Nightstand

Holy cow...can you believe it is almost the end of September? I certainly can't. School is actually flying by, but its keeping me constantly busy. Next week is my last week on my psychiatric floor rotation, then I'm on to pediatrics for the rest of the semester. I must say I cannot wait!

So for a while now, I've been saying how I did all these DIY's this summer, but I keep forgetting to post pictures. Well...here is one of my favorite projects from the summer.

Before:

I picked up this little guy at Goodwill for $4.99.  As soon as I saw it, I was ecstatic.  I have been seeing posts everywhere of beautiful drop-leaf tables used as nightstands, and I wanted to make one of my own.  It was actually in decent condition, just a little sanding was needed on top.  I also found this lamp at Goodwill for cheap too, and knew it would be the perfect lamp for atop my new night stand.

And the after:

A few coats of primer and some white paint, and this baby looks brand new!  I took apart the lamp and spray painted the gold bottom black, and with that lampshade from HomeGoods, it looks brand new!  The plate and silver candle holder are Goodwill finds, and the pink bowl with the decorative glass balls are from Homegoods.  I keep a basket underneath to keep all my toiletries like contacts solution, glasses, etc.  So now I have my own pretty little nightstand :)

Dinner from Last Night and a DIY Makeover

So I made the dinner last night that I posted about here and mm mmm mmm was it delicious! I basically did everything the recipe said, except that I didn't use an entire onion because that seemed like it would be a bit much. I had the leftovers for dinner tonight, and it was actually almost better! (and this is shocking if you know me because I am not a leftovers person). The flavors must have just mixed more and it gave it a little bit of a kick, it was amazing. I would definitely recommend it, and will definitely be making it again!

Before the school year started and before I moved into my new apartment, I mentioned that I was doing a ton of DIYs that I have been planning to share, but haven't quite gotten around to it yet. The only one I did manage so far was the bar cart. Anyways, because I am being extremely lazy with schoolwork again tonight, I decided its time for another reveal. Of course I forgot to take before pictures, but I want to show you anyways because I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

I found this chair at Goodwill for $4.99 and was so excited because I was looking for a desk chair with a pretty back. I was originally planning on using it as a nightstand on one side of my bed for some magazines/books and a pretty vase, but alas, it didn't quite fit the way I planned, and I wouldn't really have been able to see it. I decided instead that I will actually use it for my desk chair. When I bought it, it had a very dark stain and was quite beat up with a coffee-stained seat. When I took the seat off to recover it with some new fabric, I saw to my surprise that this was the 4th time the chair had been reupholstered. Yes...4th. So this chair has definitely gotten a lot of love.

I ordered the fabric from Tonic Living after being unable to find what I was looking for at the fabric stores around my house, and was thrilled with what I got. Besides this pattern, I ordered a few other fabrics that I fell in love with and couldn't choose between, so now I have them on-hand for future projects. If you've never checked out their website before and are in need of fabric...go now! They have some really beautiful designs!

I really loved the design on the back and the details on the front legs. It goes perfectly with my new desk (pictures to come hopefully next week!) Excuse my lovely background and the darkness, its quite a gloomy night here in Chicago. Hope you're having a great evening!!

Bar Cart!

Well of course I got busy last night so my post did not go as planned. But here is my reveal. I took that ugly gold and brown cart, spray painted it black, and we now have a fabulous bar cart for out apartment!!

Before I started I gave the whole cart a good wash and then used some steal wool to smooth everything out and get the dirt away. I used Krylon black gloss spray paint and then finished with some Rustoleum protective gloss coat in black.

The mirrored tray on the top shelf is from Target, and its my favorite part of the cart!

I found these one day when I was out shopping at Michaels and I really loved the idea of having peacock feathers somewhere. They have found a home here for now, and I really like them there. The blues really brighten it up, and I think they look beautiful!

I got most of these bottles from Goodwill. I have been meaning to paint some labels with chalkboard paint and tie then with some pretty ribbon so that we can label what is in the bottles. The pink bottles are from Homegoods.

These glasses are mostly from Goodwill too. I really like the silver ones, I was so glad that I could get six of them.

So this was a fairly easy DIY, and it was so much fun to fill. We haven't gotten much use out of it yet, but as they say, its 5 o'clock somewhere. So come join me for a drink!!

Preview for Tonight

I started stopping at Goodwill about once a week this summer looking for some good DIY projects or any other old houseware items I could find, and on some days, I really hit the jackpot. While I was out shopping one day, I came across a little something that made me nearly jump with excitement.

Although super ugly, this cart was in perfect shape-even the wheels rolled evenly! At $4.99, I was extremely excited, and had the perfect vision of what I would turn this bad boy into. Its now one of the favorite pieces in my new apartment. Stay tuned...the after pictures will be posted tonight! For now, I am off to watch a 40 minute video on examining the infant, and am then heading out for dinner downtown!