Yellow Brick Home » sweet home chicago

First of all, thank you, thank you for all the help with my upholstery dilemma. You gave good, level-headed advice for good, well-rounded decisions – something I feel we’ve been lacking in as of late. Loaded plates and big to-dos have been clogging our noodles, and we’re determined to stick to our new year, attainable-goals-promise. With that said, we’re pretty positive that G-ma’s chair is a job for the pros.

In other news, this little home is outta control. Because of aforementioned promises, we really have been taking things one step at a time. And as a result, things are moving slower than we’d normally allow. For the last few weeks, our skinny hallway is barely walkable (Jack’s little heart stresses at the thought of running past all the frames, mirrors and bike wheels) and our kitchen counter tops have become the landing zone for pretty much everything.

But this is all at the cost of a custom made desk for the studio. And it’ll be worth it.

We were inspired by The Brick House and Morgan’s fauxdenza. It’s sleek, clean, and most importantly – only 13″ deep. See hers, exhibit A:

I already have my painting table, so we simply needed another thin desktop for me to use as a mini task station, a landing zone for the laptop and a zone that’s functional without taking up space.

Like any unassuming couple, we took off for Ikea, and came home with lots of boxes. Like Morgan, we used Akurum cabinets with Applad doors (meant to be used as upper kitchen shelving, hence the shallow depth). Unlike her, we chose a different configuration that allowed us to have a pull out drawer.

We built and built.

Then we followed the Ikea instructions and got to hanging. While we would have loved a long wall of nothing but storage, we also liked the idea of fitting a few stools underneath. Once they were up on the wall, we staged our desk using these stools we got from Overstock. The camera lens does add distortion, but there’s no denying how small this room is:

We were on the right track, so the next step was finding a piece of wood that was 8′ long x 13″ deep. While any number of bloggie fauxdenza posts may lead you to think this is a common, easy to find thing – it’s not. We called several local lumber yards and struck out each time, learning that the standard depth is less than 12.” After a whirlwind of phone calls, we found one 16″d lone piece of white oak at Wood World (snicker), paid a pretty penny for it (more than we would’ve liked, although, it is gorgeous) and very, very carefully made our cuts, sanded it down and got to conditioning, staining and polying. Phew.

As for the whole rundown on our steps, it’s simple: we followed the can’s instructions. 1 coat of wood conditioner, 2 coats of stain (we used Minwax Jacobean, which as far as we’re concerned, kicks Dark Walnut’s ass) and 3 coats of Minwax Polycrylic with a light sanding between each layer. (This is the same method we used for the wood panels on our media wall.)

And now? Here’s the state of things:

Perhaps the hardest part of this process is the waiting. There’s a good 24 hour window between staining and polying, and then there’s a half a day wait before handling. (If you’re ever unsure on dry times, read the can!) And when you’re moving around a tiny, overcrowded room and the light fixture comes crashing down (yes, this actually happened; no, no one was hurt), there’s even more time spent cleaning up glass then time spent adhering completed wood to Ikea cabinets.

Oh, boy.

Before this week is over, we will have a finished desk! And we’ll show and tell. And then, wouldn’t you know, it’s on to the upper shelving. A whole wall of ‘em. (Insert evil laugh here.)

So, hey, what’s up with you?

First photo via The Brick House. See more of our studio ideas on our Pinterest board, right here.