Before and After Archives - Page 6 of 25

art, arts and craft, Before and After, Build It, Crafts, kids art, Paintbrushes, painting, Trash to Treasure, Upcycling

Little Playhouse for Ollie {Mystery Thrift Off}

I love giving my boys creative freedom on projects. Frequently I let them have access to my scrap pile. Inevitably they build little houses for their stuffed animals. This little house was designed and painted by my 8 year old for Ollie (his little stuffed octopus.) I helped him build it. If you want to build a little playhouse for your child to paint, follow along.

Before we begin, I need to back up and tell you that this project is part of The Mystery Thrift Off.

#TheMysteryThriftOff is the brainchild of Lindsey from Better After. She chose a handful of people to take part in this challenge. After scouring her local thrift shops for ugly and hopeless items, she shipped off the chosen items to those of us in the challenge. I signed up—because frankly—I love a challenge. And, I love saving ugly items from the landfill. Be sure to see some of the other Mystery Thrift Off transformations at Better After and vote for your favorite.

But, when the box arrived from Lindsey, I was terrified to open it up! I mean what if she had sent me a ceramic scabies bear! Yikes. You can imagine my relief when I opened the box to reveal this dated Christmas village.

Not too bad looking is it.? Truth be told, it was falling apart and the colors were hunter green, colonial blue, mauve and fleshy tan.

I quickly pulled the three houses apart and began to transform them into A Chalkboard Arrow Sign, a Housewarming Gift Caddy and the Little Playhouse I’m going to show you today.

I began by removing some of the embellishments.

I saved them for a future project.

Next I sanded off the glue.

Here’s where you can pick up the tutorial. Start by cutting a house shape into a piece of plywood or scrap wood. Cut out a doorway (the Dremel Multi-Max worked perfect for this task.)

Flip the house shape over and attach hinges to one side of the door and the house.

Cut two pieces for the sides of the house (1″ x 4″ lumber) and a back piece the same height as the house front.

Clamp the back of the house to a solid surface and attach the sides of the house with glue and finish nails. Read more

June 12, 2015/2 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

art, arts and craft, Before and After, Birthday Gift, Build It, Crafts, decor, Gift Ideas, gift wrapping, gifts, painting, Trash to Treasure, Upcycling

Housewarming Gift Caddy {Mystery Thrift Off}

Housewarming Gift Crate | Pretty Handy Girl

Do you have a new neighbor or know someone who just moved? It’s time to celebrate with them by giving them a housewarming gift caddy! This is an easy gift tote that you can customize to any size you like. Plus, the recipient can use the caddy for storage or display after the gift has been enjoyed.

Before we begin, I need to back up and tell you that this project is part of The Mystery Thrift Off.

#TheMysteryThriftOff is the brainchild of Lindsey from Better After. She chose a handful of people to take part in this challenge. After scouring her local thrift shops for ugly and hopeless items, she shipped off the chosen items to those of us in the challenge. I signed up—because frankly—I love a challenge. And, I love saving ugly items from the landfill. Be sure to see some of the other Mystery Thrift Off transformations at Better After and vote for your favorite.

But, when the box arrived from Lindsey, I was terrified to open it up! I mean what if she had sent me a ceramic scabies bear! Yikes. You can imagine my relief when I opened the box to reveal this dated Christmas village.

Not too bad looking is it.? Truth be told, it was falling apart and the colors were hunter green, colonial blue, mauve and fleshy tan.

I quickly pulled the three houses apart and began to transform them into A Chalkboard Arrow Sign, a Little Playhouse and the Housewarming Gift Caddy I’m going to show you today.

Before I got started, I removed some nails from the house on the right. And then I was ready to get building.

Ready to create your own caddy? Let’s get to it.

Materials:

1″ x 6″ board
Wood glue
Finish nails
1″ x 1″ square dowel
1/2″ lattice trim (or other decorative trim)
2″ screws
Spray primer
Paint (used Botanical Home Decor Paint)
Craft paint
Paintbrushes
Patch-plus-primer
Putty knife
Sandpaper

Instructions:

Cut the 1″ x 6″ into 5 pieces:

2 – 6″ x 15″sides
1 – 6″ x 15″ base
2 – 6″ x 11″ front & back pieces with a 45 degree corners cut into the tops

Add a line of glue along the bottom of the front and back of the caddy. Attach them to the base with finish nails.

Add a line of glue to cut ends of the sides and add a line of glue to the bottom of the sides. Attach the front to the sides with finish nails. Repeat for the back piece.

Attach the sides by nailing through the bottom and into the sides.

Pre-drill a hole into each end of the 1″ x 1″ square dowel. Attach the square dowel to the top of the front and back pieces with the 2″ screws.

The completely assembled crate should look like this:

Spray the caddy with spray primer inside and out.

Paint caddy with a solid color first. (I used a new paint and love the texture and coverage. Botanicals Home Decor Paint in Peony went on smoothly like chalky paints.)

Use the craft paints to paint details like windows, shutters and a door onto the front of the caddy. If you’re feeling truly artistic, you can paint the back too.

Nail the lattice trim pieces to the sides of the caddy for a little decoration.

Putty all nail holes.

Sand the putty smooth after it has dried. Touch up paint the putty holes.

