Shelf

Joe's dad built this for him when he was a kid and it was one of the things that came with us to our first and second apartments and then into our house. 

The orangey stain didn't blend well with our decor and none of my stuff fit on the small upper shelf. It's hard to tell from the photos, but the shelved vary in height, small on top to large on the bottom. So I decided to flip it upside down, cut a little bit off what used to be the bottom, add legs and give it an ornate base.

Before:

After:

Materials: 1 2x4, cut down for legs,1 small piece of thin plywood for ornate pieces and paint that I had on hand.
Cost: About $10

For the decorative piece at the bottom, I folded a large piece of tracing paper in half, drew one side of what I wanted, made a mirror image on the other side, unfolded it and then traced it onto my wood. I cut it out with a jigsaw. Trust me...this was all easier said than done, I went back an forth on my design for days because I didn't have anything to work with and couldn't get it quite how I wanted.