Ellen and her sister were cruising around their neighborhood one day when they spotted this nightstand sitting by the side of the road. It was in pretty good shape, if a bit outdated, so she immediately knew that she could give it a fun update. Ellen says, “I only spent about $20 on this project. I’m glad I went bold as it’s now a statement maker in my bedroom.” Thank you Ellen!

Emily tells us that she, “wanted all evidence of this bathroom removed as fast as possible.” This attic bathroom had everything she didn’t want: thick fluffy carpet, limescale blocked taps and a bowl collecting liquid beneath a ‘critical’ drain. Eww. She smartly thought about how she wanted to feel in this space, and thus came up with a redesign plan for this high-altitude room. Thank you Emily!

Emily and Shane hated their textured ceilings, but felt stuck with them because they weren’t ready to deal with the mess and trauma of drywalling. Finally, they just couldn’t take any more of those ceilings, “staring down at us,” so they took a gamble on another option, and boy, did it pay off. They covered it with beadboard! What a great way to give the ceiling a beautifully coffered look with surprisingly little effort and money.

Vel had a small office that needed a big update. She wanted more storage, a space to work, and a spot for her kids to do their homework, too. And, oh ya, it had to be stylish. Wow, talk about storage. We love the bold, blue backing Vel chose that really highlights her bookshelf styling. Vel says: We built these huge shelves out of plywood and switched our small office table with our old kitchen table! We really love this space and it is now the most used space in the house.

Emilie found this vintage record player console at her local charity shop for 10 bucks, and boy, was it in a sorry state. Over the years, it had undergone many makeovers (and accumulated many many layers of paint), but Emilie suspected she might have found a hidden gem so she decided to put in some love see what she wound up with. That’s better! Just goes to show that hidden tresures are everywhere, you just need to look hard.

Brit realizes she’s lucky to have decent-sized closets in her 1924 Seattle home, but the walk-in closet in the master still felt tiny and cramped because of the very sloped ceiling. She really wanted to retain the old house charm but to bring the organization into this century. Wow, that is one stunning space. Here’s how it all came together.

Lucky Nathalie in France happened upon this vintage military table in need of some love (and elbow grease). The industrial vibe was exactly what she was looking for so she set to work restoring it to its former glory. What an improvement! And Nathalie’s new table also works so perfectly with her cherished collection of Eames chairs (she calls them her “loves.

Well this is a new one on us! Kristie loved the shape and texture of this oak table but didn’t love the heavy-handed 90s orange-toned varnish, so she gathered up her courage and tried a technique called cerusing. Wait for it… Cerusing is where the grain of the wood is opened up by scrubbing with a metal brush. Then the wood is stained and the grain is filled with a contrasting pigment (usually white). Oak and other hard woods are the best to ceruse.

Heather called the previous hallway in her Victorian UK home, “uninspiring.” But after a spruce-up, this space is no longer “grubby and old.” Just wait until you see the dramatic difference. Here’s Heather’s professional website. Thank you Heather!

Maybe it’s her name, but April certainly seems to love springtime. She tells us that she recently expanded her porch so she could spend more time outdoors, but needed to furnish it on the cheap. Luckily, a friend found this free glider which just needed a little spruce up in order to become official new porch furniture. Cocoa and Crafts Thank you April!

Beth tells us that, before she got her hands on this piece, it had been used as an ironing board. That’s not good wood care! Luckily, Beth also says, “I love me a good challenge when it comes to wood refinishing.” She sure got one. Make Me Pretty Again. Thank you Beth!

When Joanna moved into her 1927 Spanish Revival a few years ago, the bathroom had a lot of original character and some…ahem…colorful extras that needed immediate attention. Her goal was to simply enhance the bath’s vintage charm with a few cosmetic updates and practical repairs. She switched out the rusted pedestal sink with a new model and chose Benjamin Moore’s Black Horizon for the walls to play off the original black and white floor and subway tile.

