Next DIY Project - Painting a desk, chair and table

So this last week I have been doing a lot of online surfing and trying to get inspirations for my next DIY project, as well as instructions.  I decided that I would go to the local Restore in town and see what I could find.  I am glad that I did.  I picked up a couple of pieces at a steal.  A desk and chair for Faith's room (for ONLY $20)

The plan is to sand it all down ( the desk is in great shape), but you still need to sand it down lightly to get the primer to adhere.  I will then remove the lower drawer, which I am not fond of in terms of it's design.  I will then have to build a unit inside the desk where the shelf used to be (I know add to the project).  It will then all be painted white with new hardware.  Stay tuned.

The second piece I bought was a small table.  This will also get a makeover in paint. This was A STEAL at $20.  Nothing to be done to this unit other than painting it. I haven't decided on the paint colour yet.  The table is to go in the living room upstairs and since all our furniture up there is black (dark brown) I am a bit worried to go to a white or other colour.  But at the same time I want to try and brighten up the room a bit. You see the walls, the couch draperies are light, but everything else in there is dark including the floors.  The paint colour will be the biggest challenge in this project, but I can start off with the painting and priming portion of the project. 

I know the quality of the photos are not great.  I took these this morning with my iPhone and then had to send them to my work email via the phone, so I did not send them in high quality.  I will have better before and after pictures Not to worry.  

So the plan is to start on these units this weekend.  They are calling for rain for the majority of Saturday, so what better to do in January when it should be cold and snowy not warm and rainy, then to start on a new project.  

My advise if you are looking for a piece of furniture for your home that is not wood and you are willing to put some hrs into it, is visit your local Restore or Goodwill store.  You may need to have some patience as they don't always have something that you may like, but much like Winners (LOL) they get new(OK not new) items all the time.

I was really lucky this time as I found these two pieces, which were ones that I had been wanting for some time.  I bought the desk and had to leave it behind for my husband to get in our bigger vehicle as it did not fit in my little car with the other table already in it.  I am happy that I went back in before they closed and asked if I could pay for it now and then come back for it.  The lady, when I came back the next day, told me that there had been a couple of people that wanted to buy it.  So another word of advise.  If you are looking for something specific be ready to pay for it on the spot and make arrangements to get it home.  You don't want to be disappointed the next day when you go back and the piece is gone. 

By buying from your local Restore or Goodwill you are also giving back to your community.  I have been a true believer that one must give back.  I have always and will always donate my clothes to Goodwill or Value Village (except there isn't one where I live).  It is a great way to help those less fortunate.  Especially since you don't need it any more, why not pass it on to someone else who could use it.  I have also given away toys and lots of other items.  This also keep items out of the local dump. REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE.

I hope that my posts may inspire some of you to do the same and re-purpose some of your items for other uses.  You don't' have to give it away, you can re-purpose it for another use in another room for something completely different.  Lets try and keep things out of our landfills and help the environment.  

I hope to also share some knowledge and advise from my many yrs of DIY'ing my home. This is our second home and there are always new challenges. Unless you have tackled a project in an older home, most DIY's are pretty simple.  It's when you get to those situations where the normal process just doesn't work and you have to improvise and come up with another way of doing the project.  If it wasn't for my husband I would have given up on DIY'ing a long time ago I think.  He is very handy and can usually come up with a solution to the project that makes sense and looks good.  The biggest pet peeve I have, is walls that are not square. I swear, if I am ever going to build my own house, I will make sure that every wall in that house is true and square.  This saves so much time and hassles when completing renovations, projects. Anything really!!!!!

So stay tuned and I hope to share with you my newest DIY painting project.  Now I can't rush the process so you will need to be patient.  Painting furniture is not a quick job and needs to be done properly and most of the time is spent waiting for the paint to dry before moving on to the next step.  I will keep detailed notes as much as I can and share them with you on how I accomplished the project.