Fraction to Glory

Refinishing the writing table

So once upon a time, I had this small & narrow computer table which would fit in a corner of my bedroom.

I grew out of that quite a few years back, and my dad was using it as a writing desk since then.

He has this tray full of sundry items (mostly papers and old diaries) that he used to stack on the table top, along-with his watch, phone and laptop. The bottom shelf was not used much as it was open and cats could easily access anything there.

The paint was faded, the laminate on top was brittle and the plywood in the lower rack was peeling in places.

So I decided to give the table a makeover and extend it's usable life.

Here's the table as it was being used by my dad

Started by scraping off the old laminate with a chisel

and done

Next, got rid of the old trim

The new plan is to have the table covered on 3 sides using 6 mm ply, and have a shelf in the middle. Cut a few pieces of ply to size

Cut 4 holders for the middle shelf from 2x19mm ply. Drilled and countersunk them to accept screws. They were screwed to the legs.

Dry fitting the middle shelf

Put 6mm ply on top of the peeling lower shelf, & started sanding to get the old paint off

Used Euro hinges for the doors - here's test fitting them

The doors get laminated

Painted the side and the back - the painted side faces in - the exterior shall be topped with laminates

Painted the middle shelf, the bottom shelf and the drawer - all parts are painted chocolate, only the shelves get painted in royal ivory

Sides and back fitted - used glues and pin nails

Top laminated

Sides laminated

Doors put in

The insides of the doors also gets painted in royal ivory

Put trim on the doors & the top and fitted with shiny chrome finish handles

Finally finished the trims with stain and multiple coats of clear PU

All done and back in use !!