House Projects

When Carla and I first bought our house a little over two years ago, we spent the first three weeks refinishing the hardwood floors. Nights and weekends were spent sanding and staining our floors alongside tremendously patient friends and family who graciously helped us accomplish our task. When all was said and done, the floors looked amazing, and we moved in. There was only one problem. We were so spent physically, emotionally, and mentally (yes, I'm exaggerating) that any other projects we wanted to do around the house were put on hold. One of those projects was a bedroom turned office. We knew at some point we wanted to revamp it, new color, new curtains, new furniture, but we kept putting if off, and putting it off, and putting it off.

Not a big deal, right? We had a desk and a chair in there, and it was serving its purpose. Except for the fact that it became the bane of our existence (again, I'm exaggerating). Not only was it bland, but it became a catch-all for papers, mail, files, etc. Oh yeah, and there was one more thing...the unfinished wall. Being that we live in an old house, the closet space is minimal at best. I guess eighty years ago they didn't have as many clothes as we have today, which is a whole other discussion and blog post for a different time. So, Carla and I decided, with the help our good friend Mike, to bust through the back wall of the little closet we did have in our bedroom, and frame out a bigger closet. The wall, however, went into our makeshift office. I ended up finishing the inside of the closet (which I kept putting off as well), but never got around to finishing the outside. So, in our office we had a protruding wall that had drywall on it, but wasn't spackled, nor painted. And that's how it stayed...for...two...whole...years.

Needless to say, it was time to get over the emotional distress that finishing our hardwood floors had caused us, and come back around to being homeowners who actually care about their house. So, I eventually finished the wall and painted the room. My wife picked out fabric and made curtains, and we bought new furniture. Pictures of the office will arrive shortly. We still want to hang some pictures and do a few more things, so bare with us.

But the other day, I was doing some things in the office that I figured I'd share. We bought shelves from Ikea (that's comfortable) to hang on the walls. The particular shelves we bought are great because you can cut them down to whatever size you want, and the hangers go over the ends to hide the cut. However, the hangers were a bright silver that didn't fit the warm decor of the room, and after I hung them, they annoyed me. So, I decided to take them down and spray paint them. I found a great bronze color paint that ended up working perfectly, and now I love the shelves and their hangers.



We also decided to keep the closet door off and use the closet as a big shelf. We bought baskets of different sizes to put in there, and it really works great. I decided to doctor up the shelves themselves (rhyme...sort of) by pin-striping them. I found a can of paint in the basement that was left over from when the previous owner painted the room. After priming them, I painted them with the left over paint, then measured and taped them all up, then used the same color we painted the walls to pinstripe them.


Before:



During:




After:




They turned out okay. It definitely livens up the closet, but the shelves are so old and kind of have a dull feel to them, while everything else in the office is nice and new. Oh well, I more than anything, it was fun painting them. Oh yeah, I picked the windiest day of the year so far to go outside and do all of this painting. Wind and spray paint can be a tough combination. Wear old clothes.

When the office is finished, I'll post pics. I will say though, that I'm writing this post from my new desk in my new office, and I love it!