Fill your caddy with wine, flowers, food or other goodies to celebrate the new homeowners.

The recipient will be tickled pink. Haha, get it, a little pink house?

Pin for later!

June 10, 2015/1 Comment/by Brittany Bailey

arts and craft, Before and After, Chalk marker, Chalkboard paint, Painting & Antiquing Techniques, sign, Trash to Treasure, Tutorial, Upcycling

Chalkboard Arrow Sign {Mystery Thrift Off}

Are you having a yard sale, a lemonade stand or an open house? This Chalkboard Arrow Sign is an easy DIY project that will bring more attention to your event.

But, let me back up to explain exactly how this Chalkboard Arrow Sign came to be. Have you been following #TheMysteryThriftOff challenge? This is the brainchild of Lindsey from Better After. She chose a handful of people to take part in this challenge. After scouring her local thrift shops for ugly and hopeless items, she shipped off the chosen items to those of us in the challenge. I signed up—because frankly—I love a challenge. And, I love saving ugly items from the landfill. This week she’ll be revealing all the Mystery Thrift Off participants transformations and you can vote on your favorite!

But, when the box arrived from Lindsey, I was terrified to open it up! I mean what if she had sent me a ceramic scabies bear! Yikes. You can imagine my relief when I opened the box to reveal this dated Christmas village.

Not too bad looking is it.? Truth be told, it was falling apart and the colors were hunter green, colonial blue, mauve and fleshy tan.

I flipped it over to reveal that this was the fine art of Ms. Debbie Mumm in 1999. And someone paid $24.99 for it! I certainly hope Lindsey didn’t spend that much. I think 1999 is calling and they want their village back.

I’ll quickly show you how I transformed this village and then we’ll get to the tutorial for how you can make your own Chalkboard Arrow Sign.

The hinges were easy removed from between the houses. I kept them for another project.

The wooden embellishments were popped off with a pry bar.

I also saved these embellishments for a future project.

To create the arrow shape, I chose the middle tall building and cut off the chimney with my Dremel Multi-max.

Here’s where you can pick up the tutorial. 🙂

Materials:

9″ x 14″ piece of smooth plywood, masonite or wood board
Jigsaw
Sander
Valspar Gray Spray Primer
Chalkboard paint
Foam roller
Chalk Ink
1″ x 1″ square garden stake (look in the garden section of Lowe’s)
Finish Nails
Wood glue

Instructions:

Print out the Chalkboard Arrow Template. It should fit on a legal sheet of paper. Cut out the template and transfer the shape to your wood.

Use a jigsaw to cut out the shape. Sand any rough edges from your plywood. Read more

June 8, 2015/3 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

accessories, Before and After, Gardening, Landscaping & Gardening, Lowe's Creative Idea, Sponsor Spotlight

Lowe’s Spring Makeover Reveal

**This project and post has been sponsored by Lowe’s Home Improvement. They are a company that works hard to give back to the community. I am honored to have been given the opportunity to make a difference in one family’s life. Thank you, Lowe’s!**

You guys, there is one thing I love more than a beautiful makeover. That one thing is giving a beautiful makeover to a deserving family. Elizabeth and Jörg moved to this home in September. They had no family nearby and didn’t know a lot of people in the area. And then one of the harshest winters on record hit. For this family, the winter brought more than cold and snow. They also dealt with their youngest being hospitalized and a miscarriage. Elizabeth’s sister, Sarah applied to give Elizabeth and Jörg a landscape makeover. As the oldest of three girls, I know how awful it feels when one of my sisters is hurting. And I know I’d do anything to help them.

That’s why it felt so good to give up four days (two travel and two work days) to give this young family a beautiful makeover.

If you remember, this is what the home looked like the morning we arrived. No landscaping.

No pathway. No railings. No plants.

No grass or defined play space. In one respect, we had a clean slate, but it left us with a lot to do!

And, I couldn’t have done it without all these heroes!

After two days of non-stop working, we kicked the homeowners out of the yard, sent them inside and told them they couldn’t look at their yard for the last few hours of the makeover. When they came out, their reaction was priceless: Read more

June 3, 2015/32 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

Before and After, habitat ReStore, Landscaping & Gardening, Lowe's Creative Idea

Lowe’s Spring Makeover Plans

Lowe's Spring Makeover | Pretty Handy Girl

I’m super amped to give you an update on the Lowe’s Spring Makeover plans. If you recall, Lowe’s was partnering with these ~~bloggers~~ heroes to come to the rescue of a few homeowners:

We received several applications from these cities that were deemed the top ten hardest hit by the winter of 2014:

Boston, MA
Buffalo, New York
Detroit, Michigan
Hartford, Connecticut
Louisville, Kentucky
Nashville, Tennessee
Newark, New Jersey
New York City
Portland, Maine
Providence, Rhode Island

I was assigned to one city. Wading through all the applications was tough, but ultimately one family stood out.

This sweet family recently moved to the Northeast and was hit by one of the most brutal winters on record. If the weather wasn’t enough to freeze their emotions, having one of their little toddlers hospitalized and losing a loved one certainly crushed their spirits.

When the snow finally melted they were left with this: Read more

May 11, 2015/7 Comments/by Brittany Bailey