Contained Chaos » Discount Diva Desk

Discount Diva Desk

21 January, 2010 (18:31) | Decorating, Kid Rooms | By: Michelle "Chaos Caretaker"

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Caitlin “Creative Chaos”, our middle daughter, is treading that fine line between little girl and pre-teen. There are days she asks for definitive timelines regarding particular life privileges like shaving her legs (we aren’t there yet) or how long she can continue to trick or treat. That is why it wasn’t a huge surprise when she requested her own desk for a little more independence while doing homework (and other creative chaos.)

I found a couple of white desks online, but they were well over $100, so I turned my attention to thrift stores around town. After a couple of weeks of searching, I found a very dirty, cobwebby (is that a word?) and damaged antique vanity at a bargain center. A very helpful salesman agreed that although it was an antique, he would part with it for $20.

I like the bones of the vanity with its turned legs and potential for a flat writing surface.

The first order of business was to remove the damaged top and scrape the peeling veneer. Removing the top proved to be quite a challenge…have you ever tried to remove nails from petrified wood? (dramatic interpretation)

It took almost a whole day to shimmy off the top of the vanity without causing major damage.

With the old vanity top removed, it was time to fit the frame with a new desktop. I will state for those of you who are unfamiliar, I LOVE power tools. I currently do not own a router (the nifty tool that creates beveled edges on wood pieces) to cut my own desktop. A chaos comrade, offered a helping hand…and use of his router…to fashion a new edged desktop (thanks, Mr. Tony!) Then it was time to prime, paint, sand, paint, sand, paint…well, you get the idea. I finished the project off with some very cool reproduction crystal drawer pulls. I and my (almost grown) Creative Chaos was thrilled with the results!