Roadside Rescue ~ refinished desk

Sometimes when you're looking for a new desk you go to the store and buy one. Sometimes you look on Craigslist and find a good deal. And sometimes you're driving to your grandma's house for a Memorial Day BBQ and you see a desk on someone's driveway with a sign saying it's free.

That's what happened here, and I really can't believe how lucky I got with this desk. It has some scratches, but it's really heavy solid wood and nothing is broken or falling apart anywhere on the desk. It's in really good condition, and I was going to sand it down and paint it anyway, so the scratches didn't matter.

The drawers all open on rollers so it's really smooth and easy, and they open all the way. Don't you hate it when drawers don't open all the way and you can't see what's in the back? My silverware drawer in the kitchen does that and it drives me crazy.

I even like the handles, which doesn't usually happen.

Some scratches, but nothing a little sanding can't handle.

And here it is all finished!

That paint color is Sherwin Williams Grays Harbor and I love it. It's the perfect mix of navy and grey. I spray painted the handles with Krylon Caramel Latte, and I am totally in love with the combination of the paint color and the handles.

No more scratches

Now let's back up a little and get a good look at this disaster of a room. There used to be a wobbly table in there that had my sewing machine and craft stuff on it, so a lot of what you're seeing here is that stuff moved to the floor while I switched the table for the new desk. But this room has some major problems overall, starting with the paint color on the walls. I have never liked it but haven't taken the time to get rid of it. Now that I'm seeing how awful the desk looks against the wall, it will be getting painted ASAP. Pictures of that and the rest of the {clean and reorganized} room coming soon!

Remember how this desk was free? I had everything I needed to refinish it except the Grays Harbor paint, and I bought a $5 sample first to make sure it was the right color. It was, and painting the desk only used up about half of the sample. Amazing $5 desk? I'll take it!

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bathroom rehab ~ painted guest vanity

The last time I posted about my guest bathroom it still had quite a bit of work that needed to be done, but I'm happy to report that I've made some good progress. It's not all done, but close. I painted over the circus tent stripes, I filled in the nail holes on the baseboards and painted them, and I refinished the vanity! Changing the vanity really made a big difference in the bathroom.

Here's what it used to look like

And here it is now!

I sanded, primed, painted it a bright glossy white, and added these knobs.

While I was waiting for paint to dry, I started on the bathtub cleanup by pulling off that nasty strip of plastic someone had stuck along the edge of the tub. I'm baffled by it. You would think the purpose would be to keep water out of the gap between the tub and the tile, but then they also put caulk along the bottom edge. I have no idea. And it obviously did not seal the edge because you can see that there's mold under it.

All I know is NASTY. That mold is what was peaking out from under the strip. It was easy to pull off, but now I see a lot of scraping and bleach in my near future. I'm hoping with the mold gone and some new caulk it will look clean again.

But for now, the vanity is looking good and it gives the bathroom such a clean and bright feeling. I'll leave you with this pretty picture so you can get the moldy one out of your mind.

I'm loving it!