Oh boy, ya know how satisfied you feel when your list gets shorter and stuff is getting crossed off?? GLOWING AND GIDDY, that’s how ya feel.  The kitchen desk is finally in its place. It’s been a long project due to unforeseen “stuff”….you know…. life stuff that happens whenever you have a plan of your own…. but it’s done now. That ugly builder’s built-in desk is finally gone, replaced with a desk that fits my style. I’d had the idea for quite awhile that I wanted a replica of the  primitive desk in my office for the kitchen. I bought that desk in the 80’s in a shop in Sisters, Oregon.

It was love at first sight. The little desk had started life as the check-in desk in the town’s first hotel. Then it was the desk in the old grange hall and then it languished  for many years in the back of a storage room close by the original hotel. Until renovations were being made to most of the buildings in town and the desk ended up in the shop. I paid waay  more than I had to spend. I remember telling my son, Trevor, that we would be eating beans for a week or two. He thought I was kidding. I wasn’t.

Few things have me spending money designated for food, I mean, come on……I love to eat. But this desk grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. I bought it and never regretted it. It’s simple style and  old worn finish spoke to my heart. It moved with me. Many times. It was one of the few things that I never sold, nor even thought about selling in order to move to a new place. It had to stay with me.

As luck and the stars aligned, I met Mr B and the desk became part of our home together. Then we decided to move into a new house. Imagine my horror when we went to place the desk in its designated spot and it was two inches too large. TWO INCHES!!!! The builders got it wrong. Geesh! and other bad words. So the desk went to live in the family room until I could decide what to do with it. And I got a built-in from the builder. Eeeegad. I hated that thing. Eventually my desk ended up in the 3rd bedroom, aka my office, where it still sits today. It’s home to my computer and several piles of papers. I love it as much as I did when I ate beans for two weeks. Altho I’m never again going to eat beans for two weeks. I have my bean eating limits.

I knew I wanted a replica of my desk for the kitchen. Mr B spent a couple of days eyeballing and measuring, and then built a sweet little desk for me, almost like the original. The drawer in the new one is bigger (we have lots of junk  supplies to store in it) and of course it’s sized to fit the space. But otherwise it’s a petite version of my desk. When he finished the building part he turned it over to me for the finishing part. I am also responsible for all the patching, texturing and painting in the house. We make a good team. Division of labor and all that. Besides, building things involves math. I’m allergic to math. I get hives when faced with a problem that requires any knowledge beyond ¼,½, ¾ or an inch. Those I have mastered. Beyond that I plead ignorance. Hives are not fun. Just sayin.

I am in the process of lightening the look in the house, and if you’ve been following me for awhile, you know I love modern farmhouse style and painted furniture. I decided to paint my new desk.  Our kitchen has stained cabinets and there are lots of them. I wanted needed something to lighten the look  which is why I went with creamy subway tile and light granite. But I wanted needed more white. I stained the desk first so a bit of wood would show as the desk aged and got dinged up. I did a few dings just for fun and then painted it.

I used my go to color from Lowes, Valspar”Honey Vanilla,” in flat (previously known as “Hotel Churchill Vanilla”). It’s a creamy ivory, very soft, and blends well with my other favorite white paint, Rustoleum’s “Shell White,”  (in a spray) that I use when I want a hard finish (it’s oil based so dries hard). Valspar also offers Honey Vanilla in a spray in both a flat finish and gloss. A nice change for painted furniture without the brush strokes.

Can I say how much I love this little desk??? I have LARGE LOVE, it gives me the feels and heart eyes. I would love to find a vintage look phone that is wired for Caller ID and voice mail and all the modern technology we need today. But for now the ugly cordless stays…. marring what would be a perfect vignette. But as I told someone earlier today, we actually live in our house, I don’t hide the TV or the stainless appliances. We’re all about function here in the Brown house. OH, THAT’S A BIG FAT LIE. There’s no WE, only one of us is all about function. The other one is all about form. If I told you I was the one all about function would you believe me?

Now that I have two desks will I be any neater??? Um, probably not, OK…..nope. Oh, the new desk is staged and looks so cute. But wait a couple of weeks and it will be covered in coupons, torn out sheets of magazines and unopened mail  reminding me that my subscriptions are due for those magazines that I enjoy ripping apart.  Junk mail that lies there for days because I hate touching junk mail, I detest having to rip out the little cellophane windows and going through the contents to remove what can’t be recycled. GAH! For now it’s too cute to junk up with papers and bits…..so maybe because I love it I will keep it neat. Pray for me…..and World Peace.

For now the vintage stapler has pride of place. And the old silver goblets for supplies… Who would want to cover those up with junk mail???  It’s always the details that get me. Today I am a happy woman with at least one neat desk….. Someday when we change up my office I want to get a desk for the computer so that I can keep my antique desk just for writing, as in hand writing notes to friends, in cursive. Yeah….someday.

Create the home you see in your heart. Create a sanctuary no matter where you live.