Budget Makeover: Record Stand

Something about spring makes me want to clean up, organize and make things over. I think it's more than the arrival of warm weather that's pushing me to change up our space.

We recently celebrated the three year anniversary of moving into our home. I was 22 and fresh out of college when we bought our house. In the past three years my design tastes have grown and evolved. I've spent a lot of time pouring over design magazines, watching home improvement shows and visiting design blogs. I've even been lucky enough to work a little bit in the interior design industry.

All this to say, I've been feeling like a lot of our home doesn't really reflect us.

We are on a super tight budget (I'm talking pennies, people) so I'm challenging myself to use what we already own combined with a little creativity and elbow grease. I'm hoping that a few mini budget makeovers throughout the house will freshen things up and make our space look more like us.

For our first mini makeover, I took on our record stand. It certainly had potential, but felt kind of dark and cluttered. While scouring the Internet for inspiration, I came across this beauty and felt inspired. 

I'm not afraid of color, so I headed out for some vibrant orangey coral paint (Sassy Peach by Valspar, to be exact) and got to work. The end result:

I'm super happy with the way it turned out! If you'd like to make over your own wood furniture follow these steps:

 

1.) Bring the piece outside or into a well ventilated area.

2.) Lightly sand all over and then wipe down with a clean damp rag.

(make sure your surface is completely clean of dust before proceeding)

3.) Prime. Some people skip this step, but I think it makes all the difference. I used spray primer.

4.) Paint. I brushed the paint on, but you can roll or spray paint.

5.) To create the dip dyed effect on the legs I waited for the peach paint to dry and then used blue painter's tape to tape around each leg, I applied 3 coats of metallic acrylic paint below the tape on each leg and on the X base. 

6.) Peel off the tape and use a small brush to touch up any smudges or mistakes.

I'm hoping to keep this momentum going throughout our house. I'll be sure to share any future projects!

Do you have a place in your home that you've been dying to make over? 

Married Without Children

 

Lately, I've been all about bringing my camera along to capture snapshots of our everyday life. Things we love to do, that I don't ever want to forget. 

We often focus on documenting the wedding, arrival of a new baby, children's big milestones etc. But there's something about right now that feels worthy of being remembered. Married without children. The middle, if you will. 

This confuses some people on the outside looking in. When are you two going to have children?  The trap... Sometimes those outside voices start to seep in and sound like my own. I feel constant pressure to hurry up and get to the next stage of our lives.

I get so caught up in the race, that I forget how important right now is. Married without children does have its perks. We get to do things like browse through our favorite record store on a Saturday at our leisure. We can be totally spontaneous and make decisions with little forethought or planning involved. 

Best of all, we've had time to focus on one another. We've been working on building a solid foundation before we grow our family. 

I'm beyond excited for the day that we have children of our own, but right now I'm enjoying spending way too much (uninterupted) time looking for the right Simon & Garfunkel album.