Saturday, August 13, 2011

I made a desk

I made a piece of real furniture. It's funny to actually say type that. But it's true, with my expert handy man dad on deck we hammered, glued, drilled, painted (and glazed) our way through Anna White's parsons desk tutorial to end up with this beauty...

Have you heard of Anna White? She's awesome. Instead of paying a fortune for furniture from stores like Crate & Barrel or Pottery Barn she makes them herself and provides step-by-step instructions for people like me.  The desk I made is similar to the parsons desk from West Elm [found here].

It all started with a stack of wood...



We did all the construction in Pennsylvania which took about 4 hours and the final assembly and painting in Maryland.

And just because I love a good before and after photo...
The cost for all the wood was $120.00 compared to the $299.00 price tag of the original West Elm desk.

I love the end result. All the hard work and paint stains on the carpet was worth it. Nothing  like lifting the drop cloth at 11 pm to find that some of the paint bled through. What did I do you ask? Freak out, panic, utter lots of apologies, scrub the floor for hours, cut the carpet, consult professionals Tell myself it's okay and live and learn. DIY is just that. Do. It. Yourself. which leaves much more room for error.

Anyway, I made a desk and for that I'm proud.

8 comments:

  1. Wow! Very impressive!

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  2. Oh my gosh, that's awesome, Molly!! Great job!

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  3. Absolutely stunning!

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  4. Amazing! I love Anna White I just haven't gotten brave enough yet :) I'm so proud of you!!

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  5. So ambitious! I've really been wanting to make an outdoor coffee table from a shipping pallet. Maybe you'll be my inspiration :)

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  6. I love Ana-White! We made 3 Bankers Bookcases for our playroom. It was relatively simple and SO much cheaper. (Each shelf is $2-600 each!)

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  7. Wow! Looks exactly like it! and I'm sure the bonding time with your dad made it all that much more priceless :) xx-Jackie

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