before and after Projects

Here's a post from CasaSugar Community member shalinirajkumar from the Su Casa group:

Our bedroom recently received a mini-makeover.

Here's how it looked before:

Keep reading to see the bedroom's transformation.

Here's a post from OnSugar blog Smorgasbord:

Here is a look at our new home spa! Brace yourself. The before photos are pretty grim . . .

Yes, that is plastic tile you see. Now from the other side . . .

Read more to see the beautifully renovated spa!

Here's a post from Sarah, who shared this dresser makeover with the CasaSugar Community.

There's an old, crumbling mosque behind my apartment building. One day my partner and I were walking by, and saw this dresser outside. It was in pretty good shape — all the woodwork was fine, it seemed sturdy and like it had probably just been sitting unused in a community room for a while. Ugly as heck though — it was an off-putting yellow, with some bronzey-goldish trim. The handles were dangling off, at least one was quite bent out of shape, and someone had taped the doors shut with masking tape because they were missing a latch. Neither of us is one to pass on free furniture, so we dragged it around the block and upstairs (it's quite a beast) and set to work.

I chose this light blue in semigloss (Benjamin Moore's "Old Pickup Blue") because it's a lighter version of our kitchen curtains, because I thought a light color would be a good contrast to the dark handles, and because we both like blue. We kept the original handles/drawer pulls, and my partner managed to fix the bent one and replace the inner latch on the doors. I'm pretty happy with how it came out. Thanks, neighborhood mosque!

Be sure to post your own DIY projects in the Su Casa group!

We're happy to present a post from Stylelist Home!

I lived in Brooklyn for five years and after a life of loneliness (my friends deemed Brooklyn to be about as far away as Florida), I decided to move over the bridge to Manhattan. I rented a shoebox-sized apartment (300 square feet) downtown and was just happy to be back in civilization where my friends would come and visit me. A fourth-floor walkup, the space was described somewhat generously as a one-bedroom.

I had one window, which looked into an air shaft where a weird man would stare at me, and my apartment smelled like sweet-and-sour chicken. I had to climb over the sink to get to the tub, which was actually more like a crypt. The most disturbing part was that what looked like urine would leak through the ceiling from the apartment above. It felt like I was paying $2,000 a month to live in a tenement.

The turning point came when the landlord said he was raising the rent. I started looking for something cheaper and couldn't find anything, so that's when I decided to take the leap, scrape together my savings, and buy a place. I didn't want cookie-cutter: I was looking for something older with character. I found it in an elevator building just off Union Square. The 500-square-foot apartment had original details like old wooden beams, crystal doorknobs, and exposed metal door frames.

Keep reading to hear about the renovation and to see how the apartment looks now!

Here's a post from CasaSugar Community member lindazbraden in the Su Casa group:

Just in time for the approaching Summer, I gave my screen porch an overhaul. Unfortunately, during the Winter months it becomes the catchall for garbage and boxes and projects gone wrong. But last week I cleared away the debris, gave it a good wash-down, and added form, function, and style.

You can see more at It All Started With Paint.

Be sure to post your own Summer decorating projects in the Su Casa group!

As part of our Styled by You $500 Giveaway with Ikea, Elka and I have been re-envisioning some Ikea products, thinking beyond the flatpack. Today, I'm sharing my first project, which was made with an ÅSELE lamp shade ($15) and a BRÅN Clear Glass Table Lamp Base ($20).

I was inspired by an Uzbeki ikat polka-dot fabric and was determined to re-create the look on my own. I decided to take a block-printing approach to replicate the pattern but needed some inspiration for an easy way to create a stamp. Enter the potato. Keep reading to see how this common household vegetable became the key to unlocking my coveted Uzbeki pattern!