{Pretty, Funny, Happy, Real} New Desk

round button chicken

the desk as it looked fresh from the yard sale

It’s not exactly that we worked on getting B a desk of his own because he’s taking on more adult studies and needs his own space.  It’s more that when he shared my craft desk, he’d forget to put his books away and I really wanted to sew more often.  He’d picked a truly cool desk set from Ikea – but the budget said we needed to go cheaper.  Dan found this white desk with puppies stencilled on it for $15.  The joints in the drawers are cheap, just stapled, but they should hold together for a few years.

M making faces while sanding with Dad

The first step was to sand off the puppies.

K in her paint smock

M and K were happy to ‘help.’

Starting to paint the desk

We had a half gallon of my favorite pretty green left over from M and K’s crib.

Umm, think it needs a few more coats

Funny how long it took to get the finish even.

Dan happy with his work

Dan was very happy with the result.

The "vortex" knobs M picked out at the hardware store

M picked out this drawer pull from the hardware store.  It reminded him of a black hole.

So far B has watched the desk preparation with bemusement.  He is only just starting to move in and feel comfortable there.  Dan wants to put a laptop mounting arm on the wall behind him so he’ll have access to his music while he studies without loosing writing surface.

B is still getting used to the set up. When I put his nook away in a drawer last week to keep it from getting stepped on in the neighbor-kid’s hide and seek game, B thought it was lost.  But as he sat at the chair yesterday surrounded by the new schoolbooks he exclaimed, “I love it.  Our house smell like a bookshop.”

I’m not sure it’s a goal I’ve ever put on the district paper work, but surely, a love of books is a life goal, and I can check it off for that kid.