I love before & after photos! Mine are never as dramatic as I'd like though. Instead of "Wow, what a huge transformation!" it's more like "Hmm, I guess that looks a little better". haha. But a little change is better than none at all, right? I can tell a big difference, but an outsider looking at them maybe won't notice much of an improvement.
We've been doing tons of little projects around the house. Most are still a work in progress, so these aren't the final product, but we're getting there. We also did a lot of stuff outside that I forgot to take photos of, so just know that we've been working hard :)
I apologize for some of the color differences and the lower-quality ipod photos of a few of them. I just got my camera back from being cleaned and all my settings were wiped out. I haven't had time to adjust everything back to normal. Anyway. Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions for me :)
We have 8 of these deck chairs and they were all filthy from sitting out all winter. I spent an hour or two scrubbing all of them with a mixture of water, dawn dish soap and a splash of bleach. Now they look good as new and ready for our next backyard BBQ.
Our front entrance is still a work in progress. We replaced the rug & added a decorative hook thing, but it's still just blah. We're on the hunt for a cool piece of art to add above the hooks. And maybe some other stuff to hang besides dog collars and leashes :)
Our guest bathroom. We've had those old towels for close to 8 years and figured it was time for fresh new ones. We got the towels from Target for $4.50 each. A clean new look for $27? Not too shabby.
Ohh, the golden nipple. I couldn't stand the ugly fixture in our guest bedroom, but we were never able to find a decent-priced replacement. We found this beauty at Lowes on clearance for $14!! I was so thrilled when I found it and it makes a huge difference in there.
Our hall closet was stuffed to the max with crap. Just random crap that we didn't know where to put or didn't want to deal with, so we threw it in there. How embarrassing is that before photo?! We picked up those red plastic crates from Target for $3.50 each and got rid of a lot of stuff in there. There's still additional paring down and organizing to be done, but I think it looks so much cleaner.
Our Japanese Maple in the front yard looked like Cousin It and was taking over all the other plants around it. Derek trimmed it down and it makes a big difference. Our front & back yards are so frustrating to us right now, but we just haven't had time to get out there and plant new stuff and rip some old stuff out. Soon, I hope :)
Derek's been keeping his ties on a single nail on my side of the closet. Not very practical and it got in the way of my shoes. So we picked up a tie rack from Home Depot for $5.99 and installed it on the back of our bathroom door. Now all his ties are displayed and separated our nicely. And I can get to my shoes without having to move his ties out of the way. Win-win.
Our master bedroom is another room that really frustrates me. It's clean and bright, but it's boring! We really want to replace our bed frame, but don't have money at the moment. We did hang some art above the bed for a little color. The frame is from Ikea for $15 and the art cards were $5 from Ikea as well. I really want to fun-up this room, but I'm not sure where to begin and don't have much money to spend.
A close-up of the art above the bed.
The closets above the washer/dryer store our laundry stuff, random gardening things, light bulbs, shopping bags, dog stuff, etc. I haven't cleaned it out in over a year and I think that's pretty obvious :)
Much more organized and easier to find things. I really want to paint the inside of all the closets and storage cupboards a fun color to add some interest, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Someday.
