I painted the 500 lb credenza over the weekend, which spurred the official decorating of my office. By Monday night the last coat of poly had cured and we brought the furniture inside. Tuesday morning I headed down to my basement to go ‘shopping’ for my sorely neglected office, a long and narrow room off our living room. Seriously, the office was a mess – boxes still everywhere.
Here’s how I put the room together with almost no money:
1. Revamped Parsons Desk
I bought a vintage Parsons desk on Craigslist a year or two ago for almost nothing. This is after I sanded it.
I had painted it a fun green color, but now I wanted a sort of dingy pale aqua color, similar to Martha Stewart for Valspar “Vintage Map.” Since the desk is pretty small, I decided to save money on paint and mixed my own color using some glossy white latex and a little bit of turquoise and brown acrylic craft paint.
I rolled on the paint with a mini-roller and did about three coats. After letting the last coat dry overnight, I used my favorite product – Wipe On Poly. Yes, it’s as easy and awesome as it sounds. Polyurethane sealer that you wipe on.
Action shots!!
Two good coats of Wipe-on in “Gloss” and 24 hours of curing time and the Parsons desk looked as good as new.
2. DIY Fabric Shade
I used about a yard and a half of linen from my stash and a roll of 1.5″ red grosgrain to make a fabric shade for the window. It still needs to be lined, but it’s not bad for a $0 project. Here are the instructions for making your own.
3. New (old) RED Credenza.
After reading this post from Nick Olsen a while back, I picked up a couple cans of Rustoleum’s ‘Saftey Red’ Spray Enamel at Home Depot for a client’s project. We ended up going with a different color scheme, but I kept the spray paint. And I’m so glad I was able to use it on this project! Isn’t it a fun color? The perfect orange-red.
Since I know you will ask — I did prime the credenza first. Well. Part of the credenza – just the top since that’s the part that gets the most wear.
I rolled on my trusty Zinsser and let it dry while I worked some magic on the dingy brass hardware with white vinegar and salt.
The credenza ended up needing two or three coats of the spray enamel. Because I invested $2.95 in this reusable spray painting nozzle/trigger/thing, my pointer finger and I are still on speaking terms. AND the paint job looks professionally sprayed.
The freshly painted credenza got two coats of Wipe-On Poly as well and it was done. I love the way the cleaned up brass hardware looks against the orangey red!
4. Pretty Inspiration Boards
I picked up a pair of very cheap cork boards and painted the frames with that same yellow paint that I used in my girls room (Martha Stewart “Olive Oil”). No need to tape or to be careful with the paint job here since the cork will be covered up.
I measured and cut up some old fabric that I bought for a project and never used (–Are you picking up on a theme here??) and simply ran a line of fabric glue around the border of the cork board. I glued one edge at a time and smoothed like crazy so that the fabric would lay perfectly flat. (PS the fabric is an outdoor print made by Waverly, called “Lovely Lattice” in Lagoon)
Then I fabric glued on some red gimp/trim to cover any imperfections or gaps in the border.
I hung up the refinished cork boards about five minutes before taking pictures, so I haven’t had a chance to really style them yet with inspiration stuff, but that can be a fun ongoing project.
The rest of the room was put together with stuff I already had. An IKEA rug, an eBay lamp, some prints from a vintage shop, etc.
And that’s it for my (basically) $0 office redo! I’ve got some sort of cold/flu situation happening, so I think I’m going to call it weekend. See you back here Monday?
xoxo, Jenny
WOW!!! Your office looks great!! I'm going to steal your memo board idea! I did not realize spray paint could look so good.
Wowsa, that looks fantastic! I am so impressed and will take away several tidbits of helpful info! Thanks!
Suzanne
Your office looks better than my living room!! I could move right in..love it!! Your basement must be awesome!!
Amazing and really inspiring!
That looks amazing. Totally inspiring!!!
you did it again! made me feel grossly inadequate and ridiculously unworthy. thanks jenny! ;)
Oh my goodness! It's so gorgeous. Love your colors. This should be in a magazine.
Fabulous "re-do"!
Amazing job and you didn't have to go bankrupt! One of the first posts I did on my blog was decorating our office/guest room with only things be already owned. When you have no budget, it really sparks the creativity. I especially love the fabric covered cork boards.
Seriously, that credenza looks awesome! You make it look so easy!
love love love it! Jenny, you ROCK!
Your talent amazes me. It looks great. I want to shop in your basement.
Wow! It looks amazing. You are so creative! I found your blog about a week ago and I love it!–I've had fun reading all your old posts. I hope you feel better soon.
