Home Improvement failure

Ever since I bought my house, I've had all kinds of ideas about how to make cheap home improvements. I've really only so far mentioned the successful projects. Last weekend I had a rash of unsuccessful projects and started my week off feeling like a total failure. At least at work I know what I'm doing...usually.

Late summer last year, I bought a cheap ($30) 5-shelf bookcase from Target.

Laminate/wood composite crap

It's one of the ones that is literally held together by the cheap fold-out backing, which is nailed onto the frame. Basically: if you ever want to move it after you build it, good luck!

And that's just what I tried to do: move it. By myself. The bottom collapsed.

Now I needed a place to put my books! Soooo I decided to take the hand-me-down TV stand I was going to try to sell on Craigslist (also made of laminate and not selling anyway) and paint it.

Let's just make a long story short: you cannot paint laminate furniture...at least, not successfully.

The other project I wanted to attempt was making a "rug" out of a canvas drop cloth. Sounds really lame, right? I know, but hear me out. Several posts on Pinterest told me it was possible and people have been successful. Since I will soon need some area rugs and I can't afford them, I figured buying a $10 drop cloth and using some leftover paint was worth a try. I had it all laid out and ready to go and then I got cold feet. My confidence was shaken. I just couldn't GO ON!

Ok, it wasn't that bad. I only softly wept...and then consoled myself with frozen yogurt.

There was one "home improvement" project that was successful, however.

FLOWERS!

Too much?