Real Living Renovations
Real Living Renovations
Amazing real home makeovers: before and after
Dramatic room renovations with a big reveal
The internet is bursting with blogs that show step-by-step renovation journeys in real homes across the world. These inspiring DIY junkies undertake a lot of the hard work themselves, often on a shoestring, so they are a goldmine of home decor ideas to use in your own projects. From pink kitchen makeovers to budget bathroom remodels, these before and after room makeovers should get you reaching for the paintbrush...
Before: drab beige living room
Hannah Otto has beautifully documented the renovation of her charming Victorian terrace with a yellow door (yes there is a post on that makeover) and is now onto her next home, The Otto House. Part of the overhaul included tackling this lacklustre living room into a bright and beautiful space for the whole family...
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After: nude living room with period features
The open-plan living room has been transformed! The brown fireplace, dirty dishwater walls and grey carpet have all been stripped out. Painting the room in an apricot white, she's highlighted the ceiling and section above the picture rails with buff nude tone. Best of all is the transformed fireplace; painted in baby pink with geometric tiles, it's a super-simple idea that has a huge impact. By working with the period features in the room she's kept enough of the old to work with the furniture, updating a quality wooden table with a modern chair.
Before: an average neutral bathroom
The creator of Gold is a Neutral, Jessica Hurrell, is a showbiz journalist turned interiors writer who now also channels her love of decorating into a successful blog about the ongoing renovations of her London home. She had her hands full when she decided to tackle her bathroom makeover. She had to work around some of the expensive luxe elements that were already in place, like the heated towel rail, plumbing for a bath and shower cubicle, and cabinetry.
After: glam black and white bathroom
Jess admits this incredible bathroom makeover was a painstaking challenge but we have to agree with her when she describes it as "the bathroom of her dreams." Black walls, a brass basin cabinet, statement tiled flooring and that Victoria + Albert roll top bath is luxe and dramatic. Cleverly she got rid of the bulky tiled shower cubicle and bath surround without moving the fixtures. In its place is a walk-in glass shower and the radiator has been painted to match the walls. Genius!
Before: a lacklustre living room
Connecticut-based Charlotte Smith has been described as a 'DIY Diva'. The mum-of-five has grown from being a self-confessed DIY amateur into a well-known TV personality offering home renovation advice. She documented her living room makeover on her blog, At Charlotte's House applying her 'fun, frugal repurposed and eclectic' approach to great effect. In this picture, we can see that although the room is large, bright and in good shape, it's cluttered and feels cramped, with mismatched furniture and no real over-arching design.
After: a spring sitting room
Designed around a fabulous green feature sofa the theme of this new living room update is clearly botanical. Large fig plants and a vintage look illustrative wall hanging create a lush and refined look that is made inviting with a soft tufty rug and mix and match cushions.
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Before: an uninspiring grey living room
The Gold Hive is an interior and design blog that chronicles the journey of restoring a craftsman's bungalow in San Diego, CA. With a background in art, Ashley Goldman shares home DIY projects, historic preservation, and restoration with modern style. She used her skills to tackle an inoffensive but bland living room scheme. With its neutral white walls, tired furniture and thrown-together look, it had the feel of a rented space.
After: a moody den makeover
The plain and unloved room has been transformed into a cosy TV den with dark walls that change hue from almost black to a rich dark green throughout the day. Fresh white woodwork balances out the dark scheme while a statement velvet sofa and an unusual double pouffe made in contrasting soft leather stand out against the dramatic backdrop.
Before: an ordinary brown kitchen
This kitchen will look familiar to many of us. Wooden cabinets - as popular and practical as they still are today - give the room a major colour scheme of dull brown. Home renovator Ashley Rose tackled this dated decor and documented it on her blog, Sugar & Cloth: "By far this was our most hated space from the original house listing photos. When we bought the house the kitchen was really sectioned off, had an awkward layout, and generally just very dreary."
After: a perfect pink kitchen
Pale shaker cabinets are complemented with pink painted woodwork and gold fixtures to create a luxe and light modern kitchen renovation reveal. The white upper cabinets and splashback teamed with light floors create a bright and serene space that looks divine. The curvaceous metallic bar stools set against a Caesarstone waterfall island make the perfect finish with a touch of 1950's Hollywood glamour.
See the full Sugar & Cloth kitchen makeover here.
Before: a humdrum hallway
Kate Woods of Come Down into the Woods and co-founder of No. House Rules has transformed her home from what she jokingly describes as 'a peach palace' into a quirky space with a 'kitsch cool' touch. This hallway could be in almost anyone's house, it's not unpleasant but it lacks style and was ripe for a makeover...
After: an eclectic entrance
Beautiful period features like the polished herringbone floor and stone fireplace remain (though we think the floor may have benefited from sanding down!) but everything else has been completely changed. The wood-panelled walls are painted in a mid-tone grey, the perfect choice for updating traditional features, but it's the black staircase with that striped runner that really makes the space sing. Fun features like a gold radiator cover, fringed floor lamp and art deco velvet occasional chair finish the look perfectly.
Take a look at Come Down into the Woods full list of before and afters here
Before: a featureless white kitchen
Mad About the House is an award-winning website by author and interiors journalist, Kate Watson-Smyth. Her stylish home was created from two dingy rental flats and is now so beautiful it is even used as a location house for homewares and fashion brands. Her kitchen update (we can't really call it a makeover as it was already darn nice) makes a key colour shift from glaring whiteout to a cool and sophisticated space.
