Almost Free Room Re-do Part 1

Over the summer I noticed Mister's room was in need of some attention.  I typically keep an eye on how messy his room gets and how long it takes him to clean it up.  If it seems out of control, that means it's time to donate some stuff.  We don't usually buy the kids many toys outside of their birthdays and Christmas, but their visits with biological family tend to involve a lot of gifts, (especially for Mister.)  This time, though, I realized the problem wasn't really his stuff- the problem was his furniture.  He'd outgrown it.  We updated the girls' storage last year, but Mister had all the same stuff my in-laws bought him when he moved in 2 years ago.  His needs had changed a lot since he was 4.

 We wanted to get him some more appropriate furniture, but we didn't want to spend a lot of cash.  We sold the toddler Lightning McQueen desk and bookshelf set that he had outgrown at a yard sale for $20.  We shopped around thrift stores and yard sales and found an old school desk, a bookshelf, a red basket, and a cool old metal tool box.  We bought a new piece of plywood for the desktop and some gray spray paint at the hardware store- and all together we only spent $32.

We took the desk apart and cleaned the metal frame.  I've discovered through trial and error that you can take most things apart if you want to, and if you pay attention then you'll know how to put them back together!  I just spray painted the seat and it looked brand new, but we completely replaced the desktop because the old one was falling apart and gross.  In case you were wondering the answer is yes, there was old dried gum stuck to the bottom.

We picked up this piece of plywood for about $5.  I used a jig saw to round out the corners, but that's not really necessary- I just like the aesthetic better.  Since Mister's bed is all natural wood grain we decided to stick with that here, too.  I sanded it down and painted on 4 coats of polyurethane to protect it.

I don't know why this photo isn't rotated correctly, but my brain is tired and I'm almost done with this post, so I'm leaving it that way.  I have faith in your abilities to turn your head sideways if you'd like to see it right side up. :)

We screwed the whole thing back together, and we painted the bookshelf gray to match.  It had been a weird fake wood grain that reminded me of a late 80's TV stand, and it didn't look great with his other stuff.  It also had wheels on the bottom, which we removed, because Mister doesn't need to be wheeling that thing around his room.  We went ahead and spray painted his existing trash can, too, because spray paint is just that easy.

Sorry for the wonky lighting.  Somehow in all the pictures I took- both 2 months ago and over the last few days-  I didn't take any decent ones of the bookshelf.

So for a net cost of $12, Mister got a desk he can fit into and a place for his big cars, his boom box, and his books.  He keeps his matchbox cars in the metal toolbox, and his pencils and paper in the red basket.  

When we updated his furniture I very much wanted to change his decor, but I didn't actually get around to it until this last week.  I'll share a little bit about that, and the finished photos of his room, tomorrow.  I just felt like if I was going to get into that, I ought to share the beginning of the process, too.