see what a little elbow grease can do!?

this is karen bertelsen of the blog, 'the art of doing stuff'

she bought an old, almost 200 year old, home in 1998. she didn't have much to fill it up, so she started buying things at garage sales, antique stores, and finding free stuff along the road.... she thought she had an old house, so she should put old things in it. she didn't like the old stuff in her old home. she said, "one day i took a look around at my cozy, grandmotherly house and screamed... who lives here? i hated, hated, HATED every inch of my house. i hated it like it had wronged me."

check out these befores:

now, check out the afters! she did it all in 1 month. a month!

for 2 weeks she sold everything she owned that she didn't love, and bought the things that she did. she painted the whole house white, benjamin moore's cloud white.

this is her foyer. great inspiration: i need to get my bookcases to look this good!

this is her dining room. after her father died, she bought this painting that she named, margaret. she keeps watch over the chic new space.

she made this table runner, it cost less than a dollar.

this is her living room. she made the end table and found that gorgeous mirror for only $7 at a garage sale.

still the living room. it certainly doesn't look like the before any more!

her kitchen with a tulip table. i love the color of the cabinets. mine are on the to-do list to get painted. i am trying to get enough guts to not just paint them white... again, more inspiration here.

her bedroom. mixing old with new.

and finally her bathroom. i am JEALOUS of the brass fixtures. they were there when she bought the house, she just painted the beadboard taupe (benjamin moore bar harbor beige).

the story and images came from here and here.

you should check out karen's blog, one of my daily reads. she's thrifty and crafty. two of my favorite adjectives :)

JILL