Office Project: The desk!

I have no excuses.

It has taken me forever (well, at least a week) to blog about the desk—and for no good reason, other than that it has taken me that long to take and edit a few pictures.  But the time has come…

You can see my concept drawing for the desk here, and the technical drawings here.

It took me two trips to pick up all the pieces of the desk from the talented craftsmen at Sean’s Woodworking in Salt Lake City.   Have I mentioned that it’s NINE FEET wide??  Go big or go home, I say!

They would have been happy to bring it to me and install it for me—but that version is for people who have more money than time (that’s not me).  But never having installed cabinets before, I really didn’t know what I was up against!  So here’s a quick re-cap, if you’re interested.

Because I was going to be installing things myself, they built the upper cabinets with a cleat system, so they could be briefly hung on the wall on a 2x4 until I could screw the cabinets themselves into the wall.  This was a very good thing.  Otherwise, it would have taken a fair amount of juggling and weight-lifting to get everything up and level!

I carefully marked my studs, and first screwed the cleat for the bridge unit into them.  Then I discovered that the cleats for the bookshelves on either end did NOT transverse two studs!  That was not a happy moment, and that’s why the cleat is crooked in the picture!  I ended up using drywall anchors to secure one end of the cleat.

I prevailed on a neighbor to come help my husband and I lift the bridge unit up onto the cleat—it was heavy!  Then I screwed it into the wall.   The side pieces we could handle on our own!

I posted this “sneak peek” on Facebook the day we were installing it!

I ran into a few snags on the installation.  This desk is meant to be used for a computer, and so we needed holes for cables/cords to pass through.  When I picked the desk up, I was supposed to have them drilled—but we all forgot.  They assured me I could do it myself, but it was really NOT an easy project.

For example, drilling though the desk top involved drilling through TWO 3/4” pieces of wood, plus a 3/4” piece of MDF!  It took a good 20 minutes to get through all that.

…but at least I learned that the desk was sturdy!  Yep, I climbed on top of it.  And really—it was easier to do that part than the two holes that had to be drilled in the sides of the cabinets below!

But drilling the holes was only part of the solution—you see, there are DRAWERS under the counter top, and thus there was no where for the cords to go.

My solution was to knock off the back of one of the drawers, cut the drawer bottom down my 3 inches, and reattach the back of the drawer.  It was a little hard on the MDF…

…and trust me, it was emotionally difficult to break part of a brand-new and expensive desk!

Next problem was due to a bit of a miscommunication, I think.  I requested a pull-out shelf in the right-side cabinet for my printer.  They built me a drawer inside the cabinet:

The difference was that my printer wouldn’t fit in the drawer!  So I took it out to my table saw and sliced off the top three inches all around—thus creating my own shelf.

Not so pretty, maybe, but it worked!

So here’s a brief tour of my favorite features:

** My printer is tucked away, with space for paper as well!

** The CPU is also tucked away, but in a prettily vented cabinet (I got the idea to use decorative sheet metal from Meridian Road).

** I love the upper bridge.  I gave up on seeded glass (it was expensive).  The cabinets look like they open upward, but that’s only because of where the pulls are installed.  Upper hinges are VERY expensive, so this was a great cheat!

**  I love the corbels under the bookcases, but I will admit that they are not as eye-catching as I hoped they would be.  But I love them because Sheri from Sean’s Woodworking let me come to the shop and help paint and distress them (more on that another time).

So there you have it!  It is, without a doubt, the “most major” part of the whole “front-room-to-office” project.  There are still more things to be done in the room—a couple of furniture pieces to finish, and I’d like a rug—but we’re actually using that poor unloved front room now!

And I am happy to say that I actually like having the computer there.  It’s easier to keep track of what the children are doing, more convenient for me to use, and best of all…

…it’s pretty!

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P.S.  The Map Wall may be found here.

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This project has been featured at My Repurposed Life and Primitive & Proper.

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Linking up here:

	Elizabeth & Co.
Sisters of the Wild West	No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	It’s So Very Cheri
Cowgirl Up!	{aka} design

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Office Project: Plank Wall

I already showed you the map wall for my front-room-turned office project…but that is not the only wall that got a makeover!

Were you able to guess what I did from this picture?

Probably not!

Well, let’s back up a little bit.  This is the wall you see when you walk in my front door (remember…no “entry” in our house).  Not very exciting, is it?

Well, inspired by Miss Mustard Seed’s guest room

and Thrifty and Chic’s dining room,

I decided to plank it!

Here’s a brief description of what I did.  I used a lathe strip (leftover from my “green tree” sign project) to define the left edge of the wall.  I decided not to mess with planking the overhead beam for the doorway.  But you know what?  Right this minute—I think I just decided that I regret that!  I may have to go back!  Yeah, like that will ever happen.  I also marked every-other stud line on the wall with a pencil.

I purchased three 4’ x 8’ sheets of 1/8”-thick hardboard from Lowe’s.  They were about $8.50/sheet, making this a very inexpensive wall treatment!  I had the nice man at Lowe’s cut them into 6” x 8’ strips.  He was able to do all three sheets at once, so it really didn’t take as long as you might think!  Note:  In my experience, Lowe’s has a much more liberal cutting policy than Home Depot does!  But I love both stores.

Then I simply butted the left side of the boards against the lathe strip, and nailed the boards into the studs wherever I could.  I did NOT choose to use any glue.  That way, this is only a semi-permanent wall treatment.  I don’t like to think of how many nail holes I’ll have to fill when I decide I’m tired of it…

I know it’s silly, but I was exceedingly proud of myself for notching out the spaces for the light switch and electrical outlet.

