DIY Small Office Makeover ON A BUDGET! (DIY Desk + Organization Ideas)

A little pro tip for any YouTuber out there, if your room is a disaster behind you, just turn your f-stop all the way down, blur out the background, you are good to go. Everything behind me is awful right now, but you know what? It is out of focus and we are good. Today, you guys, is an exciting, exciting day on the channel. I am finally getting around to making over my little office nook area in my bedroom. Now, if you guys watched my bedroom makeover, you probably would have seen this little space. It's kind of like a little wall cut out in the corner, and I do believe that it was actually additional closet space because there is a clothing rod in there. However, I'm converting it into a little office editing nook station for me, and that's what I've actually used it as since I started living here. However, I didn't get around to actually making it over. I just had my desk shoved in there. I do have a little bit of a direction that I'm going to take in here, and that is because today's video is sponsored by Walmart. They have an incredible DIY and done section over on their website, which you guys, is absolutely amazing. I actually want to share it with you guys right away so I could talk about all the different features that Walmart has to offer. They actually sent me all of the supplies for today's video, and Walmart is truly an incredible website or location if you want to head out to find DIY supplies for your next crafting project, but their DIY and done section on their site is really built out nicely, and I'm going to share with you guys what I got and how I am planning to transform this office nook. Whether you are new to DIY or you are a DIY expert, Walmart is your one-stop shop for all things DIY, especially on their DIY and done page. They have such an incredible page that basically showcases so many different areas throughout your home and how you can easily DIY these spaces to make them your dream space. Here, we're in the little kitchen section here. They show different faucets, cabinet hardware, back splashes. We even have bathroom updates for just $15. They have everything from small to large items, including vanities, faucets, wallpaper, paint, the tools and supplies that you need to take on any DIY project ranging from small to large, and I love how everything is just categorized so nicely. You could see all the different projects and shop by category as well, and they also have some incredible how-to tips, sharing with you guys different DIY projects and just little upgrades and updates you could do around your home. And this is what it looks like when you click into the different sections. This right here is the best DIY supply section. They even have those floor pop tiles, you guys, that I always use. Super renter-friendly. But what did I get for this space, you might be asking. Well, I got some paint, of course. This is the Rust-Oleum Studio Color in the color called Stellar, and then because Walmart is my one-stop shop, I had to get my paint roller kit as well. I also got this really cute pendant light, which I love, and I got a new drill, a cordless one. My current one is corded, so I'm so excited by heart. And then I got some stain for a DIY project we're going to be working on a little bit later. And then in terms of decor, I got this really great kind of hanging planter system, and then a couple of baskets for organization in the top shelves. And last but not least, just a comfy little throw pillow, because why not? And I am so excited to be working with Walmart on this project. As you can see, the before of the space, it's just so bland and boring, and I'm really excited to DIY it into a fun space. Whether your project is big or small, Walmart has you covered. Make sure to click my link in the description box below to check out Walmart's DIY and Done section to start creating the home of your dreams while not breaking the bank. So some of you might be thinking to yourself, Drew, why do you have this ostrich stuffed animal? And Drew, why do you have this real ostrich egg? Well, I actually have a very, very secret hidden talent that nobody has seen before, but I figured why not debut it right here on the Lone Fox YouTube channel? So I'm going to share with you guys how I can easily run like an ostrich, and that's why I have those, because my mom thinks that I am part ostrich. So here you go. All right, guys. So how you do this, basically, is you take your hands and you put them under your legs like this, and you latch them here, and then you start from over here, and you have to... Oh, gosh. So I went ahead and cleared out the entire office area, and as you can see, it's pure white. I actually had it painted white just to go along with my room scheme because I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to be doing in here. However, I have come to a conclusion that I want to use this color here. This is by Rust-Oleum. It's Studio Color, and it is an eggshell finish, and the color is called Stellar. Now, it looks a little bit brighter on camera, but it is a super, super dark kind of gray-toned navy color. It's kind of similar to the accent wall in the dining room, if you guys remember that wall, and I absolutely love that wall so much. I always love walking past that area and kind of looking at it, so I figured, why not do the same thing in my room so I have like a little touch of