DIY Distressed Desk

Occasionally I'll get the urge to repaint. Often it's an entire room, which is actually a large task, but this time it was just a desk. The desk in our office nook was a hand-me-down from my parents. It used to have a large hutch on top, but I removed it because it was much too large + it was just unused space. It used to be a dark walnut brown, but I painted it black a year or two ago to better match the decor in the room in which it's located {which you can see below}.

I never disliked the black desk, it was just that here recently I've had the inkling to lighten up this room. I've mentioned before about how it doesn't get very good light, so anything I can do to lighten the space is always a plus. Within the past 6 months, I painted our main hallway + an ottoman the color Dove White by Benjamin Moore. It's a slightly off-white color. I had about a quarter {or less} of a gallon of paint leftover and yesterday sealed it's fate. It was a beautiful day, my hubby was home most of the afternoon, so I had a chance to get this desk painted. I decided to distress it slightly too. So, without further ado, here's my HOW-TO on painting + distressing a desk {or table}. Each step has a picture with the description below it.

F I R S T,

The materials used for this project were pretty cost effective.I was able to complete this project for around $6 because I already had most of the materials seen in the picture with the exception of the spray paint + the paint brush. My husband always has latex gloves on hand because of his profession + he even "borrowed" a couple of face masks that we keep at home for instances such as this, or for sickness. Ha.

Materials: Satin spray paint in the color Heirloom White, a paintbrush {I would use a 1-2 inch angled brush instead of a 3 inch like is shown here}, latex gloves, a mask {optional}, a foam roller, sand paper {I believe is was 150 grit}, and about a quart of paint. 

S E C O N D ,

Prepare your work space by laying out a drop cloth {this plastic one is sold at Lowe's for llike $1.50 or so}. Make sure you are working in a well ventilated area. I did this in the garage with the door open. Let me preface this entire next part by saying that in order to do a distressed look, your piece of furniture MUST have a dark color as the base. So, if you're going dark to light it should work just fine, but if you going light to a different light color, you will need to add a dark color first before adding another light color on top. I hope that makes sense.

Run that sand paper over your desk to rough it up a bit. This isn't absolutely necessary, but I had some already peeling paint + rough spots on the tabletop, so I wanted to smooth it out before painting. There's really no rhyme or reason to sanding, at least not in my opinion, so just go for it.

T H I R D,

 I began the painting process by spray painting the desk. I did this primarily for coverage purposes. Because the desk was black + I didn't have a whole lot of actual paint, I decided to spray paint a couple layers first to ensure that I would have enough paint do the final couple of layers. I spray painted the desk TOP first by doing a swift back and forth motion down the length of the desk. The key to even coverage when using spray paint is to continuously spray without spraying one spot too long {it builds up if you do that}. Do light, even coats. Don't overload it on the first spray. The first time I sprayed this desk top I could still see most of the black because I just did a light coat. I did 3-4 coats of spray paint over the entire desk. I did the legs vertically {sprayed up + down, not side-to-side} to optimize the amount of spray paint used. The picture below shows the desk after I was finished spray painting. Now, remember I still had to paint with actual paint, so it's fine that it wasn't fully covered. I just wanted to get MOST of the black covered.

F O U R T H,

 Use the foam roller to paint the entire desk {yes, even the legs and sides}. I went in the corners and crevices with the paintbrush at the end. I prefer a foam roller to a paint brush because I don't like the lines a paintbrush leaves behind. You could totally use a brush for the entire project if you wanted though. I followed the same idea with the roller as I did with the spray paint {back + forth along the top + sides of the desk + up and down for the legs}. I put 3 coats of paint ON TOP of the already spray painted desk. I let each coat dry for about 45 minutes in between coats. This was the final coat drying.

F I F T H,

To add a distressed look to your desk, use sandpaper to rough up the edges and corners of the desk. I didn't do a TON of distressing, but just enough to make it look older + not just freshly painted. Literally, just push + pull the sandpaper removing small buts of paint in the process. Be careful not to remove TOO much, as this will make it look intentional, rather than unintentionally + natural. You can see more of the distressing in the pictures below in the SIXTH step.

