A little over a year ago, I had an idea. After intially dismissing my idea as pure fantasy, merely a dream, I convinced my husband that my idea was a true reflection of my person, my character, our family values. How can he say no to that?
It's been a long process for sure, but as it says in Proverbs 13,
"12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life."
but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life."
What was this idea? I wanted to redo my office, specifically build a desk.
A desk? A desk is a reflection of your values? Seriously? Yes, very much so. In fact, my hubby and I had to advocate to keep the "spirit of the piece" in mind as we created it with his dad. And no, I'm not completely crazy. In fact, I feel like wood covered in purple paint that is my new desk is a "tree of life"- breathing some fresh creativity into this photographer.
A small preview to keep you reading.
After this image was posted on Facebook and got scads more comments and "likes" and "shares" with even more comments and "likes," I wanted to first clear the air. This was not an original idea. I didn't make this up...completely.
Like I mentioned, I had the idea over a year ago (January of 2011, to be as precise as I can find evidence in my email). I saw this and loved it: http://open.salon.com/blog/planetpals/2010/08/26/the_dorm_room_repurposed.
Imagine this is the middle section of a Venn Diagram
Comparing the Values of the Desk and of my Life and Family
Creative, Fresh
Modern, yet connected to the past
Inexpensive
Fair trade and Ecologically mindful
Clever and fun, but yet perfectly practical
Though each piece isn't perfect and comes with a past, it's perfectly usable for a grand purpose
Goes against the grain, a little unexpected
Depends on community/friends/family to work*
Added Bonuses for the Business
Purple is the color in the name of my business
Extra space to display my work
Fits clearly with the list of qualities we wanted in our photography business
I began a search and purchased a few Craigslist tables (5 total, four coffee tables and one kitchen table) and a retro metal kitchen cabinet. This step cost us roughly $110. Other parts of Step One were recorded here.
The design: I brought out my long lost genius brain and did a lot of math. I took photographs of each table, put them to scale on the computer and arranged them many times until I had a pleasing and workable arrangement. I had to make sure that the levels would fit, stack at the right depths, heights, etc. It was challenging, but exciting. The final implementation stuck fairly closely to the original designs I made, so that was pretty thrilling as well.
I got to help slice them in half lengthwise, which was pretty fun.
Then I had to paint them just the right shade of purple, which was a daunting task. (We eventually gave up painting since that whole "hope deferred makes you sick" thing was getting to me and I could never set aside enough time to paint more than a small section. We hired a friend to help us out.) Since it is up high, even the undersides of were painted, and they were strange shapes since they were cut in half.
We had no concept of the ease of assembly or time required to complete this, but once we started actually putting it together, it was rather quick, only taking about 6-7 hours.
The little fella had to get in on the action.
We always say we're not handy, but look at my hubby... I may have to take that back.
Throw in a few laughs
a few power tools
and bam. Superdesk!
We're considering an open house this spring. Would you want to come by and see it in person?
We'd love to thank:
Brian's Dad
Scott
Renita
Casey
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