Today's Before & After Friday is a hot mess of miscellaneous projects.

(In other words, it's time to clean out the bookmark files!)

The dreary living room of a cottage renovation before:

 The fabulous after:

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Instead of curtains or drapes the owners installed

old doors in front of the windows.  I love it!

Here's a sad dining room, before:

  The same dining room after:

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I don't know that I've ever seen a harvest gold commode:

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Got to say that I really prefer regular ole' white.

And the new tile floor is no much nicer.

It's easy to overlook the possibilities of a hallway:

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The rugs!  The artwork!  The Boston Bull dog!  I love it all.

Lauren of The Thinking Closet is One Smart Cookie.
You know the kind - they can turn a rag, a bone and a
hank of hair into a work of art.  Well, that's what she
did with this nautical themed bedroom.

 Yes, it was 'fine' before but she really bumped it up a notch (sorry!):

Lauren waved her  Magical Talent Wand
over a 1980's pre-fab faux roll top desk:

 Surprise!  She painted the inside of the drawers an arresting blue: 

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Check out Lauren's creative and motivating site - The Thinking Closet

Looking for some inspiration on how to perk up a bedroom?
(Actually, this appears to be the cat's bedroom.)

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That's right - the wall was stenciled!

Here are a couple of other transforming stencil ideas:

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A yard sale coffee table was turned into an
expensive-looking work of art.

With a little paint and some wallpaper scraps, an inexpensive

thrift shop letter holder is now very elegant: 

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 A $2 thrift store vintage suitcase was repainted and is now used for storage:

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A Tiffany & Co. logo from a magazine ad was cut

out and glued onto the name tag plate.  So cute!

A simple chest of drawers before:

 And now after:

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Can you believe that anyone would leave this
treasure on the side of the road for the trash man?!

 After:

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I'm so happy that it was rescued by someone
who saw its beauty and potential.

A thrift store china cabinet:

. . . . . got the Royal Treatment:

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Majestic!

Such a sophisticated chair makeover:

Naugahyde is durable but often not very attractive:

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The classic blue striped ticking was a perfect choice of fabric.

Vintage end tables:

Is that Kermit Frog green?!

A beautiful secretary before:

 And after:

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I'm sure that if we walked past this hideous
lamp at a flea market we'd roll our eyes:

 Boy, would we be wrong:

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Lesson:  a can of spray paint is an amazing thing.

Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how a thrift shop

coffee table was turned into a beautiful ottoman: 

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And here are two more coffee tables that were

charmingly converted into ottomans:

No. 1

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No. 2

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I'm closing today's post with one of the most interesting

renovation and repurposing projects I've ever featured.

A deserted 1969 railroad workers' car was
rescued and converted into a cabin get-away:

 The same railroad car, after:

A tree had fallen through the roof:

 Isn't the interior amazing?

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Click here to see a lot more photos of this successful project.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope that some of today's photos
will inspire you to tackle a makeover project of your own.