As a typical broke college student, I am constantly trying to save money where I can. When I was faced with having to furnish my first apartment in July of 2015, saving money was my only option. For my first apartment all I really needed to get was an additional place to store clothes and a desk. I had a big dresser at my parents house, but I needed to conserve space. So my Dad and I went on a mission to find something that could do the job or something we could make work.
Let me just start and say that the Nashville Flee Market is my absolute favorite. If you are ever trying to make something on your own, the Nashville Flee Market is one of the best places to find any thing you could dream of using. It's even a good place for inspiration. Every fourth weekend of the month the Nashville Flee Market is at the Nashville Fair Grounds.
At the Nashville Flee Market my Dad and I were able to find this old rusty metal cabinet. I couldn't help but see so much potential in it. It wasn't too big and it had just enough storage. The guy originally wanted like $40-$50 for it, but I was not about to pay that much for a finished piece of furniture, let alone this cabinet in the state it was in. I used some of my bargaining skills with my dad's assistance, and made a comment loud enough to my dad so that the seller could hear me, "Oh Dad, it's not worth that much when we're gonna have to put so much work into it with all of the rust at the bottom. It's okay, I don't want it that bad." The guy quickly was like I could go less if you would like, he offered $30. I think we ended up paying maybe $20-$25 for it. The pictures below are of the cabinet in its original condition.
Since it's made of metal the first thing I needed to do was sand it down and try to get off as much rust as I possibly could. So below are some pictures of what it looked like during and after the sand job. I then had to rinse down all of that was sanded off and make sure it was good for the next step in the process.
Now that sanding and the rinse cycle was complete it was time to make it pearly white again. Clearly spray paint was the most logical thing to do. Below are pictures of what the cabinet looked like before and after the paint job.
Now, here I was with a plain white cabinet and no clue what to do with it. At the time I was really into the bohemian chic style and I really loved mandalas. So what better way to add character to my bedroom then by a unique cabinet with my own doodles on it. Well that's what I decided to do, and when I began I had no clue what I would end up with. I just doodled and kept adding to it. I did occasionally need to get some inspiration for my designs from Pinterest and other things I found on Google. These additions were what all I added to the cabinet over a years time.
The cabinet is still not completely finished. I probably will add to this blog post later on when I do add to the cabinet and finish it. Being a student in school I do not always have time to work on it. I like it the way that it is, so I don't see it as a top priority. Below is a picture of it in my room now. I love it, and it adds the perfect touch to the bohemian style I was going for.
Thanks so much for reading my first ever post on my blog!!! I hope you enjoyed it! If you have any questions at all please feel free to email me. This was the first of many many more projects I have done and will continue to do. If you would like to hear more about them, please subscribe to my blog and you can stay updated on what other crazy stuff I have gotten my head into.
Lots of love!
Kayla