Another little black desk

Desks are hot sellers as long as you keep them under $70. I have a guaranteed sale with a desk but the initial cost has to be very low, like under $20. Rolltops go for more, but they cost more too, unless you get lucky. The other benefit is that they are very quick and easy to refinish.

This one was so adorable to start and a high quality unit. With dove tail drawers and solid wood all the way through. But the girl I bought it from was a single mommy with two very young kids and they had had their way with it.

Painted it black and distressed the edges. Love it.**SOLD**

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My Favorite Dresser

I found this on CL using my fabulous craigsnotifica app. I emailed the guy a minute after the thing was posted. He called me and said he came home from work to a long list of emails for this dresser. He had it posted for A STEAL.

It was in scottsdale, fully an hour from where I live in queen creek. I thought I might be disappointed in the actual piece. Sometimes pictures can be deceiving.

But I wasnt. I fell in love with it at first sight. Neglected. Scraped. But fabulous. **SOLD**

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My Rapidly Disappearing Desk

I bought this desk for $20 from CL. As I was driving home in my husbands truck, singing to Bonnie Raitt (sp?), blissfully unaware that my new desk was shedding drawers along the road.

An older lady (who happened to have an impressive beard and mustache) started honking and shouting at me. I did what any motorist would do, I gave her a dirty look and sped up. Then I realized what was happening. I pulled into a gas station, losing another drawer as I turned.

I assessed the damage. I had lost the three top drawers. I ran into the intersection and grabbed the one that had just fallen, then drove back for about a mile, to no avail. Two drawers were gone. I cursed a little, I won't lie.

There aren't very many things that I can't do when it comes to fixing furniture. Making drawers is one of them.

I morosely drove home and thought about what I could do. The top middle was a pencil drawer. I unscrewed the frame for the drawer and it looked like there was never a drawer there. Then I cut a piece of thin MDF or particle board, I can never tell the difference, and out it into the empty opening of the other drawer, on the left. I painted the whole thing and distressed it. Lastly I took out seven different knobs that I had lying around and spray painted them all Heirloom White from Rustoleum. It's more like cream.

I listed it on CL and am actually currently racing to meet a lady who wants it. **SOLD**

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Curtains

At SAS with Molly (who does weddings and has a website at www.asimpletouchwedding.com) the other day I picked up some burlap. I also found this ribbon that happened to be the exact right color of my boys room, kind of a silvery periwinkle, but it said Densply Rinn on it. So weird. But it intrigued me. I liked that it was bot traditional and it wasn't something you could find at Joann's. I bought three yards at 69 cents a yard, and bought six yards of the burlap at $1.99 per yard. So with tax it was about $15. I wanted to make VERY simple panel curtains that went to the floor. As I said in my previous post, I am not great on a sewing machine.

So I sort of stumbled through the process, reminding myself that this aint yo mama's sewing project. When you are going vintage or shabby, you almost want it to look like someone made it before the Industrial Revolution, with limited supplies and limited tools. It hearkens back to a simpler time. So instead of a croissant, you are making a dense loaf of whole wheat bread, with some un-ground berries that stick in your teeth. I love it, but my mom would not have approved of the haphazard way I threw those babies together.

I also decided I hate working with burlap. It's so messy and has a strange feel on your skin. I guess I am too soft. I also looked up the Dentsply Rinn reference. It's a dental supply company. WTH???

I got the curtain rod for free from my mo-in-lo (mother in law, Debbie Slade, awesome lady).

Sewing... um.

Not a big seamstress. My mom is really great at it. Her sister, my aunt, is really good at it. My grandmother was the regional manager for Hancock Fabrics for a really long time. My mother in law and her sister and mother are uber-quilters and also make Elli her seasonal dresses.

So... I am literally surrounded by master seamstresses. Whenever I need help, I only need to call one of them up. And I have. Newells aunt Lorene helped me make a KING size quilt, all the squares were like one inch.

So endeavoring anything like this on my own is literally like riding a bike for the first time without training wheels.

Molly and I went on a junking trip all day on Monday. We hit a bunch of goodwills and went to SAS fabrics in Tempe. That place was a trip.

I picked up the material for the shiny, darted pillow for $3.99. Then at goodwill I got the stuffers for the two pillows for $4 for both. Then there were two thick woven cream place mats for $3.

I made these two pillows in about 15 minutes. The total cost was $11. For me, that's a little bit of a splurge. But they turned out nice.

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Update on the big white piece

I have had thing piece posted for several days. I decided the thing that may be throwing off potential customers is the rosettes. I love them, but I am narrowing my options with them. I removed them and painted over the area. I think it has more broad appeal now. Posted on CL now for $120. Hopefully it sells soon. It's a beast and it needs to go. Here's a photo.**SOLD**

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Desk I forgot to take a picture of before AGAIN.

It turned out nice, but it started out mainly a bright yellow, with purple legs and sides. It also had badly stenciled roses and bright shiny gold hardware. I sanded it a little, but found this paint job was several layers deep. I just painted over it with a smooth layer of creamy white, the last of my $2.50 Walmart OOPS paint. I was sad to lose that stuff. I sprayed just the gold on the hardware with a can of Krylon Metallic in oil rubbed bronze. It's basically black with little bits of brown and gold flecks. I tried to distress it a little, but that darned bright yellow kept peeking through, so I just left it. It's currently for sale for $60 in CL. Any interested parties here can email me.**SOLD**

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