Friday, August 21, 2009

Desk Transformation

My current craft/sewing table is a gem. It is a $20 card table from Wal-Mart (don't worry you got 4 chairs with it for that price as well. P.S. one of those is currently my craft chair; gotta see what can be done about that) Anyways... it has a big, ugly sheet of plywood underneath of it. Why does it have plywood underneath of it you say? Because the card table is so wobbly and my carpet is so squishy that unless I sew at the slowest speed possible my machine dances right off the table. The plywood only makes it possible to go one speed above a snails pace but I've been managing. Well after my cup full of pencils, rulers, scissors, etc danced itself off the table while I was sewing one day I'd had enough! I headed to the DI to find a good 'ol sturdy piece of furniture to transform into my new craft/sewing desk.

I am so pleased with this DI transformation. This started out as a banged up old desk. And a HEAVY desk at that. My sewing machine's dancing days are done! Although I picked it up at the DI for $20 it had come from a local university and had "PROPERTY OF WEBER STATE" printed huge on one side. Unfortunately I do not have a before picture. My sweet husband wanted to surprise me while I was out of town and he painted the desk for me while I was away. So sweet and much appreciated, but I am bummed I didn't get a before picture. But it looked very similar to this:

Fake wood Formica top, metal sides. The standard desk that I'm sure every teacher at your high school had. It had some deep scratches and dents where a chair had obviously ran into it over and over. He sanded the scratches out and pounded the dents as smooth as possible and then gave it a new coat of black spray paint. (Thanks hon!)

Then I went to work on the top.

I bought a variety of black and white printed scrap book papers and Mod Podged them to the top of the desk. After 2 coats of Mod Podge I started applying a satin polyurethane. 3 coats of that (sanding between each coat of course) and TA-DA!



I am very much in love with it. I would like to hang a big peg board above that desk to store all sorts of crafty things, but in the meantime the drawers will work great.
Total cost?
$20- Table
$4- Spraypaint
$5- Scrapbook Paper
$4- Mod Podge
$2.50- Polyurathane
$35.50 for a new, no dancing table! Whoot Whoot!

So long card table! You WON'T be missed!

26 comments:

Rebekah said...

Now that's a craft table!! Excellent!

Unknown said...

LOVE IT! You did such a great job -

JD and Ash said...

WOW that turned out amazing!!I love it!

randee said...

that looks fantastic! what a great idea!

Char @ Crap I've Made said...

Beautiful! REALLY great job!

Gina @ MoneywiseMoms said...

What a great transformation! Lovely job. Don't you just love Mod Podge? :)

Kimberly @ Seriously Daisies said...

Great job!!! It looks awesome! :o)

Jenn said...

Soooo cute! I never would have thought about modge podging the desk...I would have gone the easy and terribly uncreative method of just painting it!!!

Valerie C. said...

Great job - creative, practical and bargained-price!! Will you do the drawer fronts, too with the same papers, or totally different ones, maybe??

Tam, I am said...

I love it! It's gorgeous and functional! Great job!!!

Janele M.Stratton said...

Great Job!! You took something that is normally cold and impersonal and added your own personal flair and personality. Keep up the great work!

Connie said...

Saw it on Mod Podge Rocks- I absolutely LOVE the transformation!

Jennwith4 said...

Very cute!

:::b r a n d i::: said...

That is adorable! I want one...I need to hunt down a garage sale!

lg2006 said...

You did a fabulous job! I just love this! I also worked on a new desk this weekend! you can see it at www.igriza.com
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Christina said...

great job! love the results.

The How-To Gal said...

I love transformations like these! So inspiring!!

Emily said...

I absolutely love this! I just recently discovered the variety of uses for scrapbook paper, as well.

Amy Jo said...

I love it! Good for you, sanding in between coats of poly. I'm ussually too lazy for that detail oriented kind of thing....

Carmen said...

This is just gorgeous! *whispers* I've not used Mod Podge before but I keep reading good things so I must try it. Congrats on your new desk - it's so much better than anything you could have bought 'new'.

Hadley Family said...

I found the link to this post from Mod Podge Amy's blog....it was sent from Above!!! I have the exact desk, minus the black spray paint, in a lovely shade of mustard yellow. I now know what fate awaits my wonderful (and I second your motion, HEAVY) desk that I have moved 3 times now. Thanks for the inspiration!

Shai Williams said...

Love your desk! I have a craft table that I have been planning on doing something with. Now I know what I want to do with it! Thanks for the inspiration.

HereBeDragons said...

Beautiful. Scrapbook paper. What a great idea!

Unknown said...

hey, my DH picked up that EXACT SAME DESK off the side of the road for me the other day! He was working in a nice area of town and found the desk in nearly mint condition waiting to go in the trash. It is just the perfect size to cut fabric on! I should show him your transformation, I think my desk would look sexy with a little makeover ;D

jbuffan said...

So stinkin' cute!
I HAD a desk exactly like that in my garage for the past 4 years it was in excellent condition too no scratches or anything....just gave it away to my bro-in-law because I was in the mood to pitch stuff. Dang it! this is why I never get rid of things. As soon as you do you find a use for them. That is so cute and you have to admit the size is perfect for crafting.
LOVE the black & white.

Jen Yancey said...

this is exactly what i'm looking for!! can you tell me what kind of sand paper you used? thanks so much