From desk to end table

Remember that old computer desk?  The one we got rid of?  Well, we didn't get rid of all of it. 

Remember the table legs I ordered for this?  And remember how they ended up in New York and then Washington?  Well because of that mishap, I got some table legs for free.  Yes.  FREE.

Now combine the desk and the legs and you get this:

 

You like?  

I LOVE.

I would describe this color as SO me.  The whole time I was painting.  I just kept saying how much I loved this color.  And even after it's dried, assembled and in my house.  I still love it.

A close-up of the loveliness.



It's a good thing I like this color because I have LOTS left over.

But don't worry.  I have already made myself a list of things that need to be painted this color.

Starting with some picture frames....

Time for an upgrade

I bought our desk (from target) with some high school graduation money.  I'm sure it was no more than 50 bucks.  But it has served me well.  (All through college, and four more years past that.)  

I have been wanting to upgrade for a while now.  But well....it still worked.  So it stayed.  Our computer room was always in a back room (or in our bedroom) so not many people got to see our awesome desk. Now, our den is towards the front of the house (and there is no door) so all got to see our lovely, rickety, drawer-less desk. While the drawer randomly fell out of it's spot, never to be fixed again, our keyboard tray has been "missing" since our first move, 6 1/2 years ago.   

I think it's safe to say we were in need of an upgrade.

Here it is.  Our awesome, rickety, drawer-less, messy desk.  (I told myself that it didn't matter what it looked like since it's a before picture, but who I am I kidding?  This picture drives me crazy!  I can't stand the clutter.  And just so you know, not all of those things really stay on the desk.  We were moving, people.  So any random item that didn't have a "home" yet, wound up on the desk.)  

Are those cords driving you nuts?  They are me.  Ready for the upgrade?

Wala! 

No more cords.  No more clutter.

And a pretty cute desk if I do say so myself.  If you can call a desk cute.

Now, wait 'til you see the project we made out of our old desk.  You'll love it. 

 Well, at least I do!

The worst project ever

This seriously was the worst.project.ever.

At least Dan proclaimed that it was. But the end result was so worth it.

First, I need to give a little background. My Dad owns a ranch and when he bought it from the previous owner, everything stayed in the old ranch house. So my dad had the task of going through all the stuff and deciding what was junk, what could be sold to the antique shops, and what he wanted to keep. Once he sifted through everything and had it down to the main stuff that wasn't junk, he was kind enough to ask us (my mom and all us kids) if there was anything that we wanted.

And this little beauty was among the things that I chose.

Ok, so it wasn't really a beauty....yet, but I could see some real potential.

And the best part is the steps can swing in the stool so it looks like.... this:

Now, tell me that is not cool. I mean, I would have LOVED to have a stool like this when I was a kid.

But as you can see, it was not in the greatest shape. It is quite old after all.


A close-up of it's condition. If you look closely, someone even painted carrots in the two corners.

Now, I know you are thinking that the stool doesn't seem that big so it couldn't have been that bad. Why did we proclaim it to be the worst project EVER? Well, I should have remembered from this summer when we refinished our table and chairs, that anything that has round legs is just, well, it just stinks. Dan says that after sanding those blasted chairs this summer, he will never refinish chairs again. Next time we are just buying new ones. It's just not worth it.

Well, this time I thought I was being smart. I told him that we were not going through the hassle of sanding. We were going to strip the paint. I had just stripped something prior to starting this project and LOVED it. It was so fun. If you have never stripped something, you really should.

Anyway, so we started stripping. But quickly realized that it was going to take FOREVER to scrape the 20 layers of paint. I kid you not. There were SO many layers of paint. And I don't know if it was because the paint was 50 years old or what, but it was a pain. Nowhere near as pleasant as my first stripping experience.

So we scraped and scraped and scraped. And scraped some more. Did I mention we scraped? Well we did. We literally scraped for days. We had to take turns because we would get so burned out. I really thought I would never see the end of this project.

And I have to be quite honest. Dan did more scraping than me. There is something to say for men and their elbow grease. They really can just do a better job at things like this. I would scrape forever and still not do even half as much as Dan could. He was just better at it. And well, I was ok with it. :)

So once we finally had the 20th layer of paint off. It was on to the painting. I debated over what colors to use. I just couldn't decide. Should the colors match my kitchen, the bathroom, did it have to match anything? I just couldn't decide.

