Quatrefoil Painted Desk {tutorial}

Have you ever owned a piece of furniture that just made you say "blah" every time you glanced at it? Guilty! In fact, for over a year, I had been living with a used oak desk that my husband bought. It was a little too rough around the edges for my taste. It was in dire need of a makeover. The solution? I painted a quatrefoil pattern on the top, and now it's one of my favorite pieces of furniture!

The nice thing about this project is that it is super easy on the budget.

Materials - All you need is...

• to print a quatrefoil pattern (here is a great template from Tatertots & Jello)
• an Xacto knife to cut out the template
• a paint brush (preferably a small one with a strait edge)
• acrylic paint ($1.57) in your preferred color ( I used one 2-oz bottle of Apple Barrel's Burnt Umber #20512)
• Minwax's Polyurethane in Clear Gloss (if you want a big can with lots of leftover paint for future projects, go with the 32-oz can for $11)-- to seal the acrylic paint

Time - This is where the project becomes expensive in terms of the time it takes to finish it. I split it up into 2 days, and spent approximately 5 hours on it, if not more. In my opinion, it was worth it, though!

Let's take a look at the before picture of the desk. It's plain and boring and scratched up. Blah.

Time for a makeover!

Step 1 - Print and cut out the quatrefoil pattern using the template. I only cut out one template, but this also made the project take longer because I had to wait for the stencil to dry before I could add on to a section.

Step 2 - Once you have your stencil, tape down the parts that do not interfere with the parts you are painting.

Step 3 - The picture above does not show this, but I eventually found that my paint was more likely to stay within the lines when I used my brush and painted around the edges and then filled in the middle of each section. It took me 2 coats of paint, by the way. It could be worse! :)

Step 4 - Wait for a section to dry, and then move your template such that it adjoins with the section you just painted.

Here is what it looked like when I was about three-fourths of the way through.

I'm so surprised that I didn't mess up the pattern. I am by no means a perfectionist, so if I can do this, so can you!

Step 5 - After you have finished the piece of furniture and the paint is completely dry, give it a coat of shiny polyurethane to seal the acrylic paint. I waited approximately 4 hours and gave it a second coat.

Here is a photo of how the clear gloss can deepen your paint color, and make the whole thing more professional looking.

(Note: The other after pics of the desk were taken before I had a chance to polyurethane the desk. So, it actually looks shinier than that now.)

And here is the final result! (minus the clear gloss)

What do you think?

UPDATED: I wanted to show you pics of how the desk looks now with the polyurethane topcoat.

See how much shinier it looks? I like it much better, and now my quatrefoil pattern is protected. Yay!

Linking to...

Just a Girl Show & Share Day; Shanty 2 Chic; Thrilling Thursdays @ Paisley Passions; Under $100 Linky Party @ Beyond the Picket Fence; Power of Paint Party @ Domestically Speaking; Restored It Wednesday; Get Your Brag On @ Gluesticks; Creative Juice Thursday @ Momnivore's Dilemma; VIP Party @ Designer Garden; Favorite Things Friday @ The Speckled Dog; Sunday Showcase @ Under the Table Dreaming

Guest Bedroom: Before & After

I am finally getting around to posting my new and improved guest bedroom. It is by no means finished since I'm always wanting to change things, but it is much better than the ugly, mismatched look we had going on before.

It's actually an inviting and serene place now, where I can get stuff done (it's also our work space). In addition, I am no longer embarrassed to have guests stay in there. And we do get quite a few guests because J and I live in NC but we are from OK, so family and friends come to visit us, which we really appreciate!

Are you ready for it? Here are some BEFORE pictures:

Do you see the sweet little dog sleeping on her blanket? Love her

Now for some AFTER pictures. Sorry they are so dark! (It's weird how natural light makes a room look darker in pictures than it really is.)

Here are all the things I did to the guest bedroom:

1. Painted the room

2. Made a paper lampshade

3. Painted green desk white

4. Covered the file cabinet with woodgrain contact paper

5. Covered the lampshade on my desk with pretty fabric

6. Made a cork lamp base, but have since replaced it

7. Created a starburst mirror for $2

8. Sewed a pillow

9. Made-over a torch floor lamp

10. Spray painted and reupholstered the desk chair

11. Made no-sew curtains for $10

12. Made a wall decal out of contact paper

13. Sewed a dog bed for the girls

14. Changed the furniture pulls with spray paint

15. Made a fabric tissue box cover

16. Spray painted some dollar store birds

17. Made some easy & inexpensive wall art

What do you think? :) Thanks for looking!

Linking to Just A Girl's Show & Share Day, Funky Junk Interiors, & Remodelaholic.

