the-apartment-makeover-blog

[the-apartment-makeover-blog]

Dinner table makeover After finishing the bench our dinner table looked a bit lame. So i decided to change the finishing of it to a more modern appeal. I painter the legs in white (two coats) and the table top with a water-based wood stain in antique walnut. I applied the stain with a sponge to give the table top a wooden structure look. After two coats of stain i applied several coats of floor varnish to give it a strong protection. The table looks great now and i think much more worth then the obvious veneer table before :)

[the-apartment-makeover-blog]

Bench DIY We bought the dinner table and the chairs cheep as second hand. They are practical and the table has even the option to be extended  with an additional table board. But four chairs isn't really enough to have friends over for dinner so we thought we would need more sitting space. I looked around pinterest and tumblr and came up with the idea of turning an IKEA shelf into a personalized bench.

Putting the shelves together and cutting boards exactly the size of the length and width of the shelves

The needed materials for the sitting pillow are; scissors, camping foam (much cheeper then regular foam) a staple gun and fabric (i used a blanket from the dollar store)

Cutting the foam to the size of the boards. Placing blanket, foam and boards on top of each other and using the stable gun to attach the fabric to the board

Placing the boards onto the shelves

The next project will be painting the table so it will fit better to the chairs and the bench

[the-apartment-makeover-blog]

Closet Makeover Our apartment has lots of closets, which is great. But the space inside wasn't used effectively at all. So i went to Reno Depot were they offer to cut shelves and boards to the measurements you need them and they deliver too. It took me a whole day to make over all the three closets (bedroom, guestroom and closet for the washing machine). First time working with a drill (and it was fun). Everything came out fine, its in level and we were able to store the stuff, which was flying around cause there was no space for it before.

[the-apartment-makeover-blog]

Bedroom update

Our bedroom was practical but not really cosy, the bed is lovely but we wanted to have a nightstand on each side. The one we had moved to the living room and will be a TV stand soon. I bought two really cheep nightstands at IKEA for 9.99$ each and painted them so they fit better to the bed color now. Also we painted the whole room in a warm gray which gives it a nice atmosphere. The curtains are a sale find and i am proud of the 75% i actually saved :)

More details like pictures etc. will follow

[the-apartment-makeover-blog]

Closet Makeover

The hall way closet is the first thing you see when entering the apartment. So i thought this should be a pleasant thing to look at and no boring closet with little storage space.


In regular closets there is often just one shelf, that's it. Wasted space and opportunity. So i added three extra shelves, two for shoes and one for accessories on the top. I got the shelves cut and delivered from Reno Depot, a good opportunity cause i don't have an electric saw and am a bit afraid of using it anyway. I will update the other closets in the apartment too so it was quite a big delivery.

After the storage improvement i painted the closet white and decided to add a pattern with the leftover paint i had.

Taping the horizontal lines, then the vertical with the help of a level,    cutting the not needed parts with a cutter.

Panting everything white first, after everything was dry painting it twice in warm gray

Undoing the tape

I got my inspiration from here thanks Christina!

[the-apartment-makeover-blog]

Makeover of the bathroom cabinet doors I was thinking about a cheep and easy solution of a bathroom cabinet door makeover. Our cabinet doors were in good condition but they were in a yellowish creamy color i didn't like. Painting them was one option but then i discovered really cheep contact paper at the dollarstore and thought i could give it a try. 1) undoing and cleaning the doors 2) covering the doors with white contact paper, a little towel makes the application easier 3) cutting holes for the handle Covering 4 doors cost 4$ (a role of contact paper for 1$ each) and the fronts look all new now. I am happy with the result and it was fast, cheep and clean compared to painting.

[the-apartment-makeover-blog]

Finally started!

We just moved into our new apartment in Montréal and i thought i could take this as a great opportunity to start my own blog. I will post the befores and afters, interior design ideas, little DIY project and all the makeovers which will hopefully take place during the next month. I hope you will join me for all the upcoming projects! First of all a little overview, see below the floor plan of our new apartment and the furnishing ideas we had.