DIY at The Pear Tree Cottage

Meet:  Becky from

Becky and her husband are DIYers who are on a mission to change their 1990s home into something they can be proud of.  

Beautiful Dining Room Transformation

This is what their house looked at the first time they saw it with the realtor:

Here is the amazing transformation...

Yes, the open doorway has been changed!  See all of the details here. Walls were knocked down, doorways were patched, new flooring and beautiful cottage decor.  Great job, Becky!

The boy's room got an awesome makeover too!

Before (previous owner's things)

After (chalkboard tutorial here) with more to come!

 

That chalkboard says it all! F~U~N!

And one last thing then you'll have to visit The Pear Tree Cottage to see more!

Fireplace Before and After

Before...

Gorgeous after...

Wait! That can't be the same room, can it?  It's magazine-worthy beautiful!  See the fireplace how-to for more details.

Hurray, Becky! You're doing an amazing job and creating a lovely home!  

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Just a reminder about I <3 thrifting day.  Get the details here!

DIO - Do It Ourselves

A two person team are known as DIO'ers.  So cute.  DIO - Do It Ourselves. That's the name of Lannie's new blog and I look forward to seeing more from this  DIO duo. They're awesome!

Here is their fireplace before:

BEFORE - 1970s faux lava stone

AFTER - beautiful creamy white wooden fireplace surround and carrara marble tiles.

Get the details, more pictures and see exactly what they did at

Fireplace Remodel

Great chalkboard projects...

Cabinet before:

Cabinet after - so handy and fun:

See the original post at Chalk It Up 

Wingback chair before and after (I am SO eager to do this...it's gorgeous every time I see it). I love Lannie's choice of fabric!

Before...

  

After:

Thanks so much for sharing your hard work and creativity, Lannie (and Tony)!  Great job on everything you're doing!  

See more at DIO:  Do It Ourselves!

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Happy Saturday!

First Class Fireplace Makeover

Long slow whistle.  This fireplace transformation is smokin'!  DIY, creative and the best results ever.  Kasey from Beautiful Mess has an amazing transformation to show off!

Here is the fireplace before.  Pretty enough - just having a fireplace is special...

Kasey always wanted shelves on either side so during a two week break, her husband, his brother and dad got to work.

1st day. They had to build a fake wall. He also had to chisel out the crown molding and remove the mantel which was one big piece of slate.

2nd day. Beadboard and more electrical work. 

3rd day.  4 - 42 inch cabinets are used on the bottom for hiding the DVD, Wii and game storage and shelving is built from MDF board. 

4th day. The dry wall is hung between the shelves. They also used dry wall to frame in the fireplace. The mantel is made out of 2x4's and MDF board. 

The result:

They removed the face plate and spray painted the inside of the fire place black. It isn't in working order currently, so now it serves as great toy storage.  With all of the books in one spot, the kids request more story time!

Isn't it gorgeous?  I love the built in shelving and storage.  The tv looks like it belongs there - perfectly framed and I love how the brick work stands out more.  What a beautiful job!  Thank you so much for sharing all of the hard work and steps it took to make a regular fireplace into to a beautiful entertainment and storage wall!

See more at Beautiful Mess!

DIY - Just Between Friends

Jonie at Just Between Friends has some great DIY projects to share! 

These scrap wood shelves are adorable!  Perfect for story time storage or...if no little library is needed, how about organizing magazines?  Super cute!

Scrap Wood Shelves Tutorial

I love this gift idea...I think I Niski clock might be added to my list of projects.  Personalized gifts and decor are so special!  

Personalized Clock Tutorial

Looking for an easy DIY mantel option for your fireplace?  This one is awesome! View her original post here. 

Fireplace before:

Fireplace after:

There's still time to make this gorgeous winter wreath before the holidays!  Gorgeous!

Winter Wreath Tutorial

There are so many great DIY ideas over at Just Between Friends (including a clever and cute paint-stick snowflake)!  

Thanks for sharing your creativity, Jonie!  Merry Christmas!

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This post is brought to you by 

RTA Kitchen Cabinets at Discounted Prices

Fireplace Transformation

Jen from Let's Make it Ours has my same philosophy when it comes to DIY..

"We just do what we like!"

Here is a look at her fireplace before & after. Her husband built the mantel and they installed the stone together. First, they painted the walls a light greyish beige, painted the brass strips with high-heat black spraypaint and removed the tile and mantel. They also carpetted all the way to the fireplace for a more modern look (after testing the heat for safety).   

Before (with previous owner's decor).  Still pretty but not Jen's style.

Her husband built a custom maple mantel and they installed the beautiful white Quartzite tile.  The love the gorgeous tile against the rich brown of the mantel.  I love her photo display too.  Here is the After:

  

Jen says the Quartzite came in 12" x 24" mesh backed sheets, so the installation went pretty well.

Now that her fireplace is finished, she can share pictures of the living room! Can't wait! More details at Let's Make it Ours.

What do you think?  Beautiful, isn't it?

A fellow serial DIY'er...

I want to thank Brandi for sending over her DIY projects.  They are awesome!  This is a long post, but I can't leave out any details.  I love all of her creativity, DIY talent and her beautiful home.  I think you will too.  Make sure you click the links to visit Brandi's blog for all of the details and even more DIY eye candy.

Kitchen Before/Afters:

When we looked into buying the home, I was HATING the kitchen.  It was screaming BUILDER GRADE. The kitchen had never been painted and the countertops looked horrible.  And it was begging for a backsplash.

We chose to paint the kitchen orange and do the “antique glazed” look.  We painstakingly painted the cabinets a linen color and then glazed each one of them. We added some crown moulding to the top to give it a more “high end” look.  Then we added hardware to the doors and drawers.  Finally we changed out the countertop and put in a Travertine backsplash on the diagonal.  I couldn’t be happier… well, now that’s not entirely true – I want to change out the white appliances for stainless steel ones – but that will come later on down the road.

Nightstand Makeover

Before:

After:

Closet Overhaul!

Before:

After:

Fireplace Before & After:

The night we closed on the house, I immediately started pulling up carpet and smashing the tile surround on the fireplace. 

The hubs built the mantle and we used slate tiles as the surround.  Total cost for the transformation?  $36.00!!!

  As you can also see, we replaced the carpet for hardwood – a steal we found discount supply store for $1.50 sq ft… I am still convinced they had this priced incorrectly! HA!

Beautiful Bathroom vanity Before & After:

This is still a work in progress (its never ending).  But when we bought the home – there was carpet in the master bath.  GROSS!  We hated the vanity… okay we pretty much hated everything about the bathroom. 

We decided to take out the original vanity and put in an antique dresser with a sink on top in its place. 

After months of searching for the PERFECT one, we found this small dresser at Goodwill for $60.00.  We sanded it down, painted the body black and stained the drawers a mahogany color.  We also stained the side insets the same.  We added glass knobs and kept the beautiful brass locks. 

We found the sink and faucet on Overstock.com for $120.  Can’t beat that! 

The hubs had to modify the drawers to fit the plumbing, but I am extremely happy with the way it turned out! 

We also ripped out the carpet and put in black and white tile.  Now it has an antique feel to the bathroom.  I am loving how it turned out!!

DIY Bed

Before:

After:

Beautiful Reclaimed Barnwood Shelving:

Before:


After:

Thank you for sharing all of your beautiful DIY projects, Brandi. Everything you touch turns to gold! lol I love the barnwood shelves, the kitchen is amazing, the bathroom might still be a work in progress to you but it's gorgeous! Congratulations on doing fantastic work!