2015: The Year of Before & Afters

Happy New Year and thanks for coming back to Red House West!  We both had wonderful holidays and feel recharged and excited to be back on the ol’ blogging horse.  We took advantage of the break to get some work done on our own homes, which we’re looking forward to sharing with you in the next few weeks.

The amount of work we got done – and our excitement to share it with you – made us rethink our posting schedule a little bit.  Starting this week we’ll be posting on Mondays and Wednesdays, but no longer on Fridays.  Each Monday we’ll write a post together, and on Wednesdays we’ll alternate posting.  We think the change will give us more time to complete the bigger projects we’ve been wanting to do in our homes, keeping the blog exciting for us and for you.  We’re envisioning 2015 as a year of dazzling before and afters here at Red House West!

In honor of this change we thought we’d share a few of our favorite transformations from around the web, because is there anything that can make hours spent covered in drywall dust more bearable than seeing a beautifully completed project done by someone else?  (“No,” says Katie, speaking from recent painful experience, “there is not.”)

We are big fans of this kitchen remodel over on Remodelista.  The venetian plaster, simple cabinetry and marble-topped island turn this into a room with soul:

Before-shot-Beth-Kirby's-kitchen-Remodelista-2

Beth-Kirby-Local-Milk-kitchen-by-Jersey-Ice-Cream-Co-Remodelista-15

Beth-Kirby-Local-Milk-kitchen-by-Jersey-Ice-Cream-Co-Remodelista-0

We’ve loved following the restoration of Daniel Kanter’s old home over on Manhattan Nest, and his dining room makeover almost makes us wish we had acoustic tiles on our ceilings just so we could have the satisfaction of removing them.

Manhattan Nest Dining Room Before

Manhattan Nest Dining Room After

Ariele Alasko’s chair redo with hand-printed fabric is the kind of project we turn to again and again for an adrenaline shot of inspiration:

Ariele Alasko Chair Reupholstery

Ariele Alasko Chair Reupholstery

We are big fans of everything Jersey Ice Cream Co. does (they did the first kitchen we shared in this post too) and this kitchen is no exception:

Red House West || Before & Afters JICC_02_kitchen1_after

Thanks again for joining us!  If the altered posting schedule leaves you missing us with the ferocity of the coming polar vortex, fear not!  We post photos of our fat and furry creatures (and other snippets of our lives and homes) over on Instagram and you can follow us there!

Come back on Wednesday to see all the work Mera has done on her breakfast nook and to weigh in on a couple of design decisions!  Happy 2015!

7 responses on “2015: The Year of Before & Afters

  1. y2knina

    Happy New Year, guys!!

    I gotta admit I’m sad that we’ll be getting one-third less RHW from here on, but I know your content will be only less frequent, not less. (And I appreciate that you two are great at honoring your schedules. A lot of other bloggers say they’ll post every M-W-F and then drop off the face of the earth for two weeks at a stretch.)

    But I am currently in the Caribbean, so how sad can I be??

    Welcome back!

    1. k80bennett

      Thanks for saying so, Nina, we try really hard to be accountable to all of you who read our blog.
      And you picked a dang good time to be in the Caribbean! Leave the sadness to those of us shivering beneath the gray and wintery sky 🙂

  2. Carol Crump Bryner

    It’s good to have you two back! And I totally relate to how hard it is to keep up to three days of writing blog posts. And by the way – I much prefer the before of that chair with the black and white cat on it. It looks very comforting with all those embroidered flowers. But that’s the fun of before and afters – seeing what things appeal to us.

    1. k80bennett

      Thanks Carol, I’m so impressed by your always creative and thoughtful blog posts!
      I like that flowered fabric too – though in other pictures on her blog the cruel affection shown by that cute kitty is more evident.

  3. Katy Gilmore

    What a good and orderly and doable plan for 2015! I will look forward to every bit – the inspiration and the doing.I love that Remodelista kitchen – will love your before and afters. Happy New Year to you both!

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