Sunday, May 18, 2008

Before and After


I'm a sucker for before and after shows—the ones where the house is completely remodeled, or the person loses 100 pounds—basically I automatically get sucked into anything like that on tv.

Good thing we don't get any reception, or that's all I'd watch. Anyways, here's my own before and after project that I worked on this week for all of you who are like me and get a kick out of this kind of thing (I really just wanted to say kick ...).


Step 1. Purchase old suitcase at DI for $5 (I forgot to take the before picture, which kind of makes the whole before and after idea a bit more conceptually difficult, but here's a photo of a similar suitcase—but the one I bought was more beat up and the lining was ripped and stained, but the shape and color are about the same).

Step 2. Rip out lining

Step 3. Wonder how to fix that ...

Step 4. Go buy spray paint and new fabric


Step 5. Line the suitcase with batting scraps, cover with fabric, and paint the outside

Step 6. Add ribbons to the handle


Step 7. Fill with dress up clothes and call in Lu

Ta-da! Thanks for watching :)

4 comments:

Liz said...

totally cool! I can't wait to start a new project with all my neices for their dress-up collection, it's a capri-sun purse! the young women just made them and i thought, how fun for the girls in the family!

apyknowzitall said...

Oh... my... goodness... I honestly didn't think you had it in you.

jenn w said...

Jenny, I love it! Where did you get the idea? I love buying crap from the DI or Value Village and make it nice, though i havent done it in quite a while. I also like that lovely white dresser in the backround.

JennyW said...

LIz, that purse sounds fun—and we're running low on YW activity ideas ... so I might poach that one ;)

April, I know, I know. I think it was build up from all the scrapbooking articles I've been editing lately (I freelance for this scrapbooking magazine and they've been using me a lot the last month). All that craftiness had to come out somewhere.

Jenn, I totally stole the idea off of a crafty mommy blog. I think it was Soule Mama (it comes right up if you google it—she's like, um, really, really, crafty in a way that's sometimes overwhelming and sometimes inspiring, so I just take everything on there with a grain or tablespoon or two of salt). That's funny that you liked the dresser—it, too, came from DI. I sanded it down, painted it, found some wood knobs at Home Depot and put a sealer on them, and presto, new dresser. It helped that it was super clean on the inside, so all I had to do there was line the drawers with tissue paper. Yeah, I guess I do like refinishing stuff from DI ...