After my son got to design his desk it was time to build one for my daughter. She's three years older and had a very specific look in mind. She's also an artist so storage of paints and brushes and paper was important. The unusual thing for me was that she wanted her desk to be painted. I've certainly done painted items before but usually older looking pieces that involve the use of milk paint and a hand rubbed finish. A professional looking heavy wearing finish was going to be a different challenge since I hate painting things with nooks and crannies with a brush and I don't have a sprayer.
My favourite wood for painting is poplar because it's cheap, works nicely and is fairly sturdy. It also comes in 5/4 and 9/4 stock which gives me the ability to build things a bit beefier. I didn't actually get a good picture of what she wanted. Instead I got a description that included;
1) Solid base and sides.
2) Fitted drawers on one side.
3) Tall enough for a particular brand of paint.
4) Four drawers on one side and a single drawer where you sit.
5) Painted.
She initially wanted it all white but we took a trip to the home centre and check out the spray paint aisle and found something she liked. I figured it was a relatively small project and spray paint would be a good option. I pre-finished all parts where I could with a white primer which made the spray paint go a lot farther. I think I only used four cans to get two good coats on everything. I used full extension slides for all the drawers and we found a nice black handle. Dimensions are 21 inches deep, 44 inches wide and 31 inches high. Sides are plywood and all joints are mortise and tenon.
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