Monday, March 8, 2010

before & after pictures

if anyone knows me, they know that i love spray paint and have a whole garage full of it...all colors, all kinds :). i. just. love. spray. paint. i love transforming old things into new. you can spray paint just about anything ya know ;).

well, my friend kallie started a blog with her friend called, all things thrifty {be sure and check it out, it's an awesome blog} and has inspired me to do a lot more 'projects' lately! i decided to post some of these 'projects' so you could see how fun it really is...and what some primer and a can of spray paint can do! i just LOVE before and after photo's. so here ya go...

old shelf with sliding doors...
before
shelf with sliding doors after! i primed and painted it with the coolest color blue, antiqued it with a little glaze, then drilled some holes and added some fun hardware i found at hobby lobby {i HEART hobby lobby by the way}. we now use it to store towels in our master bathroom.


ok. this old, yucky ottoman looks disgusting before...

but look at what some paint and fabric can do! here's the after....
i primed and painted the top black and added some cool grey and orange fabric i found at ikea to the bottom {the fabric matches our grey & orange living room perfectly. wahoo}... and here's some small night stands i bought at ikea. this is what they looked like before... and this is what they look like now after some black paint and new hardware...
old brown chair in the garage {before}...
new yellow chair for our loft after...
old 70's lamp in the garage before...new fun lamp in my room after! {i know, it's pink. my husband is the best for letting me put this next to my night stand in our room}...

and here's an end table i found last week at a thrift store...
before {sorry about the pic, like a lot of the before pictures, it was taken with my phone}...
end table this week after i primed & painted it and added some fun hardware {again, hardware found at hobby lobby}...
old random chair before...
new funky chair after!...our dresser before...
our dresser after...
small sewing machine table before...
new hallway table after i primed, painted and antiqued it {i still need to put some pics in the frames...oh, i painted the frames too :)}...
another old brown chair {i had two of these} before...
a fun blue chair after...
bathroom medicine cabinet before...
bathroom medicine cabinet after! our upstairs bath has a beach theme if you can't tell ;). i painted this bad boy lime green and bought some surfboard hardware for it online...
and lastly...an old brass lamp before...
and here's the after {i spray painted it silver and re-did the shade with some funky fabric}...

thanks for the inspiration, kallie & brooke!

26 comments:

Heidi said...

I'm loving it!!! You are so creative! Great job!

Di Regolo Family said...

Looks so great. I need to do some of that kind of stuff to add some vibrance to our rooms. If I copy your creativity I'll post. Thanks for the ideas.

Amberly said...

Oh wow! I was impressed with the first before and after photo! You are amazing! I am so inspired to grab some spray paint and start a project! :)

Heather - Dollarstorecrafts.com said...

Those are super cute.

Ashlee said...

Kara you are so amazingly talented! Seriously WOW!

Luke and Kellie said...

I am impressed and inspired! I love before and after pictures!

Janell said...

Holy Cow! Do you EVER sleep? Very cute!

Kara's Party Ideas said...

Hahaha. You guys are all too nice! Thank you.
It really isn't as hard as it looks! Kilz primer makes paint stick to anything {I like the spray primer the best}. All things thrifty has tutorials on how to do it :).

Katie Stoddart said...

Kara you are amazing!! I have so many things that I want to repaint and I just don't have the courage to do it! Maybe I will finally get things done!

Jamie said...

So fun! Love it! I'm getting so sick of my decor! It's all black and rustic but I'm scared to change it!

Laurie said...

You are too cute!! Awesome job!! Where are the gold lamps? I have been dying to see what you did to them!

Laurie said...

Thanks again for letting us borrow them! Have you seen them on my blog! They looked great!!

Bale Family said...

Your projects look great! We need to get together and project away. Poor Tony, I have a project going on everyday lately!

Unknown said...

Oh my gosh! Open up a boutique and sell this stuff. I love it! You are so talented.

Charisse said...

Seriously Kara. Could you be any more amazing. My little bed crown just sits in the basement waiting to be refinished. Then I see what you've been doing. Oh just painting an entire homes worth of furniture. Love it all. My fav is the ottoman. You had a true vision there.

Katie said...

hey ms crafty coo. good ideas. love your work.

Kam said...

oooh la la! So cute. Very impressive little hobby you have there, Kara! How fun to see things transformed, with just a little paint, fabric, and elbow grease. Good work!

The Dalley's said...

Kara, hey sometime can we feature all your goods on our Feature Friday post?? I LOVE everything that you did and HOLY BATMAN did you do a ton of projects. Nice work super woman!!

Kiley . Amy . Ava said...

I'm so impressed, but not one bit suprised! Everything looked amazing. You are so talented:)

Nikki said...

I just saw you on All Things Thrifty, and I had to tell you, I'm currently refinishing a piece that belongs to the set of the yellow cabinet you did! I LOVE it! Check it out here: http://naturesheirloom.blogspot.com/2010/03/fabulous-finds.html

And then a glimpse of what I'm doing to it here: http://naturesheirloom.blogspot.com/2010/03/little-glimpse.html

LOVE what you've doing to your finds!!

Nikki said...
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Nikki said...
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Amber said...

Hi! I found your blog on All Things Thrifty... Love your transformations! May I ask, what brand and color of silver spray paint do you use? I have tried to use Rust-Oleum's silver before and it doesn't have the brightness that I'm looking for. I do love the brushed nickel color though.

Kalli said...

That is so funny that you posted this because a few weeks ago Brooke told me to check out that sight and it does rock I am itching to do a few projects I love your transformations they turned out great!

Erin said...

wow! you could have a craft blog too! amazing job, i really love your color choices. really really beautiful.

Sarah said...

Creative as always, Kara. Looks great.