DIY Built-In Desk

Sorry y'all. No final kitchen reveal as promised today. Instead we are jumping to a different space under construction: My office. Bedroom number 2 of three upstairs. It's been my little space for my clothes and all of my stuff since we moved in. But alas, having a baby is about compromising and changing and making space and so I am gladly welcoming LB into "my space" to create our combined office. The desk may go, but the clothes? They stay. :) Speaking of the desk... that big blue bad boy was PERFECT for law school. It was a Goodwill score that we painted before school started and it served me well throughout all the studying hours that were mandated for my little ol doctorate. But the time had come to take it apart and scoot it along.

I also had to say adios to my dressing bar... sad.

We had kicked around a lot of idea of what to do with the double desk situation that needed to happen. In the end we went with what would be the most simple: a double desk "built-in" made from stock cabinets at Home Depot, plywood, and laminate flooring.

We picked up two 18 inch lower cabinets (they each have drawers) and one 12 inch guy for the middle. When putting the plywood down we cut the slab in half and then used L brackets to attach it to the wall.

Once we got the slab all the way across the top, we stopped for a few days because we had to figure out what we were going to do for bookshelves on the top of the desk. Originally, I assumed we would do Billy Bookcases from Ikea. However, they were way too tall and as someone who has tried to cut Ikea crap before, we knew that trimming them would NOT be simple.

So, LB found these on Amazon for $97 each (picture is linked):

They were the perfect height and price. Once they arrived we realized that the decorative pieces weren't attached already. Which was great because I hated them for this project and was planning to saw them right off.

We once again used an L bracket all the way at the top to attach these to the wall and left space at the top for crown molding and trim to be applied down the road.

As for the top of the desk, we just picked up some Allure Laminate flooring and using an X-acto knife and some tape for the lines, trimmed it up to fit. In hindsight- I'd get a piece of wood that I could stain and call it a day/the desktop.

The bookcases are all loaded up now, but we still have the trim work and the other wall to deal with (read: finding a futon/couch/daybed that we like for that space and clearing out the pile of tools that got moved in here from the nursery. We need a shed people. We need a shed real bad).

So stay tuned for the final word from our office...

400th Post!

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's tax day! Yay! In order to cheer up your day-o-taxes, I have news.  

We are updating my office. Like gutting it and starting over.  If you follow me on Pinterest you might have picked up on the plethora of office pins. My office basically looks like this still.

Plus a bunch of picture frames from re-doing the living room and losing that dresser where we had pictures. Currently, LB's office has been moved up to the third bedroom and the gym has been moved out. But, we are missing the gym space, so we are going to combine our two offices AND add a guest space with a daybed in here.

As I've mentioned, we've got someone staying in the basement for a while and so have lost our guest space. Being able to still have a room for them would be super nice. I wasn't planning on pulling any sort of trigger in here for a good long while (think Kitchen plans, yard plans, bathroom plans), but...

I found this bad boy on Craigslist!

Ummmm hello ADORABLE. I was going to pick it up, but then I realized that I could probably get a cheaper one since I am going to paint it. Regardless, here is the plan (I THINK) for it.

For the desk area where we need two desks, some combination of these three:

We need two desks, we have a window in the middle on the wall I think they are going to go on and I want it to be built in. I am thinking that we will have one sort of long desk space in the middle and then builtins up the walls on each side like the third picture above. For the built in shelves, we are going to do the typical blogger thing and use the Billy bookcases from Ikea and add molding (cough, have cheap guy add molding).

The opposite wall is where the twin bed will go.... if it fits....

I am still trying to figure out WHAT to do with the closet doors that are so loud and clunky and awful. I'd like to do french doors but then that whole wall is useless for a bed or desk set up (#swingingdoorproblems). So basically this idea below with built in cabinets on the left and right corners of the new built in desk, and my closet on the left.

UPDATE: This is why I blog! Ashley sent me this idea:

After chatting, we are thinking of flipping the corner desk and bed locations to open up the space a little bit more. Also, in terms of resale, having one built in desk might play to the masses more than two... 

The thing with this space is that I could go totally modern with it or keep it pretty soft and shabby chic-ish. I sort of want to do something bold in here since our bedroom is pretty muted and beach cottagey. I mean, look at this bed!

Hmmmm. Lots to think about... lots to think about.

So, hit me with your ideas people!