Top Decoration

Here it is! I still want to find an old thrift shop chair to paint and recover to use at my desk, but this chair will do for now.

Remember where this project started from?

I am so happy it is finally finished!

I painted and distressed the desk and bookcase. Furniture around here gets a lot of use, so I wanted it not to show if it gets nicked or scratched!

I love this desk! I think the grain on top is beautiful!

...and then my new home office will be complete. I can't tell you how happy I am to have everything in one place and not covered in lint and dust from dryer sheets!
(If you're not sure what I'm referring to, read this post!)

My husband pointed out that having an office in the master bedroom is probably very un-Feng Shui...he's probably right. But we put doors on the bookcase so that all of my supplies and work related items are out of sight. The top display cabinet of the bookcase is only there to look beautiful! That is it's primary function! I have a white ceramic pot with petite daffodils in bloom sitting on my desk and a candle in my favorite scent. I want to hit up the local thrift stores and find a worn dining chair that I can paint and recover to perfectly coordinate with our bedroom! So, with all of that being said, as long as this corner of our room remains pretty and uncluttered, I think we'll be ok as far as Feng Shui goes!

I will take more pictures of how the desk and bookcase turned out - detailed photos of the painting and aging process and helpful hints about what we learned from this project!

I have orders to fill, so I guess it's time to get to work!

Gladly!

Remember the tired bookcase that we're re-purposing?

Here is the plan:
I need it to have plenty of closed storage so that little hands will stay out of it!
(I learned that lesson the hard way - last year a very cute pair of little hands found their way into my craft paints! I got there just in the nick of time and only one small pair of pants were ruined!)

I want it to be 7 feet tall, so that it will be grand enough in our current bedroom (10' ceilings), but will still fit into a room with standard (8') height ceilings. Both the desk and this bookcase will be given to our oldest son once he has his own bedroom.

The top bookcase will have two shelves - a 12" opening, a 10" opening and an 8" opening. It will have doors exactly like the bottom bookcase. The display shelf at the top will be 12" tall and will have beaded board in the back for a decorative touch. The crown molding on top will be 4" tall.


Here is the raw wood waiting to be transformed!

I am so ready for this project to be done! I want my bedroom back and currently all of my supplies are on the floor! My Handy Man is out in the garage working on this for me though and promises that I will be able to get a coat of paint on it today, so hopefully I won't have to wait too much longer!

Why, you ask?
Because today was the day that my laundry room finally became
just a laundry room!

And I am so excited about it! You see, for the past year and a half this room has been working over-time as laundry room/office/craft room/storage room, all while washing and drying laundry for a family of five. It was far too much to ask and it was failing miserably. I wanted to take a picture of the "before", but it was so bad that I couldn't even bring myself to push the button on the camera.
It was that bad!

A while back we built a desk for a client and since it was too cold in the garage I had to paint it in my bedroom, so that it would be warm enough for the paint to dry and cure. It was then that I knew it was possible to carve out some space in our master bedroom and have an "office" all for myself.
(It makes me smile just typing that!)
My husband was not on board with my idea at the time, but yesterday upon opening the laundry room door and being greeted by a seemingly never-ending pile of clothes and a washing machine and dryer covered in cardboard, wood, paint and paintbrushes, he suddenly saw the light!

He began building me a desk right away!

Here is the corner of our room as it has always been and where I am putting my new office...

Here is a mock-up! Perfect spot, right?

My hard working husband building away...

The desk was built entirely out of materials that we already had. Bonus!

I love the wood grain! I'm a sucker for knots and imperfections! The more character the better, if you ask me!

This is a bookcase that we've had for many years. It has moved with us from state-to-state, house-to-house. And now it is getting a new lease on life!

A pretty routered edge on the top...

And brand new doors built from scratch by my handy man!

We added knobs and we're designing and building a top for it, so it will be like a hutch. It will sit behind my desk and hold everything that I need!

Today I got the laundry room all cleared out and now the only thing non-laundry in there is a basket full of the kids' art supplies which used to sit on top of the fridge. I was happy to be able to find a new home for it and the laundry room held the perfect spot for it. But other than that, all you will find is laundry inspired items!

And I'm quite happy about that!

Off to paint the desk and cabinet!