Show your before and after pictures of home improvement projects!

[Maastricht]

Let's see some real life homes, instead of those fancy magazine lofts!

We live in the Netherlands, in the two lower floors of a 1929 city house. We moved here two years ago, and as funds allow, we are slowly improving it.

Here is my kitchen before (http://www.mijnalbum.nl/GroteFoto-EQDI7LVM.jpg). Photo (sorry, tiny format) taken with the usual beautifying realtor's fish eye lens. It was a real dump; the oven was so dirty that lighting it gave a black stench; the cupboards had wooden supports to keep from sagging in the middle.

And here is the kitchen during (http://www.mijnalbum.nl/Album=OEZIVUYI). The kitchen is from Ikea. The link leads to a slideshow, showing the three weeks of construction. Also shown is the Failed Green Wall experiment. :)

And here is the picture after. after (http://hyves.nl/index.php?l1=ut&l2=photo&l3=show&media_id=244221122&media_secret=M9J_).

Show me your own projects, small or large!

[Maastricht]

Here is a two-day project: the closet under the stairway.

Before. (http://www.mijnalbum.nl/Album=43XCKSVP) Dark, too low for shelves. sagging softboard plating, showing insulations that slowly disintegrated. Not really usable, except maybe for a bucket, broom and the spare diapers.

After. (http://www.mijnalbum.nl/Foto-DJOZWUKB.jpg) Tiled, so the floor is now level with the hallway floor. Wooden plating, so no more sagging insulation. White walls, so I see what I'm doing in there. I put in an Ikea Trofast (http://www.designmom.com/uploaded_images/trofaststorage-721189.jpg)storage thing, mounted on wheels and with a self-made handle, so I can ride it out of the closet and use every bin in there.

[chela]

:cool:

Very nice! You've stretched out your prep spaces and made room for a sink with a view. The hanging shelves I love, is that ikea too? But you lost dining space, but oh well at least there is no longer a table in the middle of the room!

i posted after pics of my kitchen somewhere here in the barnforum. The befores I'll have to dig for but it was a total tearout and rebuild. I need to take after pics of the upstairs bath so near to final completion. Lots of warm baths have been taken in recent days here :p But the camera broke (kicked off ledge by kid shooting movies of herself doing cartwheels).

I NEED that storage unit in my kids closet!

[Aro]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v369/aro/Kitchen_Progression.jpg

Here's the progression of my tiny kitchen being redone. Still not finished; wall & floor tiles to go on, hopefully before Christmas! (not very exciting photos I'm afraid )

[chela]

I spy ikea!? Looks great! What didn't like the pink? :p

So another space saver kitchen, I like to do the heel spin! With it I can pretty much reach every cupboard and appliance except the fridge, no, if someone swings open the door I can grab something out of the fridge.

Track lighting to replace the bulb? ;) and I highly recommend if you haven't thought of it already, under mount lighting not only brightens your work surface but it shows off your countertops.