Craigslist, you're my hero

A few months back I found this inspiration photo of a desk that I really liked.



I immediately went to Craigslist and searched "queen anne desk" and low and behold, I found an ad for a $75 queen anne desk. The photo in the ad didn't do this desk any favors, but I still saw potential there:



I felt like this desk and I were meant to be, even though it wasn't much to look at in the photo and the craigslist seller was pretty flaky about calling me back. After a few weeks of phone and email tag she finally emailed me back and said she was having a moving sale one Saturday. Of course it was the exact same Saturday that I was driving over to Atlanta to attend the Country Living Fair. On a whim I decided to swing by the lady's apartment since she was kindasorta on my route to ATL. When I finally laid eyes on the desk, I said, "Come to mama."

And so it came home to live with me.

Here is what it looked like before I attacked it with a few coats of paint and my sander:



And here is what it looks like in my sunroom today:



I painted it and sanded it a few times to get the aged look. I chose not to put the brown glaze on this one because I liked the white peeking through instead of darkening it down. I added new knobs from Lowes, also.



Here was the piece I used for colormatching the paint at Sherwin Williams. This little chest was used at our lake cabin for a while, but now it's waiting to become an end table to a yet-to-be-purchased side chair in this room.



Here is the paint label, in case anyone is interested in this color:



In hindsight I should have chosen the Duration aka Duralast paint from Sherwin Williams instead of the Superpaint. That Duralast paint is hard to beat as far as cleaning and durability over time. We used it on my old built-in desk and it was well worth the extra few dollars per can. Live and learn, though.

Somehow the paint came out a good deal lighter than this piece, but coincidentally it EXACTLY matches up with my Willow House Morningside caddy and door bucket. Couldn't ask for much better than that, right?



The sunroom needs a chair and a rug and some wire management for my shameful dangly cords, but overall this room is pretty much complete.



For some reason though, it still does not make me feel 100% happy. I think it might be the curtains and the paint color that are throwing me off. They came with the house, and I'm not truly happy with either. Trouble is, I know these are custom curtains, and I can only imagine how much they cost the previous owners. I like the curtains, but I just don't love them. The pattern is just so Laura Ashley to me, and the pink flowers are throwing off my blue-gray game.

But the cheapskate in me can't bear to take them down and start over because I would never spend money on custom curtains like these.

What a crazy person I must sound like, huh?

So here is where I ask you... what would you do, folks? Do you like the curtains or no?



My brain has turned into mush these days. I really need some help figuring this out. Should I snatch down the flowerdy curtains or leave them up? Should I repaint the room or do something daring like a new modern wallpaper? What final accessories do I need?

Howzabout this purdy tufted back chair from homedecorators.com?


As for rugs... well. We all know how I strike out with rugs. If you have any suggestions, my ears and inbox are wide open.

Posted by Beth @ UnskinnyBoppy