that in here? And I think the contrast of the moodiness of this color will really contrast nicely with like the light airiness of my bedroom. I also forgot to share with you guys this because I've only actually opened this once as well, but there is a little bench seat in here, which is kind of fun When it comes to painting with dark colors, one of the most asked questions I get is how to prevent streakiness, and I'm just going to tell you guys right now, that is something you really cannot prevent. The only way you can fix it is with layers, and this paint in particular, the Rust-Oleum Studio Paint from Walmart, was such an incredible first coat coverage. I was actually able to cover this entire space with just two coats, which is pretty great for a dark, dark color. A lot of times, dark colors, I typically feel like need about three coats to get that full-on streak-free finish. So I loved this paint in particular, and it comes in so many great colors. And on top of that, you can literally have it shipped right to your door, so you don't even have to leave, which is awesome. So guys, it has been about a week since I last saw you, and there's a reason for that. I actually do not like how dark this space is. As you can see, it is just so overly moody. Like, I don't know. This model space is where I work all the time. I'm constantly editing videos in here. I'm constantly working out of here, doing voiceovers, responding to your guys' comments. And something about this space just does not feel right. And I slept on it for a couple of days, and I was like, that just does not look correct. And it's directly in front of my bed as well, so I was always seeing it at night, being like, I just have to change that to a lighter color. Now, the color itself is beautiful. Like, it's such a dark, dark navy color. So if you wanted this for like a nice contrast in your home, the color of the paint is incredible. But I ended up ordering a new color from Walmart, and it is from the same exact brand, because I actually really like this paint. It is called Birchwood, and I'll pop up a photo of it on the screen right here for you guys. It's like a lighter, almost like greenish tone taupey white color. And I'm going to go ahead, and I'm going to paint this room entirely back to that color. Well, it wasn't that color at the start. It was just white. And then I'm going to go in and paint the trim, the white that I originally had in here, which I know sucks, because I'm going to have to go in and paint a darker color. But I wanted to share with you that I do not always make the right choices. Like, there is so many times where I have to go back and repaint sections, or just colors don't turn out correct. And a lot of times, people don't really show that on their channels, or show that across YouTube. But I wanted to show you guys, I painted this dark, and it's going to be such a pain to paint it back light. But it's just not working for me. Like, it's just not my favorite thing. Again, the color's amazing, and the paint's great. It's just, this space is so small. I feel like it needs that brightness element, you know? So let's go ahead and get to painting. I just have to pop back in one more time about this paint. Can you even believe how full coverage this first coat of paint is over the top of such a dark color? That's all I have to say. Like, it truly is such an amazing paint. Good morning, guys. It is day three of this makeover, and that's because I spent the first two days applying six coats of paint to this entire little office nook. But I am finally at a place that I love. I just knew that dark color was just too dark for this small area. It was such a beautiful color, and I'm excited to actually have that can of paint in my stash, which I'll hopefully use in a future project. And I did paint a majority of it off camera, just so that you guys didn't have to watch me paint for a long time. But I'm going to flip the camera around. And guys, this is the finished color in here. It is so, so pretty. It's that Birchwood color that I was sharing with you guys by Rust-Oleum. And wow, I just love it so much. It's like a grayish warm taupe tone, but it's still super light to where I also went in and used the existing white color to repaint the windows and repaint all of the trim. And I just love this. I love how bright and airy it is, but you also still get that contrast between the wall color and the trim, which I love. But the first thing that I want to do today, now that it's fully painted, is actually DIY the desk, which I'm so excited about. It's going to be very similar to this little bar console that I created, a similar kind of design detailing around the edge. I'll pop up an actual wording for what that's called. So let's go ahead, head over into the living room where the desk is, and get started on that project. I'm sure a lot of you guys know that I had to do a large-scale DIY project, and this one turned out incredible. I am so happy with it. This is my old desk that I've had for years and years. I just want to update it and turn it into something new. So I started off by pulling off the handles and grabbing some sandpaper, which you could also find on Walmart's website. And I'm going to go through and just sand the entire surface of this desk. I want to take off all of the old finish because it does have kind of a glossy finish on top. And if you need to vacuum off that sandpaper, I am not going to