Today is the first Before & After Friday of the New Year

and, boy, do I have some great photos to share with you.

Winter is the perfect time to undertake indoor updates and makeovers.

It's cold outside but you can heat up the interior with some hot new decor.

Our first example is this sophisticated bedroom 'after it's after':

Before                                                 After 

Decorating Den

And this homeowner charmingly converted a home office back

into a guest room.  Just a little effort produced major changes:

View 1:

View 2:

Before                                      After

Curbly

Here's another example of how a few subtle

changes can bring about dramatic results:

Before                                                     After

Decorating Den

You don't hear much about sisal rugs anymore
but this one looks great in the dining room.

When this house went on the market the

decor was dated and, well, yucky:

So much nicer now:

Design Sponge

Love those hardwood floors.

Doesn't this mud room look so much more organized now?

Sawdust Girl

These next few transformations are the kind I like
best - converting unused space into livable space.

The foyer of this townhouse had a ridiculously
tall ceiling with hard-to-clean windows:

Apartment Therapy
The homeowners cleverly extended the 2nd floor
over the foyer and created a wonderful play area.


The attic/loft of this beach bungalow was
transformed into living space with a view:

A neglected storage closet:

 was renovated into a darling loft bedroom:

Apartment Therapy
Amazing conversion, isn't it?

Nate and Michele are an energetic young couple who purchased their
first home with plans to renovate it from top to bottom, inside and out.

Let's take a partial pictorial tour of their lovely home:

Kitchen

Before                                                        After

Den

Before                                                   After

Powder Room

Before                                         After

Front Porch

Before                                              After

Curb View

Before                                                 After

Such beautiful results after a lot of hard work.  Click here to

view additional photos of Nick's and Michele's renovations.

I've saved the most spectacular makeover for last -

the basement of a New York City townhouse:

 The 'before' is so terrible that I can hardly bear to look at it!

Stunning!  Who could have envisioned such amazing results?

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope your
first weekend of 2014 is productive and fun!