My Adventures in Putting Together a Four Piece Desk

Hola darlings!

It is a beautiful day here today and I need to stretch my legs and hike down to the Pick 'n Save and pick up some wine and fabric softener.  I'm going to use the fabric softener to attack the wallpaper in the family room later this afternoon.  But first -- I want to write about my adventures yesterday putting my new desk together.

The box the desk came in was huge!  As you can see, I used state-of-the-art box-opening tools to get through the cardboard -- although to tell the truth when I tugged the thing into the house from the front stoop earlier in the week a lot of the cardboard had already torn off right in my hands.  Geez! 
So, here you see a pretty picture of my new desk!

As you can see, it is a writing desk :)  I don't believe I mentioned its dimensions yesterday when I as going on and on about it.  It's not a large desk -- only 20" deep but I'll have width on either side of my laptop to spread out paperwork and books when I'm researching.

This desk was well packed and it came through with no damaged ends or corners.  As you can see, there was a LOT of styrofoam packing material around it, and little bits and pieces of it got everywhere!  What a mess!

Yep -- only four pieces, thank Goddess!  The desk top and drawer had come shipped put together, but I took the drawer out of the desk top before I flipped her over on her back and attached the sides and crossbar, so I only had to put four pieces together. Lots of bolts and nuts and washers and one of those little Allen wrenches -- I HATE those suckers.  Before I started putting the pieces together, I vacuumed all of the styrofoam bits and pieces off of the desk and carpet.

The directions were easy to follow, and the pieces were all labeled.  The nuts, bolts and washers, etc. all came in little plastic bags that could be resealed shut and they were also all labeled.  So instructions were like "take bolt G and add spring washer E and flat washer I to it" with a little (very little) diagram of how it was supposed to go together.  And so, I put the desk together!

Almost done...   The hardest part that also took the longest was using that tiny Allen wrench to tighten the bolts. Tedious and not the most accessible bolts to tighten!  My hands are not all that large and I was fumbling around, couldn't get the head of the wrench into the bolt properly to give it a twist, and I was not able to rotate the Allen wrench around 360 degrees, so I had to twist, take it out and reset it again and again until the bolt was sufficiently tightened.  But eventually all the pieces were together and I was able to flip the desk to its feet!

But -- something was wrong...

Oh frigging no!  The stablizing cross-bar at the bottom of the desk is supposed to be at the "front" of the desk, not on the drawer side where I will be sliding my chair underneath!  What the hell?  How on earth did that happen?

I looked at the directions and double-checked the stickers on the pieces -- I was supposed to insert side B on the right side of the desk. Check.  Side A was installed on the left side of the desk.  Check.  Guess what -- THE DIRECTIONS WERE WRONG!

LOL!  Yep, in this case meticulously following the directions led to the legs being installed on the wrong sides.  Side B needed to go on the left of the desk, and Side A needed to go on the right side of the desk.  That way, the holes for the bolts to hold the cross-bar in place ended up across the front bottom of the desk.

And so, I had to take the desk apart and put it together again.  This time success:

Oh bloody damn!  It's still wrong!  The cross-bar was installed with the holes showing the little holes where the locking cams were set!  Those holes should be facing toward the back of (drawer side) the desk.  Look!

Hole, front and center!  Damn damn damn damn damn!

But I wasn't about to loosen the bolts yet again, and slip out the cross-bar.  I think I know how this happened - it has something to do with the little holes in which I had to insert two dowels...  In any event, for now, the desk is staying as is!  I didn't do it last night, but later today when I pull out my Old English furniture polish to give the desk a second going-over I will take a q-tip and color the inside of those holes, which right now are just raw wood.  I hope this will make the holes less noticeable.  The assembly kit did not come with little plugs to fill those holes, unfortunately. 

There I'd been, patting myself on the back and thinking how great I was to be able to put that desk together in about 30 minutes (most of which was spent hand-tightening ten bolts with that nasty little Allen wrench), when the reviews I'd read online complained about it taking more than an hour and having to take the desk apart because of defective instructions or missing pieces, etc. etc.  Ha ha ha!  Well, I sure ended up eating a big helping of humble pie.  But after three glasses of wine I was able to see the humor in the situation :)

I gave the desk a coat of Old English last night and she is looking so fine right now!  The lines of my Chinese-style arm chair go well with the "campaign furniture" style of the desk, and the finishes are very similar colors.  I'm so glad I bought this desk!

