DIY Dry Erase Board

I wanted a dry erase board in the new office, but all the ones I found had no personality, and were too generic.  So I made my own!  I went to Michaels and picked up some wooden molding and a roll of dry erase vinyl decal.  I put the vinyl up on the wall, cut the molding to size, and nailed the molding frame to the wall.  I then painted it glossy white.  Here's the end result.  Total Cost:  $9.  (fyi, after taking these pictures I smoothed out the rough left edge).

A Dresser in the office?

My M-I-L gave me a dresser to use in my daughter's room.  After stripping the paint, painting it white, and applying simple wall decals, I had a pretty cute dresser, but the drawers were way too small and could barely hold any teeny-tiny onesies.  Ugh.

My office is in need of some extra storage (since my Craigslist desks don't have any drawers) so I decided to paint the dresser blue to match the filing cabinet.  I took off the flowers and realized the paint was pretty bumpy, since the wood used on the drawer-fronts was not smooth.  If I had been smart, I would have used wood filler after stripping the paint, but I figured I was using decals anyway, so I would just cover the bumps.  This taught me never to cut corners, because now I had a problem on my hands: strip the paint again or attempt to hide the problems?

The helpful guy at the paint store told me I would just need to put a few extra coats of paint on the drawers to cover up the irregularities, but I decided to try my hand at stenciling.  First, I searched the web for a great design.  I found this print from Trina Turk for Schumacher, which I love particularly because it's uneven and quirky.  I printed out the design, cut it, traced it onto cardboard, and then cut that out with an exacto knife. 

Unfortunately, the stencil was messy because the original print has a fuzzy design.  My first try looked like this:

I really love the print, but when I comes to stenciling, I think you need something with cleaner lines. 

I found this trellis stencil online.  This time, I just cut out the stencil and made a pencil outline on the drawer, which I filled in with blue paint. 

This pattern might have worked, but it was too big!  I finally decided to just load on the paint and see if it would cover up the dresser's imperfections.  Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of time.  I need to actually WORK in this office.  I painted it all blue to match the filing cabinet, and it was full of papers just a few hours later.  I still have to add drawer pulls and decide what color to paint the legs.  I'd love to add SOME excitement to this piece.  Any ideas?

Cost: $0!

A Rug for my office----to paint a rug or not to paint?

I've been looking for a rug to pull my office together for quite some time, but I haven't found anything affordable.  I'm trying to keep the whole 10' x 12' room under $500, and considering the fact that most rugs large enough are at least $120, the purchase would send me over budget.  I considered getting this rug from Target, but couldn't justify the expense for a rug I don't really like.  Each time I'd go into the room I'd think "I hate that rug!  It's much too dark.  But it was cheap....ugh, I'm so cheap".  So I nixed the target rug, even though it's cute.  I also loved this one, it's from the incredible DwellStudio for Target line, but was concerned that the pattern was too morrocan and would cause the room to go in a different direction than I would like.

After searching some more, I found some lattice rugs on Overstock.com that I really loved, but were also pricey.  Then...I discovered RUG PAINTING!  Can you believe you can paint a rug with regular latex paint?  I was so excited that I could convert a regular old Ikea rug into the lattice rug I wanted, just by using a stencil printed out online.  I was ready to copy one of these rugs (depending on the size of the rug) and scoured the internet for a used rug I could paint.  But alas, there were none, so I headed to Ikea.

Once at Ikea, I discovered tha the large jute rugs (easiest to paint) were fairly pricey, and I just felt dumb buying a rug that I could easily find online for free...eventually.  THEN I saw the Gislev rug.  It's a low-pile rug, so it's perfect for an office, and it was just $19.99, so I couldn't leave it there!  It's only 6'6 x 4'4 so I bought 2 to cover the area.  I just hope it doesn't look tacky.  Don't think I gave up on painting a rug.  Check back for a nursery rug DIY, coming soon...

