Monday, June 7

A Freebie Desk

I have my parents to thank for this one, too.

My dad saw it by the side of the road on his way to work, called my mom, and she went and picked it up. Then they drove it all the way to my house. They're nice like that.

I should probably start taking before pictures of these things, but for now just use your imagination to picture it brown and peeling and ugly. Because that's what it was. I sanded off the loose parts on the bottom and then hit it with a couple coats of spray paint. Easy peasy. And I love how I can still the roughness behind it that gives is a distressed look.

The top I sanded to bare wood, stained, and polyurethaned. I like the two tone finish, and the top with be super easy to wipe down.

Since the desk doesn't have any drawers, I got these boxes at Ikea to fill that role. I'm also hunting down baskets at yard sales to fill in the rest of the shelves. All in all I think I've put about $10 into the storage pieces for this project. And that's all I've spent. I used paint, stain, and polyurethane that were left over from other projects.

This desk looked nasty when I first met it, but I loved the traditional style the moment I saw it. The important thing with freebies is to look at the potential, and this baby was full of it! By using an updated two-tone finish and some modern accessories this desk turned out perfect for my home. And I had a lot of fun doing it, too. :)


7 comments:

  1. um, wow! i need to start looking around at what ppl are putting out on their curbs! you did a great job refinishing, too.

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  2. Amazing way to make furniture, I like this. Thanks for sharing with us.

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  3. Have you every thought about making the extra baskets/storage out of paper mache, that way you have the control over what sizes you need and how many to make?

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    1. that was supposed to read ever*. typos are fun :)

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    2. Ha ha, I hate it when that happens! :) And no, I never thought of that! What a great idea! And you could cover them in fabric to make them super cute. :)

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