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
you are so talented! love the color combo and all the amazing DIY!!
Beautiful! It makes me want to go and buy some spray paint!
Holy flippin cow…I am speachless! That red armoire takes my breathe away. You are beyond amazing! I've never heard of the wipe on stuff. I'm going to need to try that. And thanks for the tip on the sray can trigger pull. My pointer finger and I are NOT on speaking terms. My finger thanks you.
I LOVE it. The colors look amazing and it's perfect.
You make it looks so easy Jenny! I can't pick a favorite part, the whole room is great. Thank you so much for your wonderful blog!
Jenny you completely rock! I love, love what you did. Hope you feel better soon.
looks great, as always! might have to try out that wipe-on poly. and the hardware looks so good, I thought it was new.
Holy cow! This is amazing! I love what you were able to do with paint. I am so completely inspired right now!
I love your style, I wish I could be that colorful. I have a few pieces of furniture waiting for paint. That red credenza just inspired me to get my butt in gear. Thanks!
ALL I CAN SAY IS "WOW"!!! I JUST FOUND YOUR BLOG AND NOW I AM GOING TO SPEND A GOOD CHUNK OF MY DAY READING EVERY POST! LOVE IT!
Hearts!! I love this! Absolutely love it!
xox
So much color :) Yay!
I cannot believe you used spraypaint on the credenza – it is smashing; and I love all those colors (w/the board above) paired together. Very bold, but chic too.
This knocked my socks off. You're a genius!
Oh. My. God. You're amazing! I sooo wish I had such cool stuff just hanging around doing nothing, and that I had the eye to create such a fantastic transformation. So inspiring!
Wow, it looks amazing! I LOVE the credenza (and I have to admit, I had my doubts when you posted the first photo of it in the store!), the color is amazing.
And the corkboards are so cool, I love that fabric (and I think it's available at Jo-Anns!).
~Dina from Atlanta
wow wow wow….i am so impressed and inspired! what took me so long to find your amazing blog?!? feel better!
Amazing! You continually inspire me. I've got a credenza that I was just about to repaint – now I've got some tips on how to make it look professional. Thanks!!
Your office is beautiful, so bright and cheery!! I love that you painted your credenza with spray paint! It looks fantastic!
Awesome job. Enjoy your new work space!
It's so pretty!!!! I love all your projects using stuff you already had.
Have I mentioned Your blog is now the first thing I check in the morning. You are fantastic! The office looks amazing and I'm running to home depot ASAP to get that wipe on poly. I sooo needed that tip.
Thanks for sharing your ideas.
Wow! Looks great.
I'm new to your blog and have spent every waking minute this past week reading every last post. I'm still not done! And my house and 4-year-olds are paying the consequences of my new obsession – Little Green Notebook.
So much great stuff here.
Thank you!!
i think it is fair to say that i am OBSESSED with this room. i love every bit of it. i'm dying for a credenza like that for the dining room in my home and i'm actually about to create my own pin board from an old mirror with a beautiful from the habitat restore. THANKS SO MUCH FOR SHARING! great inspiration!
jen
OMGosh that came out great…love that color red !!!
Feel better !!!
Kathy :)
ps we added on a sunroom I want to keep all of the windows unshaded except for one side, I'd like to put bamboo shades(8 of them), my ? to you is: the windows are 22 inches wide with a transom above where would you suggest I look for the shades???? Thanks a bunch I am having a devil of a time…
seriously?!?!?! that's amazing. I'm so so so impressed. can you come to my house puhlease?!?
:)
I love the step by step process you show here. The red is amazing and the entire project just put me in a good mood. What you did is so beautiful.
Seriously amazing! I LOVE it! What great finds you had just lying around! Jealous!
Stunning! I feel almost speechless but that wouldn't make a very interesting comment, would it? :)
What a bright, creative, inspiring, fun room – and the fact you achieved it for next to nothing is just amazing. This room could easily have cost thousands and be seen in a swanky magazine. In fact, it totally deserves to be in a swanky magazine. I will be bookmarking this one.
Awesome job, hope you feel better.
Jenny,
Now thats what I'm talking about! that is inspiration. You did it again. The credenza is amazing, fantastic, look forward to seeing it's development over time.
you are amazing! I love that room and love that wipe on poly. I feel like I need to start a little green notebook of my own for the things I want to do and look for when we return to the states and have a "real" home. Well done. LOVE that room and the credenza.
dang you're good.
INSANE!!! I'm speechless…
Absolutely fabulous!!! I love the red credenza especially. and the blue desk… and the corkboards…. oh, just everything really.
Wow!! It looks amazing!! I love that gloss on the credenza.
I am now trying to figure out what I can paint bright glossy red in my house!
Great job – all that I can seem able to say is "WOW".
This looks awesome – and LOOOOOVE the colors you used!
LOVE IT!!! I can't stop ooohhhing and awwing. I love the colors and all the details. Thanks for sharing. It was exciting to see that little corner of you in a photo, made me miss you! There have been so many days that things have happened to me or that have been going on that I think, "man, I wish Jenny was hear, I need to tell her this and that." You guys are sooo missed. I hope you are doing well and enjoying your new area.
Oh My Goodness!!! You have nailed it!!! I adore the red dresser, your color scheme, the whole room is amazing!
Arrived from Like Merchant Ships tumblr…love it! I love how the leftover/unused bits that one collects often end up a theme unto themselves–a new direction one is going in without realizing it! Your use of wipe-on poly might be what it takes to get me to finally refinish my sewing table/laptop desk. It's a vintage piece with great Craftsman lines and my excuse for leaving the peeling old finish is that whatever I put on is going to get as beat up.
I love the RED!!! Well…I love everything in the room!
wow, you really are quite talented. great work!
I love it! I love that you love color too! I love the mix of colors and patterns in your office. Looks like a special little nook of your house that you have turned into a jewel box! I have to try that poly resin!
O-M-G. This is best (and cheapest!) re-do I've ever seen. Holy moly. I wish our house was going to be done in time to hire you before you move outta DE.
AMAZING! You are my hero. Seriously! HERO I said!
Awesome post. Love the credenza, corkboards. the tips on the shade and wipe on poly.
I love every bit of it… especially the price! It looks amazing. And, I love seeing the befores!
I LOVE YOUR BLOG! You are seriously amazing and inspiring!! Keep it coming!
I am amazed!! Love the parsons desk custom color, and the credenza is fabulous!! Also loving the cork boards, WTG!!!
I'm so impressed and inspired! What a transformation! I loved what you did with those cork boards…I think I'm going to get started on mine right away!
You are really, really talented. Wow.
this is fantastic! i really like the mix of colors. i've been toying with how to recover a store-bought cork board and now i know! thank you! pam
feel better.