We purchased our first home June 2018 when we were only 24! Buying a home was always a huge dream of ours, and I always knew I wanted a fixer-upper. Fixer-uppers are NOT for everyone, but we love it! We...Read More
A house with no roof is slowly but surely being replaced by a grand old homestead, restored to its former glory by professional renovators, Josh and Jenna.
We purchased our first home June 2018 when we were only 24! Buying a home was always a huge dream of ours, and I always knew I wanted a fixer-upper. Fixer-uppers are NOT for everyone, but we love it! We...Read More
"As soon as my husband and I got the keys, we began the hard work," begins Justine Guillermou, the founder of Rainbow Shaker, who specializes in "playful, offbeat," and "anti-gloom" designs. "We did everything ourselves from A to Z, except for the plumbing and electricity."
"As soon as my husband and I got the keys, we began the hard work," begins Justine Guillermou, the founder of Rainbow Shaker, who specializes in "playful, offbeat," and "anti-gloom" designs. "We did everything ourselves from A to Z, except for the plumbing and electricity."
This Brisbane character home was transformed recently under the watchful eye of interior designer Polina Radchenko who worked on the…
Your jaw will seriously drop when you see the crazy before and after difference of installing skylights, plus we're sharing the install scoop!
BEFORE: When we purchased our 1974 A-Frame in the Catskills back in March of 2021, our immediate thought was “how are we going to get more natural light into this space?” We’ve never had this issue before in any of our previous homes, because we have always been super specific about only purchasing or renting homes with nice natural light. I really believe that natural light has a huge impact on my moods, and I feel it is a necessity in my daily life. This home was a different story, because we were so dead-set on finding a home with an A-frame roofline, so we were willing to budge on this huge must-have knowing we could renovate in the future. We tossed around a lot of ideas, like possibly opening up the living room and cutting back half of the upstairs to get some large windows into the front of the house, but ultimately we decided we wanted to extra space upstairs, and we were worried from an engineering standpoint about how large of a job that would be. We decided on adding tons of skylights (9 to be exact) and it has been the greatest decision we’ve made for …
A literal step back in time, this 1970’s blonde brick and tile home remained entirely untouched until interior designer Heather…
Inspire yourself to make home improvements by looking at before and after photos of home improvement projects. Fixing up your home can be a rewarding experience, but it can also be a difficult, frustrating project. Home improvement is a huge industry, from decorating to construction to landscaping. Here, we'll share some inspiring before and after home improvement pictures of our homes over the years. Check out these Before & After Pictures That'll Inspire You to Buy a Fixer Upper!
Using our 3D modelling software we can add our signature external treatments and detailing, to bring a vision for your project to life. Browse our visualisation gallery.
Wondering how to update a 90s house? Get decorating and renovation ideas for your 90s home update from this 1990s home remodel before and after!
When renovating a historic home, if you want to preserve its charm and vintage design characteristics, it’s important to keep these things in mind, stylistically: Researching the home’s original design era is key, preserving and calling attention to ornate details (like windows or trim work) will help the space feel historic in a good way, and carefully selecting new elements that complement the older details will make the whole space feel seamless.
