From Then to Now: The Enduring Charm of 5 Room Transformations

have you ever wondered whether YouTube room makeovers withstand the test of time well today we're revisiting six of the spaces transformed on this channel in the past year plus I'll be sharing how these rooms have evolved and weathered what worked and what didn't so if you're curious about the before the after and the after the after let's get started after I purchased a new William moris pattern comforter last winter I decided to give my entire bedroom a refresh I had upcycled two old oak bookcases in a previous bedroom makeover but I had been wanting to upgrade them to give them a more builtin appearance I cleaned the bookcases really well with liquid liid sandpaper and then rolled and brushed on a bluish green paint called Cattails by Dutch boy I took the shelves out to my garage so that I could roll both sides at one time and prop them up on painters pyramids to dry to give the bookcases that builtin look it was necessary to remove the baseboard on the walls beside and behind the bookcases I wanted the bookcases to reach the ceiling so I decided to build a booster box for the bookcases to sit on I took my measurements to Lowe's and had them cut two 1 by 10 to the sizes that I needed I gave it a light sanding to remove any rough spots and then I sprayed it with my favorite zensor primer once the primer was dry I rolled on the same blue green paint I placed the booster boxes against the walls where I had removed the baseboards with the open side towards the floor and then I lifted the bookcases to sit on top of the boxes I purchased one piece of crown molding which I cut and attached to the front and inner sides of the two bookcases I also purchased two pieces of Cove molding which I used to disguise the gap between the bookcase and the side wall then I filled in any remaining gaps between the trim and the walls with and once the was dry I painted the trim to match the bookcases once the new comforter was on the bed it was obvious that I needed to change out the bright blue peacock patterned lamp shades I decided to trade out the farmhous looking lamps with more traditional brass ones that I picked up at the thrift store for just a couple dollars I bought two inexpensive White drum lampshades and covered them with strips of cotton fabric to create a custom noo pleated lampshade I've included the link for this project in the description box if you'd like to check out the full tutorial I also wanted to update my wall decor and incorp orate some additional William Morris patterns into the room I ordered a package of wrapping paper from Amazon I marked the center lines on these large frames so that I could line up the paper and keep the pattern symmetrical I applied a light even coat of mod podge to the back of one piece of the wrapping paper and one half of the frame then I lined up the edge of the paper with the center lines and pressed it in place smoothing out the wrinkles as best I could once the wrapping paper was in place I used a utility knife to trim the extra paper off of the edges and then I waited for the Mod Podge to completely dry once it was dry I lightly sanded over the wrapping paper using a piece of 220 grit sandpaper this creates an aged vintage appearance so no one will guess it's just wrapping paper for an easy way to update wall decor just print out some vintage images from the public domain on large pieces of card stock then remove the paper and backing from thrift store frames cut your images to fit your frames and then return the backing check out Wikipedia Commons or flicker Commons for a vast selection of free images to quickly and easily refresh this thrift store wood chest I purchased a product called restore a finish you just dip a piece of super fine steel wool into this product and then scrub down your piece of furniture once the chest was fully cleaned I applied some feed and wax beeswax to condition and protect the new finish just look at the difference I always thought that this chest was a little short sitting at the foot of our bed so I decided to add some little brass Wheels to raise it up a bit to attach the wheels I popped off the metal casters and drilled a hole in the center of each leg the wheels came with a large Center wood screw so I just Twisted that screw into the drilled holes although the chest is only slightly taller I love the Elegance that the brass Wheels add I also wanted to incorporate this little table that I bought at the thrift store I gave it a light sanding and then cleaned it really well with liquid sandpaper I decided to paint the table with some light green acrylic enamel paint I gave it two separate coats of paint and when the paint was dry I lightly distress the edges with sandpaper using a wax brush I applied some antiquing wax to the table then I applied clear wax to a rag and used that to wipe away most of the antiquing wax leaving just a little behind in the decorative grooves I love to swap out furniture from room to room for a fresh look and since this floral chair was looking a little too modern I swapped it out with this vintage wicker rocker that was in the spare bedroom those of you that have seen my previous bedroom makeover know that I have an oddly small window behind my headboard that I have been disguising with curtains now that the bookcases go to the ceiling I can do what I always wanted to do