See how painting oak cabinets white and gray, in the kitchen, can make a big impact to update the space.  New countertops with tile and shelving for dishes, also add a nice touch.

Submitted By Mom and Her Drill

Here are some other projects of hers: Pallet Wall, Tree House, Powder Room

I an engineer and single mom of 3, I like tearing up houses and building tree forts, and I'm currently building a beach shack without enough money.

When I moved into this house (my current house), I immediately remodeled the kitchen.

I did it quickly and with almost no money. I didn't put hardware on the cabinets, and I slapped some color on the walls that turned out to be a mistake...but I needed the extra storage and counter space, so creating a well-thought-out color scheme wasn't a priority.
Now that I've had time to live with these colors, I got tired of them. I only picked the yellow/red accents to go with the furniture I owned. It wasn't really me. I've been dreaming of an all-white vintage look for literally 10 years. Back 8 years ago when brown and "earth tones" were all the rage, I was dying for a little cottage where painting oak cabinets white could be done right.
I felt really constrained by a lack of money, and the dark, strongly colored furniture I already owned. It turns out all I needed was some time to think, and get myself to the point where I could "let go" of my things freely, (without living in terror that I should keep them to sell if we needed food).

(Excuse sink full of dirty dishes) heh.. and I'm debating on window treatments right now..
The blue tape on the front of the counter is holding the tile together while the Gorilla glue sets. I bashed a plate into the tile and broke it.
The top cabinets are still white, but i painted the lower ones Silver Mink by BM. The wall color is now Natural Choice by SW, which I decided to try after seeing it on The Lettered Cottage-- it truly is the perfect cream. I *heart* the blogosphere!!
I stumbled on this Milk Glass hardware!  I had never seen cup pulls done in colored glass. I found milk glass knobs for the cabinet doors on Ebay, but I couldn't resist these pulls..

Here are some updated final kitchen images.

You can also see how painting oak cabinets white in these kitchens made a great difference:

OM Decor

Clear Lucite Box with Rock Crystal ................ $2,250.

Vivre

You can pick your jaw up off the floor now.  Crazy talk right?  Well I took inspiration from these & created a Rough Quartz Mirror Frame using an existing Ikea mirror I had at the house.  For less than $75, this is how I created this look for much much less!

I ordered two variety packs of Quartz Crystal points from Rock Creek Treasure's on eBay. 

Knowing that I would need a lot more stones, I headed off to Michael's & picked up 6 bags of Beach Glass Vase Fillers.   

I then prepped the mirror frame.  I taped off the corner I was planning on covering & tried to create an organic edge.  I found that using the torn edges of the tape created a more natural line.

Next, I primed the surface.  Since the stones & the beach glass are translucent, the dark surface altered the look.  Using the primer allowed them to stay bright.

Using my trusty hot glue gun, I got to work.  I glued each of the stones down filling in with the Quartz Crystals in the most desired locations. I found that laying the larger stones down & layering in some smaller ones on top gave it a more realistic look.  Be sure to vary how you lay the stones.  Quartz grow out vertically, so I took some of the Beach Glass & stood it up as well.

Once all the stones were glued down I decided to add a touch of gold on the mirror frame.  If the inspirations can have it, why can't I?  I used a Krylon Gold Leaf Pen to create another organic border coming off of the stones.

Now we have a custom mirror frame that I think looks like a million bucks (Okay, maybe a couple hundred at least!)

While this might be a little to modern for some people, the same concept could be carried out on a smaller scale using a picture frame, or attaching a few to an existing jewelry box.  The point is to think outside of the box & don't be afraid to create what you want!

If you like what you see, I'd love for you to stop by The Hunted Interior to see our other tutorials such as:

Thanks again Cassity!

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See how painted stripes updated a foyer where dated wall paper used to be hung.  Also, how using white paint for under the chair rail, can brighten up the entry experience.  Amy at The Blissful Bee has done a nice job with her new space.

Submitted By The Blissful Bee

You might also like these from her:  Laundry Room Updated, Office Makeover, No-Sew Window Valance

Hey guys, my name is Amy and I'm stopping by today from The Blissful Bee. I am blessed enough to be a wife, a daughter, a sister and an aunt. I am a Graphic Designer by trade, but share many interests in interior design, DIY projects, photography and much much more. If it involves design, I'm there! My mind never rests from new ideas, but thankfully the hubby and I are pretty thrifty and work around a slim budget with a little bit of hard work and elbow grease!

For many months, I struggled with what to do in our entryway. When we moved into our home back in September, there was wallpaper on the walls. I didn't really mind it, but something just didn't feel right about the space. It just didn't feel like mine yet. I was looking for something that gave me that warm, fuzzy feeling when I walked through the door, and that definitely was not happening. That's when I knew I had to do something about it! Soon after my epiphany, I began the transformation.

Stripes stripes and more stripes! I just can't get enough of them right now. So what did I do? I put them right in our entryway.