After six months of living in our outdated victorian terrace we decided it was time for a little upcycle. Saving for a rear ground floor extension means that our budget…
Hey guys!!! So, I haven't blogged in nearly 4 months. It's crazy. I barely even know where to begin! There's so much to say and so much to share, so let's just jump right in and pick up where we left off. Our little Ava is now 5 months old and doing really great. We survived 4 months of colic/milk allergy/reflux and between that and a pretty difficult pregnancy, I felt like the wind had been knocked out of my sails. But, little by little, things are getting so much better and I'm slowly starting to feel like my old self again. Thank you guys so much for being patient with me and understanding that I needed some time off to focus on Ava. I'm so grateful for this precious girl, and I'm sure one day I'll look back and laugh about the past year. But, like, not yet. Ava on Halloween...finally giving us all sorts of sweet smiles. So, let's get down to business. In the final few months before I had Ava, I was able to share with you guys the finished basement renovation, our upstairs flooring redo, and the nursery. But I kinda ran out of time (duty called) before I could share the finished living room. So, a quick 5 months after I finished it, today I can finally show it to you. Many of you guys have been following my blog for awhile now and have already seen the before pictures of the upstairs living area, but I'll share them again, as it's always a nice reminder of how outdated our house was when we first moved in. So, here are the before pics. This is the living room in May of 2010 when we first moved in...wall to wall carpet, outdated light fixtures, dark wood trim, and windows so old that you could feel the wind in your hair when you stood next to them. This was what the entryway looked like. Outdated light fixture, parquet flooring and carpeted stairs, rickety old stair rail, and dark wood trim and door. This was what the dining room looked like. There was a wall between the kitchen and dining room that made the room almost too tiny to use. There was an old glass sliding door that barely opened, dark wood trim and wainscotting, outdated light fixtures, and a tile/carpet combo. This is what it looked standing in the dining room and looking into the living room. This house sat on the market for a really long time before we bought it, as it was obviously totally outdated. I was a little scared, as it was our first house and I had never renovated anything in my life. But, ultimately I decided to just go for it and I'm so glad I did. Renovating it took me almost 5 years to complete. Sometimes it was totally stressful, sometimes I wanted to quit, but ultimately it's one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. And I learned a lot. Which is great because we won't live here forever, and the next time I renovate a house, I'll be much better equipped. So, that being said, here are the pics of what this upstairs area looks like today. Let's start with a little recap of the dining room and entryway and then we'll move into the living room. One of the things that made the biggest difference was knocking down the wall between the dining room and kitchen. We also built a new stair rail, painted all of the trim and wainscoting white, added new light fixtures, and installed white washed hardwood flooring. I painted our kitchen cabinets and updated the hardware when we first moved in the house, and although in an ideal world I would have been able to fully renovate the kitchen, I decided that I could really stretch our budget by just painting the cabinetry and working with what we already had. In the dining room, I added a bold rug that I found for $60 (I know it's not for everyone, and that's okay.). I found the dining room table at a salvage shop, and the white leather chairs with metallic legs I found on Overstock. The original post about the dining room with sources can be found here. Also, we've talked about my orchid sabotage many times, so...that's a fake orchid. I've got a child to raise. Here's a quick view from the landing at the top of the stairs. You can see where we also knocked down the wall and widened the old doorway into the hallway. Here's a look around the corner. You can see how we painted the old outdated wainscoting white. We also replaced the old sliding glass door in the dining room with nice french doors. In the entryway, we replaced the light fixture, and installed double doors on the coat closet. We replaced the carpet on the stairs with hardwood treads and painted white risers, and we also built a new stairrail. I painted the existing front door Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze (favorite!), and added a little silver coat hook from HomeGoods. One of the deer heads broke off after I brought it home. And now this little coat hook reminds me of Jesse tinkering in the garage for an hour, determined to fix it for me. I think there was some ametuer welding going on in the garage, but I was too pregnant to waddle out there and watch. And now, let's move on to the finished living room. I don't expect this room to blow anyone's mind. But, it's come such a long way, and it's where we spend most of our time, so it definitely deserves at least a little time on the blog. We replaced the light fixtures, added some inexpensive tufted couches and a giant comfy ottoman, the rug is from awhile back, and then I thrifted the TV console. Here's a pic of the TV console I found at the thrift store. It's obviously nothing special, but it was the right size and $20, so...sold! I painted it (using the only furniture paint I ever use anymore) and changed out the hardware. It has a super glossy lacquer finish and looks really great up close. I'll eventually mount the TV on the wall, too. Here's a closeup of the hardware. Some little polished nickel pulls from Home Depot. I haven't decided on what kinda curtains I want to hang yet, so for now the windows are just bare. It took us 5 years to finally replace those old windows, so I don't mind looking at the new ones in the meantime. I added some Etsy pillows to the sofas. Here's a view of the living room looking back into the dining room, one of my favorite views. We built the mantel and made the stacked log insert for the fireplace (both were done awhile ago) and then I freshened up the mantle with some things I had around the house. The little framed floral art is a print I found on Etsy. And then, I made some art of my own...some black and white abstract art for above the sofa. I had Jesse build me a basic wooden frame. And I spray painted it with this Krylon Foil Metallic silver spray paint (affiliate link). It's good, ya'll. I think I'll be using it as my go-to silver spray paint from now on. It made my little frame look like actual metal or like it was silver leafed. Either way, good stuff. For the painting itself, I just used some Sherwin Williams Simply White paint (the same color that's on the walls), mixed it with a little gray, and then sketched out a doodle and filled it in with some Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze (the same black paint I used on the front door). It's probably not gonna end up at a museum, but it took me an hour and only cost me a few bucks, so homemade art for the win. And that, you guys, is the finished upstairs living area! I'm sure it will continue to evolve and change, but it feels great to at least have it furnished and not under construction. We lived in the basement throughout most of my pregnancy, so it's nice to no longer be a cave dweller. And I'll leave you with this picture of how the living room looks in real life, filled with baby stuff. Because it would be ridiculous to pretend like my house always looks like the above pictures....it took me at least twenty minutes to clean out all the baby apparatus before I could take some blog pics. Let's be honest. :) As for the blog, a lot of you have asked what my plans are. I plan to slowly get back into the swing of things, as time allows, and as quickly as my brain starts functioning like normal again. Thank you guys for all of your sweet comments and messages. I appreciate it so much. I know I'll eventually find my groove again, but right now I'm still doing a lot of this. And I wouldn't have it any other way. 'Til next time! Follow my blog with Subscribe to LiveLoveDIY with email! Enter your email address:
Our crazy home remodel before and after pictures, all in one place! Check out each room's transformation in our foreclosure renovation!