S I X T H,

Allow your desk or table to dry for a good while {I waited about 4 hours, but technically you should probably allow more time than that}. I brought it back inside + waited until this morning to restyle it, allowing it extra time to dry. Don't put anything on it until it's dried for more than 12-24 hours, or else it will stick to your belongings because the paint is still somewhat tacky. 

In the end, you're left with a little something like this. :) Now, go paint + distress my friends! XO!

Tackling Clutter: Office Spaces

Hey friends! I'm about 2 days late to this game, and for that you can blame the gorgeous summer-like weather that has finally decided to stick around these parts. Oh, and my crazy tantrum-throwing toddler. I have been living outside because it keeps her so content. I decided to bring my "work" outside with me yesterday, and so here we are...finally.

Office space. It can be a table, often the kitchen table, or a whole separate room with a desk and shelves and the whole nine. If you're like me, then you have a little office space tucked away in a corner of the guest room. Because neither my husband nor I really "work from home", we don't need some elaborate office space. This little set-up works just fine for our needs at the moment. {Also, let me apologize in advance for some of these pictures. This room gets HORRIBLE light + I'm not good at photography to begin with, so yeah...hang with me.}

Today, I don't have an elaborate post for you like I did with the kitchen or pantry, because our office space isn't THAT big. Today, I thought it'd be helpful to outline how we organize office supplies, paperwork, and the like. Plus, I have a couple of easy DIY projects for you guys.

DIY Sterilite Drawer Upgrade

The desk we use was a hand me down that I painted black. I'm actually about to paint it white soon to hopefully lighten this space. The room that houses this little office nook doesn't get much light, as I mentioned, so I think that lighter furniture will help a little. Anyway, the desk has one little flip down drawer that's meant for a keyboard. Inside of that holds computer paper and cards for various holidays {Target dollar spot had a wide variety of blank cards a while back and I stocked up so I never miss a beat}. Aside from that one drawer, we have zero storage for office-related items. Enter one of my favorite little DIY hacks. I had about a million five plastic 3-drawer Sterilite containers from when I taught. They have fairly deep drawers and are great for storage. However, they are unsightly and NOT cute when used for home decor. I was at Target a couple of months ago {haha that was like thousands of Target trips ago}, when I stumbled upon some $1 file folders in gold, black and white prints in the dollar section. I wasn't quite sure how I'd use them, but I knew they were too good to pass up, so I bought a pack of 3. When I got home, I realized that they matched the decor in our guest room pretty well and immediately the idea came to me. I would use them in the front of each drawer to hide what was inside/make the drawers look high-end. HAHA, okay that's stretching it. They don't look high-end by any means, but they DO look way cuter than before. All I did was cut the file folders in half + trim in to size, then I just slid it right in down in the drawer where you would open it. This is how it turned out and I LOVE it.

turned into

Before

After

The drawers are organized as follows:

 Top: Computer paper

{You can see here how I slid the file folders in right at the front of the drawer. 

Also, this was before I cut them to size-I was testing it to make sure it fit.}

Middle: Office supplies, pens, highlighters, push pins, multi-tool, stamps, etc.

Bottom: Notepads+ folders

On the desk itself, I keep very few items, to maximize the small surface. To the left of the computer is a vase {thrifted} that holds all of our Sharpie markers. Behind the computer is the printer, which stays folded up most of the time. To the right of the computer is a a Target dollar spot file folder organizer, which I actually use to hold my calendars {for my blog/IG, and another for meal planning}. Next to that is the lamp, one faux flowered plant in a glass dollar store vase, and a frame with a free printable. That's it. KISS-Keep It Simple Stupid Silly. My history teacher in high school taught us that acronym, except he used stupid. I don't like calling y'all stupid, so I changed it to better accommodate my feelings.

That's pretty much it for how I organize our office space. Oh, I do have a Target dollar spot wire basket on the floor that we use as a trashcan.

And if you're wondering about that huge print of Emerson above the desk, well let me tell you about it REAL quick. When I was pregnant I walked our neighborhood almost daily. One day, Trey and I passed that frame {which was originally this weird green/yellow color} on the side of the road. It is HUGE and I knew I could utilize it for a DIY project. I made Trey carry it home for the remainder of our walk. HAHA. Anyway, I spray painted it white and added a $3 Office Max B+W engineer print {see this post on how to get your own}. So for $3, I got a beautiful piece of art for this space.

