How-To- Craft Desk
I knew that the first must-have in my craft room was a tall workspace for cutting fabric and laying out patterns. You don't realize how much you are bending when you are using a normal table until your back hurts so much that you can't stand up. I have been drooling over this tall desk at Pottery Barn for oh like 5 years.
But that baby is over $1000 and there was no way that I was going to drop that kind of cash in the craft room. Luckily creative people figured out to recreate it on a very small budget. Jannypie inspired to recreate it on my own.
I mentioned in a previous post that many things in the craft reno did not according to plan. This table was one of those projects. And all because I wanted it to be black.
The supports of this desk are Closetmaid shelves that you can buy lots of places and they come in a rainbow of colors......except black. But I thought that it would be no big deal, I would just buy the dark brown and add a couple of coats of black spray paint. Derek had his doubts but I knew I wanted black and was convinced that it would be so quick and easy. I was especially excited to try Rustoleum Universal paint which supposedly sticks to everything.
So I set out my outdoor spray painting studio, grabbed one of the 8 cans of spray paint I had bought and started the transformation. Unfortunately this is what I got:
While I would not consider myself a spray painting expert, I have used it quite a bit and never have had problems with thick splatter. The lines on the laminate (top pic) magically appeared when I applied the paint. I was discouraged but still had some ideas. I sanded a couple of pieces since I assumed I needed to have a rougher surface and then tried again. Same results. So now half of the shelves were painted badly and I was out of ideas.
After going to sleep very frustrated, I woke up determined that I would just have to do it the old fashioned way with primer, paint and a brush after it was put together. So I scraped off all the universal paint with my fingernail and a putty knife. It scraped off no problem. Obviously it was not universal.
So here is how I really had to do it. It would have been a very quick and easy project if I could have been happy with a white desk (or espresso, pink, blue, red or natural)
Materials-
2 Closetmaid 9 cube shelves
1 sheet MDF (the top I used we had cut to 3x6 at Home Depot. It is much easier to get it into the car in pieces)
2 1x4's
1 1x3's
decorative moulding
Screwgun
Screws
Nails
Hammer (or nail gun)
Wood Filler
Sandpaper
Primer (used oil-based Zinnser)
Paint (used Ace Cabinet and Trim)
Polyurethane
How-To
1. Construct the Closetmaid shelves per the instructions in the box.
2. Space the shelves according to the size of the MDF top. Screw the MDF into the shelves using screws. We countersunk the screws so that they could be hidden with wood filler. Countersinking involves first drilling a hole with a drill bit the size of the screw head before screwing in the screw so that it is just below the surface of the MDF.
3. Screw 2 1x4's into the two long side. Make sure they line up with the MDF top so that you have a smooth work surface in the end. Add 1x3's to the opposite sides (in the inner part) to help support the top.
4. Add trim to make it pretty. We added two different types of trim, one at the top and one at the bottom. Derek received a nail gun as a Christmas present last year and this was the first project since then that we needed it for. So we were super excited to read all the instructions and get it out of the box. Obviously Derek listened about the part with protective eyewear but missed the section about not using a nail gun in bare feet.
5. Fill all the screw/nail holes with wood filler. Since my husband wants to make sure it is really "secure" he added lots of extra screws. So this step took me awhile. After the first coat dried, I lightly sanded it and then did a second coat of wood filler. Then I sanded again. Since we countersunk the screws, the top was smooth with no screw heads.
6. Next came primer. When I normally paint things black, I use a tinted primer. But since I had such bad experience with paint sticking to these babies, I decided to use Zinnser's oil based primer. I wanted to use what I had already had in the basement, so it had to be white.
7. Then came the black paint. I put three coats of Ace Cabinet and Trim Paint in Cannonball (the same color as the kitchen cabinets). Normally it takes two coats, but with the white primer, I felt like I needed a third.
8. After the desk was black, I added a coat of MinWax Polyurethane in Satin finish. Then I lightly sanded and added two more coats.
Ta-Da!
Budget Breakdown:
$80 2 Closetmaid shelves (normally $50 a piece but got them on sale at Target.)
