From Rust to Chalk & Major Room Reveal

I am excited to finally show off my room looking the way I’ve wanted it to all school year!  You already saw the photo grouping last week and may have seen the room tour I wrote about when I first moved in last September.  Trust me, it’s come a long way, but without spending a lot of money and by being creative and settling with what I can afford.

What really makes the room, in my opinion, are the little details that I made myself (which you will see further down).  The ultimate project I couldn’t wait to finish was a pair of frames turned into chalkboards.  I initially thought I was going to use this huge round mirror I posted about a while ago to paint and turn into a chalkboard while painting the wood it’s on a fun color.  I quickly realized that it was too large to fit anywhere, the mirror was glued on and a pain to remove, and I then decided I wanted a magnetic chalkboard while refusing to use magnetic paint, which meant I had to buy metal to paint with chalkboard paint.

Luckily, I only paid a small amount for that mirror and was given these great frames from my mom over Christmas break to use however I want.  They are 16”x20” and I can paint them down the road if I so choose.

I planned on buying sheet metal at a hardware store and having it cut to size on site, but buying two sheets the size I wanted would have cost me from $35-60, which I could not afford.  My dad told me that a person can usually find sheet metal much cheaper at plumbing stores, but that was after I already solved the problem.  If you’re looking into making a magnetic chalkboard, I’d recommend doing more research on sheet metal to get the best deal possible.

To solve my dilemma, I posted a wanted ad on Craigslist for a piece of sheet metal sturdy enough to stand on its own (so that it would be durable enough to stay flat in a frame) and to be cut into two rectangles the size I needed them.  I offered $10.  I answered a response and went with San to pick up the piece of metal.  When I got there, I saw that it had rust on it, but I was sick of this project and all the dilemmas it was producing, so I bought it and just went with it.

Cutting it was a nightmare because it was very thick, so when my dad was in the area, he brought his metal snips and we painstakingly contorted the metal (in the bitter cold, mind you) until we could get it cut to size.  Moral of that story is to let the person who sold you the metal cut it for you when they offer.  >.<

Anyway, this is what it looked like before priming it:

Pretty bad shape.  It’s a wonder with all the speed bumps this project ran in to that I kept going. I primed it with black Rust-oleum automobile primer that can cover rust and stop it from spreading.  One of the workers at a hardware store recommended this for painting on rusty metal, and let me say that it worked perfectly!  Being limited on space, I had to prime and paint the metal in my apartment.  I couldn’t do it outside because of the cold temperatures.  I opened lots of windows, had a fan blowing, opened the door to the hallway, and turned the stove fan on.  It definitely is not the safest or smartest way to do this, but I’m young and learning as I go.  I sprayed three coats of the primer on within a few minutes of each other and let them dry overnight.

The next day, I painted three coats of Rust-oleum Chalkboard Paint with a small roller.  I waited three days and they were perfect!  I popped them into the frames, decorated them, and then the room was finished (at least for now)!

Let’s take a look!

I keep my books, DVDs, and dumbbells stored on this inexpensive metal shelf.  I decorated it with a pretty pink apron.

The pear is one of my favorite pieces in this room – I dedicated a whole post to it a while back.

If you’d like, you can read more about the photo grouping here and the corkboard-turned-jewelry-display here. 

I can’t get enough of Starry Night.  The poster has been taken down and put back up countless times, but I still love it.

I can’t hide my love for ornately carved frames and dance art it seems.

I made the bed quilt with my grandma for my confirmation years ago.  I love it, even though it is a little youthful.  This room seems to blend the youthful colors with more sophisticated elements – perfect for someone my age!

Can you see them?  There are the chalkboards.  I don’t have them hung on the wall yet because they weigh about seven pounds each and I haven’t got any heavy duty hooks for them yet.

All of the orangey wood furniture came with the room (my bed, the dresser, the middle storage cabinet, and the desk).  It’s definitely not ideal, but I work with it.

A note about finding chalkboard chalk: head to an office supply store and not a store like Target because they usually only have sidewalk chalk which can stain your chalkboards and is very hard to remove.

I love them!  I now have a place to reflect how I am feeling, what’s going on in my mind during any given day, and to house all sorts of inspiration.

Last but not least, my smile banner I made last year that makes me so happy every time I look at it.

So what do you think?  Is it an upgrade to what I started with?

I have to say that my room makes me incredibly happy and calm.  It’s my one place that is just for me, which it reflects.  As much as I love all the designer rooms and rooms of the great bloggers I follow, I have come to terms with the fact that I am not living a life like most of these people right now.  I am a college student.  I barely have even just a few pennies to my name and have no place I actually purchased and can do what I want with.  Yet, I am proud because although my room is far from magazine-worthy, it has “Sarah” written all over it.  I worked very hard to save money and use what little resources I had to make it something inspirational for me.

Everyone should be proud of their home no matter what state it is in because they’ve worked to make it the way it is.  I take delight in the little things, so as long as I have some place of my own, even if I do not own it, I will do my best to create something out of it while continuing to dream of the day when I can go all out with a house I own.

Let’s all spend today loving our current situations and homes just the way they are.  I know there many things we all would love to fix or upgrade in our lives and our homes, but until we can do those things it can help to see the best in what we have now.  Here’s to living in the present but keeping hope for the future!