Remember a while back when my dad gifted me with 8 gloriously industrial cinder blocks, and I turned them into a gloriously industrial and industrious bookshelf for my shoes? And he permanently raised his eyebrow at seeing this collection of money wasting?

Well. This jank got updgraded. And yes, you guessed it. I painted it.

I recently came across this tutorial from DesignLoveFest on painting floating shelves and knew immediately this was the inspiration I’d been waiting for. I absolutely love the look of them.

So I completely dismantled my bookcase and stuffed the cinder blocks and boards into the back of my enormous vehicle:

Yes, the boards are resting on the gear shift. Whoever says you can’t cart anything in a Mini doesn’t know me.

I unloaded and set up shop at Man-Piece’s house, in a little side yard that probably doesn’t belong to him. No biggie.

First step was to sand the boards down a little bit in some rough spots. I used painters tape to tape off some stripes in random patterns on all four boards. Then it was primer + painting time. I used white leftover from the red desk of yore and had JUST enough to paint all four boards.

[I obviously did these a few months back, since it hasn't been warm enough recently to be thusly attired. Don't freak out.]

I did 2-3 coats on all four boards, and then removed the tape.

I then used painters tape and plastic bags to tape off other random stripes in various widths, and over a few days added silver/chrome and kelly green stripes.

Once they were done, I painted a few coats of a gloss top coat (polyurethane - never do this indoors and if you’re sensitive, wear a mask) and let them dry thoroughly for a few days outside. Lucky for me it didn’t rain. And then I carted them back home and re-established my wall of shoes, the winter edition (if you’re totally observant, you will see most summer shoes are on hiatus).

I super love it. And now, some gratuitous closeups of my favorite shoes + the modish stripes.

I love the bare pine showing through and the intense shininess of the silver paint next to each other. An official designer would have fancy things to say about it. I say: me likey. Those purple wedges and teal pumps are my favorite fancy-pants cool-weather shoes.

And these are one of my summertime favorites. Can’t wait for peep-toe weather to return!

Anyway, the addition of this shoecase completes my room and gives me more not-permanent shelving for decorations (not including the shoes) (haha). Little known secret: I absolutely love sock monkeys. I can’t explain it.

These shelves probably/definitely will not last past this bedroom, just because it’s impossible to move around and transport. Plus cinder block furniture makes me feel like I am permanently in non-adulthood, but whatever. It works for now + looks pretty decent.

So what do you think? A nice quirky upgrade? Raise your hand if you love making free materials work! And raise your hand if you hate cinder blocks as furniture! I know there are folks in both camps. Let’s debate in the comments. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

Have you ever been trolling Craig’s List for the perfect lamp set, only to say to yourself, gosh if only those weren’t gross brass. If only they were brighter, whiter, darker, the perfect shade of blue, the perfect shade of grey, gold, green.

They’re ok. And they would do. But could be better.

These have what they call good bones. Or maybe that’s for furniture. Whatever. They have a good shape and aren’t broken and that’s the important part.

How to Paint a Lamp:

It’s super simple. Ready?

1. Remove bulb(s), tape electrical pieces – top and chord, as shown above.
2. Spray prime. Many + light coats is key, especially when not sanding.
3. Spray paint. Many + light coats is key for even color and no drips.
4. Optional: Spray gloss or topcoat. As many coats as you deem necessary for whatever finish you are looking for.

…And that’s it. You’re done. If you have shades to go with your new lamps, then you let your lamps cure outdoors or in a garage so they don’t smell up your house, and BOOM. New lamps. Want to know a secret? The cost of tape, spray primer, paint and topcoat is usually less than a new set of lamps.

Lampshades are a bit more challenging, and doing them right vs. doing them “ok for my home” are two different things. The best tutorial I’ve found for redoing or making lampshades from scratch is [not surprisingly] on Design Sponge: this tutorial is good if you have a lampshade to redo, and this tutorial is good if you are starting from scratch. For these shades, I used the first tutorial with some drum shades I picked up at Ikea. Literally I followed all of those steps + her pictures are a fantastic guide. So, no in-progress pics for this one because no one likes redundancy.

And boom. Redone lamps. I love how these turned out. And if you also love how they turned out, you can snag them from my shop this week! Boom again. I’m so excited, I made my first gif to celebrate.

I’m a beginner at gifs. No judgement.

Lamps are probably my favorite redo project because they can add so much and there are so many options. Whether it’s plain, mod, bright, antique, whimsical, or just a naked bulb hanging from the ceiling, there’s a statement in there.

Do you have any lamps that need a pick-me-up? Any awesome Craig’s List finds lately? Maybe you want some help making them awesome? Holler in the comments!

Shop Announcement: I’m away from the studio + will not be able to ship new orders until Monday, February 18th. Happy shopping!

This project is over a year old you guys. And in fact, it’s probably more like 2 years old. OLD I tell you. But it’s still worth sharing and proves that even a super cheapo piece of Ikea furniture can be given new life with a bit [or in this case, a lot] of effort.

Plus it was a nice red desk, so I figure that can tie it to Valentine’s day, since early February seems to revolve around all things red and hearts and love. Well. I love how this desk turned out, so there.

[Also, disclaimer: I took these pictures with a point and shoot that I didn't know how to use, so quality may be a bit lacking. But the outcome is still awesome.]

The desk is pure particle board and pure cheap. I got it on Craig’s List for $20 when I first moved to Raleigh in 2010 and it worked perfectly for the little room I was living in at the time. It had lots of water stains and issues where the particle board was puckering and messed up.

This is not the only spot, but the other pictures of issues did not come out so well. That spot is about 8 inches in diameter, and there were a number of spots on the top of the desk and the other side. It wasn’t so pretty. First step in redoing was to sand this puppy. And sand and sand and sand. And then more sanding. LOTS of sanding.

Materials included: electric sander, rough and smooth sandpaper, patience, mask (I was outside but there was LOTS of dust), primer, semi-gloss paint, fabric, Mod-Podge, a gloss top coat, and some paintbrushes + drop cloths.

You can see in the picture above how the water spots look after some intense sanding. Which would have been impossible without the electric sander. You would have to have massive Poppa D forearms to do this without some kind of electric power. [Poppa D = my dad. And even he, with large arm muscles, would choose to do this with an electric sander. That's why they make those tools folks. Put that innovation to use.]

And just for smiles, check out my adorable project buddy, keeping watch in the shade:

Cutest pup you ever did see, amiright!? [We weigh the same. I know.] [Well...I might weigh more now, but it's close enough to be crazy.] Luckily it wasn’t windy, because otherwise her ever-shedding hair would have been all up in my next step: Priming.

Looks yucky right? In addition to lots of sanding, there are also lots of coats of primer – three was the magic number if I remember correctly.

The closeup above attempts to show a much flatter surface than before. It’s now ready for real paint. I used Behr semigloss in white.

It’s getting shinier!

Much shinier and smoother than before, and now ready for some mod-podge action.

I laid the fabric on top of the desk, and just painted a little podge and smoothed the fabric along the way. Then I trimmed the sides that overlapped, and did a coat or two of podge on top, followed by  2-3 coats of my glossy top coat, to help protect all my hard work.

And in my new apartment (which is not so new anymore), this desk ended up being the perfect size for my sewing corner:

It’s pretty awesome and I super love it. I’m sure not many people would be interested in putting this much effort into a $20 desk, but it turned out to be perfect for me + I couldn’t have bought a better desk that fits so perfectly.

Do you have some cheapo Ikea furniture that you upgraded? Let’s have a party in the comments. See you there!