When we moved into the home a nearly 8 months ago, there had been wallpaper up on the wall that I thought I wouldn't want to take down. Here is how it looked before we moved in:

Normally I love black walls, but in this case I wasn't sure it worked with the furniture we had. I first painted the bottom half of the wall white (under the chair railing). Since the black paint had a pretty high sheen, it literally took about 4-5 coats of white to completely cover the black. In my opinion, it was totally worth every coat. It already brightened up the space so much. Here is how it looked about a week after we moved in:

After a few weeks of an unfinished entry way, I still wasn't sure what to do about the wallpaper. I had so many other projects going on at the time, I honestly didn't have much time to even worry about it. The entryway stayed like this for a while until one day my impulses jumped in.

I had just come back from a jog around the neighborhood and was simply going to shower and start cooking dinner. Well I got a bit distracted when I walked by the entryway and noticed a small corner of the wallpaper had started to peel up. It bothered me that it was already peeling, so I thought this had to be a sign. I tested the strip that was peeling and I seriously peeled off the ENTIRE panel all in one try! One of the main reasons why I hadn't done this months before was because I didn't think I had time to peel off the paper inch by inch, but this time I got lucky. Well kinda... There were TWO layers of wallpaper. Luckily the second layer also came off rather easily, but remember folks, this is very rare. In past experiences I knew it was typical for a project like this to take hours and even days.

Here is the progress picture:

Lets just say when the hubby got home from work, he jokingly gave me the "are you kidding me?" look. I told him not to worry because I had a plan! Painted stripes! The next night I began to paint over the new walls. Normally most people would texture over this type of wall because it's not meant to be painted on. It kind of felt like a hard clay surface and really absorbed the paint. I actually loved the way it worked with the paint, so I kept painting. I will say, it wasn't the easiest surface to work on, but I was very happy with the end product and the smooth texture it produced.

I also got rid of those small twin shelves and moved them to another room. Found a nice vintage cigarette cart at a local antique store to replace it with. I was SO excited when I found this piece. I had been eying it at the antique mall for months and it eventually went on sale, so I snatched it right up! I againgot the "are you kidding me?" look when I bought it, but once I re-stained it and fixed it up a bit, the hubby loved it too:) I think the casters and those old advertising stickers are my favorite part.

I also got those great rustic baskets thrown into the deal as well.

So what do you think!? Are you loving the painted stripes as much as I am? Some people might be nervous to paint horizontal stripes in their home because of the difficulty level of keeping the painted stripes perfectly even. It was actually pretty easy - you just need to measure twice before you paint. I used standard painters tape and it seemed to work really well. If you have any questions on how to paint these stripes, I will be happy to help!

You might also like these painted stripes:

So, I have this secret weapon, a secret DIY weapon if you will!  Like a karate chop to your project.  It’s caulk.  Oh wait?  You’ve heard of caulk before!?!

Well, okay, I still think that it is my secret weapon, it makes all the difference between perfect and meh…

I thought it would be fun today to tell you how to caulk, or rather, how I caulk.  And I can tell you, I’ve done a LOT of caulking in my years.  In fact, in my first house I wouldn’t be surprised if I used twice my weight in caulk.  In one room alone I went through 15 tubes of caulk (the house was 100 years old, and I don’t like spider hidey holes!  I wore my nails down to nubs and my skin was RAW but the end result was worth it!

** I should mention that Dap has an interesting caulking instruction sheet too, but after 10 years of caulking experience, I have my own way of doing things, and it works so I am happy with it.

The best thing about caulk it that if you are not yet totally skilled in molding installation, for example, caulk- DONE RIGHT, can make it look like you totally know what you are doing.

When I caulk there are three “tools” that I use:

A bowl of hot water

A rag

Caulking gun

(and your hand nice and trimmed nails- meaning at lest your pointer finger need to have a short nail!)

Supplies:

Caulk -DAP ALEX PLUS is America’s number one selling brand of caulk. It is a superior quality, all-purpose acrylic latex caulk that can be used both indoors and out.

A DAP CAP™ in case you have left over calk, for storage.

HOW TO CAULK:

Project instructions:

1.  Be sure to read the entire package to ensure you have all materials the job will require and to budget for dry times in your project. Carefully review all safety precautions on the package

2. Clean and dry the surface you will be caulking to ensure it is free of all dirt, dust, grease, old caulk and debris. (To remove old caulk, use DAP® Caulk Be Gone® for latex caulks or DAP® Silicone Be Gone® for silicone caulks; or a utility knife or a caulk removal tool. Once completely removed, wipe away any debris. Use a rag to wipe the joint surface with rubbing alcohol or an over-the-counter disinfecting spray, rinse thoroughly with water, and dry.)

3. I rarely cut off more than an 1/8 inch opening at a 45 degree angle.  Or the smallest mark on the nozzle of the caulking tube.  This just helps me to control the amount of caulk that comes out.  But you can also read the instructions of your selected product for instructions on cutting the nozzle. Some nozzles have an inner-foil lining that needs to be punctured or a removable nozzle covering an inner plastic seal that also needs to be cut.  I like the caulking guns with a nozzle trimmer, also most caulking guns have a little metal stick that will puncture the tube lining for you.

