Scavenger Chic

Why I Destroyed My Dump Desk

• By Joan
• March 14, 2016
• 8 Comments

Last April I shared with you a desk that I had made from legs salvaged from a dump and wood that was leftover from my storage cupboard. No sooner had I finished the desk than my son and his wife came visiting.  

They loved the desk and had been looking for one about that size to take the place of a huge desk that was currently in their office.  Their office is the size of a walk in closet, and their current desk was way too big for the space. Unfortunately, they didn’t think my desk would work for them because they had a desktop computer, not a laptop, which probably wouldn’t fit on the desk.

That was pretty much the end of the conversation, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought… how much work would it be to modify the desk? What really cinched the deal was Stephanie, my daughter-in-law, was having a birthday at the end of the month and a desk would make a perfect gift.

Do you remember my cute little dump desk?  Actually only the legs were retrieved from a dump.  The top portion of the desk was mostly made from lumber from the salvage yard and a bit of pallet wood.

It had lots of drawers and cubbies to hold lots of stuff.

And the top was finished off with a graphic from The Graphics Fairy. Don’t remember? I don’t blame you, It was a year ago, but you can find the full tutorial here.

It didn’t take too much effort to take the desk back apart.  Not the entire desk, I just needed to take all the storage off the back of the desk. The glue took the stained finish off  some of the white paint, some of the glue didn’t come off at all and the back strip of wood was never painted in the first place.

I was able to solve all my problems by just sanding down the entire back board and repainting the whole thing white followed by another coat of tinted wax to match the rest of the desk.

A piece of trim that I had put on top of the storage piece was moved and now sits on the back edge of the desk. I didn’t have to touch the graphic since I was only working on the last board.

And now for the top piece…Once I removed the shelves and cubbies, there was no bottom to the shelves. A 1×6 was cut the length of the shelves.

Another 1×8 was cut 2 inches longer than the length of the shelves for a wider shelf on top.

An additional 1×6 was cut the same length as the bottom piece.

Before nailing, finish the inside of the 1×6 where it will be inside the cubbies.

The two 1×6’s were nailed and glued into place as shown. 

That extra 1×6 is for these tin roofing shingles which will serve as a magnet board once they are attached.

Finish the top 1×8 and the remainder of the 1×6’s before using builders adhesive to attach the roofing tins.

A couple of pieces of wood trim hide a little bit of the rough edges on the ends.

Since the roofing tins were not the exact width to cover the entire space under the shelves, added a couple more pieces of decorative wood, cut to fill the space.

Wood slices with magnets glued on the back will hold any ‘to do’ lists securely.

The shelves are attached to the wall with a french cleat, similar to this one sold by Home Depot.

While my son and his wife have had the desk for nearly a year, I finally got over their house to take a picture. Just in time too, they were getting ready to sell their house and take on a fixer upper. 

Do you remember the oak office chair?  It’s the same one Stephanie found at a yard sale last summer. She had been looking all day for a smallish desk chair to go with her desk.  At the end of the day we finally spied it, just as it was about to make it’s way back on a truck and at $5, it was the deal of the day.

While the desk and cubbies fit great inside their current office,  I hope it fits as well in their new home or I may be working on a new desk.

Shared at Metamorphosis Monday, Inspire me Tuesday,

Trash 2 Treasure, Talk of the Town, The DIY Collective,

Handmade Hangout, Friday Furniture fix, Best DIY Salvaged Junk,

DIY Sunday Showcase, Silver Pennies Sundays,

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