Quick & Easy DIY

This little project was sooo easy and painless but turned out really beautiful. It actually exceeded my expectations!

I've been working on the home office for one of my clients. She works from home so the office must be super functional. I decided to have two desks for her - a "work" desk for her 9 to 5 and her "life" desk for everything else.

For her "work" desk, this was our inspiration:



I went with these elements from IKEA to "build" her desk:

1, 2, 3

When I purchased the top, I knew I would have to stain it to achieve the same look as the inspiration picture. I was, however, pleasantly surprised to find the desk top to be in it's completely natural state - no sanding was required!! Hence the "quick and easy" part of this DIY.

I pre-treated the wood with this:



I then used this stain:



The color is "Early American" and the little can is more than enough for this project. I used two coats and followed the instructions on the can.

Once the stain was completely dry, I used two coats of this (again, following the instructions on the can):



I used satin because I just wanted that subtle glow, like well-oiled wood. I'm not a huge fan of gloss on wood.

And here is how it turned out - very similar to the inspiration picture!





I snapped this picture last week after putting together the desk storage pieces:



I'll be bringing their top over later today :)