And this is what I ended up with:

It took Alayna all of thirty seconds to declare this stool as hers.

And why not? She already knows how to put the steps up...

and down.

So, what do you think? Not to shabby for the worst project ever, huh?

The waiting is over

I have been waiting to do this project for a year at least.

While living in Casper I had decided that I wanted some old windows to make some crafts with. So, one day I got on craigslist to see what I could find. I really had no idea how to go about finding them, but within minutes I was calling a lady that said she had some for free and that I could pick them up anytime.

Well, it really was my lucky day. My dad happened to be in town with his truck. And since he loves me, he offered to help me pick them up and then store them out in the barn on his ranch.

Fast forward a year to right before we were moving. Well I guess my dad's generosity ran out because he told me that I could either take my windows with me to Arizona or they were going to the dump. :)

After pleading (and I mean pleading) my case with Dan, they were finally loaded in truck among our other belongings.

Then it was once I got all my Christmas decorations out, that I realized I needed pull out my window project. I was setting up the nativity that my Grammy gave me when I realized the camel wouldn't fit with the rest of the nativity. With our old entertainment center biting the dust, there was nowhere big enough for my nativity to fit. And as you will see in a minute, it would be a crime to not display the beautiful nativity that my Grammy gave me.

So I told Dan, "It's time to make the window table." He was a little hesitant considering I already had three projects that I was working on out in the garage. In fact. I think he said, "You know, most people work on one project at a time." But I told him it was a must. It was for the sake of the nativity. Plus, I needed something to keep me occupied while he worked the night shift.

So after the fiasco of my table legs first being out of stock at our local Home Depot, then getting delivered to New York City, then delivered to a kind lady (that I talked to on the phone) in Washington state, and finally two weeks later made it to my front porch, I was finally able to end up with this:

Pretty cute, huh. I absolutely LOVE it! There were moments where I was a little worried that it wouldn't turn out as cute as I imagined, but it is perfect. Exactly what I wanted.

And best of all. The camel is reunited with the rest of the nativity. Phew. I can rest at ease now that's it's a week before Christmas....

Oh, help!

I'll start off by telling you the good news. After unpacking every. single. box. I am happy to report that only one thing did not make it (and it wasn't even packed in a box).

Our beloved entertainment center.

We laid it to rest before moving everything to our house that we are currently living in. While Dan was jumping for joy, I was silently shedding tears of sadness. (Ok. Not really, but you get the jist.) Couldn't it just have made it one more move? I know it was made out of particle board and all, but I mean really. Why could it not have just waited one more move? Like to the house that we will someday buy and then we wouldn't have to worry about whether or not to purchase something nice and it getting dinged up on the next move (I know it's bound to happen, but it's all about me and my timing, right?).

Anyway, once Dan noticed the crack in the board where the TV sits, it went from it's entire particle board glory, to a heap of broken-ness in a matter of minutes. All it took was Dan leaning on it, which then caused it to shift to the left and crumble. After pulling a few pieces here and there, it was history.

It lasted almost 6 years for us plus the three years before with it's previous owners. 9 years isn't bad for particle board.

So now for the bad news. (I guess the other part was kind of bad news too, but at least everything else made it safe and sound. ) I started to shop for a new entertainment center today since our TV is currently sitting on our card table. And I found out I have NO idea what it want!

This is what we had before:
We still have the same TV and while we would love to get a big flat screen, it is gonna have to wait. Maybe in the next year or two. We both have discussed getting something smaller like a TV stand, but I will admit I did love having the shelves for decorating purposes, although Dan, of course, could care less.

I am concerned with a TV stand that Alayna will be able to get into everything since it is right at her level, whereas the DVD player was way up at the top on our old one. Our movies were in the cupboard at the bottom, but they were really hard to open so that wasn't a big problem. Anyway, are you seeing my dilemma here? I just don't know what I want.

Tell me. What do you think? What do you have: TV Stand, armoire, entertainment center...? Do you like it? What are the pros and cons? Oh, and does anybody want to just do the shopping for me and surprise me so I don't have to worry about it? Just kidding.