Office Rug:

2 Gislev Rugs at $19.99 each.

Total Cost: < $40

Choosing the Perfect Paint Color for a Modern Office

I had the idea to do my office in gray with white furniture and bright lime or turquoise accents, but I could NOT find a decent gray!  Gray is a great neutral that's not beige (the color of my office before the reno) and really provides a great backdrop for crisp lines.

I was feeling really cheap, so I took a half gallon of paint from my MIL thinking it would be the perfect gray.  It wasn't.  It was much too light and a half gallon wouldn't cover all four walls!  So I started researching grays and realized how many different grays there are.  There's brown-gray, purple-gray, blue-gray, and the undertones in each affect the room accessories.

After scouring the web for hours, I found the perfect gray on Emily A. Clarke's Blog http://emilyaclark.blogspot.com/.  Emily had the same idea for home office colors, and she's an interior decorator, so I knew I could trust her.

Here's a picture of Emily's office, which served as inspiration for my final product:

The paint used is Benjamin Moore's Trout Gray 2124-20.

 

I was concerned that Trout Gray would be too dark and soak up all the light in the room, but Deep Silver (a shade lighter) wasn't a good background for white.  When I saw it in pictures online, the white furniture didn't "pop" as much as I wanted it to, so Trout Gray it was!

At the hardware store, I asked for a custom mix of Trout Gray 75% lighter.  When custom mixing a color make sure to  err on the side of pale.  It's better to make the paint light and add pigment if it turns out too light.  You can always add pigment, but you can't take it out.

I bought the eggshell finish with primer included to make my job easier.

Total Cost, including paint rollers: $44.

How to Paint a Metal Filing Cabinet for under $40

My first project in my new home office was updating an awful old black metal filing cabinet.  I got a two-drawer filing cabinet for free on Craigslist, but it was covered in tape residue and dings.  I decided to paint it, and luckily I found some online DIY tutorials that didn't require spray painting.  I'm TERRIBLE at spray painting!  It's so easy to mis-spray (I should post a picture of my dining room table, covered in white spray paint, from my last project) and you need proper ventilation.  Ugh.  I did NOT want to lug my heavy filing cabinet outside.  Plus, it was raining on the day I did my project.

I used regular satin latex Benjamin Moore Paint in Peacock Blue 2049-40, white cabinet paint and Latex paint primer,.  To save some dough, buy a pint or sample size of your secondary color.  Mine cost only $8 but has a huge impact (or at least I think so!).

So here's a step by step:

1. Empty your filing cabinet.
2. Remove all hardware and lay aside.
3. Use Goo Gone and soap and water to remove any grime.
4. Wipe down cabinet and drawers with a dry rag.
5. Put Cabinet and drawers on a tarp.
6. Prime drawers and body of filing cabinet with regular latex primer, deposited with a cabinet paint roller.
Keep priming until the original color is covered up (to cover black I used three coats).
7. Wait 1 hour for primer to dry.
8. Paint!  Use a cabinet roller to paint even coats of whatever colors you choose.  Don't pile too much paint onto the roller because you'll get drips.  It's better to roll a few thin coats on until you get the desired coverage.  The blue took about 2 coats, and the white took three.
9. After the cabinet and drawers are dry, reattach the hardware.
10. Put the drawers back in.  Wait a full day before placing anything on top of the cabinet to avoid denting the paint.  Et voila!  Your brand new cabinet!

Cost of this project:

Filing Cabinet: Free
Blue Paint (Pint): $8
White Cabinet Paint (Quart): $14
Latex primer (Quart): $12
Paint Rollers and Tray: $4.98

Total: $38.98

Look for future posts where I use the same paint, primer and paint roller, making this project even cheaper!

My new blog

Hello, all!  I'm starting this blog because I've been doing lots of DIY projects in my new apartment lately and wanted to share them with you.  I'm particularly interested in modern design and refinishing old furniture.  Luckily, modern designs are easy to do yourself for cheap, so I hope I can show you how to get the look you want with a little elbow grease and lots of imagination!