#415...audrey's desk makeover

We were out in California this past weekend for a visit, and my 6-year old niece Audrey asked me to help her make-over her brown wood desk. The desk formerly belonged to Audrey's Dad when he was a kid.

Step 1: Lightly sand the desk to scuff it up, which I did with a mouse sander.
Step 2: Make Audrey change out of the school dress she came out to paint in.
Step 3: Paint. 

We used a 4" smooth foam roller and a brush. We painted the desk with a white enamel that we got from the "oops" section of the local hardware store for $2!

We painted about 4 coats of white paint on the desk. I lightly sanded with a sanding sponge between coats. Audrey's Mom spray painted the old drawer pulls with silver spray paint, which really make them look clean and new.

While Audrey was at school, I painted a few butterflies, bees and lady bugs onto the desk at her request.

We moved the desk back into Audrey's room to surprise her when she got home from school. I made the wall hanging fabric letter "A" for her a few years ago. You can read my tutorial on making 3-D fabric letters here. Before Audrey was born, I painted a large surfing mural on the wall opposite this desk, which you can see here. 

#414...staging

This past weekend, I worked on staging a house for a client getting ready to sell. It was a fun project because the family was not home and I had free reign to do whatever I wanted. I worked with a small budget to add a few items to each room, and primarily hung art. Here are a few before and afters.

 

living room before

 

living room after

 

kitchen after

 

 

dining before

 

dining after

 

 

hall bath before

 

hall bath after

 

kid bedroom before

 

kid bedroom after

 

master before

 

master after

 

guest before

 

 guest after

#413...refrigerator table top

We've used a dorm style refrigerator as a side table to the sofa in our loft for years, giving guests a place to store beverages and baby bottles. Long ago, I covered the top and sides of the refrigerator with some sparkly vinyl, which you can sort of see here, in this Apartment Therapy post from a few years back. They vinyl got dingy and worn over the years, so I ripped it off, and decided to make a wood table to fit snugly over the refrigerator. Tyler built this U-shaped table out of birch plywood.

I sprayed the table with chalkboard paint (in case I ever want to write messages on it). It took about 2.5 cans to thoroughly cover it. Then we fitted it over the refrigerator.

I decided to add a piece of glass to the top of it, to make cleaning it easier, and to give the surface a smoother finish to touch. I spray painted the underside of the glass with black chalkboard spray paint, which gives the illusion that the glass is actually black too, and gives it a more customized look. I once blogged a tutorial on painting glass here.