Before and After Home Decor Projects

Reflecting on our before and after home decor projects is a great way to see how far our home has come through the years. You will find everything from painted projects, home improvement renovations, thrift store makeovers, and more.

This post was originally written in my early years of blogging so I thought it was time to update it. Our home has so many changes this is a great way to share lots of projects in one place.

curb view of brick home and shutter placement project

The best way to get the home you love is create it. Try any of these 10 home decorating accessory projects for some smaller scale ideas.

I hope you enjoy the before and after tour of our home projects. Use the dropdown Table of Contents menu to navigate ahead to any area you wish to see first. For further room or project details you will see those links highlighted.

Before and After

We have lived in our home for 15 years now. Most of the before photos in this post are from when the blog was started back in 2013.

Changing things up for fun or function brings me joy. We try to keep renovation projects to a minimum because we are in our 50’s now, haha but the past two years involved some big changes.

My hope would be for you to look through our home projects and figure out a way to adapt them to your home. You can change things in your home without a huge budget or full reno. Making a home is fun so keep that in mind.

Exterior curb appeal

Creating a welcoming home exterior can be done with simple touches. Our DIY board and batten shutters still look really nice. I have considered repainting them a different color but it’s been way too hot for that.

The flower window boxes and removal of shutters from windows that should not have had them made a huge difference too.

Ray and I aren’t very good with landscape but we finally installed some new plants this year.

Keeping the small porch cleaned up is an easy way to make a big impact.

removing dining room shutters
Our home after removing shutters from the big window but before adding the DIY board and batten shutters.
exterior home view with board and batten shutters home decorating project after
After with shutters only on single windows.

Hardwood floors

This was the one project we had wanted to do for many years. We knew having our hardwood floors refinished would be left to a pro and not a DIY project. The change it made in the overall look and feel of our home was worth the hassle.

Changing the look of the floors created inspiration for painting other rooms. More before and after room makeovers coming soon.

Hardwood Floor Refinishing during living room
hardwood floors refinisihed hallway view home decorating project after

Foyer Entryway

One of the biggest changes to the foyer entryway is the staircase makeover we completed this year. I love it so much. The before and after of this project might be one of my favorites.

There was nothing really wrong with the stairs before but I prefer a more streamlined style. We were able to keep with the homes exterior and not make the stairs look too out place.

Traditional Staircase Makeover before any changes
Traditional staircase before

Removing the curved handrail and bottom step was the start. Then adding the iron balusters took it up a notch. When we decided to have our floors refinished this project was a must a the same time.

Foyer staircase makeover reveal home renovation project after
Staircase makeover after

Dining Room

The board and batten walls in the dining room was a completed project from many years ago. However, this room has been painted more colors than any other space in our home.

It is currently all white and I’d love to replace the chandelier. I bought one last year and it was broken. Then decided to get the other projects done around it before I settled on a style.

The black dining room walls was the most recent makeover before I painted it all white.

September recap-Dining Room Makeover
Original dining room before and after of board and batten. I still have a hard time seeing all of this blue. The blue paint didn’t even last a year.
Urban Farmhouse Decor for Summer Dining Room
One of our earlier dining room makeovers after the blue.
Christmas Dining Table 2020 dining room home decorating project after

Living Room

Over the years this room has been painted a few different colors. If you have been a blog reader for any amount of time you will know I believe learning to paint is the number one DIY skill you should learn.

The current living room paint color is deep and cozy. This is our hang out and watch TV room so the color is perfect. Most recently I painted the stone and fireplace surround black.

The DIY rustic wood shelves we built gave the room a place to add some books and photos.

Living Room before One Room Challenge
Living room before
Living Room Makeover home decorating project after new furniture
Living room before painting the fireplace surround and til black.
black magic by sherwin williams painted fireplace stone home decorating project after

Downstairs bathroom

Our down stairs bathroom is a full bath, however we use it as a powder room. It is an extra bathroom on our main level. Painting the bathroom black in my favorite Sherwin Williams black magic makes it one of my favorite rooms.

