50 Projects: 52 Weeks (25. Halfway There! Chalkboard Desk)

It's part functional, part kitchy, part country. We found a light-stained, slightly ratty desk by a dumpster on the evening of July 31st (mega move-out day for tenants in Fort Collins). We, and a group of friends and new-acquaintances, walked the desk back to our friends house. Actually, some guy put it on his back and carried it almost a mile...insane. 

Nonetheless, (surprise surprise!) we painted it with the same color as the bathroom wall, a greenish color and bought some chalkboard paint. We will have to buy a different brand of chalkboard spray paint because this wasn't the same as the kind I used for our Chalkboard Coffee Table; this one has an extremely matte finish and is actually kind of gritty. Sad. But I thought I'd throw it up there anyway. It was pretty painless to do this and didn't cost us more than 1.5 cans of chalkboard paint.

Side note: The black desk chair in the photo was also a fix-me-up found by our dumpster for our apartment complex. Free and it just involved tightening down some screws! Pottery Barn, watch out. :)

PSS. Notice the Dwell Magazines in the second photo? Also a FreeCycle find. Join your local group. I'm excited that I got a bunch of free magazines to read, cut up, repurpose.

50 Projects: 52 Weeks (24. Teal Squares)

Because we just had to make our cans of Oops! paints go as far as they can, you're probably going to see a slew of projects with the same colors over and over. Don't judge. This was a hand-made floating shelf/cube thingy that I bought at Goodwill for $2.99. At first, I tried to sand and stain it. Horrible idea because the stain didn't take well.

It's the teal paint from our bedroom and it's a pretty fun display for Steve's (massive) collection of (empty) beer bottles.

50 Projects: 52 Weeks (23. The Blue Light Special)

Repurposed from a stand-up cheapie metal lamp, I pulled apart the cord and shade, bought a can of spray paint in an almost Grecian Blue, spray painted the light and hung it upside down. Voila! $3.50 for the spray paint and now we have a sweet pendant lamp.

Healthy Brownies

Hmm...made these tonight as a healthy "treat." It's good but I have mixed feelings about it. I didn't have the walnuts that it called out for and I don't have a food processor (just a horrific 1970's mustard-colored blender which makes terrible grinding noises while in use); the consistency could've been a little smoother and I think it could've been sweeter actually. 

The marble effect was done by using part of the egg and agave mixture drizzled over the top. Anyone have any suggestions?? Go for it! Here's the recipe. Get creative! (PS. You CANNOT taste the black beans, FYI...Steve didn't know at all! Oh, and they are Gluten-Free!)

My First Clothing Vintage

This might not seem like a big deal, but I've never bought vintage before. Actually, it was a stab in the dark, really.

This piece is under the label "Le Petite." It's most likely a synthetic polyester-type material and is white with little navy squares.

It's a "Division of Leslie Fay, Inc." Doing a little research helped me figure out that the piece has to be from 1959-April 1982 based on the company's name. It changed after 1982 to The Leslie Fay Company. Elizabeth, I could use your expertise! 

I hope to modify the bottom hem a bit since it's so short or find a way to wear it with some sort of pencil skirt or belt. Or both. Fun stuff!

50 Projects: 52 Weeks (22. A Long Time Painted: Color in Our Lives)

The Bedroom Wall

The Bath

The Living Room

Steve and I painted one wall in each room. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but I decided to include photos from all three. We needed color in our lives. We knew we would be living in the apartment for at least another year and decided [what the hey?!] and why not paint one wall in each room. We can think Home Depot for the Oops! paints that we bought because we saved (we calculated it, dorky, I know!) at least $60 on paint and supplies. We bought $5 gallon buckets of paint that were rejected in their Oops stash in the colors we wanted anyway. We have plenty of extra paint and plenty of other projects, too. Here's to a little color!

50 Projects: 52 Weeks (21. Sunset at Devil's Lake: A Two-Piece Wedding Landscape)

For the beautiful bride and groom. Devil's Lake State Park in Baraboo, WI. I've been working on perfecting reflections and water. It's a challenge to paint, but I love the way this one turned out. 

Congratulations, Mike and Jen!