D and His New Desk

With D on his way to 3rd grade we decided he needed a desk in his bedroom. Before summer break we asked him if he wanted to go out and buy one or he wanted to find an old desk in need of some love and fix it up. To our surprise he said he wanted to find a desk and give it some love.. :) I really thought he'd want to go with the easy way but his decision made my heart so happy.

This was going to be a summer project.. I made sure he understood just how time consuming the project would be.. His current desk was the little plastic Ikea desk.

So I spent the next few weeks finding the perfect desk.. and we found one. $15 and it came with a matching chair

 Disclaimer - This is in no way a how to guide.. it's just the way we did it. 

We started by taking out drawers, the drawer pulls removed.. the chair seat taken off. And then we cleaned everything with Lysol wipes.. 

Next we sanded everything.. I had bought an electric sander when we were working on our Formal Dining Room and it is one of my favorite tool purchases. I sanded everything for D and then we wiped it all down.

We then lay down a tarp in the garage to create a work space for ourselves. Since I was working with an 8 year old.. the project was broken down into many parts that we did over many many days.. didn't want to wear the child down.

Then he started to paint.. we had seen many pics on pinterest and we tried to pick something that was not too hard and something he could have for a long time but still be fun. Our first coat was white paint with built in primer.. We started with a small roller but it was creating a texture that I didn't like so we decided we would switch to a brush on the next coat.

The desk got three coats of white paint..we lightly sanded the desk between coats. The drawers got one coat of white primer and then two coats of another color..

We took off the legs and color blocked them white and gold.. the knobs where also painted gold. 

And then we went fabric shopping.. before he picked the colors that would go on the desk I wanted him to buy new fabric for the seat.. and it was while fabric shopping that I realized just how hard it is to shop for boys.. girls have it easier in this particular area.. they can go floral.. pastels.. or dark colors.. there is no pattern off limit for girls because we can do and be anything.. but unfortunately the same doesn't always apply so easily to boys. He could have gone pink if he wanted to.. he has a light purple room.. but he struggled with the choice.. now older they have already started to label things as too girly.. in the end we narrowed it down to two choices. We also bought some foam to make the seat a little comfier. 

and then we picked our paint colors accordingly.. it was a fun process to share with him.. though there were times when I thought he thought man this is soooo much work.. I don't think he had expected this many steps or coats of paint. 

But the finished desk was worth it.. he was so proud of his accomplishment.. as he rightfully should be.. proud mama moment.. 

I applied two coats of Minnawax sealer. We bought some red gift wrap to line the drawers and  bought a blue desk lamp.. 

H already wants to do one for his room too.. all in good time.. here's a glimpse of D's room

       

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