You guys are in for a treat! Courtney took on the challenge of converting a laundry room into a new bedroom for her tweenager niece. She calls the transformation 'Boutique Chic'. I call it beautiful.This was a true labor of love and I am pretty sure she is up for *Best Aunt Award*. Check out the amazing Before and Afters: 

Stunning, right??!!

It certainly doesn't look like a room full of deals and steals and DIY's, but, that's exactly what it is! Check out Little Glass Box for all the details and more pictures. 

Some of you may recall that last summer Eddie Ross put out a facebook message that announced he was looking for a room that he could makeover using items from the up and coming 127 Corridor Sale {aka the World's Longest Yard Sale}.

Elizabeth Harris was the lucky High Point gal that Eddie selected. She had lived with her very traditional bedroom since getting married. But, with the years that passed, she craved a room that was lighter and brighter. Eddie saw huge potential.

Before: 

Saving money, Eddie kept the bed and bedside table and lacquered it with fresh white paint. He added canopy rails on which he tied blue buffalo check fabric panels.

Before: 

Dark bedding was traded in for a white duvet and pillows in coral, floral and blues.

Before:

Elizabeth got rid of the TV, and now the space is used as a beautiful work space.  

The fireplace wasn't given a lot of love or attention before.  

Now it's the focal point of the room with the addition of coral matted art, a patterned rug, painted and reupholstered vintage chairs, and colorful accessories. The awkward little space to the right of the fireplace became the new home for an antique screen that Eddie painted and added the same coral color with little painted inserts.  

Before:

The original dresser was lacquered white and got a new menagerie of accessories thanks to more yard sale deals. A bamboo mirror, wall pediments, and figurines--also received a new color. The lamps were garden canisters when Eddie found them. After he had them wired, they became lovely lamps that he topped with ribbon trimmed shades.  

And one last before shot:

Such a beautiful transformation. He continues to inspire me.

You can read more about Eddie's process and his shopping deals on his blog. And you can also check out Southern Living's story.  

{all images via Eddie Ross}

Want to see a house that I am working on? This vacation cottage is getting a major facelift. The original  5 year-old home had 1 floor which consisted of 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, living/dining room and kitchen.

Dining room before:

Which opens to the living room.

Before:

And the Kitchen is through the plastic.

This big hole is the staircase to a completely new lower level. 

 A lower level that was created by jack hammering into the rocky earth. for days.

{for those of you that aren't familiar with 'mountain home building' on the sides of mountains-- it is no joke.

New Bar area

New Bedroom

New Bath

Other side of Bathroom: 

New Bonus/Game Room

This is the new bottom deck that opens off of the new downstairs living room.

Every inch of the walls and ceilings of the original cottage interior are getting repainted a fresh white. I failed to get pics of the upstairs bedrooms, but they are getting new furnishings as well.  

These pictures were taken right before Christmas. I took new pictures when I was out over the weekend--it's looking great! Stay tuned.

I showed you the upholstered ottomans in Maris' room yesterday. I wanted to show you their transformation. This is how they looked when I bought them at Homegoods:

They were covered in a small peachy-pinky check fabric. I knew that I would be giving them a make-over when I bought them. At $60 for the pair, I didn't mind.  

I thought it would be fun to paint them. Using primer, I brushed on a thin coat. 

There was still quite a bit of the print coming through the primer so I applied a second coat. After it dried, it was really rough to the touch so I lightly sanded everything with 220 sandpaper. HUGE difference. Then I applied an off-white latex house paint. But this time, I used a 4" foam roller-- because I am impatient and this application is much faster than using a brush.

{via simpleorganizedliving}

I sanded and then applied another coat. Then I sanded and added another coat--like 5 times.

It feels a little like pleather at this point. Very smooth. I had these out on the floor and would paint, walk away, let it dry, sand, come back and do it again. After doing this for 2 days and realizing at 9pm that I had a party the next day and I wanted these done...I realized that I was only 1/2 way through because I now needed to paint on a design. It hit me that I probably had fabric that would work in my stash and that I could actually reupholster them WAY faster than continuing the painting process. It's called the creative process, people. don't judge.

Sure enough, I had some blue chevron fabric and thus we rerouted to Plan B.

I laid the fabric-right side down-on top of the cube.

When cutting my fabric, I allowed for a couple of extra inches to be stapled to the bottom.  

The chevrons showing through made it easy to keep it nice and straight. On each corner, I took up the excess, starting at the top.

I pinned it straight down to the bottom. You want it to be good and snug for a professional finish.  

I felt through the fabric to determine where the top of the original seam started.

I placed a mark with the pencil. This was the place that my stitching would start. 

Then I cut off the excess triangle shaped fabric { I was in a hurry and was using dull scissors--thus ridiculous looking *straight* cuts} Then starting at the top pencil mark, I sewed 4 seams following the pins. I removed the pins, turned the fabric right side out and slipped it over the cube.

I removed the feet by taking out the screws.

I pulled the new slipcover snuggly over the cube and stapled the excess fabric all around the bottom. Then I put the feet back on.