Sunday, 4 September 2011

Build a Desk for Your Home Office: Welcome to the 137th Metamorphosis Monday!

Happy Labor Day weekend!  Have you been relaxing, grilling out...or taking advantage of the long weekend to get a few things done around the house?

I'm excited to share a fabulous DIY project for this Metamorphosis Monday.  Recently, Traci who blogs at the fabulous blog, Beneath My Heart, created a wonderful desk for her home office.  She did such a great job, her sister had to have one, too.  Traci got to work building one for sis and lucky for us, she's spilling the beans on just how she made it.  I'm thrilled to welcome Traci to BNOTP for this Met Monday.  Take it away, Traci!

Hello! My name is Traci, and I blog at Beneath My Heart.

I am so excited to be hanging out on Susan's porch today! I was so honored when she asked me to guest post on her blog. Susan's blog holds a special place in my heart because it was one of my mom's favorite blogs and one of the first blogs I ever read. So to be sharing one of my projects with you today is a HUGE thrill for me!

Thank you, Susan!

If you have never been to my blog let me tell you a few things about myself.

I am the mom of 4 amazing and very active boys!



I am married to the Ultimate Handy Man.





And for fun, we do things like this together...



We just moved into a new home this past June, and we are currently adding a new addition to our home. We are trying to do it frugally and mostly on our own. We are hoping to create old home character in our new addition. I would love for you to follow the fun/chaos with me and my boys!

Today, I wanted to share with you a skirted desk I made for my sister.

A few weeks ago, I made myself a skirted desk to help create some extra storage in my home. I used some wood and a drop cloth to create it.



You can read about how I made it HERE.

Well, my sister was in need of a big desk for her home too, and she liked the idea of having extra storage under a skirted desk, so she asked me to make one for her birthday.

Of course, I said, "yes."

I decided to make hers a little different from mine, so I painted the wood white and added a burlap skirt instead.




Here is how I made it!

I bought from Lowe's:
  • four 2x6 wood boards
  • two 1x2 wood boards
  • four 2x4 wood boards
  • white paint
  • wood screws
You can make your desk any size you want, but I made my sister's desk about 6 feet long. After I cut my boards with a table saw, they looked like this...





Then I had to create the rectangular support box for underneath the table. I used my 2x4 boards for my box...




I measured these boards so they would create a box that was smaller than the top of my table.




Then I attached the 2x6's to the rectangle box with my nail gun and some wood glue.





When I was finished, the bottom of my desk looked like this...



Now it was time for me to attach the legs. I cut some 2x4's twenty-nine inches long since the average height of a desk is about 30 inches. With the 2x6 boards on top of the table legs, that makes my table measure about 31 inches tall.






To fill the nail holes that my nail gun left, I used a wood filler.



All you need to do is spread some wood filler into the hole with your finger and let it dry. Once it is dry, you can use a sander or sanding sponge to sand it down.



I gave the whole table a good sanding and then painted it white. All I had left to do was attach the skirt.
I measured the burlap for my skirt to be 30.5 inches long. (I purchased my burlap at Hobby Lobby.)
I stapled it with a staple gun to my 1x2 board that was cut the same length as the side of the table. I just folded the material over every 4 or 5 inches and stapled it to the board. You can make your pleats as large or small as you want.



Then I used my wood screws to attach the skirt to the bottom of the table.



I did that on all three sides of the table.



I was really hoping my sister would like it, and she did! Whew!
I think it looks great in her bonus room.



Now she has a huge desk space and storage space underneath to enjoy!


Now she can blog to her heart's content on her pretty new desk. :)
I hope you enjoyed this project. Creating beautiful decor for my home for less is something I am passionate about. If you feel the same way, then come by and see me sometime. We can be new blog buddies!

beneath my heart

Thanks again, Susan, for having me here today.
Blessings,
Traci


Traci, thanks so much for this great tutorial.  I love how you've taken us through the building process, step-by-step.  The skirt is such a brilliant idea...looks great and provides so much hidden storage.

Be sure to stop by Traci's wonderful blog for more inspirational DIY posts!

Looking forward to your Before and After!

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Metamorphosis Monday:
If you are participating in Metamorphosis Monday you will need to link up the permalink to your MM post and not your general blog address. To get your permalink, click on your post name, then just copy and paste the address that shows up in the address bar at the top of your blog, into the "url" box for InLinkz.

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In order to link up, you'll need to include a link in your MM post back to the host blog, Between Naps on the Porch so your regular readers will be able to find the Met Monday party which ensures your friends and fellow bloggers will receive lots of visits, too.

PLEASE DO NOT type in all caps...it spreads the links waaaay out. Thanks!

Let's try something fun today! Please visit the person who linked before you and after you...that way everyone will get some visits. Hope you'll visit more, of course.


Welcome! Thanks for coming to the party!

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