Workstation Rehab

 Well hey there!  I hope you all had a fab Memorial Day Weekend.  It was cold and rainy here for the first half, so I got busy on some indoor messes I had.  I have many, but my (lack of) office has been bugging me- so I got creative and built this here desk/workstation out of spare things I had laying around the house:

Here was the problem.   Since renovations began, my office has become the dumping ground for EVERYTHING that temporarily needed a home.   That is my desk under under all that crap...

 And the guest bed made its way back in here too.  Once again, under a load of junk...

It hasn't been a place I wanted to be. 

(and don't even ask about the zebras- I will get to those in another post)

  

So I put my computer on the kitchen table and the kids have hijacked it.  Please note the sticky cupcake fingers that Joe is about to lick and then touch my computer with.  I couldn't take it, so I decided to move back into my office.

Having the bed back in the room was cramping my style, but it had to stay.

My big desk table had to go.  Time for a new desk area.

I had 4 of these upper IKEA Effekiv cabinets (they are now discontinued)...

and I had these closet doors from our old kitchen pre-reno...

please note the Effektiv cabinets in their past lives- 

above as banquette seating and below as a side board

So I stacked the Effektivs 2 high and cut a top out of the old doors...

I was able to configure an "L" shape and use the Effektiv with doors on the left to hide my junk, and keep them open on the right to act as shelves for things I use a lot...

 Everything needed paint. 

 I was liking the black top so I went with it.  I used the chalk board paint to cover the sides  and painted the lower cabinets white....

 I then coated the top with two coats of a flat polyurethane.  The thickness of the door and the lack of sheen makes it feel a bit like soapstone.  

I was going to cut a circle in the top for my computer wires, but I lucked out with an uneven wall that bows a bit right where my computer is.  I have a 1/2 inch spacing for teh wires to come right through, and since the top is black I don't notice it.

I joined the seam with a metal mending plate underneath to hold it all together...

filled with caulk, then painted. 

 I attached file holders from IKEA to the ends to keep papers at bay and I repainted the starburst O'verlays white and reattached them to dress it all up...

My husband thinks its perfect just like that- with no clutter- and I am sure many would agree.

But I am from the polar opposite camp and I need to be surrounded by it for inspiration, 

so I prefer "my brain neatly exploded on the wall" chic.

I still need a light fixture and some tweaking, 

and the other half of the room is undergoing a bit of change too. 

Needs bedding, window treatments and the search for a perfect headboard that won't obstruct the window.  Here are some ideas I'm kicking about:

Be back with the second half soon!