I finally finished that back to school DIY desk project I’ve been working on for a month. I needed a window desk to set up a computer and study space for my teens – my idea was to build a DIY desk using cabinet bases for storage and a custom resin top to provide a long smooth surface.
I featured a bunch of DIY desk project ideas a few weeks ago, and one of my favorite looks is similar, using cabinet bases and a wood top, but I wanted a desktop with a smooth surface so I used resin to create it.
I made this desktop with a smooth glossy surface by pouring a custom glossy white top and adding a few abstract gold stripes to the surface – I love it!
Years ago, this room was used as the kids’ study and it held their games and toys while they were in elementary school, but now that they’re in junior high and high school the need is for a teen study center and lounge with this new computer desk.
I have a lot more upgrades coming to this room like new light fixtures and furnishings, and I still need to touch up the paint! You can see behind the desk where the DIY window seat used to be in the study – I never finished painting the walls since it was always covered up under there. :)
Here’s how I made the resin top desk…
I purchased these IKEA Sektion cabinet bases with the modern Haggeby white doors and drawers, then added these 11” brass pulls to the drawers and these 6” brass pulls to the door fronts.
The resin top was the part of this project that took more work but the surface turned out so beautiful – it’s white and glossy and smooth and has skinny abstract gold lines running through it.
To make the desktop I formed the foundation with a 4’ x 8’ sheet of smooth finish plywood purchase at Lowes. The cabinet bases are 24” deep but I wanted the desktop to be 26” to hang out over the edge of the cabinet base. I didn’t want to buy two sheets of plywood so I cheated. I had the plywood ripped in the cutting department to one piece that was 26” x 8’ and the secondary piece is 22” x 8’. Matt helped screw them together with wood screws on the bottom and we flipped it over. Then I attached a piece of lattice around the three sides to hide the 4” gap and finish off the edges.
The dark brown furniture triangle feet are fastened to the bottom of the cabinets, I found them on Amazon. I needed something that would lift the cabinet bases off the floor but also keep the bases low enough so the desktop would fit under the windowsill. These are perfect since their dark brown shade blends in with my hardwood floors.
The next step was pouring the resin desktop. I poured it indoors in place which was essential for two reasons – to create a perfectly smooth top you don’t want to risk any debris or insects getting in your resin top while it dries, it takes 24 hours to cure to the touch and 72 hours to fully cure.
These were my basic supplies, this Countertop Epoxy, two buckets, my culinary butane torch, latex gloves, paint stir sticks, 16 oz. acrylic paint in white and 2 oz. metallic gold, small wood stir sticks, a sponge brush, and lots of plastic tarping!
The online instructions provide all the details, the resin needs to be mixed a specific way and poured at a certain temperature but it wasn’t too complicated. Once I mixed the resin I added the white acrylic paint with 95% of the mixture and kept the remaining resin mixture for creating the stripes.
I wrapped the cabinets and the surrounding space with a ton of plastic tarping then mixed the resin as instructed. Once mixed, the resin is like thick paint so pour it slow and even. I used the sponge brush to spread it out evenly and to wipe the drips as the resin ran over the sides of the desktop.
There is a technique I used for creating the stripes, I mixed a tablespoon of acrylic paint with a few ounces of resin and used a wood stir stick to drip it over the white resin base when it was still wet. This is an example of creating the marbleized look which I did on the first pour with taupe acrylic paint mixed with clear resin.
The resin will drip over the sides and you have to keep coming back every 5 minutes over the course of an hour to smooth the drips. You also need to keep a little bit of resin reserved for the edges because as it drips off it will expose the wood edge so just like frosting the sides of a cake, you need to keep applying resin to the sides every 10 minutes for about an hour until it starts to solidify and stay in place.
The butane torch is necessary to get out any of the tiny bubbles that will come to the surface. You can see even the more marbleized design I created with the taupe colored resin on my first pour in this photo.
Unfortunately, I had to pour this desktop twice due to a pet disaster! The first time I poured it on a Saturday afternoon, I created a more marbleized look with streaks of gray paint like you see above, and it worked and it looked pretty good but then dun… dun… dun…. I went out to a show and came back to discover my cat had jumped on top of the resin desktop and got her pawprints and fur all over it. OMG! I forgot about the damn cat!!! This is what I found when I got home….all over the surface.
So I had to order a new batch of resin and completely redo the top. This time I went with a simpler design and different color for the stripes, I chose gold with a tiny bit of glitter mixed in for sparkle. Instead of a marbelized curves I used straighter gold lines to create an abstract pattern, and I like this look a little better.
The hardened resin is glossy and smooth and so beautiful under the light of the window, I’m really pleased with how it turned out!
The new computer arrives next week, and I bought this mountable surge protector with USB charger to attach to the left side of the desk to plug in all the cords, plus the kids can charge their school iPads while they do their homework.
My next project is to build a media center with bookshelves for storage the adjacent wall, stay tuned for that project coming soon. :)
Via Architecture http://www.rssmix.com/
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