4.  Load the cartridge into the caulking gun. Applying steady pressure to the trigger, ensuring the nozzle is pressed closely against the surrounding surfaces so the caulk can reach the back of the joint.

5. Working in 3 of 4 ft. lengths, apply the caulk to the joint you are working on.  I then wet my finger and smooth the bead into the gap, removing the excess.  I know there are tools for this, but I like the control I have with me own hand.   Be sure that it looks good, and that all ridges and excess is removed or smoothed, because once dried, it is not fun to remove.  Which is why I work in small segments.

6. For base moldings, I have found that it is best to paint over the caulk after you are done, OR you will have dirt stick to the caulk more than the other nearby painted surfaces, and the caulk seem will be very visible.  And your moldings will appear old and dirty very quickly.

Do you have a project that you need some extra cash for?  How about $100?  Thanks to Dap Alex Plus for helping me with my project and offering this great giveaway to my readers!

WAYS to ENTER (leave a comment for each entry!)

1. What project are you working on that you could use $100 bucks for, let me know.

2. Pin or stumble your favorite Remodelaholic post!

4. Follow me on Pinterest!

3. Visit my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter.

GOOD LUCK the giveaway is open until 5/21/12.  I will announce the winner soon after!

What a fun surprise!  Justin painted this card for me to find this morning! I LOVE it!

Just wanted to wish you all a Happy Mother’s Day!

I hope that those of you that long to be mother’s will have that dream come true!

Lots of love, whatever your circumstances are,  I know this can be a hard day!  I am thinking about you!

See how custom made lamp shades will make you hungry for more.  These lampshades look beautifully delicious.  See step-by-step instruction below on how you could make your own.

Submitted by Taloja ja toiveita (Houses and Hopes)

ME/ 28 year old "nut", enjoying life, who has a soul of a country girl, always. I'm an entrepreneur and daily I work with my father in our car sales business as a operational director. My own company provides training services about personal growth and development, which is also by the way my life motto. I have a background as a master in business administration. As a decorator for my own home, I want to have lots of white, grey and silver & clean lines and simplicity. I also have the tendency to want uniques stuff, that some would call also weird. I want to have it special. That is why DIY is a good solution. I believe that dreams do come true, sometimes it just need extreme amount of work, tons of courage and crazy imagination.

BLOG+ HOME / My blog is about renovating and decorating. I'm also dreaming of having a big stone/concrete house in the future. Right now I'm living in a newly renovated 240m2 3-story building with my 2 dogs(poodles), in the countryside of course. Not married, no kids. The blog is following also my DIY-projects. Have a zillion ideas, but only few skills to make them true. But I'm learning and trying. The goal is that the readers of my blog get ideas from me that he/she can also develop further to better suit her/him. That is the reason why I'm reading blogs: to have some bits a pieces to create my own ideas.

In this page I introduce my favorite DIY project tutorials in English, since I want as many people as possible to enjoy these ideas and make their own creations. I'll add new hacks and DIY every now and then.
If any questions, please do not hesitate to ask me. Comments and greetings are warmly welcome! You'll find the comments form in the originals postings (click the links). You can also send me email talojajatoiveita@gmail.com.

DIY projects and hacks you'll find here right now:
* Fast and easy ribbon ruffle lampshades
* Cool cold serving platform with multifunction
* Christopher LaBrooy's Marble inspired lampshade
* From Comforter to Throw Fulfilling my Dreams

***********************************************************************

Fasts & Easy Custom Made Lampshades With Ribbon Ruffles

What you need:
- Lampshade
- Satin ribbon (double sided, for example 75mm (3 in) wide ribbon approx. 15metres(50 feet))
- hot glue gun
- hot glue (reserve more than 12 stick so you won’t run out in the middle of project)
It takes about 1 hour to make one lampshade.
The first edition, “try out”, I did to my living room in purple and used 20 meters (65 feet) of 38mm (1 1/2)wide satin ribbon. It was surprising how easy and fast it was!

1. Add hot glue on to the lampshade a very small area at a time.
2. Start ruffling the ribbon to the glue.
3. While gluing and ruffling, make “whirly” pattern.

4. Continue covering the lampshade totally. The situation on the lower picture is a result of 30 minutes of work.

Remember:

- The more you make whirls, the more “cream cake”-effect you get.
- Also the density of your ruffles affects the look too.
- Also the ribbon you use, will affect the look: The wider the ribbon, the more 3D & airy look you get.
- The wider the ribbon, the less you need.
- To get more subtle look, use straighter lines (not so whirly) while gluing and ruffle only a little. (Like in fuchsia lampshade)
Check out for more pictures /
White lampshades
Violet lampshade ready
Fuchsia Lampshade

Don’t you want your own custom made lamp shades now?