Money Money Money

It is so frustrating to worry about money sometimes all the time.

I am only 19 years old (almost 20 hehe) and I am already tired of worrying about having enough to pay rent and utilities and still have enough to live on and be creative with and save and blah blah blah money money! It is so heavy. I don't even pay for everything that I have. My parents still help with rent, and they pay my phone and car insurance and stuff. It's such a burden. I want to pay for it all. I don't want them to have to pay for me. I am almost 20 years old! I want all of my responsibilities to lie on me....





...but I can't handle them yet.

My job, well I make really good money. I make more than some people who work full time and that in itself is a burden. I don't want anyone to worry about money! I know that I live a very fortunate life and I do spend money unnecessarily on just silly things like going out with Alan and now I've decided to redo my apartment, but I have to do these things to stay sane. I have been fortunate enough my whole life to be able to do unneccessary things and it is hard to stop. I am sure that I could be perfectly financially stable if I just did the minimum. It is a burden to love unneccessary things.

But I almost feel like these things are necessary, or at least I can justify them. Alan and I go out and spend money to keep our relationship new and fun and alive. And then I feel like as an aspiring designer, my home is my calling card and I would NEVER have shown my apartment one week ago as a calling card and I wouldn't now. Not yet. I don't know if these are excuses.

I want to do 10,000 things at once and be able to do them well. My skin breaks out in little rashes from the stress I put on myself. It is ridiculous. I am ridiculous to let it all affect me, but it does.

The whole point of my little rant is to say that sometimes you have to take what is given to you and make it the best it can be. I can only do so much with what I have, what I am given, and what I am left with after I take. This is why I don't feel silly getting free stuff off of Craigslist or cheap stuff at thrift stores. I can take something and make it mine and give it life again. I can take the plain, old, beat up desk and with a little money, time and effort, I can make it into something that people would pay for. Because of the way I live, I can't buy this stuff off of the shelf, and I wouldn't want to because I know how much it would cost me! But it's not only that, it's the satisfaction I get from making something with my own hands and my own time, and it is beyond the simplicity of paying (alot) more to get the same product.

Be innovative and be willing to try something different. Be conscious of how you spend your money and try to find ways to get the same outcome. Want a perfect example?? Here

Progress...??

Well, the future yellow desk is coming along... slowly but surely and the rest of my living room is adding some character little by little.

As you can see, the color palate is changing and evolving. I'm thinking, not so much green and more blue! (I need a good camera, my phone is just not doing the trick.)

I got the huge 48x77in. map at Amazon.com for $35+shipping and the cute little coffee table on Craigslist for $15!!! (What a steal!) I think the room has already gained character from what it was not too long ago, BORING.

I've GOT to get that lamp out of here!!!

So, with my work schedule, and lack of knowledge for how long it would actually take to sand, prime, paint, fill the original drawer pull holes, paint a second coat, then seal the desk and table. WHEW!

But, with the help of my lovely father, the desk has its first coat of yellow, and the red table I showed before has its first coat of red. I go back home to the parents house Wednesday to finish the project and bring my new lovelies home!

For the desk, I chose these pretties from Myknobs.com. They were $2.99 each as opposed to HomeDepot's $3.39 each. So after shipping, the 13 knobs/pulls cost $44.88.

I really like how the vintage desk will be mixed with the modern yellow and these lovely pendant pulls. My mom tells me these are older style, to me they look more contemporary, so I don't really know how to categorize them, but I think they're going to look beautiful with the desk! I've chosen to lay them out like the picture below. I drew a few different drafts and landed on this layout. I was torn between 1 or 2 pulls on the center drawer, so I drew it with 2 but made a piece to tape over it with 1 pull, this way I could see both and not have to keep drawing more. After showing my friends and family, I decided on one center drawer pull.

What's even cooler about this desk?? Shoved in the back of the drawers were all sorts of receipts and birthday cards and keepsakes. But I found two even more interesting things.
1. S&H stamps, as my post-woman mother called them. Apparently you would save these up and go trade them in for things at the store. Cool? Yes!
2. A letter sent air-mail in 1959!!!! Although the content of the letter was sad and talked about the couples separation, it was really cool to get a little insight into this lovely desks life. I love my little antique Drexel desk!

