B & A: THIS SMALL BEDROOMS POTENTIAL REVEALED!

At DND, we always love a good Before & After. There is something magical about seeing the possibility of what a room could be. When I bought my old 1844 house, there were many rooms that felt a little tired and dated. When I saw this space I wanted to lighten and brighten it up.

BEFORE

AFTER

Hereʼs what happened:

– All new walls and ceilings, although it doesn't show up in the before picture, all of the old plaster in this room was cracked and heaving on the walls and in the ceiling. New drywall and paint really changed the look.

– White paint! One of my favourites, I painted the walls, ceiling, floors and trim in white. This truly transforms a room!

–  One way to instantly brighten up a space is to expose more of the windows. Removing the sheers and full length drapery panels and going to custom made linen roman shades in the windows allowed more natural light to flow in.

– Room layout: the furniture placement in the 'after' picture is very different. The bed is placed in front of the window instead of on the wall on the right. Creative space planning had to happen in this room to fit that large antique cabinet you can see in the first picture.

There are terrific water views out both these windows! Iʼm going to be switching around the furniture in this room to see if I can capture more of the view! I'll be sure to share those results on the blog later this summer.

BEFORE & AFTER: KITCHEN RENOVATION

My kitchen reno was recently featured on CBC TV, but here are a lot more photos to see the transformation. People have been asking about the quartzite stone on the counter, here is a link to a post I did about that material: http://www.debnelsondesign.com/?p=1867

BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

DEB NELSON DESIGN ON DESIGN SPONGE

In case you missed the third floor makeover of my Chester, Nova Scotia home, it was featured on DesignSponge this week! So excited to see it! The whole house was renovated and it was a huge project, but this continues to be my favourite place in the house. I can sit here and look at the view all day long, and I still have to pinch myself. You can see the full transformation here: http://www.designsponge.com/2015/01/before-after-deb-nelsons-nova-scotia-getaway.html

Thank you Grace for including me!

BEFORE & AFTER: AN ENTRY GETS A NEW LOOK

In a past renovation I gave this entry a full makeover. Here is the before picture from another angle (coming in the front door).

This was one I did myself, so I spent a couple weeks one summer lifting the old floor, removing the wallpaper (the walls and border are paper), taking down the blinds and getting a new light fixture. The floors in here were a pain to remove, there was carpet over old vinyl that had been cemented down. For such a small space most of my time was spent removing the old vinyl floor. Finally I removed the vinyl and discovered the original wood floors underneath. They were in rough shape but nothing a coat of paint couldn't fix.

Here is another look at the corner of the room from the living room, which shows a similar angle to the after picture.

I gave the floors a coat of black paint and the walls, trim and ceiling in white. Some simple decor (and big hooks on the wall you can't see from here). A sisal rug, big mirror framed in black and small table (that I painted flat black) made all the difference. And here are the results:

BEFORE & AFTER: KITCHEN ISLAND

When I was renovating my 1844 house, the main floor under went a huge transformation. I really wanted to open up the main floor, there were many small rooms and doors throughout the space. There are great views at the back of the house, so I wanted more windows and doors to access the back area. I was also trying to contain all the plumbing in the original foundation of the house, which meant the kitchen sink had to go within a certain perimeter. The results took a long time to evolve to where it is now. Here are some before shots from the very beginning, looking back to the window at the back is around where the double doors are now. The original kitchen was small and narrow and was the yellow room at the back.

When the walls started to come down and the renovation was underway!

Now the posts are in, as you can see here.

Then the double doors are put in at the back of the house.

Now the doors are painted black.

Getting close, the cabinets, counter and faucet is in.

And here is how it looks today! So happy with how it looks now, and hard to believe where I started!