Almost done!  I had to rip the last board down to fit.  I didn’t even have to take off the baseboards!

I covered the right end with another lathe strip, to hide the uneven ends. 

Then I painted the wall with one coat of primer and two coats of Behr Ultra paint (color match to Sherwin-Williams Creamy).  Another note: the nice thing about the 1/8”-thick boards was that I was able to use the same switchplate and outlet plate covers.

Planking that one wall (it’s about 10’ wide x 8’ tall) took about three hours in the morning—and yes, I did it ALL by my lonesome.  Those kitchen chairs that keep appearing in the pictures are what I walked across from one side of the wall to the other!  The painting and priming were done by the time my husband got home from work, so it isn’t too bad of a project. 

I also put up the wall mural on the same day, also before my husband got home from work! 

But when he did get home…I sent him to KFC to pick up dinner

There will be some more things on the wall eventually—but I always knew I wanted this great metal clock in there, so it went up right away!

Next installment:  installing the desk!

Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Elizabeth & Co.
Mod Vintage Life	No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Cowgirl Up!	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	It’s So Very Cheri
Common Ground	{aka} design

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Office Project: Map Wall

When last we visited my front-room-turned-office project (seen here), I left you with a little teaser of the wall treatment for the desk wall:

Yeah, I’m kind of ornery that way!

I really wasn’t particularly planning on doing something special that wall, except maybe painting it a to-be-determined accent color.

But there I was, minding my own business, and my latest Pottery Barn catalog arrived…and there was this picture:

Oh, I fell…and I fell hard!

Oh, how I love the look of that map-covered wall.  The problem?  The Pottery Barn decals are $129 each, and to completely cover my wall, I would need…four. 

Yeah, that’s a little out of my budget!

I will spare you the details of my long and exhaustive search for a reasonably-priced alternative, and just share the good news…

I found one!

Target carries a map wall mural for about $89.  With an on-line coupon code and free shipping, I was able to get it for about $80—and it’s 8’8” x 13’!!  (It’s also easily trimmable.)

Can I get a woo-hoo??

So I ordered it.  And here I am “testing it out” by holding pieces of it to the wall with painter’s tape!

I think…I like it.

Here’s the kicker…the wall mural comes in 8 sections.  They are NOT pre-pasted, although the mural does come with some mix-it-up-yourself paste.  I have put up a fair amount of wallpaper in my time, but pasting your own is a MAJOR PAIN.  After a panel or two, I discovered it was better to paste the panel AND the wall, but it was still really, really tricky to get everything to line up.

Since the desk is going on this wall, I am counting on it to cover my flaws!

Here are the first two panels in place:

And here’s a peek at the completed wall!

I think it’s an improvement over what I started with, don’t you?? 

And here’s a peek at the adjacent wall…more on that to come!

  (hint:  no matter what the picture looks like, it really isn’t just painted white!)

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This project was featured at Simply Klassic Sunday.

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Elizabeth & Co.
Mod Vintage Life	No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Decorating Insanity	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	It’s So Very Cheri
Common Ground	{aka} design

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Office Project: 3D rendering & more!

I know this is going to sound utterly ridiculous—but I have worked on SO many little (and not-so-little) home projects over the past couple of weeks that the prospect of “blogging” about them is overwhelming!  I think that’s why I like furniture—each one is a discrete project with a beginning, middle, and end.  It makes it much easier to write about!

So I’m going to try and break things up a little, rather than remain silent any longer!  Believe it or not, the office project is actually on-going!  When last we visited this project, I was in the room-planning stage (see here).

I shared my “design” here, as follows:

…and Sheri from Sean’s Woodworking (a local furniture builder in Salt Lake City) turned my little sketch into a 3D drawing:

Isn’t that amazing? 

As you can see, we made one minor change, which is trading the drawer bank with the cupboard where the printer will go.  It seemed to make more sense to keep the CPU and the printer next to each other.  I also gave up on the seeded glass (it’s expensive!), but other than that, its pretty true to my “vision.”

While the desk is being built, my job was to set up the front room with Internet access—would you believe it’s the ONLY room in the house without a phone jack??—and to move an outlet from where it would have been covered by the desk.

That was a big deal!

You-Tube and a wonderful friend (Zack’s dad) were invaluable in figuring out those projects!  A You-Tube video helped me learn how to remove--and replace--our vinyl siding so we could daisy-chain a new phone jack off of the adjacent room’s jack.  It was a (fairly) simple matter of running the wires underneath the siding rather than through the walls.

Rather than splicing electrical wires, we were able to remove the old outlet box and just “stretch” the wires to a new box.  They were just long enough to give me the six inches I needed!

I was left with some pretty funky holes from that job, so I turned to You-Tube again to learn how to patch dry-wall.  As you can see by all the screws, I attached short pieces of wood to the existing dry-wall, and then used them to anchor the patches.

Don’t laugh.  It works!

Next step was to tape…

…and mud everything.  I think I used two coats of joint compound.

Then I had to figure out how to give some matching “orange-peel” texture to the patch.  I used an old terry-cloth washrag and “pounced” more joint compound onto the wall.  I can’t say it was perfectly successful—but good enough for me!

But the best part is that the new wall treatment hides my patching job very well. 

Want a peek?

More to come!

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