This before and after is a little tough to illustrate. Our former hall/guest bath was tight. The doorway was narrow...the vanity was too big for the space. It was from the 1950's and not comfortable to use. Our master bath was even worse. It was also original to the house, much smaller, had a sink too small to ever wash your face in, the shower was leaking...and, well, I'm pretty sure you could be sitting on the toilet AND washing your hands at the same time. So yay for having two bathrooms (we previously only had one), but booooooooo that neither worked for us. Thankfully, they backed up to each other, and were right next to a master bedroom closet. Here is the floorplan before: Legend: (1) – Stairs to the Basement (2) – Hallway Coat Closet (3) – Linen Closet #1 (4) – Linen Closet #2 (5) – Main Bath (6) – Master Bath (7) – Bedroom #1 Closet (8) – Bedroom #2 Closet (9) – Bedroom #3 Closet (10) – Master Bedroom Closet #1 (11) – Master Bedroom Closet #2 And here is it is after we combined the two bathrooms and stole a little bit of master bedroom closet #1: Legend: (1) – Stairs to the Basement (2) – Hallway Coat Closet (3) – Linen Closet #1 (4) – Linen Closet #2 (5) – Main Bath (6) – Bedroom #1 Closet (7) – Bedroom #2 Closet (8) – My Closet (Master Bedroom Closet #1) (9) – Hubby’s Closet (Master Bedroom Closet #2) (10) – Master Bathroom (11) – Master Bedroom Closet #3 Hopefully those explanations and floor plans can help you visualize the transformation below. And considering our renovations were done on a tight budget, I think this bath turned out great!! Bye-bye 1950's.... I love how spacious this bathroom is now! Make sure you're all caught up with our before and after posts here: the intro, part one, two, three, four, five and six!
The before and afters of my Grandma's house remodel, renovation, do it yourself of a 100 year farmhouse after fully gutting it and DIY everything!
This barely standing shack was jam-packed with rubbish before a renovation that took a year to plan and another year to build. See how it looks now.
Wondering how to update an 80s house? Get decorating and renovation ideas for your 1980s home update from this 80s home remodel!
Inspire yourself to make home improvements by looking at before and after photos of home improvement projects. Fixing up your home can be a rewarding experience, but it can also be a difficult, frustrating project. Home improvement is a huge industry, from decorating to construction to landscaping. Here, we'll share some inspiring before and after home improvement pictures of our homes over the years. Check out these Before & After Pictures That'll Inspire You to Buy a Fixer Upper!
It is finally time to take the full tour and reveal this incredible before and after - the Ottewell Oasis is officially done! See this mid century inspired transformation!
Since we made the decision to sell our prior home and move a year ago, it’s high time I finally address the question… Why did we move? A question we have received over and over again. Many of you, like we had, fell in love with our prior home and saying goodbye made no sense, […]
It seems that you guys love seeing the transformations from eyesore to eye candy in the blink of an eye. And we do too! You get all the fun of seeing ugly transform to uber-gorgeous, without all the hard work in between.
