A long story about a pretty desk.
I live in a 750 sqft apartment with my boyfriend and my dog. This desk takes up about 13 of them. That's prime real estate around here. But it's totally worth it.
Kara, you don't need a desk.
True. HOWEVER, who could pass up this beauty?!
My little sister was in town so we were shopping around and we stumbled into one of my favorite vintage shops here in Pittsburgh. Initially we found only the legs to this desk laying on the floor (in the midst of the store's total chaos). So, we brought them up to the counter with the intention of finding a top someplace else. To our surprise, this ugly green top came with it. Apparently after it's teachers desk life sometime in the 70's, this beauty became a workbench in someone else's garage. We got it for $100, which was a good enough deal for me.
Funny enough, my boyfriend and I don't drive large cars by any means, so his sweet self drove all the way home with my newest ridiculous purchase, dropped all 100 lbs of it off at our apartment 30 minutes away, and drove all the way back, in Friday rush hour traffic... which took him another hour. At least.
The Project Begins!
I love a good project you know. The first step was to pry this green mystery material off the top of the desk to see what was underneath. We ended up using a combination of screwdrivers, hammers, pry bars, and basically anything else we could fit underneath it until it finally peeled out. Then, we had to scrape all the glue off of the wood underneath. We used a scraper and a few very sharp razor blades. Sadly, the piece of wood underneath was just a really thick piece of composite wood that just wouldn't do as a top.
I was thinking about something cool to do rather than just a piece of plywood, so I decided to get creative. For this project, I was actually inspired by Joanna's french door design in the Phipp's project. I set off to Home Depot to get some supplies. $115 in oak project boards and wood glue; money well spent if you ask me. Here's what I came up with!
Here it is! Boards all glued and sanded down. I realize I've skipped ahead a couple weeks, but I wasn't really tracking my progress. I just kind of wanted to get it done. I'll break it down for you step-by-step at the end, don't worry.
But there was one little problem...
If you notice, I had to re-border the sides of the desk so that the end grain of the project boards wouldn't be visible. Apparently my brain was only half-working that day.
I had trapped the drawers in! Global interference! Ugh. I was so disappointed. But, I can fix this. But how do I get them out...
I had three options: cut the border, cut the drawers, or face the drawers toward the wall and pretend they didn't exist. Well, the border was not going anywhere, and I had already bought hardware for the drawers. So I guess I couldn't ignore them.
Thankfully, this is a pretty old peice of furniture. I was able to take the framing apart from the bottom, without destroying the drawers.
I had bought a circular saw jig previously for my nightstand project, so cutting the drawers was *nerve wrecking* pretty simple. Then I was on to staining, polishing up the brass fittings at the base of the legs, final sanding, and hardware.
Gosh, this desk was at least 50 lbs heavier once the top was done. But it sure sits pretty under my laptop as I write this blog post.
So we hauled it upstairs and gave it some light and some flowers. We also scored a cute desk chair from another local Pittsburgh shop.
And look, the drawers open!
This desk was definitely the most involved project I've taken on thus far. It was a lot of trial and error and learning along the way. But how else would you learn, right?
Hopefully by reading this blog post.
Materials
Vintage desk
Project boards
Drawer hardware
Sandpaper
Cloth rags
Stain or finishing oil
Wood glue
Wood filler
Tools
Sander
Miter saw
Circular saw
Jig saw (or Dremel with saw attachment)
Scraper
Hammer
Project Steps
Pry green mystery material out of the desk top. Remove all of the glue and sand down the remaining surface so it's smooth and clean. This is where you'll glue your top design later.
Sand down all visible wood surfaces of the base. I used 80-grit sandpaper and a circular sander.
Pick a design for the desk top. For this angled style, I had to make a ton of cuts with my 7 1/2" miter saw.
Collect your materials. I used 1/4" project oak boards from Home Depot. They matched the rest of the desk closely enough in color, and I just love oak everything.
Make the necessary cuts for the top planks. Mock them up exactly where they're going. Pro tip: cut your longest boards first. This way, if you mess up, you can use your mistake piece as a shorter board. You can't re-glue boards back together, but you can always cut some away.
Glue down your boards. I glued mine in sections, since I didn't have many weights. I used my boyfriend's car jacks and a piece of scrap plywood to weigh down my boards for the glue to set.
Trim the borders. If you cut like me, the outer edges of the desk will be ROUGH. I didn't have the right tool for this, but I did have a Dremel. So I went back to Home Depot to get a saw-tip for the Dremel. If you have a jigsaw, use that.
Sand down the borders as flat as you can get them. I'll be honest. This will be frustrating. The border will never be perfectly straight with just a sander and your hands. But, that's what wood filler is for!
Glue on your borders. I glued and nailed. Your preference.
Sand, sand, sand. And sand. Start with 80-grit, and go at least down to 220. I ended up sanding the brass fittings on the legs to get them shiny because it was working for me. I'm not sure what's recommended, and it probably wasn't best for the brass, but that's what I did.
Use wood filler to fill in all of the tiny crevices. Let dry overnight and sand down using the highest grit sandpaper from step 10.
Once you're happy with the smoothness of the top, clean it of all the sawdust with a damp towel. And then clean it again.
I wasn't looking for a particularly heavy stain for this project, so I just used some dark finishing oil from a company I like. It actually smells lovely, and is so easy to work with. I only used half of my 16 oz bottle. Rub it on with a rag, wait a little while, rub some more on, etc. until the wood stops absorbing the oil.
Attach the hardware on your drawers.
Wait at least 3-4 days before bringing it into your house. It smelled like citrus solvent for a long time.
Buy some cute desk accessories and get to work!
Lessons Learned
If you're a low-budget DIY-er like me, chances are you don't have many power tools (yet). Rent them from Home Depot!
The design I chose was a lot to handle given the tools I had on hand. My miter saw couldn't get those really acute angles, so I had to get creative about how I cut my boards. Lesson: choose an easier angle.
DON'T TRAP YOUR DRAWERS! They hate that!
You can make your own wood filler! All you need is some sawdust (you'll have plenty, don't worry), and some Elmer's white glue. Dampen your sadust with a little water in a cheesecloth, ring it out, and put it in a jar with some glue. Mix, and use as wood filler! Now you won't have to worry about the colors matching.
This project is a LOT of work and takes a LOT of time. Total satisfaction, though.
You've made it this far, which must mean you're renovating a desk, you like reading DIY instructions for fun, or that you're from Magnolia! Either way, thanks for taking the time! Good luck and Godspeed!