heart desk
It all started when I spotted this sad but cute little desk on the curb. Even though it was really beat up and we didn’t exactly have a space for it, I decided it should come home with me.
It was in really bad shape but I’ve been wanting a little desk so it seemed like a really good option to test it out. I sanded it down and cleaned off some cobwebs, then painted it with some leftover paint from when I was choosing colors for the living room in Woodland White.
It cleaned up really nice and I found a little spot for it in our dining room. It’s a little rough around the edges, quite literally, and not very well made but it’s cute and more importantly, free. Plus it’s nice to have a tiny workspace of my own and a few drawers to stow things.
butcher block update
Since our apartment is from the 1930’s, there is only a small amount of counter space, a good portion of which is taken up by appliances (and often, dirty dishes). Our butcher block gives me much more room to work, to roll out pie crusts, chop vegetables and everything else (plus it holds all our dishes below). With a few years of use, and misuse, the counter wasn’t looking so hot. It was stained from a leaky coffee maker at our old apartment and burned from when I accidentally set a hot pan on it. These dark circle drove me crazy, always getting in the way of photos and otherwise just being ugly.
I finally bit the bullet and sanded the whole thing down, getting rid of the offending circles and stains. Such a relief. I topped it off with a few coats of butcher block oil and it’s looking just like new. I was thinking of adding one more coat of oil for extra protection, but I like the look of lighter, non-glossy wood so we’ll see.
Minus the time it took for the oil to dry (72 hours!) the whole thing took less than an hour to sand and coat with oil. I can’t believe I’ve waited this long to take care of something that drives me so crazy. So happy I finally did it!
This is the beginning of the making my kitchen exactly how I want it project, but I’ll save any further developments until it’s done. Exciting stuff!