Everyone desires to renovate their house in the lowest possible budget. We are living in an expensive world, and it is nearly impossible for more than half of the world’s population to start building new houses. However, we have some practical and tested ways to remodel your house inexpensively.
With black veined granite countertops, antique brass wall sconces, & an unlacquered brass faucet, view this dramatic bathroom transformation.
The exterior alone is like night and day, but wait until you see the inside.
Home Remodeling Ideas and Previous Projects to Showcase our Work and to Provide Inspiration for Planning Your Renovation Project with Sebring.
Our crazy home remodel before and after pictures, all in one place! Check out each room's transformation in our foreclosure renovation!
ENTRY HALLWAY MASTER BEDROOM NEW SITTING ROOM (FORMERLY A BEDROOM) NEW KITCHEN (FORMERLY A LIVING ROOM) NEW LIVING ROOM (FORMERLY A BATHROOM) FRONT VERANDAH Before BACKYARD
The pandemic had a massive impact on the way we see our lives and many of us had to make the shift to working or schooling remotely. Constantly sitting at the same desk or looking at the same wall can leave us feeling sick and tired. No wonder that so many people had the irresistible desire to tear everything down and re-do their living spaces out of sheer boredom.
It seems that you guys love seeing the transformations from eyesore to eye candy in the blink of an eye. And we do too! You get all the fun of seeing ugly transform to uber-gorgeous, without all the hard work in between.
A DIY Blog focused on Creative, Cheap, and Chic DIY Decorating Ideas and budget decor for your home.
Doable DIY ideas to lighten up a dark hallway in a home.
this spring and summer has been a wild one so far (and we aren't done yet!). we put our house on the market in late April and sold it within days. we put a contingency offer on a project house within the same week of listing our house, and although we closed on our house early June, we have just now closed on our project house - three months later! whew! since selling our house and waiting for the next one to be livable, we have been staging houses that are on the market - and they keep selling. it's a nice temporary living situation gig - if you like keeping your house SUPER clean ALL the time and like to wake your baby up from naps for showings. ya know. fun stuff like that. i'm not bitter about that or anything. haha! we have done the house staging thing before - sans kids - for about a year and a half a few years ago so we knew what we were getting into. we've just been grinning and bearing it knowing that it's saving us lots of money - especially while we have two house payments. but, it looks like we will be moving (for the third time within three months) into the project house by the end of August! >ALL the praise hand emojis inserted here < i know, you're not here to read my whining about our difficult summer. you're here to see pictures of the project house. so, here we go.... this is the exterior of the house in the early spring from the mls listing. it is super boxy and dated looking. this house has some neat history. it was built in 1920 from a house kit ordered from the sear's roebuck and co catalog. the house is surprisingly well constructed. our last house was just over 1000 square feet, and this one is 3000 plus a full unfinished basement (which is very rare in tulsa). i'm not sure i will like having that much space to clean. we'll see. this was a few days after we had closed on the house. jeff removed the 1970's awning and the screened in porch and it already looks so much more inviting. we are hoping to add a deck and a screened porch in the back. besides painting the exterior, we are replacing lots of rotten wood trim around the windows, pouring a new walkway and driveway, replacing the porch flooring, and the front door. I envision lots of fall evenings spent out here swinging in hanging rattan chairs and sipping cider after theo goes to bed. (fingers crossed on the hanging rattan chairs part) have i mentioned that we are only the third owners of this almost 100 year old house? kind of crazy! the previous owners had lived here for 63 years. for some reason, i didn't take a picture of the view right as you walk in the front door, but you'll get the idea as we go. the front door is to the left of the picture above and the door to the back hallway is to the right. those huge grates for the floor heaters will be removed and the wood floor will be patched seamlessly (hopefully). this is the view from the formal living room. a million times better with the carpet removed. i'm already excited to decorate this entry space for christmas. this is the formal living room just to the right of the entryway. i have a feeling that this space will become a playroom of sorts as it's not the best laid out space and we aren't formal enough for a formal living room. these windows look out onto the front porch. the house has 34 windows, so i'm budgeting a small fortune on window coverings. this first room was the dining room, but we are converting it into the informal living space or TV room. mostly because it is the only room on the first floor with wall space for a tv and it's right off the kitchen and dining room. notice the curved ceilings! from this angle, you're looking into what will be the dining room through that case opening. we will be removing those windows to put in french doors out to the deck. it was