My New Desk

I don’t know if you have a desk, whether you sit at one at work, or if you have your computer on one at home. Or both. I don’t know if your desk is special to you. Some people get very attached to their desks. Because it is the place where they feel creative, or comfortable. I found this poem on the internet written by someone who feels the same about their desk as I do:

Ode to my Desk

By

Tatiana Vasileva

My old desk, at which I write

An old and faithful friend.

Just like a mule, that bears its load

And doesn't bow or bend.

Sometimes at night, when I can't sleep

And find I need express


The feelings in my heart, so deep,

It gives me happiness.

Just seeing my familiar things,

Pens, papers, books and such,

Creates ideas and I try

To say what means so much.

There is a feel of magic here

Beside this desk of wood.

What stories lie within its drawers?

To tell you if it could!

I used a desk for the last 30 years of my working life. I also used one at home when I got my first computer. I have sat at many different desks over the years. Some I have liked and some I could never get used to.

I have looked for the perfect desk, but never really found it. I had a near-perfect desk that was precious to me, it was given to me by a close friend, but I had to leave it behind.

Over the last few years, at home, I have had one of those metal computer tables, but was never happy with it.

When we moved to Cornwall we had the opportunity to try and find the perfect desk for iMac to sit on. We searched for weeks but could not find one that I was happy with. So, I gave up looking and settled for one from the Argos catalogue. It has been OK. It is sturdy, solid, and functional. It has done its job.

But, a few weeks ago, while visiting a friends house, I went into their back garden to have a cigarette, as usual. There, in the garden, I saw an old wooden table, on its side, with a bin sitting on its legs. It was wood wormed, and had some splits on the top. To me, though, it had potential.

I had seen this tallboy in a local shop (the decoration is called Decoupage) and thought maybe I could do the same with the old table:

  

I asked my friend what he was going to do with it, he told me he was going to break it up and take it to the dump. So I asked if I could have, he said he would be glad to get rid of it. So that was that. I collected the table and set about converting into me new desk.

So we looked up how to do Decoupage on the internet, bought some paint, varnish, glue, and decoupage paper, and the set about the transformation.

I forgot to take a picture of the table in its 'raw' state, but here are a couple of pictures of it when I first began to work on it. I had already sanded it down and repaired to top:

It took two coats of under coat/primer and three coats of black gloss.

Then Davina and I had to lay out the paper in the design we wanted:

Then we had to stick the paper on and give it five coats of polyurethane varnish:

 So then I bought a new knob for the drawer and fitted it, but when it was fitted I didn't like it:

 So today I bought a new knob, and here is the finished desk. In position and ready to go:

It's probably an acquired taste, but, I think it is beautiful and perfect for me and the iMac.

So a big thank you to my friends Mickey and Pat for giving me their old table. I hope we have created a thing of beauty that they would be pleased with.