judge you. So that's what you're going to want to do. Just go across and just give a nice sanding, making sure to sand in the direction of the grain of wood. And I'm also going to be using these quarter-inch wooden dowels along with this Rust-Oleum wood stain in the color called Kona, which is just so pretty. And what you're going to want to do is actually cut down your quarter-inch wooden dowels into two-and-a-half-inch strips, or whatever height of desk you're working with. You're going to want to cut the dowels down to the height of the desk. And you're going to need quite a few of these. So I actually cut out a ton of them. They ended up looking like little noodles in a bowl, which is totally fine with me, but they are little wood chunks. So these are actually going to be... Originally, I was going to nail them, but as you can see here, nailing doesn't work very well. It also splits the wood a little bit. So I ended up just using a wood glue, which worked just as well. I'll link below the wood glue that I used for you guys. And the glue was applied with a paintbrush. I added a generous amount on the backside. And then just like the tutorial that I did a while back for that console, I'm going to be doing the same technique by using a dowel as a spacer. So after you glue one down, you're going to want to place a dowel with no glue next to it, and then place a dowel next to that one with glue. And that's going to be your perfect spacing. So you don't have to space it out at all. You can just use the sticks themselves as spacers. And they're kind of going to sit in place, as you can see here. And then once you end up gluing down quite a few of them, and it's set up for about 20 to 30 minutes, you can go back and remove all of those spacer dowels, and just work your way down. Now, when I reached the drawer section here, I only applied glue to like the middle of the dowel, because as you could see, the dowel actually overhangs the top and bottom of that drawer front, which is totally fine. Because once I close the drawer, it's actually going to look like a seamless front, almost with some hidden drawers, which you're going to see in just a minute here. But I'm working my way down, applying and gluing all my dowels on, and just adding a spacer in between. And then once they are set up and dry, I'm removing the spacer section. All right, you guys, I went ahead and I applied every single dowel across the front of the desk, and it looks perfect. It only took about half an hour to do so. And I'm letting the wood droop. As you can see, these pieces are actually extremely sturdy on here. I was doing a bit of research online, and they did say that wood glue is actually sometimes stronger than the wood itself. So I'm hoping that once this is fully dry, it's just very, very strong, and all the pieces are mounted properly. But I'm going to let this dry for a while now. Then we're going to come back and stain the top of it. Already, I am back, and we have our stain in hand. This is the color Kona. And I can tell you guys right now, this stain is so beautiful. It is 100% my new favorite stain color. And on top of that, this is my new favorite stain brand as well, because the stain inside of there almost is like a gel-like consistency. So when you apply it on top of a surface, it almost gives you time to move it around and spread it, as opposed to just soaking directly into the wood, which is something I do not like with stains, because sometimes you could apply too much in one section, and then it's automatically darker than everything else. But this stain really allows you to work with it and kind of spread it out and work as you go. So as you can see, there's a little bit of streakiness on there, but you can easily go in with an excess paper towel and wipe away the extra and kind of build it up if you still want that darker color. And then on the front section here with our little detailing that we added, I went in with just a nice kind of dense paintbrush and added all of that stain across every single strip of dowel, the top and bottom and all the drawer fronts as well. I just installed the light and I am so obsessed. I love the black and brass with this colorway. I think it is so pretty. How great does that look? And of course it does turn on and you can turn it off. I am just right underneath it, but whenever I'm in this space anyways, I'm typically sitting and I'm working at my desk area so the light looks perfect in there. I just love it. It is so cute. I just added the desk and I am just in love with this. I think it is so cute with the color in here and the light. So far, everything is coming along so nicely. And the way you actually open these drawers, if you were curious, is you just have to pull the tops here. So that's all you have to do to open and close those drawers there. I'm probably going to go back and make sure that this is like stained nicely, but it's pretty simple to actually open and close them. I'm going to go ahead and see you guys in the morning for all of the styling details, where we're going to style all the shelves, add some plants in here, add my computer, all of my work necessities, and film the final transformation or makeover, I guess the final clips of it. So I will catch you guys in the morning. When I woke up today, I knew I wanted to do just one more DIY project because I really wanted to incorporate that blue paint color that I originally painted the entire