CasaSugar

Before and After: Julie's Bright and Cheery Kitchen Makeover

CasaSugar — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:00:21 -0700

Julie, who writes the awesome blog Mamaphunk, recently took her kitchen from drab to fab with a total makeover. She writes, "My husband and I did everything except install the cabinets and countertops, we're good but not that good! I wanted to go for an Anthropologie-like vibe and I think I did a decent job. I also love color and really wanted to make a splash."
Here's how the kitchen looked before Julie got started. To see how she infused this dull space with color and life, read more. I love the bright pops of green that have given this kitchen new life and energy. These two shades are ones that I would never have thought of putting together, yet I adore the effect. It's unexpected, lively, and fun. I'm also a huge fan of the tin tiles that Julie has used as a backsplash along the wall. And of course, the new cabinets and countertops are a huge improvement. Take the full tour when you check out the gallery!

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Before and After: Deanna's Admirable Craft Room Makeover

CasaSugar — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:00:08 -0700

Craftster member Deanna recently bought a house, and one of her first priorities was setting up a well-organized and workable craft room. She writes, "Naturally I chose the largest of the two extra rooms and started to get to work. The carpets were blue and new flooring is not in our budget right now, so I worked with them instead of against them. There was great space and lighting in this room, also a decent closet." Here's what Deanna started with. See what she has to say about how she created the perfect crafting space.

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Before and After: A Dull Bath Blossoms

CasaSugar — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:00:29 -0700

When faced with a dull and drab half bathroom, it's easy to ignore it, since the work to transform the space often seems daunting. However, crafty lady Singalala took her dull and drab bathroom from an eyesore to a standout in one weekend! She writes, "I have been living in my rental house for two and a half years now. I live in the Netherlands and for small, rental houses it is customary to have only one toilet, in the hallway. The shower or bath is usually separate. My toilet is under my staircase and is very, very small. Besides this, my toilet was old, the grout of the floor was loose and it had a big hole where the ventilation pipe was. The lightbulb was attached to the wall with a weird construction. The tap was full of limescale and was missing most of its chrome. The pipe for the water was exposed and painted in a bad shade of beige. The summary: not very pretty."

To see how Singalala turned it around, read more.

Using stencils and a bright shade of paint, Singalala completely transformed this bathroom into something beautiful. She raves, "I love my toilet now! It turned out much better than I imagined, and on a budget. I only paid for the accessories, tap, mural transfers and the metal paint. The rest was free or were leftovers from other projects around the house. And it only took me a weekend! My boyfriend was on holiday and was very pleasantly surprised when he returned."

Read more about this project on Craftster.

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Before and After: A Tired Table Gets a Fiesta-Ready Look

CasaSugar — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 08:00:31 -0700

Craftster member Princessnance recently posted photos of a table that she took from drab to fab with some DIY know-how and a lot of hard work. I love how this tile table, which many of us might have seen little potential in, has been completely transformed thanks to Princessnance's hard work.
She writes, "We had a tile table that was made with really good, solid wood...but I hated the way it looked (hello, 1996). I really love Fiestaware so I decided to rip the tile out and make a mosaic out of Fiestaware. My husband took the day off of work and went down to the infamous Fiestaware tent sale (all of the seconds are 1/2 off). He stood in line with about 600 other people just to get me the plates that I needed (I know, he's a great guy!)."

To see the fab results, read more.

Princessnance and her mom took nearly all day tearing the original tile off of the table. Then, after her awesome hubby returned with the plates, they broke them into pieces, and laid them in the tile adhesive, making sure that there were no pieces that were the same color beside each other.

I love the finished result. As a fan of mosaics in general and Fiestaware in particular, this is such a cheery update to Princessnance's kitchen. And, to make things that much more festive, Princessnance reports, "I painted the dark dining room Fiesta Orange and sewed up curtains to match." Check out the gallery for a glimpse of the new kitchen color and curtains.

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Casa Verde: An Upcycled Headboard

CasaSugar — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:00:02 -0700

Craftster member Jessyratfink recently posted pictures of this awesome book headboard project. She's no stranger to upcycling old books into home furnishings. In fact, we featured her DIY instructions for a book-legged table here.

Jessy explains, "I work at a used bookstore, and so I was able to save a lot of old books and wanted to reuse them. I've previously done a table with book legs and a bookshelf out of old encyclopedias. I wanted something a little prettier this time. [The headboard] is made out of book covers, Elmer's Glue-All, a plywood backing, and some polyurethane to seal it. It was really simple as you just glue them down in layers!"