The sad, but awesome to have, letter.

S&H Green Stamps. Did you know these were first offered in 1896?? I wonder how old mine could be....

I love having a piece of history in my hands! Bringing the past back to life again is something I hope to always achieve with my designs.

Well, off to bed for now. I hope to soon have pictures of my finished products and explanations for how to DIY! Doing things yourself can save a lot of money, and being a working college student in my own apartment in Atlanta, saving money is something I won't sacrifice!

But before I go, here is a price break-down for how I am DIY'ing the desk and the pub table.

• 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
                     ^^This my friends is why I don't mind getting used items and putting in some time to make them mine. Similar tables retail at $300 while a I couldn't find a 1950's Drexel desk selling for under $400, and these aren't even the colors or finishes that I would want.

Moral of the story: don't be too good for good deals and hard work.

Refinishing!

Ahh! I am so excited about my recent craigslist.com steal! A man in Austell, GA was getting rid of his Grandmothers furniture since she recently passed, God bless her soul. He is completely overwhelmed and has NO idea of the value of some of the pieces she had. I wish him the best of luck and thanks!

My lovely freebie from him was an awesome antique desk. It needs some love, but it is SOLID wood and with a little tlc this piece will be awesome! It even has a file drawer which is an awesome plus for me!

So, without further ado, here is my beauty in the making!

Isn't she a beaut!?

Add some sanding, yellow paint!, a protective finish, and new hardware (or maybe the same hardware, I haven't decided yet) and this is going to be a GREAT piece!

Yes, I've decided yellow. I've been dying to have a yellow piece of furniture since seeing this next piece one of my favorite blogs 4men1lady, and it will be a pop of yellow for my new living room plan!

It is definitely time to embrace my yellow love and go for it!

Oh and while I am at it, I'm going to refinish a few other projects I've been stacking up!

This lovely's previous owner had cats that just clawed the legs to death!

You can't really see it, but the legs need some serious sanding down. The owner also tried to stain the wood, and I do apologize for being blunt but, they kind of failed. It is super streaky and the wood isn't sealed.

Well I've got my work cut out for me! Thursday is the day! I can't wait for the outcomes!

First Draft Room Plan

On a budget, I can't afford all of this stuff, so I've added a few things I already have to the mix.

My current area rug is the rug in the bottom left corner. I also already have the colorful vases right above that.
My current sofa is similar in color to the one pictured, but it is older and getting frumpy and is NO where close to being as stylish. My birthday is coming up and I'm asking for a new sofa, but even if I do not get one, my room outcome should resemble this even with my sofa.

So now here's the tricky part... getting all the accessories on a budget.


The prints for the pillows that I have chosen are popular prints right now, so that might be my splurge for this project, but I'll never spend more than $20 on a pillow because I change stuff up so often. However, one solution I have to this problem is pillow sets some Etsy.com stores sell.
HERE I can get two 18x18 yellow pillow covers (exactly like I pictured) for $27. That is less that $15 a pillow, and covers are washable and easily changeable! It is a rule of mine to have a standard size pillow to recover over and over again.

The next challenge will be a cute side table. Right now, next to Alan's recliner, I have made a black bar stool his side table. I know, I know, it's kind of pathetic, but it has worked for the time being. My plan for this is to craigslist.com shop-til-I-drop. People are always always selling their furniture online, and a fresh coat of green paint can update anything! The side table I chose for the room plan is $130 here at West Elm. Sigh. Not in the budget, but I'll figure out something.

Art work for the wall will be the next task. Maybe a white canvas with a few spongebrush strokes on it will do the trick. Michael's always has 20% coupons online, and I can wait for the right week for canvas to go on sale.  OR something that I have been dying to do! MAP ART!

Seriously, this is beautiful. I obviously can't do an entire wall since I'm in an apartment, but stapling maps to canvas would be fantastic!

In the meantime, this is my very boring and plain living room in need of some style and personality.

It is really disappointing, I know. Soon though, it will have some style!