which is raise the curtains up to the ceiling those few inches make such a difference and now for something else unexpected this large vintage frame frame has no glass and so the print unfortunately has become very scratched over time so I ordered a canvas-like poster off of Amazon and I'm going to use that poster to recover this cardboard art I pried up the Staples removed the cardboard took it outside and sprayed it down with spray adhesive the canvas poster was a little bit bigger than the frame so I just cut off the excess and then reattached the cardboard inside the frame by folding down the Staples I put an S hook over the curtain rod and then using the wire on the back of the picture hung the picture from the S hook although the William Morris bedding and linen curtains were purchased new all of the wall decor and tabletop accessories are thrift store finds and DIY projects and now this is how my bedroom looks today the window seat remains unchanged as is most of the room I did switch out some wall art and one of the nightstands but the lumpy cat bed is still here in a previous video I traded out a chair for this upcycled bench and my husband still insists on keeping a coat rack in the bedroom for his worn but not dirty dir clothes I've also changed out the Decor on the fireplace mantle and added a big dog bed on the floor let's start with a tour of how my upstairs hallway looks right now as you come up the stairs there is a large picture gallery of thrift store bird prints there's nothing really terrible about my upstairs hallway it's just boring so I wanted to see if I could turn it into something really special I decided to install a large wallpaper mural on the main wall so I needed to remove my curtain rods my switch plate covers and all of my wall decor I chose to use peel and stick wallpaper because it's super easy to remove when you grow tired of it I ordered landscape mural based on a famous oil painting from a company called ever wallpaper the sheets are already precut to be just a few inches longer than the length of my wall I measured the width of the panels then I measured that distance from the corner and made a Mark that was half an inch less than my wallpaper width I used a level to draw a straight vertical line at that spot and that is where I lined up my first first piece of wallpaper peel the backing down about 12 in off of your first strip of wallpaper and line it up with your straight line continue unpeeling and sticking the wallpaper to the wall press it firmly against the wall and smooth out any bubbles or wrinkles as you go unfortunately I had to cut around a window with my very first piece first I cut off a large rectangle covering the window window and using a utility knife I cut a diagonal slit in the paper covering the corner of the window frame this allowed me to smooth out the wallpaper above and beside the window then I repeated the process for the bottom corner of the window frame to hang the second panel of wallpaper I peeled the backing down about 12 in from the top and then lined up the pattern with the first piece of wallpaper and then I had to cut around the window yet again once I got around that window I was very relieved to have two straight panels to install before having to work around the second window I waited until I had the wall completely covered before I started cutting away most of the extra wallpaper you might also want to use your wallpaper smoothing tool to help you cut straight lines I absolutely adore how this wall mural turned out I wallpapered over the plastic anchors for the drapery hardware so it was very easy for me to reattach it however I did splurge on some new curtain rods using curtain rings adds length to your drapes allowing you to hang your curtain rod higher on the wall which will make your window look even bigger than it actually is now I needed to redecorate the small Landing to coordinate with the new wallpaper mural I took a bookcase from one of the bedrooms and painted it with some brown paint that I already had to decorate the top of the bookcase I created a display of thrift store closes and added a topiary and some old science books to Stage the bookcases I used used a pile of distress books and some old encyclopedias I like to vary the height of items on book shelves by placing taller items like artwork in the back and smaller items in the front I also like to add some Greenery or flowers to bring in a pop of color and add some highly textural elements such as pine cones I am so pleased with this room transformation because now my hallway is not just a pass through it's a [Music] destination [Music] and now an update on the hallway I've been disappointed with the wallpaper adhesive I've had to apply wallpaper paste in several areas in the past year to keep it from peeling off the wall and there are some bubbles that just keep coming back no matter what I do I replaced the drapes with some longer beige textural ones but I never got around to painting The Attic access doors Brown I added a DIY clock shelf to the wall I've also traded out some of the bookcase Decor adding an elephant NightLight I found at Goodwill here is what my foyer looked like at the outset of this project the main wall is wallpapered in a gray and white Branch pattern and the other walls are painted in a light gray color to coordinate with the wallpaper the floors are a creamy travertine