DIY Welded Desk . . . Complete!

I teased you with the post about how we stained and varnished the surface and how Hubby welded the base so, without further ado, here is the desk put together . . . 

With the new lamps turned on (blogged about here and purchased here):

These lamps have a dimmer, which is a nice touch.

The chair, blogged about here, was purchased from this local shop that does online orders as well.  The lamps and chair were pricey, but both were bought locally (although Living Lighting is actually a chain) and I always feel good about supporting Canadian stores.  Plus, Hubby loves the chair (it really is comfy) and I am obsessed with the lamps (for good reason).  The DIY desk really offset the price of the other items (less than $100 for all supplies).

I did the painting 10 years ago for an art class.  Hubby (although he wasn't my Hubby, yet) was handy back then too, and made my canvas stretchers and framed the finished pieces.  I sold one painting from the series, gave away others and painted over one but I gave this to him as a gift to say, "hey, thanks.  p.s. I love you". 

The painting is DIY, too!

In terms of designing the desk, we pretty much stole the design.  I'm not gonna lie.  I opted for white legs and a creamy white, glossy top so the desk wouldn't compete with everything else in the office.  We chose square metal tubing the same size as the thickness of the surface because I think that looks good.  If you try this yourself, you can use larger/smaller tubing and a different surface thickness:

  

Now some shots of the glossiness that took me days to achieve:

Apologies for the wait, but I wanted to let the varnish thoroughly cure, especially because I doubled the "recommended" number of coats.  I didn't want any lamp-shaped indentations!  But waiting was excruciating for me.

I'm still thinking about whether to put anything else on the desk.  With the newly modified Ikea Expedit behind the desk and the silhouette wall behind my desk (more office pics soon), I think that simple might be the way to go.

But one question for you all:

Don't have a welder or handy hubby?  Read on:

I know this project won't be especially affordable for people who don't have the equipment already.  I have the equipment because my grandpa was a welder and he bought me the tools so he could weld my headboard and so, eventually, I'd learn to weld (I'm working on that!)  If you love the idea of this simple desk, but can't reproduce it, chat with local high school students and college students in welding courses.  A friend in high school welded her entire bedroom set (for credit!!) and I'm sure she would have welded something for someone else, for a little coin.  Remember, $20 is a lot to a student . . .

Or, you could make a similar style desk made entirely of wood!