So, Pinterest kills me for this reason. I see a picture of something and decide to make it up as I go. Had I actually followed the directions for this cute kid's desk at iCandy Homemade's awesome blog, mine would've turned out way cuter than it did. But for a 2.5 year old, this will do.
I started with 2 cabinet doors. I learned from my chalkboard project and sanded these very well. This was the most time consuming part and it's tempting to skip over but, as I've learned, it's a necessary step. Then I used a spray paint primer. The guy in the paint department recommended using a primer with old wood because paint soaks in some places more than others. This way I'd get a more even coat with the colored paint. Oddly enough, he was hesitant to open the spray paint cabinets for me until I had fully explained my project. Maybe the fact that I bought purple and pink assured him that I was not headed for a night of tagging...that, or my babbling on about a cabinet door desk for my 2 year old bored him and he just wanted me to stop talking.
I let the primered doors dry in the sun which sped up the process. (*note: I am absolutely not a painter so please forgive me if that is an incorrect way to paint!) Then I moved onto my purple spray paint. I used an entire can of purple paint for this one project. I don't know if that is good or bad but it was fine with me.
And here is where I became a bad blogger and didn't take pictures of the building process. Sorry! I bought regular gate hinges from Lowes. I really wanted something that would close slowly but I had the hardest time figuring that out in the "hinge aisle" and apparently no one wants to help a lady out!
I also bought 4 of these cute, short table legs at Lowes and painted them purple as well. I definitely should've taken a picture of the way I painted these, I was quite proud of myself. I tied a string from my daughter's slide to our bird feeder pole. Then used clothespins to hang the legs by their tags (not shown in the picture). This way I could spray all the way around them and let them hang to dry.
So, I marked where I wanted the hinges placed and screwed them in. I enlisted my husband's help at this point because we used the power drill (screwdriver). Now don't get me wrong, I can use a power tool as good as any man, but I just like to see him work with power tools. ;) He also drilled four holes a tad smaller than the screws on the legs, onto the bottom of the bottom tray.
And voilà! The finished product!
A couple of notes -
*I actually never read the original blog post until after I had completed my project. I had only seen the picture on Pinterest but I had forgotten that she had "frames" on the top to hold the pencils and such. My thinking was to make the top be the work surface and the inside just to hold the art supplies.
*After 30 seconds of Kaylee using her table she bonked her head as the top fell down on her. So I do recommend finding a hardware store employee and asking them about slow closing hinges. Reading the original blog, I like how she used the actual door hardware. I attempted to do that with mine but we had external hinges the didn't work the direction I needed them to. For now Kaylee will just have to learn to hold with one hand, grab the necessary supplies and close the lid. I do have rubber spacers that I will put on the inside to keep from slamming fingers.
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