One part of the office they couldn't go into detail about was the desk because Andrew and I did the work for it before leaving. Here's a pic of the final product (that I did steal from Laura and Kristin's blog...you guys still love me, right?):
The idea for the desk began shortly after I moved here in 2009. Laura and her husband, Caleb, have a desk from IKEA that I absolutely loved. I don't have a picture of theirs, but I can show you similar items from the IKEA site. Check out these two...
So imagine the tabletop from the first image with the legs of the second. Laura and Caleb bought the flat top and the sawhorse-like legs separately. Their legs are a bit nicer--they have slats across the bottom to provide a shelf. They bought all three pieces in a lighter wood I believe and stained them a dark brown.
Later, I was telling our friends Brett and Jenna about the desk and how I wanted one. Turns out, Brett has a much more industrial version of this he created for probably $10 or less. They bought an old door from ReStore or somewhere similar and added two sawhorses. Ta-dah! A desk.
I liked the idea of getting a door, but Brett has the sawhorses that have metal on the top, which wasn't appealing to my "vintage-y, comfy" design style. I decided to find wooden ones.
Remember, all of this happened before we even had a house. I kept the idea tucked away--because there was no room whatsoever in our condo/apt in Florence--until we had the house. Last summer we found a door at ReStore in W. Springfield (now Eco Building Bargains) for $5. I was even excited about the hole from the knob because I could run all my cords through it. That door sat in our mudroom for almost a year before we had time to get to it. All the while I kept searching roadsides for sawhorses--they don't sell wooden ones at Lowe's--to no avail. I then decided I would build them.
I found plans on About.com and started. Here are some pics of the process:
Step 1: Build an I-beam. I altered the measurements for my sawhorses because I wanted to be able to sit under the desk. To build the I-beam you nail three boards together: top and bottom are flat, the middle board standing.
Step 2: Add some legs! Again, I did some "imaginary sitting" to figure out the height. Then we cut 4 boards the same length to nail to the ends of the I-beam. (I keep saying nail, we technically used screws.)
Step 3: See if it stands! We used a level every step of the way to ensure each piece was going to work. The sawhorses weren't too level in our garage because the floor isn't level. If you miss by a bit, there is some wiggle room to pull the legs out a bit to make it work.
Step 4: Repeat steps 1-3 for another sawhorse, then add the door!
Step 5: Sit on the desk to make sure it will hold things :)
I wanted that shelf aspect Laura and Caleb's desk has, so I used more scrap wood to create a place for storage.
Like I said, the door was $5, and we bought some scrap 2x4s from ReStore for the sawhorses. We didn't spend more than $10. The lighter wood for the shelves came from the packaging our front door was shipped in.
The final steps involved sanding and staining. While I was at work one day in Connecticut, Andrew sanded the door down for me, which I didn't know until I was surprised with my entire office. I could never decide if I wanted to stain it or paint it white, but I really like the natural color it has after being sanded. I tried to stain the sawhorses, but the driftwood color I bought didn't do much to the dark scraps. Now that the desk is in the office with decorations and supplies on it, I really don't notice the different woods. Let's admire that finished product once more:
I forgot to mention. Andrew also carved our initials in the wood right where I sit. So sweet :)
Love it! Wish I was closer to see it all in person!
ReplyDeleteYou can always come for a visit :)
ReplyDelete