Showing posts with label before and afters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label before and afters. Show all posts

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Before and After



Do you all remember this sad old lamp I showed you all on Facebook, back in August?  It came from a thrift store here in town called Houseworks and I spent $7.50 on it.   I loved the shape of the base and knew it had to come home with me.  That day I also found this mirror for $15.  SCORE!




We decided to spray paint the base of the lamp an islander blue color.  The white shade came off of the previous lamp we had in the same spot.  (The base had broke but there was still some life left in the shade!) Originally I thought I would paint the mirror frame too, but the more I got used to it in our space the more I realized that it complimented the accents of orange we've got going on and it blended well with our dining room set.  

Here's what the lamp and mirror look like today:


We love how it turned out!
Ah, the power of paint!




Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Using Up my Paper Scraps



 Remember how I showed you this picture on facebook of some 'canvases' that I had started working on? This first layer was made by putting together a whole bunch of leftover strips of different patterned paper.  
So pretty!

Everybody wants to know what I did next!  Since this picture got so many great comments and questions, I decided to show you the process from start to finish!  Many of you thought they were very pretty as is - and I agree - but that was not the end I had in mind!

Here's what my unfinished wood looked like at the start:


Then I went to my scrap stash where I keep leftover pieces from other projects that I think I might be able to use someday.  I noticed I had accumulated quite a few long skinny strips!


So I just randomly mod-podged them to my boards.  There are strips of vintage dictionary pages interspersed on every piece too.


In progress:



Almost there:


Done!



This one is my favorite!

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Lampshade Make-Over

I found this lampshade, so thought it could be a great sun hat. Not really. So I had to come up with a better plan!!!  Here it is "In the works".  I'm still adding thingies on it. It's going to hang over my art table at preschool.  -Connie (Mama Winger)

**UPDATE!
The lamp shade/mobile for Mama Winger's preschool classroom is done!

Also, take a peek at these cute owls she made for her classroom.  The kids' pictures and names will go on their tummies!




Tuesday, April 17, 2012

You & Me - a Before and After - Bedroom Sneak Peek

A long time ago, I posted a pic on facebook of these thrift store finds above.  In fact, it was over a YEAR ago, if you can believe it.  Ever since then, that gold frame with the round opening has been haunting me- just waiting for the perfect project. 

I finally found it.

But first I'll show you what our bedroom looked liked before.  When we repainted, the one and only sad side-effect was that the vinyl wall sticker that I loved so much had to come down.
 bedroom before with yellow walls + vinyl tree and bird

The project idea started with this lovely wall created by Two Girlz Stuff.  I found it on pinterest and stuck it to our "Turning a House into a Home" board for later inspiration:

twogirlzstuff
I found 2 other mismatched thrift store frames that were all similar in size and painted all 3 my favorite teal green.  (The same color I used for our new family tree in the living room.)   The coordinating letters for "you & me" were free-hand cut out from my patterned paper stash and I gave the glorious ampersand the center spotlight with my gold-now-teal frame.
bedroom after with green walls and new "you & me" art!

glorious painted window on the left by artist friend Shadley Grimes



The walls really are green, I swear! But the lamplight casts so much yellow light that in these pictures and at certain times of the day it's hard to tell!  Anyway, I like it much better than the yellow it was before, so that's all that counts.  :-)

Also, I feel the need to explain that you can tell I'm not much of a fancy bed maker - so you'll have to ignore the wrinkles - or think of them as 'character.'  :-)

Monday, April 11, 2011

Before and After

 Canvases from Hobby Lobby.  Plucked from the clearance rack.  10x10, with deep sides! Loud designs, enhanced with gems...so fancy!

Before:  

Gems picked right off!!!

After:


Some closer ups:



I love how they turned out!  I painted right over the existing designs, not bothering to prime first.  That way I could purposely let some of the original patterns and colors show through underneath, which makes the finished artwork much more interesting!  Hard to capture on camera, but it's a really neat effect!

{I still have all 6 of these.  Email me at paperprayers@hotmail.com if you're interested and I can tell you what the sides say!  $45 each.}


Friday, October 29, 2010

Before and After Thrift Store Frame

Remember the treasure trove of thrift store frames I showed ya'll awhile back?  Take special notice of that big cream colored one on the bottom with the water mill.  I found two of them at goodwill awhile back. 

Here's what they look like now:

These will be for sale at the Beaverdale Holiday Boutique in Des Moines, November 12-13!

Monday, April 26, 2010

A Before and After

Found several of these canvases in the clearance section at Hobby Lobby awhile back. They had a cool little frame in the middle of them, but the hot pink paisley had to go. Here's the before:
And the afters:


Amazing what some patterned paper and mod podge can do!



Ahh, much better. It feels like I rescued those canvases from themselves! All in a day's work for this super-arter.


Sunday, March 28, 2010

Before and After

Those of you who follow us on Facebook will remember this sneak peek "before" shot:

Here's some sneak peek "after" shots:


Stay tuned, because some of these babies are headed to the Paper Prayers Etsy Shop....

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Connie's Cupboards

I got crazy and did a cupboard door makeover this week. 11 of my cupboard doors have a glass panel on them like this. I have hated them from day one - outdated and country blue - just not my style at all, but I have lived with them for about 7 years. I don't know what got into me all of a sudden, I guess it was just time. So here is before:
And the same cupboard after:
psssst: It's where I keep my chocolate stash!!!!

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Before and After

BEFORE: This is a little doll sized table and chairs I picked up somewhere along the way. It was an ugly gray and kind of beat up looking. . . not much fun.
AFTER: This is the same table and chairs with color and fun!
It's just a matter of time. . . and then what?! hmmmmm. . . . I don't know. . . but I wish I'd taken a "before" shot of this guy, too, cause he was about the same yucky color of blue that the table and chairs were.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Before and After

Before...(dirty, moldy, stinky frames with random numbers - don't try to make sense of it.)
and after...(simply brilliant, if I do say so myself.) I'm a firm believer that one woman's trash is another woman's treasure.

Friday, February 29, 2008

Before and After

You know how you get so used to looking at something, that you don't really even see it anymore? Well that's what happened here. Then one day I really started looking at it again. Afterall, it is hanging smack dab in the middle of my living room and it is over 3 feet wide. It's bound to catch my attention sooner or later. I think I first began to take notice the day that the bottom right daisy fell off. And when I took a good look at everything, I was more than a little embarassed. So embarassed that I almost couldn't bring myself to show you the before shots. But I'm all about keeping it real and you all need to know that I'm not as perfect as I may appear. :) So I swallowed my pride and gave you two lovely before shots. After I first took my blinders off, I'd stand in front of it almost every day and sigh, thinking to myself that the frame was definitely reusable, but that the rest HAD TO GO. I mean really, what had I been thinking in the first place?! Ah, I was young and naive (artistic skill-wise anyways.) Two months (ok, three months) later I was finally ready to take the plunge. (And yes, it hung daisy-less for that long.) Here is the final result:

My life is now complete.

(I was kidding about the being perfect thing.)