One Room Challenge : Spring 2019 / Week 3
Turning a Secondhand Table Into a Built-In Desk
This week’s focus for the One Room Challenge was turning a beat up solid wood table that I purchased off of Facebook Marketplace for $20 into a custom built in desk top!
As I mentioned in last week’s post, the butcher block slab that I had planned to use as a desk top in the space turned out to be much more than I budgeted for. The size that I needed would have been around $170, and I did not really want to spend more than $50.
Click the image to see product page on Home Depot’s website.
As I often do, I turned to Facebook Marketplace to see if I could find any type of butcher block surface on there. My search led me to a number of available butcher block style tables which sparked the idea of transforming a solid wood table into the desktop I had been dreaming up! I found the perfect sized table (60”x36” for my 56”x24” space) for only $20 in a neighboring town, so I contacted the seller, and picked it up the very next day!
My $20 table!
Cutting down the table. Please disregard the lack of safety glasses! Photo by Deb
My neighbors Deb & Dan were nice enough to help me cut down the table to the size I needed on their table saw. I am comfortable with many power tools, but a table saw is not one of them! Because the table is solid hardwood, it was a little more difficult to push it through the saw than I was used to. In the end it turned out great though and fit into the nook perfectly.
Sanding down the table with a palm sander.
Once it was cut down I gave it a really good sanding with a palm sander, and I managed to get rid of most of the stains that were on it when I bought it. The natural wood color is so pretty that I decided to just give it a coat of a natural colored stain.
The table top is resting on 3 wooden 1x2 supports that are drilled into studs in the wall and a heavy duty bracket. The supports were originally there to support the old laminate desktop.
The desk top fits great, but there were still a few gaps where it met the wall, so I went in and filled those spaces with a wood-toned wood putty and sanded those areas smooth.
The old table made the perfect new desk!
Next up on the to-do list is staining the top surface and applying a few coats of poly! I am nearing the end of the woodworking phase of this project, and I am so exited to start working on the lighting and the details!
Be sure to follow the link below and see how other One Room Challenge Guest Participants are progressing with their room!
