My "blogspot"

Recently pinterest inspiration got the best of me and I decided to actually attempt a project I had pinned. The real inspiration was my blog, as all good things lately have been. I previously have spent nights blogging from the comforts of my couch but wanted a place all its own to call my “blogspot”. Since I moved into my condo over a year ago, my sunroom has served no purpose other than being a home for my treadmill. The space seemed like such a waste with nothing in it and the notion to create a mini office was birthed. With a self re-purposed old desk and 10 large windows, my sunroom is now the home of my creative nest. Below is my how to (and how not to) re-purpose an old desk and like any good DIY project my advice is to enlist the help of others. I could not have done this project without the inspiring pin, kind people on craigslist willing to deliver, the woman at Home Depot to help me with paint, David to help sand and paint and David’s bother to help move the final project. 

Step 1: Scour craiglist for a desk

I spent several nights searching nearly all the Richmond furniture craiglist postings before I came across this little gem. It was a pinewood desk someone had given up on before finishing. Lucky for me they had already sanded the entire thing, score! Rule #1 is to never pay full price for anything on craigslist, I got the desk for a meer $40 and was well on my way. 

Step 2: Base coat

I decided on a deep brown for a base coat, that way when I sanded through the top coat later on, a nice rich brown would be exposed. We painted 2 coats of this outside on a 100 degree Virginian summer day—I won’t even go into how much fun that was. 

Step 3: Color

My living room color pallet is super basic and all neutrals (black, brown, cream, tan). Since my sunroom is connected to my living room I thought adding a splash of color would be a nice touch. I settled on a greenish teal color that I loved. David was zero help in this decision; he proceeded to tell me at Home Depot that all of the 20 possible shades of teal looked “good”.

Step 4: Distress def: To cause strain, anxiety, or suffering to. See Synonyms at trouble; (of furniture) purposely blemished or marred so as to give an antique appearance.

Ironically both definitions of “distress” were very fitting for the next part of this project. I wanted to create something shabby chic and thought distressing the desk would be a perfect touch. According to the wonderful tutorial it would simply require a bit of sanding and some elbow grease and steel wool. After more stress than distress I wasn't quite sure I liked the result. In order to “save” the project I ended up mixing water into the basecoat brown color and used just the tip of the brush to put some brown strokes onto the teal paint. The combination of sanded edges, steel wool spots and the brown paint ended up being the winning look. As I always tell David when we do any project “imperfection adds character” and that is very fitting here.

Step 5: Ta-da!

Here is my finished creative nest and blogspot. I’m currently sitting here enjoying a glass of Chardonnay and curled up in this amazing quilt my Aunt Vicki just sent me.

Lessons learned:

·         Stubborn me did not believe that a quart of paint would cover 2 coats on the desk so I bought a gallon. Needless to say, a quart probably would have covered 4 coats.

·         Handles/knobs- you can usually count on hobby lobby having items on sale 50% off every other week. I found some amazing knobs at hobby lobby that weren't on sale, I waited a week to go back and sure enough they were 50% off. I picked up the knobs for my desk for around $2.50 each. I consider this quite the steal when Anthropologie sells similar ones for $10.

·         Less is more- some of the spots where I sanded and used steel wool just flaked off instead of looking distressed. I think this is because I put two coats each of the basecoat and teal. If I were to do this again I would try one of each.

·         Latex is sticky- a quick spray of clear laquer as a final touch will help prevent everything sticking to the finished piece.

·         Everything on pinterest is harder than it seems- this is a lesson I’ve learned multiple times, my vision for this desk taking a Saturday afternoon turned into a two week project.

Give credit where credit is due: Morgan Kervin’s blog for the original pin http://www.morgankervinblog.com/2011/03/day-with-amy-distressing-furniture.html

Sincerely,
Chardonnay

What’s in my glass…

Church Creek Chardonnay from Chatham Vineyards—this is a wonderful vineyard nestled on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. David’s parents have a house near here and have gotten me hooked on this wine. They also have a Chardonnay that is entirely aged in stainless steel, equally as delicious.