Monday, February 21, 2011

The Making of a Desk Part 1

Since posting our School Desk

Before

and

 After

I have had a lot of questions about how we did it.
I have to say this will be a hard post to write because there are lots of steps. I am going to try and keep it as simple as posible

I am dividing the process into two parts.

I hope you can take this info and apply it to a project of your own.

So here we go.

-To start with we bought an entire kitchen of solid wood cabinets off of Craig's List for $100
-They were stained a very orangey color so I sanded and painted them
-We used part of them in the basement for our school desk for over a year
-I hate the basement
-Idea was formed in my head to change the formal living room into a school room
-Sweet talk Hubby and sell him on idea
-He thinks it is a good idea, YAY,let's get started


-Remove upper cabinets from basement and bring upstairs


(my dad came to help Hubby with this part)
-Mark wall for studs
-Determine height of cabinets
-Level and screw in a board to rest cabinets on while attaching them to the wall


-Screw cabinets into studs on wall


-Remove board the cabinets were resting on


-Sand, prime and paint insides of the cabinets


-Fill in nail holes and cracks on the outside of the cabinets then prime and paint



-while primer was curing we worked on the desk top

-We made a rectangle out of 2x4's, slightly smaller than we wanted the top of the desk


-Reinforce for strength and to have a place to nail the top into later


-Attach the rectangle to the wall with screws that go into the studs



-Attach legs, purchased from Lowe's


-We used 3 - 7inch (cut to size) pieces of 1inch lumber to make the top


(we took a few days off because of life and I had to start moving our school books upstairs, so ignore that part please)
-once we had them cut and in place we nailed them in with  finish nailer


-Fille in all the nail holes and gaps with wood filler


-Let dry over night



-Then sand


-After sanding I finished the top with stain and polyurethane and painted the sides and legs.


Now move onto Part 2 for the big finish


Sit Relax and Read

4 comments:

nina@themissadventuresofnina said...

I may have to buy a house just so I can do this!
Simply amazing

Holly Lefevre said...

This is fantastic! I have so been wanting to build something like this at my house. Your tutorial is fabulous! Thanks for sharing this...lets see if I can spring into action now! I am a new follower.
Holly
504 Main

InMyOwnStyle said...

Hi Cha Cha-

This is such a great idea for a long wall. I bet your girls love sitting and creating here. I can't wait to see the finished product.
My best- Diane

Laurel @ Ducks in a Row said...

What a fabulous place - thank you so much for sharing!