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My hubby is the BEST! He just built me the most sturdy, beautiful desk, and I couldn’t be more thrilled!
Our old desk was a dark, mahogany-colored desk that we got from Office Depot years ago. It was a typical-sized desk, which was fine… but I am one that likes to have everything out and organized and seen. I was utilizing drawers, shelves, cubbies and more to store my stuff, but I wasn’t using most of it since it was tucked away. I was ready for something bigger!
The way our office is laid out is that there are two solid walls that meet. The third wall is a wall with french doors, and the fourth wall has a big window. I envisioned a big desk, and started looking at L-shaped desks online. I felt like an L-shape would work really well sitting in the corner of the two solid walls, and would take up part of each wall.
We found some great L-shape desk plans on Handmade Haven. This desk had the farmhouse “X”s on either end, which I love. The only thing we did differently was make both sides of the desk the same longer length of 75” (from corner to edge).
Stephen started off with making the “X” ends of the desk. This used 2x4s for the frame, and 2x2s for the “X”.
He then worked on the frame of the desk, using the “X” ends as support.
He used a gazillion pocket hole screws and lots of wood glue to keep this desk together! Also, note the single 2×3 that sits in the corner to hold up the desk. I was worried that it wouldn’t be enough support for the desk (especially because we added length to one side), so Stephen added some extra supports underneath the sides using 2x4s.
He added the 2x4s to form the top and used the pocket holes to keep them in place. We moved the desk outside so he could do the five (yes, five!) rounds of sanding. He started with lower-grit sandpaper (for deeper sanding) and moved up each round for less-intense sanding along the way.
Look how nice it looks! Ready to paint…
I painted the bottom part of the desk white, using my go-to Rustoleum Chalk Paint. It took two coats of the white to give it a solid look. I stained it with Minwax Mocha stain (two coats) and I used one coat of Polycrylic water-based semi-gloss polyurethane to protect it.
Once it dried overnight, we moved it in! Luckily, my brother was in town and we could utilize his muscles, because this thing was a beast. It was really solid, but it was also big and had to be turned vertically to fit through the door.
AHHHH! I love it!!!! Check back for more pictures when I get it set up, and also for an office update. (I’m still looking up ideas for what I want to do… decisions, decisions!).
