I have wanted to say this for a long time but....THE DESK IS DONE! I'll apologize ahead of time for the length of this post but to say I'm happy is a major understatement!!
At the end of August Bob came home from work one evening and asked if I wanted an old desk one of his co-workers wanted to give away. They were moving, didn't have room for it in their new home and just wanted someone to take it. He explained it wasn't in brand new condition but was really heavy and REALLY large because it was a two person desk. My junk instinct kicked in and I said YES, please bring it here!
A few days later Bob went and got it with the minivan. It literally filled the entire back of it with all the seats removed. Bob looked at me and shook his head but I just stood and drooled.
It was beautiful. It had been well-used so lots of nicks and dings which in my opinion adds to the character. The most amazing part was it really was a dual desk. Built for office partners or something so that each had their own drawers and workspace but could look at each other all day long.
If I had the talent or money I would have invested in restoring the piece to it's original glory but since I don't have either we quickly decided it would have to be painted. I'm almost ashamed to admit there was a brief conversation about cutting it into two pieces but that craziness ended almost as fast as it started. It's so unique and just not something everyone has in their home.
Bob did most of the sanding (because he's good at it and I was a little intimidated by the mere size of it to get started)
It got a good coat of oil based primer because we knew we would use it and it had to hold up, at least for awhile, to our family. Flipping and maneuvering the monster was a challenge but after the first time we figured out how to grip, slide and lift it just right.
Again there was a lot of debate conversation about what color to paint it. We tossed around white, black and even gray. Finally settled on black satin.
I did most of the painting because let's face it that's the fun part. I also sanded the drawers, filled in holes where we removed the original handles then sanded again. Total learning experience for me but pretty rewarding to say I did it.
Because of the condition of the desk it was natural to distress it after it was painted. The already worn corners and nicks were apparent so why not highlight them a little more. I started in with the sandpaper and as the black rubbed away the tinted gray primer started to show through. I'll be totally up front with you...I hated it at first. I was near tears thinking I had completely destroyed what was a beautiful piece of furniture. The more level headed Bob looked at it and said he liked it, told me to walk away overnight and look again the next day. The next morning I realized I too really liked the gray showing through the black. It was kind of industrial looking and gave it even more depth.
We went with a nickel handle and I've got to say the handles are probably one of my favorite parts about how it turned out. The silver and black combo makes it pretty enough for me and manly enough for Bob.
On October 30th (only 30 days after I said it would be in the basement) Bob and his friend moved it down the stairs into our basement office. I don't know exactly how just the two of them did it with an appliance dolly since it's large, awkward and weighs over 200 pounds but they did it with it all in tact and no holes in the walls!!
It was a lot of work but we both really like it and the way it changed the whole feel of our office. We took advantage of clearing the old desk out to also rearrange and hang some new things up on the walls. The office before felt thrown together. As usual there are still things to be done in here but for now I'm loving our office, new desk and being able to say IT'S DONE!
