Tuesday, February 21, 2017

A Dumpster Desk Rescue

Believe it or not, I rarely pick furniture out of the dumpster. Certainly I'll brake hard for some lovely, forlorn piece that's been lugged to the side of the road, but as far as I remember, this is one of only two things I've ever rescued for within an actual dumpster, though that might just be because we live out in the country, and there really aren't that many dumpsters to be fishing through to begin with.
        When I saw just the darling bandy foot of this desk peeking out, I knew I needed to take a closer look. I felt sure the poor thing would be DOA- just pieces, perhaps even just the foot, so I was incredibly amazed when, with a bit of persuasive wrenching and a significant amount of colorful swearing, an entire, intact, vintage rock maple desk emerged from the grimy depths of said dumpster. To be sure, the piece needed work. It was chipped and scratched and several of the drawers weren't sliding properly, but at least it had all its feet, and it had all the drawers, it was worth a shot to save.
          I second guessed that decision several times, and ignored the desk for the longest time as it took up precious floor space in my workshop. Finally two days ago I decided to take a swing at it. The drawers were a fairly straightforward repair, and they all slide beautifully now, and the surface was quite easily set aright and prepped for paint. From the start I wanted to paint the four columns gold, so I went with the deepest shade of midnight blue to contrast with them. The brass knobs are salvaged, an insanely good buy I scored at the Bloomfield ReStore for ten cents a piece!
           I'll indulge myself a bit and say I think this sweet little desk looks pretty damn good now, rescued from the jaws of death and destruction, and reformed phoenix like, into as handsome a piece of furniture as any I've ever seen. :-)







3 comments:

  1. I can't believe someone threw that away and I cannot believe you were able to get it out of the dumpster as tiny as you are! 10 cents a piece for those knobs! Awesome find on the desk and knobs. Beautiful finished product!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What color blue is this? This is just a beautiful idea!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous3/03/2017

    Awesome! What are the dimensions?

    ReplyDelete