week(end) warriors

My dad was home for a good long time this past month and man-o-man were we ever productive.

Firstly, we organized my garage 2 weeks ago:

If you had seen my garage before... I was too embarrassed to let anyone near it before. It was such a disaster area. There were boxes everywhere, furniture mixed in, random crap thrown around... I was ashamed. My dad knows how much I hate clutter, and so when I suggested a project to him, we decided it would be best to organize our garage first. I'm so glad we did. It's (oy) Liam's new favorite place to play.

Then, we started in on a new project involving this:

See that piece my sweet Daddy is leaning on? Yeah, that's the TOP of the armoire that the above bottom goes to. 

It's solid oak. It's heavy as sin. It's the most-hated piece of furniture that Zach and I own.

It was also a 'gift' from my dad's boss... 

But it's a solid, good, honest piece of furniture and even though we hate the style, color and look of the armoire, I was desperate to re-use the piece in some way. So we added a top.

My sweet late Grandfather's motto was always "Measure twice, cut once," and my Daddy sure learned it. He did a fantastic job helping me add the top to the bottom:

And then, after he had headed back to Qatar, I picked up some Martha Stewart paint and got to work.

Dear Benjamin Moore, I desperately love some of your paint colors. However, when Martha Stewart calls, I must answer. Besides, any five of your colors, cannot hold a candle to the beauty that is Martha's Tidewater. 

On Sunday, my brother came over and helped Zach move my much-hated old desk to the garage (to be trashed on our next garbage day. it was IKEA, it's cheap!) and move my newly renovated, much loved Daddy-Daughter project into the office.

I even loved my new desk enough to paint the hinges (don't get me started...) and buy it knobs from Anthropologie. That's love and devotion, folks!

{aside: I know you're all wondering about the "leg space" on my new desk. To be honest, without fail, I always cross my legs when I'm sitting in my desk chair. I've never let my legs dangle, so I just pile stuff in the leg space. Hence, a solid piece. More organized, less clutter visible, very Stefanie friendly.}

I was even inspired by Meredith to make a chalk board-- this board had a frame, but that was disastrous. Even primer-- Killz 2 primer at that-- couldn't block the coppery nasty finish on the frame's original finish. It kept seeping up through the lacquer white spray paint- not cute. 

Now, next time Daddy's home, I will have 2 white shelves to hang over my desk, and hopefully a white shadow box. I need to have someplace to display all my beautiful stationery: 

look at all that ABDesigns stationery!! I love you, ABQ!!!!!!!!!

I even found the perfect place for my favorite office supplies, and their ABDesigns mug!!

I had too, too much fun putting this project together with my dad, and am thrilled with the results. I am so pleased with my new desk I can hardly stand it!!  & I'm proud to boot!!