difficult to get a picture of the dining room, but the wall to the left will be removed to open up the space to the kitchen. the dining room is fairly small, but workable. there is a closet in that room, so we think it could have been a bedroom at one time, but it's kind of odd since that opening looks original. here is the view standing in the dining room, through the living room and into the formal living room/playroom. and then this is the view standing in the living room, looking into the kitchen. the previous owners had done a remodel of sorts in here many years ago. they took out some of the original cabinets, replaced the countertops, added ikea upper cabinets, and moved the washer and dryer in here up from the basement. not completely ideal. so, this whole space has been gutted to the studs. there are wood floors underneath several layers of linoleum. hopefully it can be salvaged. you can see the pantry through that doorway. we are keeping the original cabinetry in there and just giving it a fresh coat of paint. we had to remove that cute, little cabinet to the left of the doorway, but it stayed in tact so we are going to put it back once we drywall. that little back porch space is one of the many quirks of this house. that wall is a supporting wall, but after a couple of strategy meetings with our structural engineer, we figured out a way to remove it and open up the kitchen. i know the sink is cool (it even has legs so it can stand alone!), but we aren't keeping it. it's huge but shallow (6 inches maybe?) and weighs around 150 pounds. and we are moving the location of the sink to the other side of the room in front of those two windows because that wall will be gone and mostly open to the dining room. this is the back hallway looking from the kitchen through to the front door. the pantry and a little hall closet is on the left and to the right is a bathroom and the stairs to the basement and the side entry. i think i'll like having those doors there to block off the stairs and the direct view from the front door to the kitchen. this half bath was an addition at some point. there is only a toilet right now, but we are going to get super creative and make it a full bath. don't worry, i'm doubting myself too on this one, but we think we can pull it off. now for the upstairs... looking down the stairs from the hallway. this is the hallway view looking from the bathroom into the third bedroom. a large closet that we will be converting to the laundry room is to the direct right. also, notice the attic fan! i LOVE attic fans in the spring and fall and this one still works. this is the future laundry room. we will be bumping out that wall a little bit to make adequate space for the washer and dryer. we'll put upper cabinets above to create more storage. and this is the opposite view down the hallway from the third bedroom into the bathroom. i guess i didn't take true "before" pictures up here. the day we closed on the house, we took a sledge hammer to the plaster enclosure around the base of the tub. i was super curious to see if it was a claw foot tub and couldn't wait any longer to find out. turns out, it is a claw foot tub! the tub is a mess, but i think it will clean up well. because we are completely rearranging the bathroom, all the tile will have to be replaced. the contractors are coming in the next couple of days to start work in here and i am beyond excited! i didn't take too many pictures of the bedrooms, but here is a shot of the master bedroom window seat. another angle of the master. and a shot of theo in what will be his nursery. he loves opening and closing doors all day every day. there is a window seat in this room as well. the third bedroom is very similar and will be a guest bedroom. although the last few months have been frustrating as we waited for closing day to arrive, it did give me lots of time to redesign the kitchen and bathrooms, pick out paint colors to sample, hunt for vintage rugs, decide on tile and grout colors, and maybe make a few premature decorating purchases online - but that's not important. these house renovations make my brain spin with all of the decisions to make. but i have to say that it is way more fun and easy the second time around. people keep asking us if this is our forever home. eh. no. i'm not even 30, people! i can't decide to stay put for the rest of my life. we will lovingly restore this house and enjoy making it our home for the next year or two. and then we'll see. i hope you have enjoyed the tour! i'll post occasional updates here on the blog and snippets on instagram and instagram stories (instead of snapchat). i'm hashtagging all of the house posts with #Our1920SearsHouseReno. stay tuned because the fun stuff is just starting and i have some collaborations lining up as we get to the final stages of pulling this all together. ready or not, we will be moving into the house by the end of auguest. yes, THIS MONTH. i feel slightly insane saying that out loud.
Kay Lee and Jonathan Chong were beguiled by this Village walk-up owned by artists for decades. But then they had to live in it.
The pandemic had a massive impact on the way we see our lives and many of us had to make the shift to working or schooling remotely. Constantly sitting at the same desk or looking at the same wall can leave us feeling sick and tired. No wonder that so many people had the irresistible desire to tear everything down and re-do their living spaces out of sheer boredom.