How to reupholster a desk chair {tutorial}

I imagine most people at one point or another have owned one of your basic standard black desk chairs. They are not much to look at, but they serve their purpose, which is why I have hung onto mine for...well, let's see...since I was 16? Yep, that's right. My desk chair and I go back...way back. Somewhere along the way she got a stain. Do you see it? Ha! That's a joke. Of course you do! It's gross. Eww. Anyway, I decided that I needed to give my chair a new look. I wanted to brighten her up, so that she fits in better with the decorating and color scheme of our study/guest bedroom. 

So, how did my desk chair go from this....

...to this?

I would be thrilled to tell you!

Materials

• Staple gun ($20) with 3/8 inch staples
• 1.5 yards of fabric or less (Mine is a cotton fabric from Walmart, which I chose mostly because it is only $2.50/yard.)
• Spray paint (optional; $5 for Krylon Fusion for plastics white)
• Screw driver (already own)
• Scissors for cutting the fabric (already own)

Time - It took about 30 minutes to take the chair a part and reupholster the fabric, but it took much longer to spray several coats of paint on the base of the chair.

First, you will need to remove the hardcover backing of the backrest, as well as the seat from the base. It is a lot easier than it looks, and putting it back together isn't a whole lot harder. 

At this point, you will have the back of the chair, with the hardcover removed. Cut out some fabric of generous proportions. 

Start stapling! :) Already? Yes, go ahead. Mistakes can be fixed by pulling out staples with the back of a hammer. 

I don't know if maybe I was doing something wrong (this is my first time to use a staple gun), but occasionally the staple would refuse to go in all the way, so I would have to hammer in the part of the staple that was still poking out. No problem! 

For clean edges, you will want to scrunch up the fabric (as shown above) when you staple.

 Cut off the excess fabric after you finish stapling.

By the way, just a reminder to make sure you are not covering the holes where the screws go in with fabric. I wasn't thinking and made the mistake of stapling over those holes, and then having to remove some staples to fix the problem. Oops!

The photos below are what the backrest part should look like after you finish stapling around it.

Yay! Almost done!

Now just repeat these steps on the seat of the chair.

If you only want to reupholster the seat and backrest, then you are done. Way to go! Put the chair back together and you are ready to sit and admire your fresh and beautiful desk chair. 

Alternatively, you can do what I did and paint the base of the chair and the hardcover of the backrest. I am so happy I did, but that's because the black didn't fit in our color scheme. I used Krylon Fusion for Plastics spray paint in white. It has held up really well. I tend to put my bare feet or shoe-ed feet on the base of the chair as I'm sitting, but not a single scuff mark is visible! (By the way, it took a whole can of spray paint and several coats to cover every nook and cranny of this chair. But so worth it I think!

Another little thing I attempted to do is add a flower to the backrest cushion. I cut out white fabric and ironed on some Heat 'N Bond to the back, and then I tried to iron it on to my already upholstered cushion. Bad bad idea.

The petals of the flower all fell off. But I was left with this! :)

I'm pretty happy with this subtle flower impression!

I am so happy I tried this project! I was kind of nervous I would mess it up, but it was way easier than I had imagined.


I'm linking to...

Tutorial: How to makeover a desk with paint

When we moved to NC last year so that I could attend grad school, my husband brought along his desk, which he has had for who knows how many years. It has had its share of damage from him leaving sweating cups on it as a teenager, but really it was the hunter green color that was preventing me from getting the look I was going for in the room. With that said, the desk has many good attributes as well: It has a nice shape, it hides the monstrosity that he calls a computer (it's from the early 2000s), and it is heavy and well-built. 

For about a year I have been talking about painting it, and I finally got up the courage to do it. J was even nice enough to help me! How lucky am I to have a husband who will help me with my projects?! Anyway, I am so glad we painted it because it has really lightened up the room (the dark green from before felt so heavy), and it has helped break up the row of large pieces of furniture that we have against one wall. It is quite pretty now. 

Here is an after pic:

Here it is before:

So, this is a really simple project. It just takes some guts (because the paint is permanent, ya' know) and a little bit of time.

Materials - Paint brush ($2 - $6); Foam rollers ($5); Sandpaper ($2.88); Paint (approx. $17)***

***Feeling a bit impulsive and with J's approval, I used some touch-up wall paint that we had on hand. I'm crazy, I know. We were on a painting high after finishing up the second coat of paint in the office/guest bedroom, which took 2 whole days, and so we figured we would give the desk a whirl. I think it was around $17 for a gallon of Valspar interior acrylic latex paint in Antique White Eggshell Finish at Lowes. But, hey, it all worked out.

Time - Approx. 3 hrs + drying time (30 min to an hr in between coats)

Note: Having someone to talk to while your painting makes the time go by faster and the process more enjoyable. :)