If you have decided that you would like to add a writing desk to your home study, bedroom or even living area there a several options available to you. Of course it is fairly easily to go to a furniture shop and purchased one directly, and there are also many writing desks on sale online; all for very reasonable prices. However, you can also consider making the acquisition of your new writing desk a DIY project.
Depending on your level of expertise, there are several options available. You could buy the material yourself and build one from scratch, buy an unassembled desk and put it together yourself, or buy an old or antique writing desk and refinish it yourself. Naturally the most difficult would be to make the desk from scratch, yourself. It is fairly easy to refinish furniture, especially hard-wood furniture, although it does take a bit of time. The easiest route would be to buy an unassembled desk and simply put it together following the instructions that you received with the purchase.
Building a Writing Desk from Scratch
You need to be a fairly accomplished carpenter to make a nice-looking writing table from scratch. You may find that the cost of doing this project yourself is much more than you had originally expected to be, mainly because the cost of wood has increased quite a bit lately. Finally, it is unlikely that you will be able to finish the job in one sitting so you need to be prepared that it will take quite a while to finalize the project. First, you need to buy all the material and then you need to prepare the materials you need, such as the tools and then you need to build the writing desk. The final step is to finish the wood, which also takes time.
Having gone over some of the potential cons of building a writing desk from scratch, I would like to address some of the pros. In my case, were I to consider taking on such a project, the main advantage is that I really have a lot of fun making things. I always like to have one project on the go and when I am coming towards the end of one I am usually looking around trying to figure out what I will do next. So to me, the idea of tackling the project of building a writing desk would be something I would look forward to.
On a more practical level, if you design and build your own desk you can decide exactly how you want it. If you want to custom design certain things such as the number of drawers, the location of the drawers or the size of the drawers, you have complete freedom to do so. You can also decide on the choice of material, the wood finish and how you will assemble it.
If you do decide that you would like to make your own desk there a quite a few plans and designs available online many for free, which give really clear instructions step by step on how to go about doing it. Unless you have done this sort of thing before I would suggest that you look for a plan that has already been drawn up and use that. It is much easier to make modifications to a plan than it is to come up with one yourself.
Refinishing a Writing Desk
To me, refinishing furniture is almost as enjoyable as building something myself. This is especially true in cases where the furniture is much more intricately designed and better built than I would ever be able to build.
If you are interested in refinishing a writing desk yourself the first thing you will have to do is find an old desk that you can work on. You can often find these types of items in second-hand furniture stores, at garage sales and sometimes even at the local garbage recycle place. You will have to set aside some time and go to all these different places in search of one, or you will have to keep your eye open as you go, about keeping in the back of your mind that you would like to do this. It is also a good idea to let friends and relatives know that you are interested in doing something like this. I have been able to come by quite a few pieces of furniture by letting other people know what I want.
Once you have your desk I would suggest you set it up in an area where you can leave it, such as a garage or your work area, as you will have to let it sit between each application of paint or stain. The first step is to sand it down. If you have an electric sander this will make the job go so much faster if not, never mind; just think of it as good exercise. I would suggest using fairly fine sandpaper to strip the paint or stain off the desk.
It is always good to wipe the writing desk down with a rag afterwards to get rid of any pieces of dust left lying around. Then you can go ahead and apply your first coat of either paint or stain. Now you will need to leave a fair amount of time between each coat in order for the layer to dry thoroughly. You don’t want to go adding another layer on top of a layer if the bottom layer is not properly dried. Once it is stained or painted to your satisfaction you could go ahead and add a final last layer of varnish, which you could either spray on or brush on.
It is also possible to buy unfinished writing desks. They are new and already assembled but they do not have any stain or paint on them. I really like this idea because you can bring a writing desk home and then decide yourselves exactly what you want to do with it. It gives you the freedom of being able to make the furniture fit in with your other furniture, as you can paint it any color you like. It just gives you so many more options.
Assembling a Writing Desk
Many stores sell unassembled writing desks. Usually these packages come complete with screws and everything that you need to put the desk together and you should be able to assemble it probably within half an hour.
I would recommend that you double check that all the pieces you need are included with the package and make sure the assembly the instructions are very clear before you buy the item.
So there you have a few different options for the DIY enthusiast who would like to put together their own writing desk.
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