tile and the doors and trim are all painted in a creamy white color too most of the decor is either white or gray with a little blue thrown in and the stairwell features a gap Gallery wall of bird prints that I've collected over the years I am so tired of gray and white so my first task was to repaint the walls in a Warm Neutral I chose Sherwin Williams accessible beige a color that looks good even in rooms with very little natural light like my foyer unfortunately I had quite a bit of prepping to do before I could start painting after removing all of the art and pulling down the wallpaper I spackled all of the nail holes and once the Spackle was dry I sanded those areas smooth with fine grit sandpaper and then I rolled on a coat of zensor guards this is a great product that provides a smooth surface by sealing over problem areas like old wallpaper paste I wanted to use an accent color on the main wall and considered five different color options ultimately choosing Navy which I felt would coordinate best with the connecting rooms in addition to painting the wall I also wanted to add some architectural detail and decided to add paintable wallpaper in a beadboard pattern along the lower half of the wall to create the look of inexpensive way scotting first I cut my wall paper into links that were just a few inches longer than I needed them to be and then I used a level to Mark a line on the wall where I wanted the wallpaper to start this was prepasted wallpaper so before adhering it to the wall I dipped each strip into cold water and then folded the back sides over onto themselves then I used a brush and a plastic scraper to smooth the paper out removing any wrinkles then I used that same plastic scraper as a guide to cut the excess wallpaper off the bottom I let the wallpaper paste dry for a few hours and then I gave the wall two coats of Sherwin Williams Anchors Away paint to add additional interest and cover up the wallpaper seams I added a bit of wood trim I bought bought one 8T length of MDF chair railing which cost me less than $10 I lined it up on my wall and marked with a pencil where I needed to cut and then took it outside to cut it on my miter saw since I was working by myself I held the chair rail in place covering the top of the wallpaper and put a nail in the middle then I leveled it out before nailing the two ends I bought two 8ft pieces of some very inexpensive thin flat wood trim which I nailed over the wallpaper seams using a level to make sure they were straight I also added one piece to the small section of wall to the left of the living room doors and then I painted them in the same Navy Anchors Away paint I still had some gray paint left in the room on the large wall mirror so I gave it a coat of Sherwin Williams Urbane bronze a deep earthy Hue that sits somewhere between brown and black once the mirror was back in the foyer I dry brushed on some gold wax to highlight the decorative appliques and then wiped away the excess to create a very subtle effect since I still plan to rehang the bird prints in the stairwell I used this opportunity to update and unify some of the less attractive frames by painting them black when creating a gallery wall I like to play around with the arrangement on the floor before I start putting nails in the wall there's a bench in my foyer that I recently repaired in upholstered that I wanted to keep I also wanted to keep this vintage cabinet but the distressed white paint needed an update I gave it two coats of a light green paint that I had on hand and I'm not loving it so I have plans to repaint it maybe in Urbane bronze I currently have an all glass chandelier which I still like but I was ready for a change and thought a bronze fixture would add to the warmth of the new color scheme moving on to the floor I traded out my blue and white rug for a larger more colorful one and although I do really love this rug I'll probably return it and get one with more blue and less red with all the major pieces now in place I hunted through my stash of thrift store accessories to Stage the top of the cabinet I think my forye is so warm and welcoming now [Music] as you can see I haven't repainted the cabinet in the foyer although it is still on my to-do list I did return the red rug for a blue one that coordinates better with the bench upholstery unfortunately the best rug for a room is not always my first choice of a rug rug but overall I'm still really happy with how the foyer turned out the built-in bookcases were one of the main features that originally attracted me to this house although they are constructed of solid maple wood I always found the medium wood tone to be rather Bland and so I asked you guys if I should paint them dark Navy or offwhite and the vast majority of you voted for the dark Navy okay and now for the paint color reveal I chose Navy even if you were hoping for the white you have to admit this is an amazing transformation rather than move a bunch of furniture around to see what would fit and look good in the space I took a picture of the room and and then I opened the canva app on my iPad I uploaded the photo of the room and then I took photos of the chairs from around my house that I wanted to try out in the space I used the background remover on the pictures of the chairs so that I could see it better while I sized it and moved it around in the picture of the space I was able