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!

Build an Easy Welded Desk Base

This post is brought to you (with little interjections from me) by my wonderful Handy Hubby.  It was a little long, so I broke the "reveal" and "welding how-to" into two posts.  Check back tomorrow to see the desk surface and welded base together, forever.

This was a fairly basic weld job but we aren't going to get fully into how to weld, as that skill is a little more in depth than what a blog post can cover.  It's just plain dangerous to pick up a welder for the first time with only these written instructions.  If you are interested in learning, check out your local college.  Many of them offer night classes as well as regular curriculum courses.

Supplies:

1. Flux core wire feed welder (ours was a gift from Tanya's grandpa)
2. Grinder (ours was $20 - on sale at Canadian Tire)
3. 0.75" square metal tubing (2 eight foot lengths)
4. Welding mask (the welder came with a cheap-y one, but Hubby had his own)
5. Work gloves/protective clothing (something safer than what Hubby donned, please)
6. A workbench helps, but something else can be jury-rigged
7. Tape measure
8. Square
9. Chalk
10. Workshop/garage (this is messy!)
11. Metal primer
12. Paint & brushes

A note about the welder:

For this job the machine we used was a Lincoln Weld-Pak 100.  It is a basic flux core wire feed welder that is great for home and hobby use and can plug into your standard 15A 110V outlet.  This exact machine is no longer produced, but there are many similar ones at the Lincoln Electric website and available at many retailers.

(Tanya's note) You might also need one of these:

Preparation:

First we measured the height Hubby wanted for his desk. Already knowing the design we wanted to copy, we quickly determined how many lengths of tubing we would need (two, 8 foot lengths were enough and could fit into our Versa hatchback).

We purchased the metal from a metal supply shop. Turns out, we could have had them do all the cuts there. 

We packed some old sheets, to keep our Versa clean from the grime, and Hubby even fashioned little cardboard "ends" to keep the dash from getting scratched. My heart melted when he pulled them out of the hatch at the metal shop. What a cutie.

How-to:

This part was written by Handy Hubby . . .

I measured and marked my cuts with chalk.  I used a 4.5” angle grinder with cut off disks to cut the lengths I needed and ground the ends smooth (freshly cut metal can be razor sharp) with a grinding disk.  Remember not to use cutting disks for grinding because cutting disks are not designed for it and it can be very dangerous.

Using a framing square, I laid out the pieces on the garage floor and used the welder to tack them in place.  Start with small tack welds, as it allows you to check for square as you work.  Also, as a welder heats up the metal, it can distort the shape.  The tack welds hold everything in place as you complete all the welding.

Once the welding was complete, I used the grinding disk to smooth out the welded areas, remove any welding spatter, and level out any welds that were less than perfect.  I can weld, but I am not a pro.

Then I slapped on a coat of metal primer and a few coats of white paint (leftover from painting the walls).  If we had waited until summer, we could have used spray paint for a smoother finish.

In order to fix the top to the legs, I used 1.25” wood screws.  The top is 0.75” and the tubing is 0.75”, so a 1.25” screw can go through the legs and into the top with 0.25” to spare.  Drill holes in the tubing that are just large enough for the screw threads to pass through.  Pre-drill a smaller hole in the table top from the bottom (ensuring you don’t go all the way through!) to provide a path for the screw and eliminate the chance of cracking the wood.  I used four screws per base piece and it seems to be sufficient, but I can add more later if needed.

To protect the floor we simply attached stick-on felt feet to the bottom bar.

As a side safety note, read all tool instructions and when using a grinder always wear safety glasses with your face shield.  You do not want to see a cutting disk come apart at 11000rpm.

Thanks Hubby!

Apologies for crummy photos, we were project-crazy so too tired for pretty pics, plus we were worried that photos of the actual welding could ruin the lens.  But check back tomorrow to see the desk 100% COMPLETE (the varnish has cured - woo-hoo).