After: an elegant contemporary kitchen
Kate collaborated with her favourite kitchen companies to transform her open-plan kitchen. From the sleek dark cabinets by Naked Kitchens to the elegant worktop by Ceaserstone, this multifunctional cooking, dining and socialising space now has new depth and character. By keeping the layout the same she will have kept costs down, and the four-tone colour scheme is perfectly balanced.
Love these cabinets? See more black, navy and dark grey kitchen ideas
Before: a dull guest bedroom
Katie Orme has turned her blog Apartment Apothecary into a full-time career and she is full of ideas about how to make your home look and feel better. Katie's look is minimal and bright with a vintage twist, so we couldn't wait to see what magic she had worked on her cluttered and plain spare bedroom...
After: a stylish second bedroom
Kate gutted the room to create a new smooth finish for her chosen paint colours of soothing grey and white. In addition to a new picture rail and radiator, she also installed a slim black iron fireplace into the chimney breast to create a new focal point and accentuate the period style of the room. A vintage mirror and upcycled chest of draws are all that is needed to give this room an uncluttered and soothing vibe that's the complete opposite of what it was.
Before: a wasted outdoor space
Blogging couple Sherry and John from Richmond, Virginia have renovated three homes together, sharing countless DIY projects on Young House Love. Besides writing a few best-selling books in the process, they've posted about the wonderful back yard renovation of their latest project, a clapboard duplex in the historic old town of Cape Charles.
After: a smart summer terrace
Sherry and John have turned this run-down building into an immaculate outdoor living space with lots of practical features. A smart set of wooden steps lead down to a paved patio area bordered with easy to maintain grass borders. A cute mint green door, festoon lights and even outdoor showers make this a homely and welcoming beachside back yard.
Before: a dingy, dated bathroom
Kristine with a 'K' runs The Painted Hive blog from Melbourne, Australia. A mother and self-taught interior decorator, she is proud to champion brilliant budget decorating ideas that look like a million bucks. Consider this amazing bathroom makeover as prioof of eher awesome skill...
After: the perfect white bathroom
A dated beige bathroom has been transformed into a fresh and bright bathroom with navy bath panel and statement (hand-painted) stencilled vinyl flooring. Gold taps add a touch of luxurious sophistication; you'd never guess that the entire bathroom revamp cost less than AUS$2000.
Looking to refresh your space? We've got 53 budget bathroom ideas to inspire you
Before: an empty shell
Kimberly Duran of the award-winning blog Swoon Worthy calls it her 'virtual home'. Lucky for us she's shared her real-life home renovations, as you need to see how she takes an empty shell to a glamorous bedroom to really believe it...
After: a beautiful grey boudoir
Kimberly loves the maximalist approach and so knows how to add a lot of different patterns, textures and accessories to a room without throwing the whole look off-balance. Here, a monochrome jungle wall mural teamed with a dusky pink headboard makes this busy but beautiful bedroom an oasis of kitsch. The cowhide rug contrasts with hot pink curtains and adds the perfect finishing touch to add texture to a large floor space.
Before: an old-fashioned bathroom
The Pink House, founded by Emily Murray, is a blog that started after she became a mum and is about her love of decorating. Fast forward seven years and the website has now grown into a team of four who post regularly about interiors, travel, shopping with plenty of homes and makeover inspiration along the way. Murray turned her hand to sorting out this dull bathroom, which suffered from awkward sloping ceilings and a lack of light.
After: a modern metro-tiled bathroom
The tiny bathroom has been transformed from an uninspiring and dark problem room into a luxurious, hotel-style sanctuary. By covering the entirity of the angled wall with gleaming white metro tiles, Emily managed to bounce light into every corner and made the space feel much more uniform. To amp up the glamour, luxurious gold fixtures and that Osborne & Little Derwent Wallpaper in Charcoal are perfectly positioned.
See more small bathroom ideas that don't scrimp on style
Before: an orange wood cabin
Alison Allen has been blogging about her small property portfolio on her blog Deuce Cities Henhouse since 2009. Her now established blog has featured the loving fix-up journeys which include a 110-year-old Minneapolis home, her current home and more recently this amazing but old-fashioned A-frame style cabin in the heart of Western Wisconsin.
After: a modern holiday cabin
Now, this is what you call a kitchen makeover! Gone is the orange pine wood and in its place, we have a small but perfectly formed two-tone scheme. The forest green cabinetry looks fresh with brilliant white cupboards and it lifts the whole open-plan room to look brighter and more modern. Alison hasn't played it safe - using a statement floor with a monochrome gingham pattern - but the look works flawlessly.
Before: a drab and dark hallway
The lauded interior designer, Sophie Robinson loves to inject colour and personality into every space she touches; something that this plain and dimly lit hallway clearly could benefit from. With a low, beamed ceiling and tony windows buffeted by heavy curtains, there were some quick wins to be had but no one could have anticipated just how different the end result would be...
After: a vibrant, violet modern hallway
Sophie's entrance hall has been transformed into an uplifting kaleidoscope of bright colour that most of us wouldn't dare to use. With a deep amethyst purple shade for the walls, a pink front door and a patterned tile floor, the space has real visual impact. Painting the woodwork a brilliant white balances the stronger elements. If you're brave enough to take the plunge and try a look like this, we bet you'll absolutely love it!
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