Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Our new desk

A few posts ago, I briefly mentioned our office renovation project.

Our office badly needed a reno as we've never had a proper office. What we had instead was a small room with a bunch of random furniture including a desk I'd had since I was about 14.

Here is a glimpse of the mess that was our old desk (for some reason hubby didn't want me posting a pic of our entire office - whhhhyyyyyy?)

Bad right?

Before starting the reno we had to decide on some rules. We landed on the following:
*Repurpose whatever we can,
*only buy new items if there is absolutely no alternative
*second hand purchases and gifts are allowed! :-)

When my folks heard about our project they jumped in to help by offering a number of items from their house including this not so pretty 100+ year old piece of wood:

Which my wonderful hubby planed and sanded and treated until it became this:



Isn't it gorgeous? If you look closely you can see the holes where the square nails used to be.

Hubby finished the wood with Eco-House Hardwood Oil Finish. You can buy it in Ottawa at Healthiest Home. He sanded the wood, oiled it, sanded it, oiled it and sanded it again. You can't tell from the photo but the wood feels like butter. So soft.

We did have to buy two new things. After searching for ages for second hand brackets we ended up buying two sturdy brackets from Lee Valley.

What happened to the old desk? Hubby took it apart as it was solid wood and we've stored it for now before we turn it into something else.

Wondering about the creepy doll? That's a damned dolly. They are packaged plastic free in a tiny cardboard coffin. What? Awesome. :)

3 comments:

andrea said...

Too bad I didn't see this earlier. I have lots of shelf hangers in my basement that I would love to find a home for :)

andrea said...

By the way, I love the desk. You have given me something to think about. I have been eyeing up a desk at the Zone but not I am thinking a couple refinished strategically placed boards might be enough.

Urban Girl said...

this looks incredible!

I was wondering what to do with a small bedside table that I have and now I'm inspired to refinish it.

thanks for a peek at your reuse projects!