A Before & After Sneak Peak of What’s Happening at the New House

Things are really moving along at the new house! With all the Covid down-time we’re getting a ton done. While no one room is completely finished, I’d say we are 80% of the way there indoors, 25% outdoors. Below is a little Before & After Sneak Peak of 3 of the rooms In Progress…

DINING ROOM BEFORE…this is how it looked when we bought the place. We had the carpet removed, old wallpaper border removed, and the room painted a rich deep Navy Blue. (We splurged on having the full interior painted (all Sherwin Williams, I’m very happy with the outcome) before we moved in and it was worth every penny. I did it all myself in the old house and it was too hard on my body :-). This house is much larger and has very high ceilings, no way I could have done it all myself). I took down the old broken ceiling fan and put up a lovely large green glass chandelier ($235 on Amazon) and added spring green curtains around the entire room (also from Amazon. It was about the same price as buying the fabric myself so a total no-brainer). I’m going for an over-the-top Tony Duquette Maximalism look in here. It still has a ways to go (we need to refinish the wood floor, add a console table on the west wall and do something fun where the sticks are in the ceiling panels and add more art.) The rug, table, chairs and art were all brought with us from the old house.

AFTER (In Progress) Just a sneak peak, much more to come…

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MUSIC ROOM BEFORE…this room was a plain white box, originally a garage bay converted into a bedroom with a terrible 3/4 bathroom that we did’nt need. We had the shower stall and toilet removed (leaving the plumbing hook ups (all capped) for future possibilities), had the opening enlarged (you’ll see this on a future post) to let in more light from the only window in the room and provide more storage for music gear and clothes (the room also functions as my husband’s closet, he has more clothes than I do!). Since it’s a music room it has to be at least partially sound-proofed/deadened so we are adding acoustic panels and fabric to most of the walls. My man is nuts for India so I’m going for a sort of Modern Rajasthan Musician vibe in here. There are 32 yards of black velvet and 12 full saris. So glad I invested in a sewing machine! It took me 2 days to get all the curtains sewn. I bought the velvet in bulk from Fabric.com and the sari’s in bulk on Etsy. The teal chair was a thrift store find (Collector’s Corner in Palm Desert, a MUST for great home finds!), the blue stools from Wayfair.com (on sale! Just $45 each), and the vintage wood stool from a local Yucca Valley thrift store for just $12! The rugs were all brought over from the old house. This room is about 70% finished, much more to come!

AFTER (In Progress)

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Last but not least, the Master Bedroom.

BEFORE…This room was originally a patio that was enclosed. We had the nasty old carpet removed and the room totally painted out in Ultra White, except the 3 beams which were painted black. We also had new carpeting installed (Home Depot). I wanted things to be very serene in this room with a Leanne Ford vibe so am sticking with a simple color palette, black and white with a touch of color, in this case our trusty old magenta dresser (an alley find I painted years ago) and some fun pink/lavender pillows. The sheepskin rug is from Costco, a GREAT source for sheepskin! This quad rug was just $135 (and the dogs LOVE it :-). The 1″ black cotton robe (meant to emulate a canopy) is from Ravenox. It’s beautiful robe, I highly recommend the company. The vintage hanging lamps on either side of the bed were an Ebay find, $105 for the pair, which I rewired myself. The Roman shades had to be custom ordered because of the odd window size, I found a company through Amazon that did the pair in white linen (to match the curtains I already owned) for $220 shipped. I’m leaving the old fan in place for now, but will likely replace it with a new black one in the future. We did splurge on a new king-size bed but kept our old nightstands which work well in the room. All the pots, pillows and accessories were brought with us from the old house. We did have to install a modular closet unit which you will see on a future post. This room is about 85% finished. More to come!

AFTER (In Progress)…

So much more to come soon! There are 8 more spaces I haven’t shown at all yet, as well as the courtyard front entry and the yard…I’ll post full room reveals as each space is finished, as well as more sneak peaks of the other rooms and DIYs. Please Follow this blog so you don’t miss a thing!

A Fabulous Red Shelf For the Bedroom…Free!