space. And I also did need a piece of artwork for the space as well. So I figured why not DIY one? So I grabbed a little bit of filming paper and cut it down to size. And I'm using some masking tape in a variety of sizes to go in and create some geometric lines. And as you can see here, there is literally no rhyme or reason to this at all. I'm just going in and using the tape to kind of tape off different sections and create a mask because wherever that tape is sitting, the paint is not going to touch. And then any of the open sections, it's going to touch, of course. So I'm using that Rust-Oleum Stellar paint with kind of a chunky brush here to basically dry brush on that color. And the reason I'm doing this is because I really want to be able to see those paint strokes because you guys are going to see in the end, once I remove all of the tape, that it's going to have very clean lines. So I want the actual area of paint sections to be not clean, if that makes sense. So there's kind of a juxtaposition between these very clean edges and then also like these very kind of brush strokey sections as well. So I'm going to go ahead and remove all the tape now. Good morning, everyone. It is the last and final day of the Office Nook makeover. And I am just loving how it is turning out. So far, as you guys saw, I installed the light yesterday. The painting is all completely done. I just love the color in here. And then you guys also saw that I created this really cute DIY artwork using that blue paint that I actually ended up painting over just because I really wanted that little element of like indigo in there. Let's go ahead and get to the most exciting part, I guess you could say, of any makeover, which is the finishing touches and the styling. I was super excited to get these storage baskets from Walmart as well because I really needed to organize a lot of my electrical items, including my microphones, my headphones, my hard drives. I also wanted to use one of them for more personal mementos because there's nowhere in my room that I'm able to store these items for some reason. I just don't have any space for them. So I ended up putting them in a basket in my little office area. And I just love the way that these look up there. And then I also ended up finishing it off with a couple of books and just decor elements that I've already had laying around my house and in my little office space prior. Interrupting the styling just a little bit to share with you guys this incredible drill that Walmart sent me. It's by Heart Tools. They have an entire line of tools through Walmart. But on top of just sending over the drill, it came with so many little bits and accessories as well, which I can so appreciate because most times you don't get this kind of stuff. It even has a little level in here, a box cutter, this little plier right here. So all around, you get all of these pieces. And I actually do need to go hang this up the artwork that I created. So I'm gonna go ahead and use this to hang it up and see how it works. I am looking at the space in front of me and I am so happy with how it turned out. It was such a small little area, but I packed quite a punch in here, I think. And I think you guys are going to love it. It is completely done. And I guess I can reveal it to you guys. So let me go ahead and share with you guys my brand new editing nook office space. So yeah, here it is. All right, guys, that is the finished office nook makeover transformation. And I hope that you guys enjoyed this video because it was a fun one for me. I really loved transforming the space. Of course, it wasn't my favorite painting it so many times. I just wanted to share with you guys that it's not always your first design choice that can be the one that you kind of go with. I always have a couple of ideas in my head of how I want to do things. And then typically I narrow it down to be one of the options. And this time I narrowed it down to be one that I just truly didn't really love in this space. It just felt a little bit too dark. I did love the color, which is why I wanted to incorporate it in the artwork, of course. But I just did not love how dark and just like dreary and it just was not bright in there. I thought the window was really going to help. But overall, once I lightened it up with the new color, I just love the way that it looks. And it just coordinates back to my room perfectly with the kind of creamy tone gray walls and also the green accents and plants and such. I also do want to thank Walmart so much for sponsoring today's video and sending me so many incredible goodies to make over this space, you guys. They have such a vast array of DIY project supplies, whether it be for your kitchen, your bathroom, your bedroom, your office, the front of your home. They truly have everything you need from paints, stains, tools, furniture, countertops, sinks, appliances, anything you need, Walmart has it. So I'm going to link their DIY and done section below for you guys so you can take a look at it. So I hope that you guys had an incredible Christmas. Please let me know what you guys did in the comment section below. I would love to hear. And then I also hope that you guys have a great, great New Year's. I cannot wait to see what 2021, 2021, wow, has in store for Lone Fox, you guys. Thank you so much for all the support as always. And I will catch you guys in my next one. Have an amazing rest of your day. Bye, guys.