Want to see more photos, and find out how to make it yourself? Then read more.

Get the complete instructions over on Instructables.

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Cool Idea: Stenciled Shelving

CasaSugar — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:00:32 -0700

I recently stumbled upon Craftster member Retroeva's post on her kitchen makeover. While I love the new look, my absolute favorite part of the kitchen is Retroeva's stenciled open shelving.

As you know, I'm a big fan of open shelving. I especially love it when a homeowner paints the back wall of the shelving with a contrasting color, or adds wallpaper to the wall. However, until now, I'd never realized the potential oomph that a well-chosen stencil could give this kitchen feature.

Want to see the reset of Retreva's fabulous kitchen? Then read more.

Retroeva writes, "After much debate I decided to paint my kitchen red, so I stalked the paint sections at the hardware store and pillaged the paint chips to tape on the wall to gawk at as the sun made its way through the sky and decided on Eddie Bauer's 'Crimson' which is part of his bungalow collection at Lowes. This is the second color of that line that I've worked with and I'm pleased."

I'd be pleased as well! The kitchen looks fabulous. Nice work, Retroeva!

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Before and After: From Dull to Punk

CasaSugar — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 06:15:43 -0800

For some home decorators, music is a way of life, and that means that music must become a part of their home decorating scheme. Take Craftster member Anarchy_Onions for example. As you'll see, she isn't shy about incorporating her musical tastes into her home. I love it when people have a definite idea about what they like and dislike, so I admire Anarchy_Onions's moxie!

Anarchy_Onions started off with this plain-Jane dresser.
To see how she switched it up, read more.

She explains, "I saw something like this a long time ago that someone was selling and I always wanted to make one. When I redecorated my room, I got the chance. The third panel is a bit crooked, but overall I dig it."

For all of you who might not know who these characters are, the man is Sid Vicious, the bass player for seminal British punk rock band The Sex Pistols, and the woman is Nancy Spungen, his girlfriend. While this dresser may be way too punk rock for your taste, you've got to give Anarchic_Onions credit for a job well done!
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Cool Idea: Soda Tab Table Lamp

CasaSugar — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:00:09 -0800

Craftster member Tashaduckman recently shared a very cool upcycled project. She writes, "We had to make a lamp for class using a recycled material . . . for some crazy reason, I chose to use pop tabs. It took forever, but here it is! I call it the tree hugger:"
She used almost 500 soda tabs to make the tree light, and as you might imagine, it took her quite a while to construct it! The tree is woven together with ribbon and wire to maintain its shape. I love the way the light plays through the metallic trunk. Have you tried to make any creative upcycled projects like this?
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Cool Idea: Frank Lloyd Wright in Thread

CasaSugar — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:30:37 -0800

Craftster member PencilNeck's embroidery creativity has bowled me over. She made this embroidery of a Frank Lloyd Wright blueprint as a Christmas gift for a family member who works with architectural design. She embroidered almost exclusively with backstitching for the project, and found blue floss to match the blueprint color.

For more images of this project, including her cool Frank Lloyd Wright signature, read more.

PencilNeck writes, "My biggest headache was struggling with fabric tension and possibly the weave of the fabric causing my lines to look not so straight despite my following the printed lines exactly . . . It helped that my husband kept reminding me that this is an embroidered interpretation of a blueprint and will not look the same as a pen drawing. The obsessive-compulsive side of me took over and turned this into a monster of a project, but I finally stepped back, looked at it from a distance, and pronounced it acceptable."

I'd say! This looks more than acceptable to my eyes. It's such a unique idea, and her execution is impressive. I don't doubt that the family member who's lucky enough to receive this gift will declare it his or her favorite of the season.

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Before and After: An Ikea Clock Gets a Facelift

CasaSugar — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 04:30:54 -0800

Craftster member Ladypie decided to turn this dull Ikea clock into something a little more design forward. Here's how the clock looked before she got her hands on it.

To see how she upgraded this timepiece, read more.

With a new picture and some spraypaint, Ladypie was able to quickly and easily turn a blah clock into something infinitely cooler. Ikea's a great resource for DIY hacks because their products are often very simple, which leaves them open to interpretation by clever home enthusiasts. This is a great idea to keep in mind for any decoupage fans out there, too!

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