Old Desk is Now New

When MJ and I moved to Chicago, we needed to find me a desk. We scouted some garage sales and found an old wooden desk for $25. It’s by no means perfect – it’s leg area is pretty small, the drawers stick, and it was really, really dark. Since my office at the time was in the basement, it didn’t make it particularly inviting. It served me well my first year, second year I loaned it to my friend, and this year I have it back. It needed a make over really bad and MJ agreed to help me.

I bought a gallon (= way too much) paint at our local Ace Hardware. The girl kind of screwed up the color, but I decided not to complain. It was good enough.

I had to tap off the ugly block drawer pulls that had been veneered to the drawers. Fortunately, it was easier than I thought it would be!

It took 3-4 coats of paint for it to look right. There are so many little imperfections in the wood that the semigloss paint (chosen for it’s cleanability) showed every tiny problem. I like that it looked a little rough, but in some spots it looked bad. Finally, I just got over it (much to MJ’s liking).

MJ helped me pick out some drawer pulls from Home Depot. I picked six for the side drawers and one different one for the central pen drawer.

DIY Shower Curtain

*FYI: This is a picture heavy post.

When we bought our house, it was riddled with some ugly wallpaper. I am not in general opposed to wallpaper, however, with champagne taste, I am opposed to cheap looking paper. Being on a beer budget, in general, I opt for paint. Honestly, I doubt that really nice wallpaper will ever be within my budget.

So, last Thanksgiving, my mom-in-law helped me yank down the offensive strips of 1980s water lily border paper in the bathroom and paint the previously navy room a sunny yellow.She really is a champion. She helped me prime and double coat the room as well. She’s the best!

The yellow freaked me out a bit at first because it came out more sunny than buttery (I had expected a more creamy tone). However, I don’t like re-doing work (or re-purchasing supplies), so I figured I should give it a chance to grow on us before I did anything rash. Plus, it was still better than the water lilies. These pictures aren’t great, but I think they show how much brighter the bathroom became with the new paint color.

Before and After:

I really like shower curtains – but not generally the ones I can find at the store (plus, I tend to think that they are overpriced), so I made my own by altering a gorgeous full sized sheet I bought two years ago from Garnet Hill. I had originally intended to make curtains for our old apartment, but never got around to it. I’m glad that I left it in the fabric stash because I really like how it fits in with the sunny bathroom!

Here’s the finished product:

The bathroom is taking on a bit of a California tone to it. I have one of my grandmother’s antique 1940’s California plates on the wall, my old CA license plate, and a funny “valley girl” inspired card on the walls. I also have a collection of succulent plants in there.