$45 total lumber cost
$0 paint/other supplies since we used what we already had
=$125 for entire desk
Who needs Pottery Barn??
Wanna see the entire room put together? Click here.
But that baby is over $1000 and there was no way that I was going to drop that kind of cash in the craft room. Luckily creative people figured out to recreate it on a very small budget. Jannypie inspired to recreate it on my own.
I mentioned in a previous post that many things in the craft reno did not according to plan. This table was one of those projects. And all because I wanted it to be black.
The supports of this desk are Closetmaid shelves that you can buy lots of places and they come in a rainbow of colors......except black. But I thought that it would be no big deal, I would just buy the dark brown and add a couple of coats of black spray paint. Derek had his doubts but I knew I wanted black and was convinced that it would be so quick and easy. I was especially excited to try Rustoleum Universal paint which supposedly sticks to everything.
So I set out my outdoor spray painting studio, grabbed one of the 8 cans of spray paint I had bought and started the transformation. Unfortunately this is what I got:
While I would not consider myself a spray painting expert, I have used it quite a bit and never have had problems with thick splatter. The lines on the laminate (top pic) magically appeared when I applied the paint. I was discouraged but still had some ideas. I sanded a couple of pieces since I assumed I needed to have a rougher surface and then tried again. Same results. So now half of the shelves were painted badly and I was out of ideas.After going to sleep very frustrated, I woke up determined that I would just have to do it the old fashioned way with primer, paint and a brush after it was put together. So I scraped off all the universal paint with my fingernail and a putty knife. It scraped off no problem. Obviously it was not universal.
So here is how I really had to do it. It would have been a very quick and easy project if I could have been happy with a white desk (or espresso, pink, blue, red or natural)
Materials-
2 Closetmaid 9 cube shelves
1 sheet MDF (the top I used we had cut to 3x6 at Home Depot. It is much easier to get it into the car in pieces)
2 1x4's
1 1x3's
decorative moulding
Screwgun
Screws
Nails
Hammer (or nail gun)
Wood Filler
Sandpaper
Primer (used oil-based Zinnser)
Paint (used Ace Cabinet and Trim)
Polyurethane
How-To
1. Construct the Closetmaid shelves per the instructions in the box.
2. Space the shelves according to the size of the MDF top. Screw the MDF into the shelves using screws. We countersunk the screws so that they could be hidden with wood filler. Countersinking involves first drilling a hole with a drill bit the size of the screw head before screwing in the screw so that it is just below the surface of the MDF.
3. Screw 2 1x4's into the two long side. Make sure they line up with the MDF top so that you have a smooth work surface in the end. Add 1x3's to the opposite sides (in the inner part) to help support the top.
4. Add trim to make it pretty. We added two different types of trim, one at the top and one at the bottom. Derek received a nail gun as a Christmas present last year and this was the first project since then that we needed it for. So we were super excited to read all the instructions and get it out of the box. Obviously Derek listened about the part with protective eyewear but missed the section about not using a nail gun in bare feet.
5. Fill all the screw/nail holes with wood filler. Since my husband wants to make sure it is really "secure" he added lots of extra screws. So this step took me awhile. After the first coat dried, I lightly sanded it and then did a second coat of wood filler. Then I sanded again. Since we countersunk the screws, the top was smooth with no screw heads.6. Next came primer. When I normally paint things black, I use a tinted primer. But since I had such bad experience with paint sticking to these babies, I decided to use Zinnser's oil based primer. I wanted to use what I had already had in the basement, so it had to be white.
7. Then came the black paint. I put three coats of Ace Cabinet and Trim Paint in Cannonball (the same color as the kitchen cabinets). Normally it takes two coats, but with the white primer, I felt like I needed a third.8. After the desk was black, I added a coat of MinWax Polyurethane in Satin finish. Then I lightly sanded and added two more coats.
Ta-Da!
Budget Breakdown:$80 2 Closetmaid shelves (normally $50 a piece but got them on sale at Target.)
$45 total lumber cost
$0 paint/other supplies since we used what we already had
=$125 for entire desk
Who needs Pottery Barn??
Wanna see the entire room put together? Click here.
