Our little compartment, I mean apartment, is small. Really, really small. Exacerbated by a seven year old who likes to dance, a mama who uses the kitchen floor for basting quilts, a daddy who tinkers with computers, and a whole family who collects books, this place often feels like it is shrinking around us. We've had to "make do" a lot: laughing at the idea of a queen sized bed and sharing a dresser, a loft for said seven year old to make room for dance and play, a dining/ sewing table - one which often pushes the other aside...
One thing, however that I was not willing to "make do" with is going without a place for Eleanor to do her work: school, art, newspaper writing, mad-libs, jewelry making, sewing, whatever it is that she does; I feel it's important for her to have a space of her own and certainly not add to the dining/ sewing table usage!
It was clear that she needed a desk. We had an old school (literally) desk with the flip-up desktop and inkwell, but I was always worried about her pinching her fingers, the angle always caused the writing utensils to roll off, there wasn't space for anything to be left on the top. It never really got used. So, I was thrilled when I found a child-sized desk at my favorite thrift shop, ReStore.

It certainly did NOT look like this when I got it. It was painted white and appeared to be left in a garage as the top sustained a lot of damage and was quite rough. It was so rough that I thought twice about getting it, but I checked out the drawers, gave the chair a good shake and all appeared intact and sturdy. I coughed up my $25 and brought it home. Fast-forward a few months and it's done! Much of the time was spent just picking out a color. I had no preference which might have made the decision harder. Nora chose green and we got many, many paint samples and observed them in different lighting throughout the day... for many days.
Nora finally decided on "Little Apples" by Pratt & Lambert. (a semi-gloss acrylic latex). It makes me think of jadeite but brighter and a bit cheerier. Thanks to David for finding time to do this. I can't paint.
After the paint decision was made, it was my job to come up with a lovely coordinating fabric. I was struck with the jadeite/ 30's inspiration. I thought I would use something from my small collection of reproduction fabrics. Though, anything would be better than the original:

Now, I don't fault the previous owner for the fabric choice. I'm guessing it was fine 80's fabric... in the 80's. And you've got to expect a fair amount of wear and filth, but what I don't understand is why the fabric was pieced. It was clearly sewn together before the chair was upholstered and not a repair. Kudos to the person who sewed it because the pattern matched up perfectly. But for the small amount of fabric needed to cover a chair, why not use a continuous piece of fabric? Which makes my ultimate fabric choice so ironic:

Yup, that's a lot of piecing! The paint color choice was not the only area of indecision. I couldn't figure which fabric I wanted to use the most, and when I did, I only had scraps left. So, I crazy quilted the scraps that I had. So, now I am the woman pieced the chair cushion. I did, however, use fusible fleece to hold it all together. I think it will last until I get tired of looking at it and want to reupholster it again.
To make the actual cushion, I used nap mat from work that had ripped and was going to be thrown away. Because it was covered with vinyl, it was easy to use a marker to trace the wooden seat's base and just cut it with strong shears.
The drawer pulls that were originally on the desk looked like this:
They're not horrible, but needed cleaning that I wasn't going to do. The knobs that I used also came from the Restore. They are wooden knobs that I painted with white craft acrylic. They're fine, but I'm noticing that arty-y fingerprints are appearing on them at a steady pace. I might replace them with vintage milk glass or porcelain knobs.
Being unimpressed with the inside of the drawers which were (almost) painted in a previous life, I told David not to paint them green and that I would figure out "something." Once again, the ReStore came to the rescue!

I always peek at the wrapping paper/ wallpaper section there, but have never taken anything home with me. Maybe I was looking with a different eye that day, but I found the perfect wallpaper (from 1979 according to the paperwork in the roll). I put the good ol' Mod Podge to work and papered the inside of each drawer. It looked quite antique when the glue was wet (sort of tea stained) but also looks lovely when dry.

I'm loving Nora's little desk accessories. The toadstool eraser/pencil sharpener was in her Christmas stocking, the toadstool stapler was a lucky garage sale find. The caterpillar is a wind-up toy and apparently essential to homework completion. The bulletin board in the first photo came from (surprise) the ReStore. It's Melissa and Doug and was still in the original packaging. Score!
Eleanor is really enjoying it. I think she's writing more ow that she has her own space. The typewriter really pulls together the whole 30's theme! I'm happy with the depression era thriftiness that made the whole project quite economical!
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I'm really excited to be giving away a copy of
Singer: Sewing for the Home.
All you have to do is leave a comment on my last post.
