The Desk that Rose From The Ashes

 This is a story about a desk, that thought it was a Phoenix.  You see, sometimes a fire destroys things, but sometimes it gives something the opportunity to be even more beautiful when it comes out, then when it goes in. Such is the case with this desk.  Time has a way of causing things to get a little shabby looking, and this desk was no exception.  But when it survived a house fire and was scorched,  it was sooooo shabby that the owner of the desk decided it was time to get it fixed up and beautiful again.  So they brought it to us and the phoenix-ifying began.  In the first picture you can see all the parts it was in when we got it.  The one pedestal was still mostly together,  and the frame for the top was together, but everything else, the drawers, the cubbies, the side panel,  were all in pieces.  The desk had to be stripped  and then sanded, giving extra attention to the scorched areas.   The owner of the desk chose a dark stain color which also helped to hide the appearance of the scorched, fire damage areas.  We also replaced the leather writing area which was gone.  The desk owner chose the color of the leather from a selection, as well as the gold embossed print around the edge.  The most important step in the process of applying the leather is prepping the surface.  We have to make sure it is as smooth and as flat as possible, any bumps will be felt through the leather's surface.

The desk looks beautiful now that it is done.  One would be hard pressed to see where the fire damage once scarred it.  It is ready  now to be taken home and given a place of distinction in it's new residence.

Roll Top Desk Gets Some New Pieces.

 Work continues on a Roll Top desk which came to us in so many pieces, I playfully called it the 'Humpty Dumpty' desk.  We put the entire thing together and once we did, the discovery was  made that it was missing a few slats on the tambour unit.  The owner of the desk gave us the go ahead and we had 3 more slats custom made to fit the originals.  Now we have to cut them to length and drill holes to match the rest of the unit.  A wire runs through these holes to keep them together, instead of them all being glued to a cloth.

Another project on this Roll Top desk is that of creating new drawers for the cubbies.  There was only one drawer left.  We were able to use this original drawer to  determine what the styling of the new drawers should  be.  The 3 smaller drawer still need a handle, then all the drawers,  and the new tambour pieces, need to be stained to match the rest of the desk.  This should be an interesting task, and  the finish on the rest of the desk is pretty old an worn.

Tell us about  what projects you are working on right now.  We would love to hear!

Child Sized Rolltop Desk with a Chalkboard!

This adorable child sized roll top desk just got it's repairs completed today.   I wish I had thought to take a picture before it was repaired!  But I can at least recount for you what we did to get it in it's current cute shape.  You can probably see a pale line across the top, that is where the wood was broken in two.  We could have done color work to make that line  disappear, but the owner's of this desk decided not to have us do it.  We also repaired the tambour unit,  made the chalkboard writing surface be able to slide in and out,  repaired the falling apart cubbies and put the stand back together.

This is such a cute desk.  I envy the child who gets to spend their hours playing school at such a neat little workspace.