ladies of the Maccabees.

By the time Rene bought the house, it had endured several unfortunate remodels. Half of the original porch had even been hacked off, as you can see in the photo below. She says, “The tacky vinyl siding made it look like Barbie’s Dream House.”

They had their job cut out for them. They proceeded to remove all the siding and repair, restore, and paint the original wood siding. She says it was in remarkably good shape underneath.

This photo (above) was taken while the renovation was in progress, and before the 1980s door was replace with the ones you saw in the top photo. But you can see that they restored the original wraparound porch that connects the two doors.

They found the “new” doors in an antique shop (below). Rene says, “Under the original hardware they were dated 1865, so they are a little bit older than the house, but they fit perfectly so we can’t complain!”

She planned to paint the porch ceiling haint blue but learned that the Victorian tradition in their area had been to stain them instead.

The roof is the original slate from 1890. “We’ve never had a leak or problem. They don’t build them like that anymore!”

The corbels, fishscale shingles, and cedar shakes are all original to the house, too–most were almost completely intact under the vinyl siding. Amazing. Their contractor Tom hand-cut some of the corbels around the porch to match the original ones when they restored it.

The tower doesn’t extend to the 3rd floor, but it goes down into the basement. Rene says:

“The turret room in the basement is behind a door separated from the rest of that room and there is a creepy bin that looks like a coffin, but we think it must have been coal storage at some point. We still find pieces of coal once in a while although the house has been heated with a gas fired boiler for decades.”

Thanks to Rene for sharing her house with us. I can see why strangers stop to take photos of it!

Visit my Before and After page for more makeovers!

Build Your Own Victorian! Check Out the Floor Plans at Floor Plan Collection.

LeAnn’s white kitchen already had a lot going for it–subway tile, hardwood floors, and a farmhouse sink. But she loves color and wanted more of it in the room. She also needed a way to display more of her fun vintage finds.

So, for starters, she painted the lower cabinets turquoise and removed some of the doors from the upper cabinets:

LeAnn recommends Valspar kitchen and bathroom paint for painting cabinets: “It’s an enamel with a finish between a satin and a semi-gloss and it was one coat. Love, love, love this paint and the best part, a quart was only $13.00!”

When she spotted this old table in a friend’s garage (they were going to throw it out, if you can believe it), she brought it home with her:

Oh, and let’s not forget the striped Dash & Albert rug, which is a cheerful addition in front of her sink:

See the cap on that vintage water bottle (above)? She says that was the inspiration for her cabinet color.

Doesn’t this kitchen look like a happy place to cook in?

Many thanks to LeAnn for sharing her kitchen with us. Visit her fun and colorful Vintage Sassy blog for more photos and information about her kitchen makeover.

Check out my Before & After page for more makeovers!

Love Vintage? Shop Solstice Home!

See this fireplace wall? Homeowner Nancy, who writes the blog Marcus Design, says it was “a scary sight when we first bought our home. The unit was a dark and dingy wood, the shelves were glass, and there was blue carpet (yes, carpet!) on the bottom shelves.” This is how the family room looked with the former owners’ things cluttering up the place. Not very promising at first glance, is it?

But Nancy, who describes herself as a scientist who aspires to be a decorator, went to work, transforming it from dark and dated to fresh and light:

Hard to believe it’s the same space, isn’t it? Go ahead and scroll up and down if you need to, just to make sure.

They replaced the glass shelves with wood and painted everything white. Of course, the rest of the room needed a makeover to go along with the fireplace wall–and it got one. New floors, new wall color, and new furniture bring the room out of its dark, dated past with a fresh look for 2010. Much better!

Many thanks to Nancy for letting me share this makeover with you. Check out her wonderful blog Marcus Design for more photos and details about this project.

Visit my Before and After page for more makeovers!