to quickly decide that I wanted to move move in a red chair a floor lamp and a rectangular coffee table from my front living room once I had the furniture situated I was ready to start unpacking my books and getting them back on the shelves I also needed to decide which shelf accessories I wanted to keep and which ones I wanted to replace with some new thrift store finds I kept the Raven figurine which I of course put next to the complete Tales of Edgar alen Poe I also returned a school themed vignette to one of the Cubbies the inspiration for this vignette was a vintage photo of my grandmother as a teacher and her classroom of students of course I also kept my butterfly displays made from real butterflies collected only after they've died naturally after adding in some of my old Decor to the shelves I was now ready to start adding in some of my new thrift store finds to make this little figurine look more like a concrete statue I painted it with waverly's mineral colored chalk paint when the paint was dry I lightly distressed it with sandpaper and then applied a coat of white wax carefully rubbing away the excess wax with a cloth I had also thrifted a glass Glass and Metal light shade and I found a round slice of scrap wood and a small piece of coral that were the perfect size to fit inside the shade I just love how these three separate items of junk basically when used together look like something really special and expensive another thrift store find was this metal clo with a hanging votive candle holder the votive holder easily popped out so I decided to add a few small faux plants to it and use it as hanging Decor in my library I just love when I get multiple DIY projects from one thrift store purchase and how cute does that look hanging from a knob on my card catalog cabinet once the shelves were decorated I moved my attention to the top of the bookcases although I love my collection of vintage thermoses and red plaid accessories I was ready for a change and I wanted to create a more academic aesthetic even in these areas I played around with the suitcases and added my vintage bird cage and a random spindle on the upper left side on the upper right side I again removed the red plaid accessories and played around with the arrangement of three different suitcases including one that I had turned into a clock in a previous video then I just added a droopy fake plant to a brass Bowl to add some texture and a pop of color once I was happy with the bookcases I moved on to decorating my new rolltop desk first I added my vintage typewriter that had previously been on the bookshelves although I loved the Jane Austin quote that I had previously applied to the wall I was ready for a change so I used a razor blade like scraper to remove the vinyl lettering and the vinyl pulled off some of the wall paint so I needed to touch up the paint before creating a new wall Arrangement first I hung a piece of Salvage taken from an old church Oregon then I hung this vintage framed presidential print that I picked up at an antique store for $38 because I grew up in Illinois Abraham Lincoln has always been one of my heroes I have two really unique wood sconces that had once hung in my dining room but had recently just been in storage in my basement that I wanted to see if I could could use somewhere in the library I decided the best spot was on the two ends of the bookcases and now just a few finishing touches I moved a vintage clock from my front living room to the desk and added a few small pieces of vintage art to the center of each of the big bookcases and now for the final [Music] reveal [Music] the makeover of the library is one of my alltime favorites the desk area is basically the same although my monstera plant is getting huge I traded out the lamp next to the red chair after I bought a William Morris lamp sh shade on my trip to Ireland I also traded out the small art on the bookcases for larger ones and I added a few items to my Lincoln shelf including a bust sent to me by one of my sweet viewers but the biggest change was the addition of this Facebook Marketplace plaid sofa which I adore but The New Sofa didn't look good with the existing rug or coffee table I tried out two or three different rugs and decided this mostly Navy one looked best for a coffee table I found this tall skinny table at a thrift store for just $3 it was pretty scratched up but a little restora finish made a huge difference and now for the kitchen makeover just like the bookcases in the library my kitchen cabinets are maple stained in a medium shade that I have never liked when we first bought this house I planned on painting the cabinets right away and I did paint the island dark gray but I kept putting off painting the other cabinets in favor of less time consuming projects so I finally hired a professional painter to spray the cabinets it took longer to tape and paper everything off than it took to spray all of the cabinets I decided to go with a two-tone kitchen I painted the uppers in a creamy white to coordinate with the woodwork in the connecting family room and I painted the lowers with the same navy blue paint I had used on the bookcases in the library rather than comine all new knobs and handles which would have been quite pricey I decided to age Some solid brass ones that I already had the first step in aging brass is to remove the protective lacquer coating