Yay!

I'm super excited to show off my new desk! (Finally!)


So, here she is!

LOVE IT!

Here was my process...

Of course, I started with the bare minimum...

My fab freebie!

 Next, with the help of my awesome daddy, we removed the old hardware and sanded the entire desk with a palm sander and 300 grit sand paper.

This next step got complicated. The old drawer pulls were attached with two screws on each handle. Big screws. My new hardware was not so big screws and the old holes were obviously in the wrong spots. The holes were so big that filling them with wood filler would have been silly, so my daddy helped me cut a wooden dowel into small pieces and glue them in the holes. Here's how.

• We put a pieces of painters tape on the insides of the drawer faces, covering up the holes.
• We put a drop of wood glue in the holes. The tape kept the glue from going through the hole and just dripping off.
• We slid the dowel pieces into the holes and allowed the glue to dry them in place.
• This way, we only had to use a small bit of wood filler to even out the surface.

Then I primed the whole thing.

**tip** when using a new roller, make sure to soak it in water first so that the loose fabric pieces don't get on your surface

So, after waiting and waiting on coats and coats to dry, I painted 4 thin, even coats on the desk (as noted from my favorite blog YHL).

Then added two coats of my Minwax Waterbased Polycrylic Protective Finish in satin clear, allowed to dry, then drilled new holes for the new hardware and installed.

And isn't she beautiful??

I did actually go back with the sander and distress the edges just a tiny bit.
I love it!
And all for about $100!

• desk- free
• pub table- free
• pulls for desk- $44.88
• quart of Kilz oil based primer- $7.00
• Glidden latex paint in semi-gloss (yellow&red)- $20 ($10 per quart)
• quart of Minwax Waterbased Polycrylic Protective Finish in satin clear- $17
• rollers/brushes etc.- $10 (I had a few rollers already) 

      Total- about $100

I hope this can help for your future projects!

 Oh!

 

 

 

 

 

I did just celebrate a birthday and check out one of my presents!!

LOVE!!!

She isn't home with me yet, but she will be delivered in a few weeks!
It is my beautiful Rowe Sullivan Sleeper sofa!

I originally loved this next model... in white of course...

       but Gibson wasn't so comfortable. Beautiful... but not too comfortable. Not for my main sofa.

I love my Sullivan, and cannot wait to meet her!!

Quick Peek!

I'll say more later, but here is the final product!!

LOVE!!!

Pardon My Absence

Hello my many followers... (cricket cricket)

Excuse my little joke. I know, I'm really just not that funny.
No, but seriously, you all have GOT to use your gmail accounts and follow my blog PLEASSEEE and thank you!

On to the real matters of business!
I have been super busy lately, ya know, on vacation and all, so I am sorry for no posts in like 2903 days!
I did get a second job though! Yay for me!

Oh and I actually am picking up my finished yellow desk tomorrow complete with handles and all!
It has been way too long of a process, since I took it home to my parents house to work on and that is a nice hour long trip and $10 in gas round trip, but anywho, the desk is complete and I cannot wait to post pictures!

I also cannot wait to post pictures for the awesome map project here! Let me be the very first to admit that my application method DID NOT work like planned. FIY: do not try to roll out any kind of paper onto any kind of glue thinking it will not wrinkle, IT WILL! Instead, Alan helped me spray the entire board, hold two ends down, then stretch the whole paper across the board and pull the other end down taut. Apparently it smooths itself out this way. Who knew?!

isn't she just huge!

Which leads me to my next point, instead of using cork-board rolls like the original plan here, I actually used an even CHEAPER means! I know. Crazy! I went into Hobby Lobby to buy my cork rolls, and they only had one roll of each different thickness they sell it in. I needed two of one kind. So, I had to rethink some things.

Solution? http://www.samflaxsouth.com/, well not the website but the store SamFlax! I took a maymester 3d sculpture class, and we had to invade the art store like 3 or 4 times a week and we used foam board for our projects. Long story short, they sell huge huge pieces of foam board for really cheap! The website doesn't say they sell it in individual sheets, but they do and I got a 4feet x8feet piece of foam board for $15!!! It is thicker than the cork would have been and it is in a single sheet so the map will be like an actual piece of art to rehang and rehang where ever I desire and the foam will be able to hold push-pins too for whenever I actually start to travel the world! (cricket cricket)

Huge 4x8 foot foam board from Sam Flax! They really only sell huge pieces like this at places like SamFlax or Utrecht.

So, here is another breakdown for this project.

• I cut the foam board to size (4x6 feet) with my exacto knife.
• I sprayed the whole board with my spray adhesive.
• We lined up one side of the map to one side of the board then held that side down while stretching the rest of the map over to the other end of the board. This way it smoothed itself out.
• Then we hung it up!

Simple as that!

This is my favorite spray adhesive, and what I used on this project. You can buy spray adhesive at any craft store.

So, here is the final product!

Again, excuse my camera phone pictures and frumpy sofa. It will be gone soon!

Now for the price break down again...


The Tally Up!

• Cork rolls- $15 x 2 = $30 
• Foam board- $15
• Frame- $10 (will be)
• Spray adhesive- already owned but you can get a can for about $8-$12 at your craft store.

Total- about $25

I will eventually get around to putting trim as a frame, but my projects tend to stretch out over long periods of time when I'm living on a budget!


But I was super excited to save even more money on this project. It just keeps getting better.

Small project with a LARGE impact!

If you didn't notice my new awesome HUGE map.... well then you might be blind!

This monster is 48x77inches of pure beauty!

Well....not yet.

But, I have a cheap project for this map that is going to make it pop off the wall and look just like a frame that would cost over $150 before shipping costs!!!

So, here is my solution.
We want to use this map as a pinboard for future vacations and getaways, so to protect the wall and give something to push pins into, I'll put cork behind the map.

You can find cork rolls at your local craft store for really cheap! For this project, I'll need two rolls of cork and I can cut them down to 77".  Next step, attach the map to the cork. Using spray adhesive, I'll spray the side of the cork I want to attach the map to. Smooth out the paper starting on one side of the map to prevent wrinkles. (You'll probably get some sort of wrinkling, but that's ok!)

Next step. Frame. We've already seen how expensive huge frames can be, so my answer is definitely trim. Hardware stores sell trim & moulding for really cheap. Some sells for less than $1 per foot! For my project I'm going to need 271 inches of wood or about 23 feet.

I'm looking for something similar to this piece of casing. I want something simple, but I also want it to have a little bit of shape. I think this piece will look good as a frame too because of it's thicker outer edge. At 23 feet, my huge huge frame will cost ... hmm.. 23feet x $0.41 = $9.43!

Isn't that outrageous!??
The people at the home improvement stores will cut the pieces for you at 45 degree angles for the corners. Just remember when measuring, that what you're framing is the inner rectangle of the trim, so you'll need to calculate the outer rectangle's length. They might be about to help you at the home improvement store as well. 

The Tally Up!

• Cork rolls- $15 x 2 = $30 
• Frame- $10 
• Spray adhesive- already owned but you can get a can for about $8-$12 at your craft store.

Total- about $40 

So for about $40, I'll get a 48x77 frame for my beauty. Maybe I'll do this today and show you the results!