As I was thinking about this new desk today, I had a mini-flashback about the various places I've sewn over the years. I'm thrilled to be sewing in a spare bedroom and feel lucky that we have the space in our home for me to do so, but it wasn't always like this. Before I left home, I learned to sew on my mother's sewing machine that sat in the corner of a computer/office room and nestled itself nicely into a cabinet. When I moved out onto my own, I didn't have a sewing machine for a long time until a co-worker offered me his family's old Kenmore. I remember pulling it out the back of his trunk in our office parking lot and lugging it up the stairs to my apartment where it lived on my kitchen table (it was extremely heavy), next to my laptop and textbooks. When I moved into a different place with a roommate, the machine sat on the carpet next to my bed for a while until I bought a TV tray to place it on. I somehow managed to sew sitting on edge of my bed, hunched over this massive machine waiting for the TV to tip over. Eventually, I got rid of that machine and replaced it with a newer Brother which sat on a hand-me-down desk in the spare bedroom in our current home, next to that same TV stand which housed craft supplies and a printer.
This past Fall, my husband (who loves woodworking) came up with a design for a desk that would hold both a computer and my sewing machine for our spare bedroom. After a few redesigns (and negotiations), we ended up with this corner design featuring two towers of drawers on each end and a reclaimed wooden top. The wood used for the top of the desk is a beautiful piece of natural elm purchased from Urbanwood in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The wood is stained the color walnut, which brings out the wood's beautiful grain and enhances the knots. The towers are painted an off-white pain from Sherwin-Williams. The black cabinet handles were purchased from Home Depot.
The desk is gorgeous, and it may be one of my favorite pieces that my husband has made (maybe tied with the restoration he did on my grandmother's old Singer sewing machine here). I wish I could say it's always as clean as shown in these photos but it's not. It's a workspace, and there's plenty of room to spread out and make a mess which I love to do.
If you're interested in details about how this desk was created or any questions about the materials, feel free to email me at linaandiv@gmail.com or leave a comment.
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