soak your knobs or Handles in acetone or nail polish remover for about a half an hour then the lacquer should rub right off at this point you can let the handles AG naturally or you can speed the process up by submersing them in brass Ager for about a minute if you get them too dark you can easily remove some of the tarnish with a metal polish like Brasso but I love how mine turned out I think it is just such a classic and classy look I have always wanted a brick backsplash so for an inexpensive and easy option I ordered some sample 3D brick peel and stick tiles I really wanted the red ones but I settled on the brown ones because I felt like they coordinated best with my multicolored granite countertops first I clean my existing tile backsplash really well with a Degreaser I planned my layout and decided that in this particular area it was best to start with a tile in the exact center I peeled the backing off of the first tile and adhered it to the wall and then I peeled off the backing of the second tile lined up the seams and adhered it to the wall I went over the tile scraping it to make sure that it was firmly applied to the wall when I had a tile that needed to be cut I first cut off the majority of the extra tile with a pair of scissors then I removed the backing and firmly adhered the tile to the wall then I came back in with a sharp utility knife and cut away any other extra tile that was remaining I knew the most difficult part of this project was going to be working around the corales of my range hood as you can see see I had to adhere some very small pieces of tile to fill in spaces I think these tiles look good from a distance but up close you can definitely notice the seams painting switch and outlet plates is a simple and inexpensive upgrade that can make a big difference in the look and feel of a room I spray painted mine gold to coordinate with the brass handles and knot be sure to spray paint the screws too I painted my built-in china cabinet all white and it was looking so fresh and bright with all of my strawberry dishes so I wanted to create some strawberry art to hang on the walls I found these vintage strawberry images online and I printed them out on card stock in a size to fit in these thrift store frames first I removed the paper backing and then I used a flathead screwdriver to pry up the Staples that were holding the print inside I applied a good quality glue stick over the center image and adhered my strawberry print on top then I reassembled the frame I like to use velcro to hang our part on a tile backsplash so I removed the existing Sawtooth hangers from the frames then I adhere a small strip of the fuzzy side of velcro to the back side of the frame and I adhere the scratchy side of the velcro where I want the frame to hang on the wall to finish off this area I added some springy flowers and some false CFT canisters to hold my coffee supplies I recently picked up some vintage trivets that I wanted to upcycle for some unique wall decor I printed out several of the Del tile images on regular copy paper in a size to cover the tiles in my trivets I applied Mod Podge both to the tile and to the back of the paper and then adhered the paper to the tile carefully smoothing out any wrinkles once the Mod Podge was completely dry I applied a top coat of mod podge then I marked out where to place my nails and I hung my upcycle tiles on the side of the refrigerator cabinet to add some artwork under the cabinets I printed out a few images in the public domain in sizes to fit inside some thrift store picture frames I wanted to incorporate a few Gold Elements in the kitchen to coordinate with the brass handles and knobs so I decided to apply a little gold wax to a rather ordinary Brown picture frame I just brushed it on with a somewhat stiff paintbrush and wiped off the excess to refresh my countertop Decor I knew that I needed to remove the green items and incorporate more blue items to highlight the blue cabinets I found a Darkwood paper towel holder in my stash and I spray painted my green napkin holder with matte black spray [Music] paint [Music] I've made a few changes to the kitchen in the past year most notably new bar stools I had owned the previous bar stools for several years and they were very farmhouse in style and clashed with the new library Decor I haven't yet changed out the peeling stick backplash though mostly because I want real brick and removing the ex existing tile replacing the drywall and installing new brick is a huge job the china cabinet and converted dresser look much the same but the science table now holds Zoe's food bowls because Edgar likes her food better than his any suggestions for something else I could do my youngest son recently moved out so my Next Room Makeover is already in the works I'm really excited to inject my style into this mostly empty bedroom be sure you're subscribed with notifications turned on so you don't miss what is sure to be a huge transformation thank you so much for watching today and happy New [Music] Year [Music]

Channel: Canterbury Cottage

Views: 203,775

Keywords: Room makeover, DIY room makeover, Room Transformation, Bedroom makeover, Kitchen makeover, Foyer makeover, Hallway makeover, Home decor, Interior design, Peel and stick wallpaper, DIY lampshades

Id: hTpxLSvskSk

Length: 40min 38sec (2438 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 01 2024