DIY Australia Day Weekend

A long weekend in Australia usually means barbeques and beaches and if you are not into socialising it is time spent catching up on gardening and fixing up the house. That is not the case for our  little household - nor is it usually a DIY weekend. After Nick transformed an old desk into a macro/lightbox studio the power tools had been gathering dust in the garage ('Wood is an unnatural substance' to quote my dearly beloved). When the desk was finished he was already looking at it and planning Mark II. On Friday after work he decided what was in his mind was going to work so off we went to Masters (one of our local DIY shops) and he went shopping alas with no written list of what was needed. Wooden planks, perspex, fluorescent lights, drawer runners, metal rods, wood stain (well I picked that one), screws, drill bits, sandpaper and possibly some things he had no need of.

Day 1 began with a quick trip to the supermarket and to pick up the bits from Masters he realised he had forgotten. When we got back I caught up on Eastenders and left Nick to it, bringing him drinks and holding pieces of wood when asked. The frame was put together and the first side panel (after a quick trip to Bunnings when he realised what he had brought to do this was not going to work) was put in to my pleasure of pulling it up out of the desk like a drawer. A large jug of Pimms was much enjoyed late afternoon (my excuse was the topic for 365 day was A Taste Of Summer and whats more quintessentially summer than Pimms).

Day 2 arrived and there was some rearranging and re-designing of the lightbox area thankfully we had long weekend. Lots of gluing for me and lots more working out the panels for Nick but he had both sides up and the lightbox working by the end of the second day. More Pimms was enjoyed in the afternoon sunshine by us both.

Monday was D day (disaster day in getting the back panel to fit flush) once we finally worked out how to fix it. While the back board was drying it was off to the other side to lay the table top. With my interest in food photography Nick had planned removable panels so they could be changed for different colours. Brilliant idea but involved a lot more sawing for his lordship.

On Monday it was all hands on deck to get this project finished. Back panel finally in and table top done now for the power board and the shelf (it didn't help that I told Nick the wrong measurement for the shelf and it was out by 10cm - luckily we had spare board!).

Manoeuvred the desk inside to have the pine stained and to be finally used. Unfortunately I was off to Sydney in the morning so did not get a chance to play with it.

I have now stained it and will be sanding and another coat before varnishing this weekend however I am going to be too impatient to wait and I have some shots that are in desperate need of taking. (Plus I am under strict orders not to use the kitchen table for my photography anymore!).

The principle behind the desk is marvellous and I love having everything all in one area. Now I am off to take some photos and put the hard work of my husband to good use.