My mom recently just built a house. I'm so excited to start showing it off and all that we have planned for it! The first thing that was a must was a desk. The desk I had made for her before didn't fit through the doorway to her new office. It's a shame because I really loved that desk! (click here to check it out. It was made from a dresser!) :) But, that also meant I got to design a desk for her and her needs. She gave me the exact size she needed with everything so I got to work!

 The total size of this desk is 30" deep, 54" wide and 29" tall. The middle section is 36" wide...perfect for a chair. These are the requirements she had, so I went forward from there!

Here's my cut list for this size of desk. It, of course, can be changed to suit your needs, longer, narrower, etc.

6 -2x4 @ 28 1/4" (legs)
3 - 2x4@ 36" (top and bottom long rails)
5 - 2x4 @ 21" (side rails)
3 - 2x2 @ 21" (side shelf supports)
4 - 2x2 @13" (front shelf supports)
4 - 2x4 @ 13" (shelf rails)
3 pieces of 3/4" plywood at 24 1/2x13" (shelves)
1 piece of 3/4" plywood at 30x54" (top)

Step 1: Using a pocket hole jig, create 2 holes on each side rail. Holes should be on the same facing side. Secure 1 side rail to the top portion of a leg. I used wood glue and the interlocking screws in 1 1/2" length.

 Step 2: Attached the 2nd leg to the top side rail.

 Step 3: Now, 3" up from the bottom of the legs, place another side rail and secure into place on both legs. Do steps 1-3 again to create a second piece.

 Step 4: Now do Steps 1-2 again. Don't do step 3 on this piece. Now, you should have 2 pieces with 2 side rails, and one with a top side rail only.

 Step 5: Create pocket holes in each long rail. Secure the top and bottom long rails to section you created in step 4. The bottom rail should sit 3" up from the bottom of the leg and the top rails should be flush.

 Step 6: Add one of the other sections you created in step 3. Make sure all pocket holes are facing inside. Secure this section to the long rails, both top and bottom making sure the bottom is once again 3" from the bottom of the leg.

 Step 7: On the other section you created in step 3, add the top shelf rails (13") to top of the legs, making sure they are flush and secure in place with pocket hole screws and glue.

 Step 8: Now add the bottom shelf rails 3" from the bottom on each of these legs. The front one I placed 1/2" in, the back is flush. Secure in place.

 Step 9: Secure the 21" 2x2 long shelf rails into place on the side of the larger piece. The distance between these ones will be determined upon the size of the baskets you used. For the top piece, we decided to make a laptop shelf. So, this is super small and only a 2" distance from the top 2x4 side rail. From there, we made it about 7" for each shelf since our basket was 6" high. The bottom rails should sit 5" from the bottom to keep flush with the 2x4 front bottom shelf rail.

 Step 10: add the shelf section to the larger section now. Connect all the shelf rails making sure to keep the top ones flush and the bottom sections 3" from the bottom of the legs.

 Step 11: Using the same distances you did in Step 9, add the shorter shelf support rails (13") to the front and back. I inset these by 1/2" from the front, but kept them flush on the back.

 Step 12: Add the shelves to the inside of all the supports. I used 2" nails and my nail gun to secure them into place. You will want to make sure your measurements are correct before cutting these. Mine did vary by 1/4 per shelf because of the placement of the rails.

 Step 13: This step was part of what my mom wanted in her desk. She wanted a shelf underneath the top that would hold a power strip. The cords on her desk would then feed through a hole on the top of the desk, down to this shelf. And then only a single cord will be showing, the one to the power strip. This is an optional piece and not mentioned above on the cut list. But this was a 1x8 board cut a 36" and placed on back top of the longer section.

 Step 14: Next, I filled in all the holes, gaps and seams with wood putty. I sanded those to a smooth finish.  Then painted it with Sherwin Williams Pure White in semi-gloss.

 Step 15: Not shown. I sanded the top plywood piece and then added wood filler along the sides to hide the character of the plywood. I then sanded that down to a smooth finish and stained the sides and the top with Classic Grey. I added 3 coats of polyacrylic to the top.

Step 16: I secured the top piece to the rest of the desk with wood glue and 1 1/2" nails.

 I love how this desk turned out! It's simple yet works perfectly for what she needed. I can't wait to show you guys her total office makeover when we get it done!

 Here's the idea for the laptop shelf. She'll be using monitors that are connected to the laptop. So, the laptop needed to be close but out of the way. This is also just great for storage for anyone who just wants to use it as a place to keep their laptop when not in use.

These baskets are from Target although I have found some similar at Home Goods.

This was a fun piece to create and make adjustments to! I used the plans from Homemade Haven and tweaked them from there to suit my needs.

