Well, I’m supposed to be adding a post to the Color my World challenge this week, but since I’ve been in the bed for a few days with swollen throat disease (yes, that’s the official name), I was happy to beg for some help.  I’ll have to get back to you on that challenge.

Luckily, Lisa from The Pennington Point came swooping in to the rescue–you swoop so beautifully, Lisa.

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When you have kids and they have the nerve to grow up….there’s always a need to change furniture. They need a new dresser or a bed or somewhere to hang their now adult sized clothing. It’s never ending.

My girl Hope just turned 18 and it was time that I face the fact that she needed some space of her own. So I cranked up the old thinker and figured out a way to give her a room that she could sit in without little brothers tromping through. We spent a few days rearranging and in the end she had a spot to lie her head and hang her clothes.

One thing she didn’t have was a desk. Her old desk had to stay in the old room, so I dug through our storage and found a little desk that had been long ago packed away. It had been my mother’s when she was a girl, then my brother used it and now it’s mine. It is very small and the drawer was broken, but it would fit in Hope’s little space, so I pulled it out and decided to give it a new life.

It started out the same country blue crackle from when I first painted it in the 80s.

I decided to make the drawer opening into a shelf, but I loved the old drawer front, so I attached it to the back…..giving the desk a new shape. I also used pieces of masonite to put a shelf where the drawer had been and put a back on the bottom. My goal was to make it a little less delicate.

A little bit of extra trim around the front covered the edge of the shelf.

Now here’s where it gets a little crazy. Hang with me….don’t run off….it will all makes sense in the end.

Hope, unlike her mother, likes a clean, crisp beach feel. I wanted to respect her space and give her a desk that fit with her personality. So I painted the colors of a beach sunset on the top of the desk. There was no real planning…I just swished colors on until it looked OK. I am NOT AN ARTIST so anyone could do this!

We found a quote that spoke to her and encouraged her. I let her choose it. I really wanted it to bless her every day. Then I cut the letters out in vinyl and stuck them on.

And…wait for it….I painted the whole thing white then just peeled off the letters.

Whew! Now don’t you feel silly for thinking I was crazy with all of those colors?

Once it was all sanded and waxed….I put it back in Hope’s room. (OK, OK….I had one of my boys carry it in there)

She loves it. It is perfect for her computer and school books. Just what she needed and just her style.

And I love it because it makes her happy. Win-win.

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Isn’t that great?!?  I love that the lettering has so much depth–fun stuff I tell you.  Thanks to Lisa for sharing such a great before & after here!

I’m off to care for my black lung.