Gust Gab: DIY Project - This old Desk!

ah, speaking of DIY Projects...this blog has really gotten dusty, hasn't it?

I thought that as the kids got older, I'd have soo much free time!

BWAHAHAHAHA!

Anyhoo...

I still want to document some projects, some of my life's work...

So...

I'm back at it, a little.

Both of our kiddos have wanted desks for quite some time.

We are short on square footage at our house, plus...

Would they use them, or would they simply become a place to collect things?

Well, my local second hand store had a smallish desk, in pretty rough shape - but for this price?

(Plus, 25% off on Thursdays!! WHOOOO!)

Why not?

SOLD!

I tossed in the back of my Traverse and brought it home.

To say that it was in rough shape, would be an understatement.

The previous owners had even carved names in it...

The hardware was not my favorite...

So I put my best handyman on the job, removing it.

And I have ZERO experience with Chalk Paint - but I read that you don't even have to sand...

So...why not, right?

And much to my surprise! It DID cover, amazingly well!

And I loved this turquoise color!!

Derek and I did this while she was off and running somewhere else, because with that girl, if you give her choices...it just doesn't always end well.

Would she like this??

We hunted high and low and low and high for new hardware.

There is sooo. much. fun. hardware!! for desks out there...

but...not for this desk.

Turns out, most hardware is 3" and these handles are 2" -

And yes, there are work arounds...but this is us, and we aren't terribly DIY-ey at our house...

So...we used some shiny silver spray paint...

And...Viola!

Now, I know what you are thinking...

This doesn't even look like the same desk...

That's because we have terrible lighting in our home, and I tried to snap some pics just now so you could see the finished product.

She's been using the desk sans knobs for awhile now - we finally decided to stick with what we had and put them on...So...

until I can get a great photo in better light....

Finding a chair to fit this smallish desk was also a challenge - but we found these awesome cubes at Gordmans - the big soft fuzzy one is just a solid block, perfect height for her to sit and work at her desk - the two cubes off to the side, those are actually storage cubes, and they can hold up to 250 pounds sitting on them as well...

Perfect seating in her room when friends visit, and a nice place to stash that stuff you don't want out in the open, too! Win-Win!