Writing Desk Repair and Upcycle

This is different from my normal Instructables in that I'm really showing my thought process in repairing and upcycling a writing desk that was deemed for the skip. Unfortunately it was riddled with woodworm but I thought it was worth trying to save it as it looked in decent order. I want to encourage anyone taking on a project like this as the end result is so worth all the effort. So here's how I saved a beautiful writing desk from the skip.

Supplies and Hardware

Woodworm Killer spray - Amazon

Screws various sizes - Local Hardware store

Nails various sizes - Local Hardware store

Nuts and bolts various sizes - Local Hardware store

Map Paper (for decoupage) Essential Paper Packs - World Maps - www.hunkydorycrafts.co.uk

PVA Glue - Local Hardware store

Archive Handles x2 - Aliexpress

Gargoyle Handles x4 - Etsy

Gargoyle Key Escutcheon - Etsy

4x Drawer Slides - Aliexpress

2x cuphandles - Aliexpress

1x iron handle - Aliexpress

Plywood - B&Q

Smooth planed square edge whitewood timber L2.4m, W 44mm and T 12mm - B&Q

Matt Walnut Satin - B&Q

Anti-tipping furniture locks kit - Amazon

Tools Used

Syringe - Aliexpress

Paint Brushes - Aliexpress

Drill

Japanese Band Saw

Adjustable Spanner

Table Saw

Oscillating Saw

Mitre Saw

I put the Writing Desk in my back garden so I could get started on getting rid of the wood worm. I bought a Woodworm Killer in spray bottle form that had good reviews on Amazon. Wearing gloves and a mask for safety I completely sprayed the unit. I also used a syringe with some of the woodworm formula in it and squeezed the solution into any holes I could see. Unfortunately there where a lot of holes in the two bottom drawers and the wood felt spongey. I made the decision to discard the two drawers and remove the bracer holding the top drawer in place. I then left the desk to dry for a few days.

I finally brought the desk into the house and started work on replacing the bracer with a new piece of whitewood timber that had the same thickness as the discarded woodworm riddled bracer. I took off the drop down lid and I also started removing some of the wooden letter slots from inside the desk. I would be using the desk to store my mini pc, keyboard and various hard drives so the slots would be in the way. I decided to keep the slots located on the left side intact as I wanted to use them to store my hard drives.

I decided to use the main part of the desk to house my laser printer and a section for important papers that I needed to keep. I measured the base of the unit and cut a piece of plywood to fit and screwed it in place. To access the laser printer and the paper section I came up with the idea to get them to both pull out of the desk for easy access. To do this I would first need to create two sections one for the laser printer and one for the file drawer.

I measured the height, width and depth of the laser printer to ensure it fitted inside the desk. I then took some measurements of the desk to ensure that I could fit both the laser printer and file drawer side by side. I measured the space I had for the laser printer and cut a rectangular piece of plywood to fit. I then screwed two drawer slides into the base of the desk. I fully extended the slides out and screwed the plywood to them. I then added a wrought iron handle to the edge of the plywood shelf to enable me to pull out the shelf. Using a hole cutter I cut a hole in the back of the desk and fed the laser printers plug through the hole. I then placed the laser printer on top of the shelf.

I measured the height, width and depth of the section I had for the file drawer. I then checked to make sure I had enough space to use hanging drawer files. I measured and cut some plywood to form a rectangular box and using some strips of metal cut to size (I used two metal rulers) I screwed these to either side of the box to act as a rail for the hanging files. I then screwed two cup handles onto the front side of the drawer. Using heavy duty drawer slides I screwed these in place inside the desk, fully extended the slides and then screwed the drawer unit onto them.

Once I had finished the inside of the desk I realised height wise there was some space that could be utilised to store paper for the printer. I cut some ply to size, screwed it to together and using L shaped brackets screwed it to the desk. I then had an A4 metal drawer that I bought in Ikea that fitted the space.

Once the internal sections were built inside the base of the desk I then concentrated on creating doors for the unit. I measured the height and width of the space and divided it in two. I then cut some plywood into two squares to fit the space. As the plywood was plain I decided to add some wood moulding to make the doors more ornate. I measured and cut the wood moulding to size using a mitre saw to cut the 45 and -45 degree angles. I then attached them to the doors using panel pins and glue. Unfortunately there was a slight gap in the middle when the doors where closed together so I added wood moulding down the side of the door on the right. This ensured that when the doors where closed together the slight gap was hidden. I then measured and added some Gargoyle handles that I found on Etsy.

As I said in Step 2 I removed the letter slots as they were of no use to me. I wanted to keep my keyboard and mini PC stored in the writing desk. I first removed the middle slot of the letter holder on the left hand side of the unit. I had kept three drawers that had been located under the letter slots and wanted to use these to house my hard drives and Usb sticks. I measured the space left by the removed letter slots and cut some plywood to create shelves for the drawers to sit on. Unfortunately there was a gap left above the top drawer so I decided to create a secret storage area. I cut a bit of timber (that I had left over from the bracer) and added some wood moulding to its edge with glue and panel pins. I then slotted this into place. This secret area will house my Usb sticks.

Once I had finished building the various sections and screwed the lid of the unit back on it was time to sand the unit. Once this chore was done I was ready to paint. As I had used various woods in this upcycle I decided to use a Matt Satin Walnut paint to get an even colour over the entire desk.

Once the paint was dry I added sticky back felt to the pull outs that the lid of the desk rests on. I also found a gargoyle escutcheon for the lid keyhole which I screwed into place. I had no keys to lock up the unit but my partner was working on a steampunk project and had bought a job lot of old keys. After trying a bunch of them I luckily found a key that worked so I am able to lock the lid and the drawer on the writing desk.

I wasn't happy with the overall look of the writing desk, I felt something was missing, so I decided to do some decoupage on certain areas of the unit. I ripped up some map papers I had bought for another project and using matt Modge Podge I decoupaged certain areas of the unit. To accommodate my mini PC and keyboard I drilled a hole into the back of the writing desk so I could feed the wires through.

I decided to add and extra unit on top of the writing desk. This was simply because I had a lot of plywood left over and wanted to use it up. I measured the width and depth of the top of the unit and cut the plywood to size. I screwed the plywood together leaving two sections either end for drawers I had salvaged from another project. I added some archive handles to the drawers. I would have used the Gargoyle handles I had used on the writing desk to give a more cohesive look to the unit but I only had the four. To ensure that the desk wouldn't topple when I used the writing desk I used Anti-tipping furniture locks for safety.

I am really happy with how the writing desk turned out and I hope this will encourage you in the future to maybe save a piece of furniture destined for the skip. Happy Crafting!