these before and afters are all about green: a green backyard and some seriously bright green paint. first up is taryn, who decided to spruce up a friend’s walkway in pittsburgh. taryn and her friend wanted to give the walkway an organic feel so taryn ended up making a succulent stencil and painting the entire walkway with bright white blooms. such a cheery way to brighten up the yard. thanks, taryn!

green paint is next on the agenda. kristin from waking beauty designs inherited a few beat up pieces of furniture from her brother’s recently purchased home (which came with furniture he chose not to keep). kristin found this little stool (with a tj maxx tag still attached) and decided to clean it up with some bright colors and new fabric. i haven’t been to tj maxx since elementary school but just hearing about that store makes me happy- i used to love to rummage through our local tj for inexpensive pieces. looks like they’re still carrying good cheap basics that are perfect for a diy project. thanks to kristin for sharing!

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this first before & after comes from whitney who, along with her “guitar hero”, decided to make over their kitchen with some chalkboard and regular paint. i’ve always loves chalkboards in the kitchen and this is a great way to keep grocery lists and let guests or family members know what is in each cabinet. great work, whitney!

next up is a before & after with a how-to attached. d*s reader roxy sent over this fun little clock makeover she finished and was kind enough to share her basic instructions. want to know how? just CLICK HERE (or click “read more” below) to read her instructions after the jump. thanks, roxy!

read more …

today’s final before & after comes from jen lula, who recently underwent a major bedroom makeover. during her husband’s 2 week business trip to maui, jen decided to keep herself busy by redoing their bedroom. previously, their room had consisted of a mattress on the floor and 1 black dresser (which her husband had had since he was a teen), so this makeover was sorely needed. during the 2 week trip jen painted the walls, bought furniture and painted an incredible hand-drawn mural. her husband’s reaction when he came home? “he was speechless. then he said he had never seen anything so nice before”. needless to say, great work, jennifer! click here for more of jennifer’s stories (paint and furniture details are below, under the images).

[note: sarah's weeder's digest post will be up tomorrow- we're considering moving the column to friday to give the before & after posts some breathing room.]

[have a before & after you'd like to share on d*s? just shoot me an email right here with your images!]

Our walls are painted Ralph Lauren “Moonlight”, and the mural of the birch trees was hand drawn, scanned and then projected on the wall. It was painted with the same Moonlight color paint with just some white mixed in.

The shelves are filled with photos and artwork that have special meaning to me and my hubby including some of the handmade books we have made each other through the years.

Our furniture and accessories are from a combination of Ikea, Target, Homegoods, TJ Max and some homemade goodies. The faux fire place used to be just a stained oak but I decided to paint it with a matching purple to the coverlet on the bed.

nikki of chic maps has proven herself as the queen of re-lining vintage luggage. and today she’s totally stolen my heart with this gorgeous purple fabric she used to update an old steamer trunk. her uncle purchased this beat-up trunk at an auction for a whopping $2 and gave it to nikki for her 24th birthday. nikki managed to clean and revamp the trunk itself and then lined it with a beautiful rich purple fabric. i can only imagine how joyous it must be to open that and see a burst of purple from within each time. i love finding pops of color and pattern in unexpected places within someone’s home. great job, nikki!

stay tuned for one more sneak peek at 2pm!

[have a before & after you'd like to share on d*s? just shoot me an email right here with your images!]

d*s reader tamera sent in this fun cart makeover. she found this old cart on a curb outside and saw potential- so she took off the leather covering, spray painted it a semi-gloss white, and covered it with alexander henry’s ‘blakely‘ fabric, and covered it with a clear vinyl to make it waterproof. the whole project took only an hour and a half and has such a fun new look. great work, tamera!

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these next three before & afters are all about updating wood- or using wood itself to update a piece.

first up is michelle from oklahoma city, she and her husband found this dresser at a second hand store and thought it would be perfect for the nursery they are working on. their plan was to paint the whole piece but once they realized that the previous owner hadn’t done a very good paint job (the brown paint was coming off with a wet rag and elbow grease) they decided to take the dresser down to its original wood and paint the drawers with nursery-friendly hues. great work, guys!

next up is courtney from kelly + olive. she updated this wooden side table with some fresh white paint and some decorative wood veneer. i love how classy and modern they look now. great work, courtney!

last but not least is designer madeleine eiche of turnstyle. she found this “hideous” coffee table at the goodwill for $5 and decided to sand it, paint the bottom glossy white and then stain and polyurethane the top for a whole new look. thanks for sharing, madeleine!

[have a before & after you'd like to share on d*s? just shoot me an email right here with your images!]

we’ve got some great before & afters coming up today (thanks for all the great submissions while i was out of town!) so i wanted to kick off the makeover-theme with two great projects from holly and carolyn, both of whom used decorative patterns to jazz up existing pieces of furniture.

d*s reader holly dahl used a gorgeous wallpaper from sherwin williams (and some fresh paint) to change the built-in units in her family room from boring to chic. i’m totally nuts about that pattern, too…

carolyn combined two pieces of furniture to create a bookshelf with legs, then added a decorative faux bois finish for a fantastic new piece of storage furniture. the best part? she’s shared her entire diy steps for replicating her results. click here for the full project and more pictures.

[have a before & after you'd like to share on d*s? just shoot me an email right here with your images!]