–Jessie in VA
What a beautiful office. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and talent. I am repainting a bookcase and will use that wipe on poly stuff. I can't wait. Thanks for the action shots. You are amazing.
That is absolutely AMAZING! And thank you for all of the helpful hints along with the pictures. I'll be picking up one of those nozzle-thingies today!
Your office looks amazing! Fantastic job on everything. I think you've officially inspired me to haul out the junk that's been languishing in mine and give the room the attention it deserves.
P.S. Definitely going to have to look into that spray nozzle attachment!
I am speechless+envy!!! a zero money redo?!! love every piece of it!
The office looks SO GREAT. You are inspiring me to spend some time this weekend pondering a zero budget redo of my home office!
this is SUCH a beautiful place. great job!
Jenny you are incredible. What an awesome accomplishment for no money.
My morning ritual is browsing for treasures on craigslist, and I do have to say that I wish my craigslist had a better selection of items to choose from.
I hope you feel better!
You are truly amazing. I cannot believe how fabulously wonderful the red/orange side board looks. The parson's desk? Perfection. The cork boards? Should anyone have a set of just regular cork boards after seeing what you can do to them?? I am jazzed up to go buy me some spray paint and figure out where to aim it.
Im dying here, genius, beautiful, stunning…the colors go so well together and I love how you left the room white and let the bright colors of the furniture steal the show…great job!
Wow that looks so good! I never would have come up with that color scheme, but it looks great! I love how everything came together even though it was all stuff you had already.
Dear Jenny, I have fallen instantely in love with your office… I whish you could help me with mine! Love BB
That credenza is just delicious! I love how you use color!!
Looks fabulous! You did an amazing job here.
Yet again, I can use every tip in this post! Although I am not sure my finished product would ever look so beautiful. The new office is stunning, and I can imagine it is a stimulating work environment!
OMG sooo gorgeous! I love everything!
Jenny it looks fantastic! What a bright, fun room to work in. You have quite a vision for design and have an amazing ability to transform! Feel better! Thanks for sharing!
Love it!
Brilliant!! I definitely need to check out the wipe off poly you mentioned. Hope you feel better soon.
simply jaw dropping….you've inspired me to tackle my own office this weekend. Thank you.
Love it! Want to come and do mine???
You have the most amazing style.. I wish I had your eye for color and detail. LOVE IT
Wonderful transformations! You have a beautiful office now. sandi
Beautiful Jenny! Gotta love the punch of red! What a perfect shade.
It looks amazing. I love doing rooms where I grab the majority of my items from other rooms or things in a storage closet. It takes massive amounts of creativity to see the big picture and make it work. Bravo.
Sorry to hear you are under the weather! I'm still planning on going to Delaware on Saturday. If you are feeling better I would love to meet up! I'll email you my cell info, because I won't have internet access.
Feel better!
xoxo,
Camila
k, first of all I wonder if that Dixie who left a comment was my mom because she LOVES red and how many Dixie's could there be in the world?
Second, you are so talented.
Third, It made my heart happy to see the print on the bulletin board, I'm glad you like it. I felt a little famous when I saw it :) You know what the picture reminds me of? You in a pretty green dress explaining it all to a couple of friends, and us listening in eager attention.
I love your blog, its brings beauty to my morning.
LOVE IT! The Cork Boards look really great!
Oh my goodness, YOU ARE SO TALENTED! This room is absolutely gorgeous.
That's amazing! I want your energy! Also, your bulletin board has totally inspired me. I painted the edges of mine, and stopped there after the paint got on the cork.
I am officially inspired. Home office here I come!
Your office turned out so beautiful! I absolutely love it. I've been wanting to repaint our drab office furniture for a while and have been to afraid to do it. I think you just gave me the courage!
You KILLED IT! Awesome. I love it. Way to go, Jenny. and thank you for sharing it with all of us. :)
As the reigning Spray Paint queen, I am in awe of your credenza. What a happy room to work in every day!
I'm redecorating a physician's office right now and can't find any quality bulletin boards–thanks for this elegant option!
Most importanly–feel better!
There are no words for this fabulousness. Seriously, sitting here, mouth agape. Gorgeous doesn't even cover it. LOVE.
Crazy awesome job!
Amazing! But then again, what else would I expect? Seriously, you're blowing me away each and every time.
Absolutely GORGEOUS! I am officially in love with BOTH pieces. I wish I had the get-up-and-go that you have! Amazing.
I love your new space!! Everything about it.
Seriously I dont know how you do it all the time for like zero $$?!? You basement must be FULL of amazing things…I would love to go shopping in there.
Love this office,the red credenza is just beautiful!