Even as a “before” this chair was a favorite of Karen’s — she adopted it from a friend who’d had it in his family for years. The original fabric had seen better days, especially after what Karen calls, “an unfortunate incident with our cat.” But since Karen was taking an upholstery class, she knew she could spruce this chair right up. Wow! We’d say that class was well worth it.

Nothing piques our curiousity more than a completely empty room (besides that very peach wallpaper…). It makes the dramatic reveal of Ashley’s two-year bedroom makeover all the more exciting. Wanna see it? Says Ashley, “We put lots of love into the room by doing personal DIY touches (sunburst mirror, bamboo blinds and headboard). It took a few tries to get things right, but we finally feel like the room reflects us.

When she bought her Chicago condo, Priyanka also inherited a pair of chairs from the previous owner, a 90-year-old lady. She couldn’t bear to throw them away, so she kept them but made one major change. Priyanka tells us she’s not very crafty but still had a vision, so she found a local reupholster (Windy City Upholstery) to do the job. She got a deal on this beautiful fabric and wound up with brand new, beautiful chairs for a reasonable price.

Megan’s clients asked her to create a changing table for their little girl’s room so she set about giving this perfectly-sized dresser a cute, nursery-worthy upgrade. To create the ombre design, she used CitriStrip to remove the teal paint and cleaned the piece with After Wash (Megan recommends using After Wash in a well-ventilated space. It’s pretty potent and can cause dizziness and nausea). She removed the floral decals and prepped the wood with a good sanding.

Reupholstery newbie Annalisa in Italy recently found two of these chairs in her garage — her uncle had bought them in 1962. The structure was still in great shape so she decided to give these vintage cuties an outfit change. So cute! We love how the kicky, contrasting fabric choice updates the classic shape. From Annalisa: The makeover was quite satisfying . My boyfriend and I changed the old filling (straw and iuta) with foam rubber and new fabric.

Sheila was feeling rather unromantic in her bedroom lately. All the elements were there, but something just felt…off. So she did one simple thing that made all the difference. Ooh la la. Someone’s getting lucky tonight. Lucky to sleep in such a cute, new bed, that is. Sheila already had everything she needed for this makeover right in her own home — she just needed to put it all together.

We’ve all been there: you start a project when it suddenly spirals into much more work than expected. Kata knows this pain first-hand. This Neo-Baroque couch seemed to be in good shape — she just wanted to change the fabric — but as she took it apart, she saw she was in for a bigger job. Wowee. That looks like so much work, but boy was it worth it.

Here’s proof that a dated kitchen doesn’t always need a total overhaul, sometimes a light refresh will do just fine (and save major renovating bucks). Alex and Jon spent just $2,500 to redo their 1928 DC row house kitchen and it looks like a million bucks. They told us that, “Someday we would like to clear everything out and reconfigure the entire kitchen, but for now we decided a little make-over would work.

We sure didn’t see this one coming. Lanae calls her boyfriend Brandon a “crafty DIY person.” You’re not wrong, Lanae, you’re not at all wrong. Turns out, Brandon is a pretty awesome boyfriend, too. Lanae tells us how this totally inventive piano bar came into being: For Christmas last year I mentioned to my boyfriend that I’d like a bar cart for our house. Brandon did not want to go to IKEA for the standard bar cart set-up.

Landon paid good money for this chair — a whole five bucks! A stamp on the bottom said it was manufactured in 1954, and from the look of things, it’s been sitting outside since shortly thereafter. Who knew that old chair had so much life left? We’re loving how the patterned fabric livens up the simple silhouette. Landon says: The fabric was more like parchment paper that turned into powder at the slightest touch. Let’s just say the dust mites had done a thorough job.

This fireplace lived in Patience’s little house by the sea, but it was old and dated so she waved her magic wand and presto! She tells us, “I wanted wow!” We’d say she got it. Her contractor demolished the top of the hearth and replaced it with a thick slab of bluestone. The rest of the brick was covered with stone veneer. The mantle is made from an old beam from a demolished barn. She kept the original screen but cleaned it up and painted it with a high-heat spray paint.

