Reclaimed Reception Desk

This might be my favorite project to date! A friend of mine has worked in salons for a long time and she does amazing work. I started going to see her when my hair was in need of correction after a scary experience at a chain salon here in Reno. Luckily, she was able to fix everything and I've been a loyal customer now for several years. Anyway, this year she opened her own place and asked me to build her reception desk (also, check out Sanctuary Salon if you need an amazing salon experience in Reno! She didn't ask me to plug her business or anything but I'm serious, it's amazing)

The customer had requirements for the size and needed multiple counter heights. She also had some very cool 100 year old cedar barn wood salvaged from the local area that she was interested in using. Other than that she left the design pretty open and told me to go ahead and be creative with it. I built the desk surfaces similar to the desks I created for another local business (desk project) and the entire desk can be disassembled into 5 pieces (front, sides, and 2 desktops) for easier transport and moving. I kept the front design simple as the wood was so pretty to start with that I wanted it to still be the main focus.

The cedar itself I simply sealed but did not stain as the original color was already stunning. For the desktop stain I matched it to hues in the cedar to tie everything together.

Installing the reception desk in its new home was fun as it allowed me a sneak peak into how the salon was coming along. I am in love! The entire place has a reclaimed but very fresh feel about it and I'm so glad this new desk fit right in to welcome her clients into the space.

Custom Bookcase

A family member needed a new bookcase in the kitchen for all of her cookbooks and she wanted it to be the same height as her cabinets.

This tucked right on to the end and is waiting to be primed and painted.

Conference Room Desks and Console Tables

After we completed building 20 desks (here) the business needed to set up their conference room. These beautiful desks are 7.5 feet long so metal bars were embedded within the desk to help them keep their structural integrity. We also added electrical outlets to each surface for all of the inevitable laptops, etc that would be used in here.

I also designed two console tables for them. This one will hold all of the little electrical cables, remotes, and miscellaneous pieces that go with technology and conference rooms. The lower shelves slide side to side and can be moved to suit whatever is being stored.

This wider and deeper console table will be used for setting up coffee and food for business meetings and holding spare supplies. Like the other console table the lower shelves are adjustable (and removable) and can be rearranged to suit the storage needs. Now all this conference room needs is a little art and sound absorption.

My Favorite Dumpster Dive

A construction dumpster near my office had these sitting on top and while I'm sure they were part of some shipping packaging I still thought that it was a huge shame to toss them.

With a few cup hooks and peg board hooks it turned into the perfect shelves for my teenager!

Custom Built In Bookcases

In our last home I had installed a large built in bookcase. After moving to this home, as we tried to unpack, it quickly became apparent that it would need to be a high priority to create another so that we could find homes for all of our belongings.

With a base of 2x4s we can use prebuilt upper cabinets. The handles were swapped out to create a nicer look and I created this pretty counter top for a custom fit.

Building in the shelves took a couple of days and quite a few trips up and down the stairs to make sure that everything was the perfect fit

I was so excited to start unpacking everything that I got it under way before I even got to painting the walls or installing the base trim.

That created a home for most of my books but the kids' books still needed to have a home. This window alcove looked like the perfect kid nook for their bookcases.

With the window seat installed I started to build their bookcases on either side of the windows.

Two large bookcases with storage underneath will be perfect to complete their space.

All in all it took me most of a week to get this done but the end result is so pretty and all of our beautiful books have a home!

20 Desks

When you need to build 20 desks at once, what does that look like? It looks like a *very* crowded garage.

But with a little bit of an assembly line even a small space can handle this.

Until it's time to stain, that is. Suddenly, wide open space is preferable. Luckily, the business had a large room they weren't using yet which was a great place to set all of the desktops up for staining.

This desktop is my favorite. The knot looks just like a unicorn!

These desks are very sturdy and very affordable.

For a very industrial office these worked out perfectly. So beautiful!

King Size Headboard

We needed a new headboard after the remodel of the master bedroom. This is built from Ana White plans (found here)

After finishing the build the headboard was primed and painted.

The final color is an off white that matches our trim-work. The bedroom was still in disarray as we finished the drywall on the remodel but the headboard is all set and sure looks pretty!

The completed headboard is so pretty and I just love it!

Custom Bar

One of my favorite pieces this year, this custom bar was created by refurbishing the base from a china hutch and then creating a custom wooden top. Shelves were repurposed into wine and cocktail glass hangers.

Feathers were the inspiration for bar top's pattern, a mixture of stained and painted wood.

Wooden Spool to Oversized Outdoor Coffee Table

I have had this 6.5' wooden spool round in my garage for a couple of years waiting for me to get around to this project. As I'm cleaning up the shop I decided it was time to make my oversized outdoor coffee table!

The legs are really simple to make. You'll need 2 8' 4x4s for the crosspieces and legs, 8 large screws (6") and a couple of bolts (8") with washers and nuts. You'll definitely want to predrill your holes.

A couple of Simpson 4x4 brackets to hold the legs to the top and you're done! This summer I will get the chairs and umbrella sorted out but as you can see the weather right now is still pretty snow/rain so I'll stick to the indoor project mostly for the next few months.