color grading.

This dresser was in my room when I was a teenager.

Since I am terrible at choosing wall color,

I have about 80 paint samples in my garage.

5 of them were used for this update.

The rope pulls are my favorite part.

They were also the only things I had to pay for,

so this "new" dresser only cost me $2.50.

stenciled floor.

Our Guest Room carpet was thrashed:

stains from hair dye,

worn parts in high traffic areas,

and some mysterious melted spots...

I know it doesn't look that bad in the picture,

but I was not a happy camper.

I have envisioned something like this for a while now.

I think it's beautiful, and I wanted to recreate it.

So, while Eric was on a business trip, 

I ripped up the carpet, pulled out the tack strips, 

scrubbed glue, and patched many holes and seams.

I was afraid I was in over my head when after 2 days of hard work

 it still looked this bad:

But, I carried on.

I tried to purchase the stencils in the picture above,

except they were no where to be found ...

so, I made my own.

I painted the base coat, stenciled the designs, 

applied the poly floor finish, and 

vuala!

I'm in love.

There are a ton of imperfections 

due to the crappy sub-floor and homemade stencils,

so instead of hiding the mistakes, I highlighted them.

It's better than I even imagined.

desk subtlties.

I got this desk for $20 at our neighbor's garage sale.

It's a good little desk, 

but its knobs weren't doing anything for me.

So, I changed them to match some other aspects of the room.

I got this drawer organizer for free from a different neighbor.

I didn't like the light color, 

so I changed that too.

My new office chair fits right in.

office chair.

This chair was sitting out on the curb in our neighborhood.

I could see it's inner beauty immediately.

I'm not sure what its previous owner was thinking
when they drizzled varnish all over it.

It also had a busted seat that needed repair ...

but after a makeover, it's inner beauty was able to shine forth!

Isn't it darling!