I love a good craft project. It feels like ages since I’ve actually done anything crafty (though my husband reminded me of all the bookmarks I made up for promoting All that Sparkles recently!) Anyway I decided it was time I revamped my office. I spend at least eight hours in this room every day so it should be a good space, shouldn’t it? It should make me feel happy and creative and comfortable. I bought myself a new desk which is working out well and last week I painted the wall that I face, a gorgeous green. It’s called Bermuda Grass and I love it (even if it does give the hallway outside a slight greenish tinge!). So now I have a beautiful cheery wall to look at all day, but that’s not the end of my renovation. I have one of those four-drawer, office-grey filing cabinets – really just looking at it makes me feel depressed. I don’t know why they insist on such drab colours for offices. Then I saw someone revamping one on a TV show and I knew I had to do it.
Before
This weekend I decided to break-out my working clothes and get to work. I added wheels to the bottom to make it easier to move around my office (I haven’t quite decided on the layout yet and it’s heavy to move when it’s full!) and then I gave it a good all-over sand with a fine grit sandpaper. Next came the primer. We had some leftover from a previous project so I used a roller to apply it before spray painting a base colour of white. You know spray paint actually spreads quite a big distance, and not much of it actually seems to go on your intended target. My shed floor can back me up on this as it now looks like we’ve had a light sprinkling of snow inside. 🙂
I spent ages trying to decide what colour and design to do. There are some gorgeous images on Pinterest; some using wallpaper, others using wrapping paper or washi tape and there were also paint designs as well. I finally decided on a geometric design using two colours that I already had in my office.
Using masking tape, I laid out the design and then realised I’d made a mistake with my choice of paint. I thought spray paint would be the easiest, but of course with two colours, I had to cover all the areas with plastic that I didn’t want sprayed. Argh. I should have just changed my mind then and swapped my spray cans for sample pots and a roller, but I foolishly persisted. I cut up plastic shopping bags and carefully taped all the sections that were going to be green. Finally (hours later) it was ready to spray.
After
Here I learnt another lesson. The colour of the caps on spray paint cans lie! They are not necessarily the colour that comes out of the can. I was highly disappointed. By this time I’d been working for at least four hours and all I had was a dodgy spray job in a colour I didn’t like and the plastic protective covering kept coming off. It was decision time.I headed back to my local hardware store, bought myself a little roller kit and a sample pot in the exact colour I wanted and returned to work. The pink took very little time to roll on and after cleaning up the roller I carefully pried off the plastic covers and started on the green. This was leftover from my feature wall so it exactly matches. Now, I know that wall paint isn’t necessarily the best paint for a metal surface but by this stage I didn’t care! I wanted my project done. (I think I’ll probably grab some clear varnish or protective coating next weekend just to protect it.)
After two coats of green I peeled off the remaining tape, cleaned up some bleed marks and was left with my final result – a pink and green filing cabinet that you can’t really miss! I haven’t quite decided if I like it yet. I think I’m still in that post-project stage when all the initial flush of excitement is gone and all I can remember is my frustrations. Plus in the light of day I can see a few spots which could probably do with a touch up…
Still I know when the next idea for a great project hits me, I’ll forget all about the frustrations and just dive in with my enthusiasm. You only live once, right?!