Kristen calls herself a, “habitual renovator.” This particular 1920’s house was falling apart and she gave its kitchen some major love, much to the chagrin of the previous rodent residents. Says Kristen, “The mice were angry when we forced them out of the dishwasher and claimed back our kitchen!” The heart of this kitchen is the five burner Capital stove which Kristen tells us, “makes entertaining fun.

Lauren recently moved into her first place, a two bedroom condo. The original owners bought it new in ’79 and it had been virtually untouched so 26-year-old Lauren had her work cut out for her. Fortunately, her dad is a recently retired carpenter. She says, “He has plenty of projects to keep him busy now.” See what they did with this side bar. Lauren drew up the plans to convert the unused bar into a built in bookshelf and they got to work.

True story: we thought Jen might be pulling a fast one with this submission. We almost couldn’t believe that this beast of a dresser could turn out like it did. Want to see what we mean? Check it out. After inheriting it from her aunt, this dresser sat in the garage for months. Jen began experimenting with paint color, but nothing looked right. She even dismantled it, only to discover particle board. Yuck! Then, as Jen puts it, “this project got a little more interesting.

Who’s wearing green today? Cindy won’t be getting a pinch. She came across this free cherry wood sideboard, took it home and gave it a St. Paddy’s worthy makeover you won’t soon forget. She sanded and primed this sideboard and rolled on two coats of high gloss green. Then she polished up the original hardware to give it a glamorous shine. Cindy says: I was dying for a pop of color in my entryway/kitchen area and Kelly Green was just the color I wanted.

Who’s ready for spring? Nora is. She was excited about having some outside space in her new London flat until she saw this terrace. But she invested a little cash and a lot of love and got this space ready for some sunny days. Now we love this cute, color blocked space. Nora pullled up the tiles and laid artificial grass, painted the grey cracked walls a nice bright white and scrubbed up the railings and spray painted all of the furniture fun colors!

Sometimes making a big change can be a fairly simple process if you have the guts to take the leap. When Tanya and her partner purchased their home, the dated, faux stone fireplace combined with “sauna wood” accents just wasn’t her cup of tea, so she made one easy, inexpensive change that had a huge impact. The brick got a thick coat of primer + paint in one (semi-gloss finish) and she spray painted those old gold vents with a high heat enamel spray paint in matte black.

Naomi moved into her Edwardian UK home a year ago and has spent nearly the whole time planning renovations to her small bathroom. Her biggest goal? An easy-to-clean space with minimal areas for dust to gather. We hear you, Naomi. She introduced a little luxury with a sink crafted from Welsh slate, an extra wide bath, and stainless steel towel warmers which she tells us were worth every penny. She kept the walls and ceiling bright white and fell for those grey tiles, “the moment I saw them.

Carithanne says, “Who knows how long this chair sat abandoned in a forgotten basement before my dad rescued it for our next restoration project?” This particular piece was extra exciting because of its classic mid-century design, complete with a production date on the bottom from 1953! The upholstery needed a total overhaul after more than 60 years, but this piece had solid maple bones just waiting for the right person to come along and give it some TLC.

Architectural designer Teddy desperately needed to update this kitchen but had major budgetary restrictions. No matter. See how just $300 worth of supplies made a huge difference. Wow, what a difference. We love how, even though all the major elements are the same (cabinets, backsplash, countertop), the color change and the addition of small details totally transformed this space.

Meredith was looking to spice up the boring blinds in her daughter’s room. She wanted to add a pop of color without breaking the bank, so she got really crafty with something that’s probably hanging around your junk drawer right now. Duct tape to the rescue! What a clever and thrifty idea. Bravo. From Meredith: I started to look into painting the blinds but found that incredibly cumbersome and messy. I decided I could be a lot more in control if I used duct tape.

Charlotte’s youngest child’s room doubles as the guest room, so her new changing table needed to fit with its funky aesthetic. This $40 dresser from Craigslist fit the bill: solid construction, the right height, and good storage space. It just needed a little update. From Charlotte: I double checked for any maker’s marks or signs of antiquity before giving it a coat of Annie Sloan Napoleonic Blue chalk paint.