My tween daughter had suddenly decided her adorable antique white vanity that used to be Grandma's just wasn't for her anymore. No amount of convincing arguments that it was the perfect piece for her bedroom was persuading her otherwise and she was constantly googling white desks and vanities. Are you kidding? A kid of MINE is wanting to buy a NEW piece of furniture? That crap that's made out of pressboard? Surely not. That's when the idea of building one customized just for her using these two castoffs hit me.
About a year ago, I drove by these on the side of the road. They were sturdy and solid so I tossed them in the trunk. Inspiration wasn't hitting, so they sat in my workshop taking up room with the thirty two other pieces of uninspiring furniture. I thought originally they were nightstands, end tables, or maybe even the sides of an old vanity that used to have a mirror in the middle. But now that I look at the before and after side by side... they may have actually been part of a desk to begin with! Unless the original owner steps up and makes their voice heard, I guess I'll never know!
I used the "wet rag and hot iron" method to try to get the rest of the peeling veneer off, but it was crazy stubborn. Like my daughter. So I resorted to my stash of lath boards, the stash that I thought would last forever and is finally proving that it won't.
Have I bragged on my Ryobi nail gun lately? Oh, I did in the last post? And the one before that?
Yeah well, it deserves to be bragged about in every post. Makes slapping this stuff on so easy.
Bam, bam, bam, done.
I only did the lath treatment on the sides that face out. The insides were smooth and didn't need anything hidden. Once that was done, the whole shebang got the white paint treatment.
Next came the top. I had picked up these nice wood planks from a surplus sale at Albion College. They look kind of like table leaves, but I think they were part of a cubicle or something. No clue really, so I'll quit guessing. But they were nice and blond and had a rounded edge, perfect for the front of the desk. I used the table saw to splice the second board for the perfect sized desk top.
Since I have "stashes" of just about everything, I rummaged through my stash of mirrors and found an oval one. It also got the "white paint treatment" and looks muy bueno over the desk!
Behold - the FINISHED PRODUCT!!
Oh, what's that stencil you see? I had the urge to add some pizzazz and tossed my Mandala stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils cock-eyed over the desk top. I used my roller with white paint on it to go over the stencil and in less than a minute had this beautiful design on top! My girl wrinkled her nose a little at the extra detail, but she always takes a minute and is cool with it now.
She is obsessive about white lights and very soon after we moved the desk into her room, she had rigged up a wall of lights as a backdrop. Pretty cool, girl, pretty cool.
Oh hey, let's talk drawer pulls before we go!
The holes for pulls were an odd size. I had nothing in my "drawer pull stash" that would fit, and Lowes failed me too. So it was DIY pulls for the win. You can click HERE for my tutorial on how to make these wood drawer pulls!
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