I know this post wasn't as detailed or as broken down as the others in this series have been, but hopefully you found it helpful nonetheless. Come back next week as I take on a wildcard {as in, I haven't decided which space I want to "tackle" yet- haha!}. XO!

Styled Shelves: DIY

I'm telling y'all, I'm convinced that beautiful weather gets me motivated to cross off some things on the to-do decorating list. I have been wanting to restyle the shelves {really more like picture ledges} in our dining room for some time, but haven't been inspired to do so. I used to be SUCH an impulse decorator, and as a result would grow weary of the decor I chose after just a short while. It would cause me to want to change it again and again. I have finally learned "my style", and the style that I want for this home/our future home. I am trying to incorporate decor that will carry over into a new home one day. Back to the shelves, I got the itch yesterday to rearrange them. They were only styled with black and white frames prior to my redecorating. They weren't horrid, but they were absolutely nothing to write home about, if you know what I mean. It all started with the sign you see below.

Before

After

DIY #1: Wooden "gather" sign

I knew I wanted to go for a more natural, farmhouse vibe. It's all the rage now, you guys! HAHA Anyway, I started by removing all of the frames so that I had a blank canvas. I knew I needed something rather large for the center of the shelves, so this first DIY was perfect. I had this wooden {almost pallet-like} sign that you see above  that was just sitting unused in the garage {it's painted already in the picture, sorry!}. I spray painted it white + then literally sawed it in half, to make 2 signs. It was perfect and exactly what I wanted. I love the word "gather" in an eating/living space because that's what people do in those spaces. I grabbed these wooden letters at Michaels for $1.99 each. The entire word was ~$13 after tax. I did NOT paint the letters because I liked the raw wood look against the white sign. All I did to attach them to the wood sign was dab some hot glue on the back of each letter and press it down for 5-10 seconds while it got good + attached. It worked beautifully. So, to make this yourself {if you don't have a wooden sign hanging around like I did}, all you'll need is a couple pieces of wood or a pieces from a pallet board would work. Secure them together using either wood glue or nails. For the next part, you can either spray paint it your desired color or you can leave it raw wood. Then determine a word or phrase you want to apply, and either buy the letters like I did, or stencil them on if you prefer the stenciled look. Glue them down and VOILA! This project can be done for under $15-30 depending on materials needed. If you're looking for pallet boards, check Craigslist; people get rid of those things all the time. Also, check with local stores that use them for loading. We've gotten several from stores that don't want them/have tons of them around back.  The great thing about this DIY is that you can make a sign like this for any room in the house!

DIY # 2: "Bloom" standing word

This one is so easy, it almost hurts. It was an impulse buy, that took just an ounce of imagination. This little "Bloom" sign {for lack of a better description} is actually made of foam. It was hot pink and covered in sparkles when I bought it. I don't have a before picture of it, I'm sorry. It was hanging in the party/craft supplies section at Walmart. GET THIS...it was only $0.10. Like, you could buy 10 of these for $1-haha! All I did was spray paint it white and now it rests on the top shelf beautifully. It is thick enough to stand alone, but lightweight enough that even if it falls, no harm done because it's FOAM. I love that it brings a touch of spring to these shelves and practically for free.  

DIY # 3: L.O.V.E

So, when I started adding more to the shelves, I decided to add this awesome rusted metal L, this grapevine wreath, and the mini chalkboard. {All 3 are from Goodwill for under $3 each, btw.} 

Without any forethought, I placed the L + the circular wreath side-by-side, like in the top left picture up above. I stepped back and realized that it almost looked as if I were trying to spell out the word LOVE using unconventional items. AhA! That's when my creative genius wheel started spinning. I knew I was going to have to come up with a V and an E. I had already been to Michaels that day and it's a 30+ minute drive, so going back was out of the question. My friend, Bree {who blogs over at The Homemaking Momma} is literally the queen of beautifully styled shelves, so I texted her and asked for suggestions. Of course, she came through for me.

