extreme home makeover at the miller house

I forgot to update my tax forms at work to let the government know I had a dependant. . .so let's just say we got a really sweet and unexpected tax return this year! My house was in desperate need of some new decorations so we decided to put a little bit of the money towards updating a bit. I am turning into quite a do-it-yourself-er so I stretched my little budget by making a whole bunch of stuff myself (with the help of my awesome hubby of course). I wish I would have gotten a few more before pictures but just use your imagination, it was pretty bad. :)

Before...some really ugly and dirty shutters I bought on Criag's list for cheap


After...a lovely partition (by the way...have you priced out partitions? One like this would cost a couple hundred bucks easy)My friend Ashley taught me this awesome technique to give the faux aged look, and it cost hardly anything.



Before (I forgot to get a picture of the real deal so I swiped this similar one off the internet, 1 only used 2 to make 4 candles) newel posts aka banister spindles. I got them super cheap at the re-store.





After: candle posts



Before: Plain ol' books



After: Cute but oh so affordable decorative books



My entry way before. . .completely bare. And now:



Before: I really wanted a mantel shelf, but man are they spendy. So, my awesome step dad and brother Mike made me one out of styrofoam. . .




After: It took a ton of work but this shelf cost me about $20 when it was all said and done.



Before: ugly thrift store pillows



After: cute fabirc = cute pillows.



I also used the fabric to re-cover my lamp shades, spice up my curtains, and framed some for the wall above my bed.




Before: I forgot to get a before picture again. But I got a plain white lamp on clearance for $5 (looked something like this)



After: I used some cool black and white pictures and mod podge and made this:




Before: A dvd tower we were about to get rid of. . .




After: A headboard for the guest room



Here's my guest room now



My table and chairs before:





And After:





My dining room wall before, yuck (this picture is from Brenna's b-day party, hence the streamers)




And after:



Here's the final product of my dining room