Another fabulous Alley Find…someone threw out this great red Ikea shelf unit just a block from the house, and it works great in the bedroom. The bottom shelf was broken off, but easily repaired with glue. Gotta love free! My neighbors toss out the best stuff 😉

(all the stuff on the shelves we already had. Matchbook art by artist friend Paul Moschell. The black hand is a recent thrift store find for $3. See more of the bedroom projects on the Decorating link.)

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How-To DIY Found Dresser Make-Over for the Rock Star Glam Bedroom

 

The Dresser is DONE! Hallelujah. 

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We found this big vintage boy last year in the alley just a block away…

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Cheap Mirror Make-over for the Rock Star Glam Bedroom (or, What a Difference Some Paint Makes, Part 2)

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Cheap Mirror Make-over for the the Rock Star Glam Bedroom

A simple little project for the bedroom…

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Alley Art Update: A Cool Hipster DIY Word-Art Street-Art from Thrift-Store/Found Painting

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Another project for the Chic Rock Star Glam Bedroom make-over…This was a fun one. I was inspired by this blog post on Apartment Therapy, “5 Ways to Update Thrift Store Art” http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/5-ways-to-update-thrift-store-art-187416

A couple weeks after seeing this blog, I spied this “beauty” in an alley near my house and knew it would be perfect:

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Modern Nightstand (Bed Side Table) DIY Made With Old Art Magazines

Modern “Artsy” Nightstand made with old Art Forum magazines…

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Another project for the Chic Rock Star Glam Bedroom is complete! I finished this one up over the weekend. I am very pleased with how it turned out! I am now on the look-out for more Art Forum mags so I can make another one of these…

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My New FREE Nightstand! (Thinking Inside the Box(s)

Thinking Inside the Box(s), or, Free is Awesome…

I love finding great stuff cheap, but finding great stuff FREE is the best! I found this threesome of graduated-size box shapes abandoned in an alley near my home. They were in pretty good shape, just a few dings and scratches, and very sturdy. I don’t know what they were intended for (shelves? table?) But I knew when I saw them they were destined to become part of the Chic Rock Star Glam Bedroom Redo.

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Nightstand pieces, before.

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What a Difference Some Paint Makes…2 New Projects for the Chic Rock Star Glam Bedroom

Paint…Hands-down the easiest and cheapest way to completely transform just about anything. I painted two old things I’ve had around the house for years, and gave them new life with a can of glossy spray paint. They look great in the new Chic Rock Star Glam bedroom.

First, the Mirror. I picked up this big gold-framed mirror at a yard sale years ago. (If I remember correctly it was about $12) It’s a lovely mirror, but the gold frame made it look dated. 2 fresh coats of black gloss spray paint (about $5) and it’s a perfect fit for the new bedroom redo.

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Mirror Before…all covered and taped and ready to paint.

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Funky Found Cow Skull Artsy Rock Star Restyle Make-Over

Cow Skull & Bones Rock Star Make-over

OK I know, this is not everyone’s cup of tea, and it’s a little creepy, but I dig it. We are an artist and a musician and our tastes run funky eclectic with a hint of darkness, so this suits us to a “T”. I had a lot of fun on this one…

We found this skull in a box with the three vertebrae bones sitting next to a dumpster on one of our daily walks with the pugs. It was just too weird, I couldn’t resist the challenge of making it into something fun for the Chic Rock Star Glam bedroom make-over so I grabbed it. (I couldn’t just leave it all grungy, so not my style). I cleaned it up and gave it a light sanding, along with the three vertebrae bones.

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Grungy skull, ready to paint…

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Found Hanging Lamps Restyled for the Chic Rock Star Glam Bedroom Make-over

Found hanging lamps made-over for the Chic Rock Star Glam Bedroom Re-do.

Happy Monday Make-over! I finished restyling this pair of hanging lamps over the weekend for the big bedroom redo.  I found these vintage fixtures abandoned in the alley just down the street. I can’t resist a good challenge, so I grabbed them. They had seen better days for sure, but they still worked, the metal was undamaged, and the wiring was intact. I’m guessing they were early 1970’s.

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Hanging Lamps – Before

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