My $18 Desk Area/If It's the Spring You'll Find Me Spray Painting on My Front Lawn

A few weeks ago (oh who am I kidding-on Thursday-I have major instant gratification issues) I decided that I wanted a little desk in my den. My laptop currently lives on my sofa, and frankly, it was only a matter of time before one of us bumped it onto the floor. So I decided I wanted a petite desk. I only had 30 inches of wall to deal with, so I knew it would be tight.

I found one that was pretty nice at Target, but I did not feel like spending $100. I've been crazy thrifty recently-at some point in the near term I'll tell y'all about my $15 grocery shopping. For the entire week. Including 6 pounds of ground beef and a bag of Tilapia.

But I digress.

So I wanted a desk. I am cheap.

On Friday, I was at a thrift store, hunting for plates for my kitchen wall (oh yeah, I need to show you a picture of a decoupaged plate I made. With a tutorial from here. I {heart} this blog).

Then I saw her. She wasn't much to look at, but she was the perfect size. Dumped the plates on a shelf (heck this thrift store is such a disaster I'm sure no one noticed). I looked at her price.

$15.

But she was (a) light wood and (b) mission style.

But she was $15 and the right size so I knew I could make it work.

I decided to cover the mission spindly things with tufted upholstered panels. I found 2 old canvases in my scary slasher basement that fir PERFECTLY, as well as some brown fabric and some fiberfill. I couldn't find the batting, so just artfully arranged the fiberfill :) Then I tufted the panels with some $.88 for two buttons from Wal Mart. I'm considering asking the guys at work if they have any beadboard that they can cut to fit-and I'll remove the panels. But they work for now.

All I needed to buy were 2 buttons and 2 cans of black spray paint.

After I painted it black, I decoupaged a toile P on the top of the desk and put on about 5 coats of poly to protect the whole thing.

Then I "shopped the house" and found an unused black shelf in the basement, another canvas that I upholstered to use as a bulletin board, an unused lamp, and a little flower pot that I painted black and embellished to use as a pencil cup.

I forgot to take before pictures until I was mid-primer spray. So ignore the odd gray primer marks.



I am not a fan of the mission style. Apologies to anyone I offend.


And now...the great reveal. It turned out even better than I had hoped!




Opinions on the upholstered panels? Unsure.

But overall, for $18? Can't beat it!

And then I found a blog carnival. Go over to Southern Hospitality to see what other thifty decorators are doing...