Desky Goodness.

I realize that you all are totally expecting a post about Rob's trip, but I'm having a bit of camera drama. Call me old fashioned, but I like my own darn camera. Maybe feminist is a better word. Or a selfish feminist? Rob got a new one for the trip, and its like learning a new language. So until he can sit down and get all the pictures off and prettied up from his camera, you will have to wait for some Africa pictures. Ahem.

Have I mentioned I'm cheap? Shocking right? The lady who dumpster dives and uses a minimum of 5 grocery coupons a week calls herself cheap. I know, I was shocked too. But I'm currently paying for my cheapness. I don't want to spend the $80 that Panasonic charges for a new camera battery, so I've been buying Asian knock-offs for like $5, which seemed to do fine, but its now at the point that I have about 0.3 seconds until my camera shuts off, so I better snap fast. Sigh.

So...that means that I only have 3 pictures to provide of my desk makeover, which really, is like blogger blasphemy. Gasp! You just don't do a makeover and not provide 15 pictures from each and every conceivable angle. Or can you?

So the story. Remember my hideous desk of old? Ugh. All that chaos, smack dab in the middle of the living room? We had a slight improvement to my $15 garage sale retro desk that we moved into the basement. The husband never came around to that desk. Shame. And finally, we have moved on up again. The lovely folks who gave us Gabe's bed also gave us the matching desk. So off went retro legs, and this is what we now have. I'd call it a vast improvement.

Ahh, I'm breathing a sigh of relief. I've been puttering away on this space for the last few weeks. I picked up some more baskets at Jysk to match the existing ones I already had. They house everything from stationary, to CD cases, to cords, to other such randomness. Beauty. They no longer sell the baskets with the hinged lid, but even with an open top, they are so similiar, I bet you didn't even notice ;)
I also dedicated the bottom shelf to my school stuff. This way I can have the binders and textbooks separated, with other assorted random school stuff in the middle.

If you want to see the before of the shelving unit, you can see it here. Back at that legendary garage sale of 2009. Still gives me goosebumps really. I still haven't painted the inside of the shelving unit, only because I love this blue so much and haven't found one I prefer yet. Although I'm tossing around the idea of painting our china hutch this summer. If I can find the color blue I'm dreaming of, I might just touch up this bad boy.

I wanted a bulletin board for a little inspiration space below the shelving unit. I had very specific measurements, and was pleased to find this little number at WalMart for $6. Nice. It was the classic cheap veneer wood look, so I gave it a few coats of the Swiss Coffee paint that that shelving unit was painted in. I'm just using it to put up a few little things that inspire me.

On the right, I clipped this picture from the newspaper, "Yesterday I was demonstrator, Today I build Egypt." Wow. Another one about how children learn what they live. And finally, my African diva card. I LOVE that my husband picked this up for me. He knew I would fully appreciate a topless, curvy African woman on an art card. Yup. So there she hangs.

I also have a red jar which holds coins from all over the world (did I mention I'm a geeky coin collector?), as well as a few mugs that house other such randomness. I do love the color red. Its like my decorating vice. Generally a splash of red, must be added to every room.

So there you have it. A desk space that is functional (meaning it is staying clean and organized), it has plenty of storage, and it is pretty to boot (really the key point). And the best part? It cost me a whopping $27.97! Love it.