She was so helpful and suggested covering a letter in greenery somehow. So, I bought a dowel rod for $0.57 at Walmart and used a faux boxwood plant that I already owned {one of my favorites too} and got to work. The plant came apart in little sections {I just pulled it section by section from the foam that was holding it in place in the little planter} and I just hot glued them one at a time {slightly overlapping each} on the V that I created using the dowel rod. It was a very in depth process; I cut  broke the dowel rod in half, then duck tapped it together at the bottom, so it formed a 'V', and then I glued the pieces of boxwood to the dowel rod. It took me about 5-10 minutes total and cost me $0.57 cents. This letter is my favorite of the four!

The 'e' was a little more complicated. I pondered for a while, until I realized I could make an 'e' for free using sticks from our back yard {we have TONS of pines that like to shed their branches + pinecones daily}. I played around with them and I originally made a capital E, but it ended up falling apart, plus it was a little small compared to the other letters. I went back outside for more sticks, and this time I decided to do a lower case 'e' and to make it larger. If you can picture this, I was literally bent over outside hunting for sticks that had a curve like in a lower case 'e'. I found a couple actually, and after playing around for a few minutes I was able to make an 'e' using the sticks that I found. I used floral wire to piece them together and then I added some faux greenery/small white flowers {from Michaels on sale for $1.49} to cover most of the wire. I can't really explain how I created the 'e' specifically; all I can say is if you try it, just play around with it until it resembles the letter you want. 

I am in LOVE with how these shelves turned out. I was expecting to have to spend money that I didn't have in order to achieve a look that I wanted, but in the end, I didn't have to spend much at all. What's fabulous is that they are a true reflection of me and my style. 99% of the items on these shelves were thrifted.  Um, hello! Have you met me? The only parts that aren't thrifted are the banner, which is a Target dollar spot $1 purchase, the white frames {Target a while back}, the taller clear glass bottles and the faux flowers/greenery {Michaels}.  I try not to brag, but I'm just gonna' say it, I think these looks dang good considering the amount of money I spent on them. Just another reason to add to the already VERY long list of reasons why I LOVE thrift store shopping. Remember, the key is to be open-minded and don't see things at face-value; think outside the box!

I hope you love them as much as I do! Thanks for reading! Come back tomorrow for another post in the series "Tackling Clutter". I'll be tackling my office space, and it includes a couple of very simple DIY's too! You won't want to miss it. XO!

Top 5 Thrifty Decor Tips

Want to know a little secret? I love thrifty decor. Oh, that's not a secret, is it? Well, guess what? {I have inadvertently inserted lots of questions in the first 2 lines of this post.} I not only love thrifty decor, but I love sharing how I use thrifty materials/items and turn them into decor for our home. I get a lot of people who ask me how I did this or that, or where I purchased something. It's often hard to answer because most times I got it at a thrift store, or I used a variety of items to make it myself. I thought that I would share my top 5 tips for scoring + using thrifty decor in your home.

My most asked about rooms are the dining room, living room, bedrooms, and entryway {does that count as a room?}, so I'm going to focus on decor mostly from those rooms, while incorporating a little from other rooms as well.

Tip 1: Use greenery, fresh or faux. In my opinion, it adds such a nice pop of color in the most natural way possible. Plus it brings a little of the outdoors in. This could include flowers, a sprig off of a tree in your yard or your neighbors -haha- {see below}, plants, a single flower, etc. I shared this on Instagram yesterday. I often check thrift stores for wreaths + greenery. Usually you won't find cute little faux plants there, but often times thrift stores will have an entire little section for faux flowers + wreaths. I ALWAYS look here for anything I can use greenery-wise. This lavender that I've bunched together in this vase {see 2nd picture below} was on a VERY ugly wreath that I found buried beneath some faux flowers. I didn't use anything on the wreath, except for this lavender. {The entire wreath was $1, so totally worth it}. Sometimes, you have to be a little unconventional in your thinking. You can't always take things at face value, sometimes it takes a little imagination. So the next time you see an ugly wreath, see if any parts of the wreath could be used elsewhere by itself. You never know the hidden beauty!

