Dressed up desk
| June 26, 2011 | Posted by Jessie under Before and After, Build it Yourself, Sewing Projects |
Remember our built-in desk?
It got a little makeover this weekend.
We’ve had some bad storms recently and our poor chairs have had a beating. We were on the verge of another storm last week s I hurried out and brought the cushions in to protect their prettiness. We typically store them in our garage but since we would be taking them out and in (in the case of storms) more often this summer, I just stacked them under the desk. Not a great look. So I went to Joann’s to get some fabric to cover it. The first fabric {yes, first, meaning it took me a few tries to get the look I wanted} I bought was a light yellow, cream. navy, and light blue ticking fabric, similar to this
I thought I would like the faint stripes and added color but it was too much pattern. So I returned it and went for round 2, navy linen.
Much too dark. So I returned again and ended up with the pretty linen you saw above. My initial instinct was to go with this linen but I thought I wanted something a little more bold. Lesson learned.
To make my pretty skirt, I started by hemming the sides and bottom. Next, I measured from the floor to the bottom of the desk top to see where to stitch my gather. To gather material, set your machine to the longest stitch and stitch a straight line {no back stitches at the ends}. Then wrap the thread from one end around a needle to keep from pulling through.
Then pull your thread on the opposite end and bunch up your fabric until you get the look you want.
After I finished my gathered line, I was ready to hang it. I had to get a little creative here because I wanted to be able to take if off when it needs washed but also wanted it to be sturdy. I grabbed my two favorite tools-hot glue gun and velcro. My house is held together by those two genius inventions.
I hot glued one side of the velcro to the underside of the desk. The velcro was sticky but this helped make it extra sturdy.
Next, I hot glued the other side of the velcro to the fabric, once again to keep it extra secure.
Then I just stuck it up and it was good to go.
I love the softness it adds to the desk and gives us a little extra hidden storage room for random things like chair cushions.
What do you think?
Great hideous for kids…when they come along
I like it - hidden cords are always much nicer than exposed cords. Great job!!
Very clever way to get extra storage space and I do like the fabric you finally decided on!!
Great job on this! Who doesn’t need extra storage space, right? And a side note — you can return cut fabric? Didn’t know that!!
Love the look. Want to do the same to my desk, how much fabric did it take for yours?
I think I used about a yard and a half. I would measure your desk and then get enough for 1 1/2 times that so you’ll have enough left over for the gather:)
[...] later added a skirt so we could use the underneath of the desk as a storage area for our outdoor [...]