Our new little townhouse has two bedrooms; one for us, and one for guests. The guest bedroom is fairly small, so there is no way that we can fit a full size bed, and both of our desks in it. So, of course, I came up with another solution. Tad will claim the guest bedroom as his own. I have even made some super cute Star Wars prints to hang on the wall for him. My little craft haven will be in the downstairs closet. It's probably best this way. With all his computer gaming I would never be able to get any crafting done with him yelling at a computer 3 ft. away.
So I set off to build a desk to fit in one of the downstairs closets.
This is a photo from the model apartment, we haven't had a chance to get into the actual apartment yet because there were still people living in it when we put our deposit down. This is also the upgraded apartment. We chose to not pay for an upgrade apartment. I was not about to pay $300+ more a month for new cabinet and closet doors...literally the only things that were different. The doors on this closet in our apt are natural wood and we will be taking them down to put my desk in.
Since I needed a desk to fit in here, I needed very specific dimensions. 60in x 30in. I thought these were unusual dimensions, and we didn't want to spend a lot of money on this, so off to Lowes we went. I decided to use galvanized piping for the legs of the desk, and then attach the pipes to a piece of counter top. This allowed us to build something that would specific fit the dimensions we needed. However, after a trip to Lowes and adding everything up we would be spending about $150 to build this. At that rate we might as well just buy a desk. We left with nothing but disappointment.
On the way home we stopped at a local resale shop to check if they had any nightstands, and there it was. The most perfect crafting desk, with drawers, and a file cabinet and it was 60in x 30in. The best part, it was $30!
So we loaded it up in the Jeep and home it went! I figured with a couple coats of paint and some cleaning I could transform this into the perfect craft desk!
Now this thing was NASTY! I started cleaning by pulling out all the drawers and taking off all the hardware. I wiped everything down with Better Life's Whatever spray cleaner. I love this company because they use all natural, non-toxic ingredients that are safe for your family and the environment.
After wiping it down I used a Magic Eraser to clean off all of the stains and smudges and grease that just wiping it down would't get. It took 4, yes 4, Magic Erasers to clean this thing, that is how nasty it was.
After cleaning it was time to prime and paint it. I used Valspar spray paint to paint and prime it. Make sure to get metal spray paint!
Of course it had to be pink.
Then I primed and painted all the drawers.
Vader was very curious about the whole process.
Then I primed the rest of the desk and decided to keep that part white and not paint it pink. (Tad's suggestion and It really looks much better this way)
I soaked the hardware in a bowl of vinegar and then cleaned it with dish soap before reattaching it.
We slid the drawers back in and reattached the hardware and it was done! It looks beautiful and I can't wait to slide it into the closet and fill it up with all my crafting tools!
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| Before and After |
I will add photos of the finished product once we move in! I may update the hardware as well.
I decided to leave the top alone because I wanted to make sure it stayed perfectly smooth for my crafts.
