All Desked Out

Recently I've been talking about a new project that B and I are undertaking at home, and believe it or not, it has nothing to with our front entrance construction! We're actually back down below trying to finish up work in my laundry room / craft room, and B has been busy building me a new desk. Lucky girl, right?

The last time I showed you my craft space, we had my old desk from my parents home filling in for the time being...

Not bad, I mean it was a place to do homework and blog from, but I wanted something larger and that worked well for what I needed it for - blogging, drafting, crafting, etc. The whole idea for B building me a desk started when I spotted this one in the latest IKEA catalogue...



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It's the VIKA VEINE (can't find it on their website, strange, no?). I loved that it had a space for me to blog and work from, and could close up keeping everything stored inside, making room for things like drafting floor plans without having to pack everything else up. The inside of the top of the desk was also lined with a fabric, with some elastics to hold pictures, pens, etc. It seemed like the perfect desk... until we saw it in the store and realized it wasn't that sturdy or large... and also had a price tag around $200. In the end, B concluded building me a similar desk would be a much smarter option. So away he went...

The legs we bought from IKEA, but the rest of the desk was completely constructed by my oh-so talented other half! Isn't he great? The best part? The top that lifts is slightly angled much like a true drafting table. 


The whole thing has been painted (all white, with the front panel in a bright yellow. I'm undecided on whether I love the yellow or not), with the exception of the inside of the top of the desk...

They aren't pictured here, but there will be two pistons on either side of the desk that will hold it open. Actually, they are the exact same pistons that B used on the cover for the bed of his pick-up truck. Those bad boys are heavy duty. We had to use a window latch at the bottom of my desk to hold it closed. Yes, my desk will open automatically when unlatched. Fancy!

As for the top of the desk, I thought about using magnetic paint, chalkboard paint and a combination of both, but in the end decided to use cork. I won't be covering it with any fancy fabric, because this will be my inspiration board and I would prefer my beautiful images, fabric samples etc to stand out  and not be overpowered by a pattern. So, we bought some cork the other night, now we just need to adhere it to the top of my desk.


I'm so thrilled that B opted to go the custom route with this project! I already love my new desk and I haven't even had a chance to use it yet (still blogging from the basement day bed for now). B plans to share a full recap of building the desk soon, and I'll share a full reveal when the whole desk project is complete, I just couldn't wait any longer to debut it.

Do you have a special place to work from, or a custom piece that was built just for you?