"The Desk"

If you are one of my friends on facebook, you have no doubt been privy to my latest obsession - my new desk. It's unhealthy to post so much about a silly inaminate object and yet...well, that's me for ya. I guess you are probably all wondering by now what this desk looks like. And here is one of the many wonderful things that I love about having our internet back up and running...I can blog about it as I am thinking about it! No more having to wait (and in the process losing all inspiration and motivation) to post! Yay! The Hallelujah chorus is playing on Repeat mode in my head today.

So...without further adieu...

(photos courtesy of Megan J. Roberts - photographer and seller of "the desk")

You guys may or may not be thinking, "THAT is "the desk"?"

Haha

Yes, it is. Or, more importantly, WAS.

And the main reason why I am SO ecstatic about it is that I,
little 'ol
me, did this ALL.BY.MYSELF. (Okay, well my dad did drill the holes out a little bit for my new handles BUT other than that...MOI)

I started out with a vision and the rest...as they say is [pictorial] history...

This was just after I cleaned it...to prep for sanding...

This was after a coat of paint or two...



Then came the fun part...distressing!

I also distressed around the edges of the desk but didn't take any pics of that. I kept it pretty light overall because I was a little nervous. For as much as I love distressed furniture, to do it myself after I had just spent so much time trying to make it look pretty felt almost like a crime against myself! haha Next time I'll be more daring for sure!

After all of the cleaning, sanding, painting, distressing etc, I put a couple of coats of polyurethane on it, some beauteous new drawer pulls and viola!

The finished product...

I'm not super happy with the way this pic turned out. I'll try to take one during the day when I have more light in this room and see if I can get something a little better. It makes the desk look dull (and yellow?) and it certainly does not look dull in person (it's in fact, white...a creamy white, maybe, but certainly not yellow - ew).

So, there you have it. My very first ever furniture project.

I am so proud of it. I bought it 2 Sundays ago and finished it in less than a week. If I wouldn't have been so sick that week with Strep Throat, I could have even finished it sooner but there were a couple days in there that I could.just.not.work. Ugh, I was so ill.

But, it's done...yay! It's not perfect but it's mine. :) I also didn't really do it on a budget. I bought the desk for $30 from my friend, Megan. It is a solid wood knee hole desk with dove tail drawers so it's a good piece. Just needed a little facelift to make it a little more up to date. The drawer pulls were the most expensive fix @ $4.57 a pop x 9...paid more for the pulls than I did the whole desk but again, that's me for ya. Other than the pulls, I spent $ on a quart of paint plus a brush, roller, paint tray and polyurethane. All in all, it cost me about $100 (including the $30 I paid for the actual desk). I'd be hard pressed to find a solid wood desk for that in good shape and in the style I am interested in. Most run $300-$400. So, I still consider this a good deal in the end and more than anything, I can say...I did that. That's all me. That makes me SO proud. :)
AND...quite honestly, it gives me courage to try it again! Yard sale season is upon us and you know I'm gonna be eyein' up the furniture this year. You just can't look at things as they are...you have to look at them as how they could be. Everything deserves a second chance, right?! ;)

Hope that you enjoyed this post and if you have a furniture re-do story, please share! I'd love your inspiration as well!

XO

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