Now I just have to remove the rest of the wallpaper, repair the drywall where the wallpaper damaged the finish, sand some areas where I see excessive sand texture finish, prime everything, paint the woodwood, paint the upper walls, install the chair rail, install the textured paper on the bottom of the walls and paint it.  Voila!  I should be done in about another 3 years.  Meanwhile, these walls give new meaning to the term "shabby chic."

Attacking the Family Room for the Sake of a New Desk

Ohmygoddess!  I got up early this morning (5:30 a.m. ) and after coffee and cookie and checking the news and email, I cleaned out the drawers and shelves of the entertainment center and started shoving furniture around in the family room.  It's still a disaster area that needs to be finished, including removing the rest of the wall paper, spackling damaged drywall, priming, painting, installing the chair rail and new wallpaper.  I only started that project a year ago March.  Geez Louise! I will finish it -- but first...

All this activity was spurred by the purchase of a new desk that I got on close-out online at Kohl's and was delivered two days ago -- a $299 desk for $99 and free shipping.  I like $200 off!  It's the Sonoma life + style Mason desk.  The desk is discontinued evidently, although Kohl's is still offering the same style end-table and console table, at least for the present.  Here's a pic of my new desk:

I've been online window shopping months for a new desk for the family room.  I've been using my old console table as a desk, and it's both too narrow and too short, but tucked behind the sofa the way it used to be, I made do, raising it up to a good height with books under the legs that no one could see unless they were standing behind the sofa and looking down at the floor underneath the console table.  Raised up by the books, I could scootch my chair right up to the table and my legs slid underneath comfortably when I was working.

Comfort and practicality dictated that I buy a new desk despite my current budget constraints (medical bills not covered by insurance have blasted my budget to smithereens). I wanted something that wasn't "bulky" looking but had an adequate work surface, as well as a finish and style that would blend in with all of the finishes and styles residing in harmony at Maison Newton.  I also wanted something that didn't look CHEAP.  You know what I mean.  I thought about buying a second-hand traditionally-styled pedestal desk and refinishing it, possibly by 2032, but realistically everything on Craig's List around here is overpriced and I have no means of hauling a purchase home from a resale shop or rummage sale, or even if I bought something off Craig's List, except on my back.  That ain't happening!  Thus, the many months of looking (off and on) for a desk online that would be delivered to my doorstep.

So happy!  I'm going to put my new desk together, but first I wanted to rearrange the family room to conform to the "vision" inside my brain and also make space to work on the floor to assemble the desk!  After much heaving and shoving and pushing, I got the very heavy queen size sleeper sofa positioned in front of the window.  A few days ago I took the shelves off the mondo bookcases and heaved them into position in the corner, at 90 degrees to each other.  Ideally I would like them situated behind the area where the desk is going, but they are too wide to be centered on the back wall because of an heating vent that throws everything off kilter.  Eventually I would like to replace them with something narrower (the current bookcases are 30.5" wide each) and shallower (15-3/4" deep!)  Narrower bookcases will give me the option of centering them on the back wall despite that inconvenient heating vent!

Eventually I want to replace the furniture, the console table, and that 1980's entertainment center, ugh!  But I must make do with what I have for the foreseeable future.  Onward and upward!  Right now everything is a mess, but these pics give you a very good idea of what I'm dealing with, and the amount of work I have to accomplish before this room is back to something resembling normal:

 Yeah, those bookcases are painted ugly!  But with the shelves in and loaded with my tons of tomes they look presentable - and besides, they "go" with the console table and the entertainment center...

 Fortunately you cannot see the bright brass colored "mod" trim on the door and drawers of the entertainment center :)  But now, sitting here at the dinette table looking across the family room at it, it still appeals.  Perhaps there is something wrong with my eyesight???  Or sense of style?  Probably both...  More later, darlings.  Since starting and stopping the above post several times I've hiked to the Walgreens and Pick 'n Save and back, done more shovelling, did the dishes, and ate lunch.  Now it times to get back to work.