Read more »

DIY Christmas Spider Inspiration

Have you tried my DIY Christmas Spider tutorial?  If so, send me photos because I'd love to see!  Because I sell them, I have been making dozens of these one-of-a-kind sparklers, so if you haven't given my tutorial a whirl yet, I have plenty of inspiration for you:

The Charlies
(Lime green, like our DIY'd car):

Hubby's Faves
(What a cutie - he had a hard time picking just four!):

Sophie's Choice
(How do I pick a favorite?  I'll go with my default favorite for everything - turquoise):

The Edwards
(Pale and sparkly):

Pretty in Pink:

The Blues Brothers:

You knew there would be a Grey & Yellow spider:

The Sellers
(I hate making red & green ones but they always sell first.  Sometimes I cheat and make turquoise & red ones):

A lone purple one:

Read more »

The Only Christmas Gift I'll Give

As Hubby says, I'm a mystery wrapped in an enigma.  I make and sell Christmas Spiders, but I don't celebrate Christmas!  I guess the spiders are a glittery holdover from when I did celebrate Christmas.  They're just so sparkly and purdy.

Other than giving gifts to the kids in my family (until their love no longer needs to be bought - when does that happen?) I do exchange gifts with one friend (shhhh, don't tell my other friends). 

I made this friend a pair of earrings awhile ago but I also bought her this gorgeous necklace, at an art gallery in my hometown:

My friend and I exchanged our gifties over the weekend and she loved both gifts.  She has already worn the necklace (whew - success).  I picked it because it is such a modern spin on a time-honoured craft (you already know how much I love funny embroidery).  But it turns out there are so many modern interpretations of embroidery, and even needlepoint, jewellery:

Aqua Gradient Necklace - B Studio

Chevron Needlepoint Necklace - NeedleYou

A silhouette.  Squeeal!

Needlepoint Silhouette Belt Buckle - NeedleYou

The Rory - Embroidered Pendant - The Hollie Rogue Shop

Embroidered Necklace - Chocolate Sushi HM

This one is a bit different: it's hand dyed silk, but it is too gorgeous not to include!

Chartreuse Necklace - BStudio

Read more »

My Expedit Hack Paintings - Close Up

Lovely readers have asked for close-up photos of the paintings I made for the Artful Ikea Expedit Hack, so I tried my best.  Take a look, as long as you remember three things:

a. Taking good photos of paintings is no easy feat.

b. I'm not sure I like all of these paintings.  You might see a switch-up in the months to come.

c. I'm not an artist.  I'm just a crafty gal who likes to smoosh paint around.

The How-to's:

Numbers 3 & 4

The chevron painted canvases are the same shade of turquoise but one is pale cream and the other a muted pink.  I'm feeling lukewarm about the colours but here's how, with Hubby's help, I taped off the canvases using a plastic triangle drafting tool as a guide:

The pattern lines up, but it also wraps around the sides so the paintings look nice hung side-by-side, or on their own.

Number 5

People often ask for a how-to for paintings (especially my yellow abstract) but unless it is something really rigid, like the Sigh painting, it is tricky because I really just move paint around.  And my mood really affects the product - I don't completely control the outcome so it is impossible to provide instructions . . . but I did try to chart the progress of painting #5 and maybe I can do an even better job next time:

And, speaking of artistic endeavours, Salvage Love (remember I featured Janine's awesome wood scrap art?) featured my framed bakelite brooches - click here to see the feature.  I love blog love.

Read more »

Design*Sponge Feature

If you're visiting my blog from Design*Sponge, welcome!  I invite you to check out my DIY projects, tour the townhouse and read about me (and read some even more random tidbits, if you're interested).  If you're looking for my Artful Ikea Expedit Hack tutorial, click here.

 
For Dans le Townhouse readers, Design*Sponge featured my Artful Ikea Expedit Hack (click here to see the feature)!  Fun, right?  The last time Design*Sponge featured a project, it was my beloved Felted Wool Billy Buttons (click here for the tutorial).

Thanks to everyone for the fabulous comments on my Ikea Hack.  I'm planning a detailed post on the artwork I created, so stay tuned.

Today is a boring day in the townhouse.  In preparation for setting up Hubby's desk, I'm finally filling holes in the baseboard we installed almost two years ago (well, at least the space behind his desk)!  Is there a biggest procrastinator blog award?!?

Read more »