My, oh my, my desk is finally complete.

After Justin was gracious enough to build it, I had that puppy painted and poly’d in 2-3 months flat.

Because I’m good like that.

Here she is butt naked:

And here she is all gussied up:

It’s a terrible photo because the lighting is crazy and there are cords on the floor and my dogs are performing PDAs all over the internet, but as you can see, it didn’t turn out half-bad!

I really lucked out because I used an old bucket of white paint I had sitting around, and the color match happens to be pretty close to the desk I’d already bought (the one with the drawers).

I’m not going to lie — the process of getting her sea-worthy was a long one.  Justin built her and then primed her with an oil-based primer using a high quality bristle brush.  (Oh, you didn’t know my desk was a “her”?  Well, she is.)

Then I used my leftover white, water-based (latex) paint and applied 3 coats using a brush.  I used a very fine-grit sanding block between coats (it said “between coats” on the label).  Finally, I put on 3 coats of Minwax water-based Polycrylic using a foam brush for protection (sanding between coats), since I’m pretty sure the whole office project is going to shrivel up and die by the wayside and we’ll end up using her for beer pong.

Yes, the surface has some streaks.  In fact, I’m pretty convinced at this point that the only way to avoid streaks is to spray the paint on — not brush it.  And next time, I might go with a Poly that you rub on with a cloth, rather than apply with a brush.

But overall?  I’m happy.

And since my life is made of checklists these days, and this little office project is taking longer than expected, I can’t tell you how good it feels to finally cross something off.

Office Checklist:

• Buy small desk
• Build large desk
• Stain/paint and hang shelving
• Organize
• Paint book shelves (I’m pretty much dreading this)
• New office chair?
• Prettify