B's Desk

For Christmas, I wanted to make my son a desk where he can study and do his school work.  He's in kindergarten this year and surprisingly they do bring a lot of work home.  He has been asking to have a desk in mom's office so....I drew up some designs.  Granted, nothing ever turns out the way that I plan but it's good to go in with some sort of idea. (not sure why they are sideways...)

We stopped by Lowe's to pick up some lumber.  B got to pick most of his own stuff out.  I also found that a near by Sutherlands, sold a different brand of chalk paint so I think I'll try it out.  Here's the color he picked out.

Let me tell you, I had every intention of working on this thing and with the holiday craziness it didn't appear it would get done in time.  My dad surprised me with working on it this weekend.  It's off to a great start and he did such an amazing job.

Changed our minds on the top.  Decided to give it a 1/2" overhang on either side of the desk so we cut it 23" long.

Then, routed the sides for both the top back piece and the main lid (not shown in picture).

Attached the top back piece with screws and used wooden buttons to cover up the screw holes.  How cute!!

Tonight, we'll be working on hinges and attaching the legs.  Need to do some sort of support structure underneath the desk.  Benton picked out what look like stair spindles for the legs and I have my doubts on how well they will hold the desk up, it's pretty hefty. Then I'll do some light sanding and on a mad dash to get it stained/painted/poly tomorrow!

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Alright, the legs aren't going to work.  I'm going to keep these on for now but they are definitely getting replaced after Christmas time... They will be shorter and square....the top just doesn't match the bottom.  Also, just a forewarning, the paint job may look a little crazy but I'm not done yet.

All built

After doing a light 220 grit sand, I went ahead and taped off where I was going to stain.

In dark walnut of course...

Removed the tape and painted in the new brand of chalk paint.  Overall, I liked the coverage but the paint seemed really thick.  Not sure if it had been sitting on the shelf for a while or that's just how it is.  I may have to add a little water when using it on the next pair of legs.

Yes it's pretty blue right now...

On the agenda tomorrow is polyurethane,  Some sanding on the chalk paint and some clear and dark wax.  Apart from the legs, isn't it just darling?!?

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Okay, finally back to the desk.  So I scrapped the legs and picked up some 2x2's from Lowes to use instead.  I did a light sand on the top of the desk because I'll be putting another layer of polyurethane...I used a satin finish last time and didn't like how it looked so I'm going gloss this time around.  Since this was custom made in my dad's workshop, we branded it...turned out pretty cool.

I messed around with layer the chalk paint with 2 different blues, I wish I would have done this to the top part of the desk too but it was fun experimenting with it at least.

Then did my coat of polyurethane with clear and dark wax on the new bottom legs (which are about 6" shorter than the original legs and made a huge difference).

After it dries I'll take a picture of it since it will be going in our now "shared" office.  Hopefully school work will be a little cooler with this new desk.