Upcycled desk for teen

I love finding projects on the side of the road.  I can’t be the only one who does, I mean, people put things out by the curb for free so often now, someone must be picking the stuff up ( not just me).   My family mostly thinks I’m crazy, but after I turn my find into something spectacular, they usually change their tune.   This is especially the case with one of my most recent projects.  It was actually easy, as the piece just needed a little tlc and once I convinced my oldest, it would be a great addition to her room she was redecorating and shared with her ow great he piece could be, she did most of the work.

It’s funny, when I picked this piece up, there were two separate pieces of furniture by the road.  It was rainy and I realized I could only fit one in my car, so I chose this one.  Honestly, I really kind of wanted the other one, but this one was more manageable to load by myself and thus, that is how my oldest got a cute, perfect size desk in her remodeled room.

Really the only things we did was give it a good cleaning (I almost always clean things with a vinegar water mixture), secured a few loose pieces with wood glue and then primed and painted. 

Her new room is a mixture of blue greens and bluish grays, very ocean like, so we decided (I convinced her) that a pop of bright yellow would be great, like the sun bright on a cerulean blue sea.  To tie it in with the room, we also put up yellow chevron curtains that we got for next to nothing at our favorite big red store – Score!

She is pretty happy with her updated room, fresh, quirky and
clean, just in time for her High School years.

Master Bedroom - First Phase

The first major renovation we did in this house, is reconfigure our master bedroom.  For a master, the room is small compared to many giant master ‘suites’ in new homes, but size wasn’t really the main issue.  The closet was.

We also did not like that the entrance to our room was directly at the end of the main hallway where the guest restroom is.  So, in reconfiguring (I'm trying really hard to find some in progress pics of the renovation), we took out a small linen hall closet, our main (but highly unfunctional) master closet, and moved the entrance to the room.  With these changes, we gained space, a more private entrance and the ability to arrange or rearrange our bed as we want.   Have I mentioned I'm a chronic furniture rearranger?

So, you may be wondering, why the heck did you take out your one and only closet??  Looking back, it was a crazy move, but one I am so glad we did.  As I mentioned, we gained valuable room space and were able to make a cute sitting nook.  We bought and assembled PAX wardrobes from IKEA that we have use for the last 4 years, along with an awesome revamped dresser we painted in lovely purple gray.

We also painted and ripped out some disgusting old carpet.   We painted 3 walls an arctic blue and one wall a dark gray for an accent.  We considered leaving the concrete in the room, but found a great deal on some carpet tiles that coordinate perfectly with the colors in the room.  These tiles are easy to remove to clean and have an added warmth, concrete would not provide.

The space and has been calm and serene and overall a nice room to be in, but we have realized that an actual closet would be nice.  So, hence the reason this post is called phase 1.  We are currently in the process of ‘phase two’, which is adding a hopefully luxurious walk in closet that will hold our PAX wardrobes, some extra shelving, a valet for charging and some open shelves.  Add rich laminate flooring, a flokati rug and a chair and you see our vision?  Hopefully it won’t be just a vision for long and I can update everyone with a phase two post with pics soon!

Updated modern loft banister

The very first project my husband ever completed in our house, was before we even moved in.  He ripped out the standard, boring banister in the loft, which is right above the living area and replaced it with a modern/mcm large slatted wood banister.  It’s funny, because I’m not really sure why we decide to do this, of all things, as the first project on a house, which 6 years later still has more projects we want to complete, than I can count on my hands, but we did.  And honestly I’m glad, because if we wouldn’t have done it then, it may never have been updated.

While we knew there were lots of updates we wanted to make to this house, we didn’t realize at the time, that every project, even something as simple as changing out a light fixture, would involve fixing something that was done incorrectly by previous owners or builder. 

Before

I guess with an old house, it is to be expected, but at the time we didn’t fully realize it and it was quite frustrating.  But back to the banister.  You can see it was a simple, standard turned wood banister.  Now, it is warm, rich wood that creates a sense of privacy in both the loft and living area and creates the aesthetic of a modern space.

As with most of his early projects, the hubby came up with the design and orchestrated its completion mostly on the fly.  Thank goodness he is so handy, precise and patient!

Materials used:
1/4 or 1/8" thick sheets of plywood cut into slats and stained
Metal pieces