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I am so excited for today's project!  I have been wanting to make one of these for forever, and I finally did! Plus, it turned out better than I ever imagined...bonus! So, what the heck is a perpetual calendar? It's a calendar that can be used year after year! There's no need to buy a new calendar....I guess unless you want the year on the calendar :) I fell in love with this sliding one and knew it would be so easy to make one. Here's how I did it!

Supplies: 

2  -1x2 pieces cut at 10.75"

3  -1/2x2 (measures 1/2" by 1.5") pieces cut at 20"

2  -1/2x2 pieces cut at 3/4"

4  -1/2x2 pieces cut at 2"

2  -1/2x2 pieces cut at 1.5"

1  -1x3 cut at 21"

They should all lay out like below:

 Additional supplies:
Wood glue
Stain
Metal 1/8" flat pieces (Found in the car/hobby section at Hobby Lobby)
Metal label holders (Mine are from Hobby Lobby)
Dremel with round metal cut disc
Super Glue
Spray Paint
Vinyl
Painter's tape
6 black 1/4" screws

Step 1: Use the picture from above and place all the wood pieces together like a puzzle. The 1x2 10.75" pieces are the bottom with the smaller pieces glued on top. Make sure all the edges are square so the entire piece keeps straight.

 Step 2 & 3: These steps I reversed just since I thought it would be easier to stain before placing the base, but it really doesn't matter. I stained my wood use DecoArt Americana Walnut stain.

 I then glued the piece to the 1x3 base. You can either just leave it with the glue, or secure it from the underside with nails or screws. I used a nail gun and 1" brad nails into the base of mine.

 Then of course, make sure you stain the base if you haven't already.

Step 4: Making the sliders. This is probably the most complex part of it. Maybe :)

 I cut each metal piece 5". So, two 5" piece for each label holder

 I cut the a portion of the brad off to make it shorter so it wouldn't poke out under the label holder.

 I then placed the brads into the each hole and spread them.

Next, I glued the metal pieces to the back of the label holder.

 That is for the first two label holders. The last one is a lot smaller, so I had to make some cuts to make it smaller. I roughly marked where I wanted to cut. I then used my Dremel to cut the middle parts out.

 I was left with the two end pieces.

 I used the super glue to join the two pieces. I then followed the same steps from above with the brads and the metal strips. Just make sure this is set before moving on to the next step.

Once the glue was set, I placed the label holder onto one of the wood pieces, and eyed where I wanted it to sit, I then bent the metal pieces over the wood, on the top side only.

 I did this to all the pieces.

 Next, I spray painted them with oil rubbed bronze. I didn't want to do this initially, but it help with the look of the smaller cut piece.

Step 5: Now cut out all the words and numbers with vinyl. Here are my rough measurements for each part:
Days of the week: 16" long total with about 3/4" between each day. These are 1/2" tall.
Months: 15.5" long with 3/8" between each month and 3/8" tall.
Numbers: 15.5" long with 1/4" between each number and  1/4" tall.

I used transfer tape for each line to save my sanity.

I marked the middle part of each horizontal wood piece, then placed a piece of tape 1/4" below it on each side. These made a good spot for me to place the bottom of the letters/numbers. If you notice, the words/numbers shouldn't fall right in the middle of the wood or else the label holders won't show them. The windows of the label holders aren't centered. So, to be sure you are placing the vinyl on the right spot, just test it. Place the transfer tape on the wood with the backing still on and put a label holder over it. Adjust if needed.

 I did do notches along the bottom of each word on the sides of each piece of vinyl. With this, I could easily see and line the bottom up with the tape.

 Here it is with all the lettering on: Oh, and make sure you don't put the lettering all the way to the sides, the label holder won't go the far. I tried to start mine in 2" from each side.

 Step 6: Next, I placed a screw on each side of the horizontal pieces, about 3/4" in on each side.

 Step 7: I then put the label holders back on, and bent them completely around.

And that's it! Lots of steps, but easy ones :)

 Here's a close up of the label holders, especially the smaller one. If you are super careful while cutting it, you won't hardly be able to tell. Spray painting helped :)

 My favorite part of this piece is oddly the sides. I love how this looks. The way each side/piece of wood took the stain is just beautiful to me.

 The total size of this sliding perpetual calendar is 21" long, 11.5" high, and 2.5" wide. I was going to make a bigger base for this, but kind of love the simplicity as is. It took everything I had in me not to paint this white though. I like it so much that I may just make another one and do it white; put it in my office...or the my future office :)

I got all my wood from the molding section in Lowes. They carry high quality smaller wood pieces like these. You can pick some up that are about 2 feet long. So, great for smaller projects.

This ended up costing me under $15. Not bad, since I've seen them going for over $40!

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