Color Fabulous: Before and After Goodwill Transformation
Each week we provide Color Fabulous tips that help you punctuate your surroundings. This week we have a guest post from Grace! A new intern at Ydp.
My best friend and I recently signed the lease on our first apartment. Anxious to start decorating we immediately created a group board on pinterest where we could both share ideas and plan together. We also started looking online at furniture, rugs, wall décor etc. and were both shocked at the prices! We’re just poor college students who want to make their first place away from home still feel like home! So, instead of only pinning the adorable chairs we loved which retailed for hundreds of dollars we also looked for similar links with a DIY option. It was that thinking that inspired my trip to Goodwill this weekend along with this awesome pin I found:
This pinner used cheap tables, a can of spray paint, and a stencil to add a fun touch to her living room.
The only real design limitation my roommate and I set was that we wanted basic black furniture so we could have fun with patterned pillows and throws and we wouldn’t have to worry too much about things matching since we knew we’d be getting random pieces wherever we could. With that in mind I set off to Goodwill (my favorite in the area is the one in Wyoming/Glendale across from the Century Inn. It has a great selection of everything, especially old furniture perfect for the thrifty crafter).
At Goodwill I was able to find a great table that was tagged at twenty dollars. The table was pretty banged up but perfect for what I had in mind. I thought about what colors and patterns I wanted to use as I waited in the Saturday afternoon crowd at the register. The finish on the table wasn’t in great shape so I decided to paint it a color rather than leave the wood grain like I had seen on Pinterest. Originally I was thinking of doing an Aztec print but was afraid it would look too busy in a small apartment. So, I decided on my next favorite print, Chevron.
If you take the piece of furniture home the day you buy it Goodwill sells it for 60% off. I was able to get this table for only $8.52!
I chose to do black and white since I wasn’t sure yet what other colors we would have going on in our place and I wanted to keep it simple. I also decided to do a glossy black and a flat white because I thought the different finishes would make the pattern look crisper and edgier. The first step of this project happens to be my least favorite part. Sanding.
Big thanks to my dad for letting me use his electric sander and cutting my sanding time in half!
After I sanded down all of the scuffs, scratches, and what appeared to be spilt nail polish I was ready to start painting. I painted everything black first and after patiently waiting for that to dry I used painter’s tape to map out my pattern. I then painted the top of the table and the front door white. It is very important to make sure the tape is on very secure with nowhere for unwanted paint to bleed through. There’s nothing more frustrating than taping out the perfect design and anxiously waiting for two coats of paint to dry only to be left with a fuzzy looking pattern. I also wish I had taken the front door off at the beginning instead of trying to paint it while it was still attached. It would have saved me from A LOT of frustration.
Yay! Another crafting success!
In my opinion this is a very simple and easy craft to do for anyone, even if you aren’t a starving college student! It’s a great way to freshen up your daughter’s bedroom for cheap, add a statement piece to your living room or resuse your parent’s old outdated furniture!
All you need is:
- Sandpaper
- Painter’s tape (do not use masking tape, it does not work nearly as well!)
- Spray paint in whatever colors you like, amount will vary depending on size of the table
- A fun piece of furniture that’s ready for an update!
Do you need help getting a jump start on a project?
Does the process seem a bit overwhelming?
Consider downloading our PROJECT STARTER TOOL KIT to help guide you in the right direction.
It’s easy. Every new subscriber receives it for FREE! Look for the button on our home page and if you know someone that might also benefit, share it forward.
We also have 3 distinct design plans:
Refresh Your Space,The “DIY Plan”, or A Total Redesign
Contact us to see which plan is right for you; our one hour consultation, can help get you started in the right direction.
Ricci Jackson is a Certified Interior Decorator and founder of Your Design Partner.
The goal of Ydp is to meet you where you are In your design process.
Reserve your appointment today by calling (217) 722-4806 or email us at rjackson@yourdesignpartner.com
Inspiring creativity,
Ricci
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[…] Grace is a Marketing major who will help us synergise our social media marketing efforts, and contribute to our blog. She is very creative and has already given us a gimpse of her skills. If you missed it, take a look here. […]