 I get asked all the time about my storage ottomans in my living room. They used to look like this originally. They were purchased at either Walmart or Target while I was in college for like $15 each. I used a shower curtain that I had on hand {not in use} to recover them both. This was the easiest DIY and it totally changed the look of the ottomans + it brought some color into our neutral living room. 

Tip 2: When looking to recover furniture such as a seat cushion like I showed you here, or if you're wanting to hang curtains, or recover a pillow or an ottoman {the list is endless}, before buying fabric from the fabric store, search for shower curtains, regular curtains, napkins, tablecloths, blankets, drop cloths, etc to see if there's a pattern you like. The linens section at thrift stores scares a lot of people....DON'T LET IT. I have found some of the BEST "fabric" there. All it needs is a good wash + it's good as new, and usually for under $5. You can't beat that. But aside from the thrift store, search your regularly priced stores for patterns or textures that could work. It may not always be "cheaper", but you may be able to find a cool "fabric" in the form of a shower curtain {like I did} that you may not be able to find at a generic fabric store.

Tip 3: Picture frames are a hot commodity, and they can also be an expensive one! This is probably one of my favorite tips. Go to the thrift store + search their frames. They don't have to be cute or matching when you buy them. All you need is a can of spray paint to create the exact look you want. This entire gallery wall was created using thrifted frames. Most of them were natural wood when I bought them + I just spray painted all of them black so that it unified them. Literally, frames at thrift stores are SO cheap. You honestly cannot afford to pass this tip up. Also, a lot of the artwork filling these frames came from the internet and I printed it at home.

Below is another example of a gallery wall in our bedroom. The frames are all $1 wooden frames from Michael's, aside from the $10 window frame, and all the other little items were thrifted or from the $1 bins at Michaels/Target.

Tip 4: Vases, canisters, and bowls are huge in the decor world. They hold plants, jewelry, coins, keys, and an endless number of other items. Stores like TJ MAXX, Ross, Hobby Lobby, and Marshalls all have pretty good prices on these items, but again, thrift stores have some terrific hidden gems. I'm realizing this post is turning into a thrifting-heavy suggestion box, whoops! All of these were found hidden in the shelves at various thrift stores and most were under $2.  I typically look for ones with texture just to add some flair to the space in which it will be housed. I also have several faux plants around our home that are housed in texture candle holders that I repurposed, or in canisters that you would typically find in the kitchen. Be creative!

Tip 5: Furniture shopping is exhausting to me. I have no problem finding what I love, but the actual purchasing is the issue. I just can't justify spending the kind of money that most things cost, when I know that if I'm patient, I can probably hunt it down cheaper {not always the case, but a lot of times it is}. So, my tip when hunting for furniture is to scour Craigslist. Again, Craigslist scares some people, and obviously you should use precaution {like make sure you meet in a crowded place, or always have someone with you when meeting up for a purchase, don't allow people to your home unless you absolutely have to, etc}, but generally speaking, I've had terrific luck with Craigslist. We live in a military-heavy area, so there's tons of turnover. It sucks for the people that have to sell all of their stuff to move cross-country quickly, but it's great for people like me! The following items were all Craigslist purchases, many of which have undergone paint transformation:

Lazy Boy Recliner $400 in excellent condition {new costs upwards of $1200}

Glider $75 {I spray painted it white}

Hall Tree Bench $10 {I painted it white + black}

Ikea Ektorp Arm Chairs $25 each 

{I bought white slipcovers for $29/chair; these chairs new cost $350+ each}

Microfiber Sectional Couch $400 {like new}, Side table/hutch $10 

{I painted it dark green}, + antique fan $10.

2 White dining chairs $5 

{I gave them a fresh coat of paint + recovered the seats}

So my tip is to search antique shops, thrift stores, Craigslist, yardsales, curbs {haha, but seriously}, and estate sales. You can find some real gems if you have the patience. Some pieces might require a little TLC, but in the end, you have all that gratification that you not only made something your own, but you saved lots of money in the process.

There you have it, my top 5 tips for thrifty decor. I realize I leaned a lot on thrifting, which isn't everyone's thing, but let me encourage you to at least TRY IT before you dismiss it. I really, really believe that people don't know what they're missing. Oh, and just a little friendly reminder, take hand sanitizer for after you've shopped.  Hope this helps y'all! XO!