Paint and changing the decor is the only thing I have ever done to this bathroom. The green paint color refresh between the gold and black painted walls is still a favorite too.

bathroom with gold painted walls home decorating project before
Bathroom makeover painted black walls home decorating project after

Ray’s Home Office

A long time coming for this relaxing home office makeover. It is the most recent room we have completed. Painting it in Sherwin Williams coastal plain is the perfect vibe.

Kitchen

This is the one room we wish had an entirely different layout. The one update which did make a big difference was the kitchen cabinet facelift and removal of some of the uppers.

We don’t miss the storage at all. Our minimalist lifestyle is more important than places to put stuff we don’t use or need.

Kitchen Makeover One Room Challenge Reveal of painted cabinets
Kitchen Makeover Reveal home renovation project after
Our current kitchen cabinets after removing a corner cabinet and additional uppers.
DIY kitchen makeover including open wood shelves home decorating project after

Laundry Room

A quick fix laundry room makeover with paint and a few accessories. There is no surprise there. Painting and decluttering will do wonders to a room.

home decorating project after Laundry Room Makeover

The simple DIY key organizer was a life saver. Having four drivers in the house, neighbors spare key and all our extras made this a great project.

The interior faux wreath made a nice touch to the room.

Laundry Room Makeover home decorating project after

Garage

When giving a room or space a complete makeover is out of the question consider what you can do to make it better.

This cluttered and messy garage entryway makeover is the best example.

Seeing this space every single time we walked in and out of our home made me crazy. Instead of getting overwhelmed and tackling the entire garage, we started small.

This has led us to getting rid of so much other stuff in our garage. Now we can easily park a car in there.

garage entry makeover before
Garage Entry Door Makeover home project

Primary bedroom

The changes to our main bedroom have been small. Mostly paint, as I have mentioned, but we did build a new headboard.

The DIY headboard we originally built got a makeover. I haven’t written a blog post for the second build yet but I will. The current photos of our bedroom are decorated for Christmas.

Master Bedroom Before
Master Bedroom Room Refresh -
The original DIY headboard before we rebuilt it.
primary bedroom after new headboard

Daughter’s bedroom

Our daughter recently graduated college. She will be moving back home for a little while to save money as she starts her first grown up job. Last year we completed a bedroom makeover and a bathroom makeover.

This was the first time I have ever painted pure white walls. It is the hardest color to paint.

girl bedroom before
Bedroom when our daughter was younger.
Bedroom Makeover Closet view

Deck

The deck makeover including our outdoor kitchen has been one of our favorite spaces. Hanging string lights in the backyard was the extra touch.

This project was completed in the spring of 2020. This past spring we finally sealed the wood.

Deck Before
Deck before
deck makeover after of outdoor kitchen

Creating a home takes time and money. Our home decorating projects are always trying to make our home function better and make us feel at peace. Beautiful rooms should make you want to hang out.

I hope this before and after home decorating projects post allows you see potential in your own home. Check out any of the project post and room makeovers on the blog for help. The menu bar at the top of the page will guide you.

12 Comments

  1. Love all the makeover ideas! Where are some good places around the Greenville/Anderson/Easley Area to find secondhand furniture. I often hit the GoodWill in theatea but I’m still searching for a variety of buffet and end tables that I can make over in a beachy style. There are some great consignment type furniture stores around the Charleston area that have lots of good selections but I have not found that around the upstate yet. Any suggestions?

  2. Dear Sonya, I am a Barker. Every year we have a reunion at Ewing Park in Elwood City, Pa. We are from varied backgrounds but u tied in that we are all Barkers’ . The original generation is gone but the second generation is leading the family now. The family is spread across the country from California to Virginia and beyond. Consider coming next year the Saturday after Father’s Day at noon.. Debbie Barker Hogue

  3. I had so much fun scrolling through your projects. You did an amazing job on all of them. I didn’t know you could paint the whole mantel. Thanks for sharing! 🙂 -Bev

  4. I am new to your blog and I really enjoy it. You mentioned how you love spray paint and have used it a lot. All your make-overs look fantastic. What is your favorite in spray paint whenever you have an opportunity to let me know, please?

    Thanks

  5. I love the painted furniture. Would like to see more ,kitchen cabinets ,chairs,etc.

  6. I love all of these projects. I think the garage sale table is my fave!!! So pretty.

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