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Around the House: Reading Room Updates

By Dawn Sailors In Around the House, Reading Room

So when posting about our newly acquired thrift-store desk, I realized that I’ve never shown you the finished front room/office/reading room photos since we installed the new carpet. Here she is: 

I love it and we spend so much more time in here now. Obviously we still need to finish baseboards in here (just assume this from now on so I can stop saying it every time I post pics…) and I’m still looking for the perfect rug for this room to soften the dark carpet a little. I thought I had found just the one at our local Costco (love that store!) but waited too long to buy it and now it’s sold out. Boo. Maybe they’ll restock, but I’m keeping an eye out for another perfect one (I may have found it, but I’ll need a big sale before I bite that bullet). The hub has requested something plush and soft. He didn’t use those words. I can’t actually imagine him saying plush, but he likes to lay on the floor so plush and soft it will be. I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, I’m loving this space. In addition to the new carpet and desk, I also got this antique door from my dad, who took it out of his home in favor of something a little more draft-friendly. Or draft-unfriendly? You get the idea. Door is pretty but not great in the cold, so it found a new home in my home. I was originally going to make a desk out of it, but the doorknob/glass are in inconvenient proximity for desk-making, so for now it’s just corner decoration. I like it. And since I’ve found my perfect desk, it all worked out.

Speaking of my desk, I thought I’d give you a little update on it. Remember when I got it, I told you I knew it was mid-century, and that my instinct was to not do anything drastic to it? Turns out my instincts were spot-on on this one. In fact, I’m quite proud of my thrifting skilz (luck?), because after a little online research, I found out that this desk I bought for $35.00 is actually a Broyhill Sculptra desk. Broyhill Premier introduced the Sculptra collection in 1957 and continued producing it into the mid 60s. Today this desk is fairly rare and goes for up to $1100 online. Check out it’s twin here.

So I’d say 35 doll-hairs was quite a steal. I will still sand it down and refinish it, due to the previous owner getting a little sloppy with some stain and there being several rough spots on the old girl, but as I said, nothing drastic (i.e. no paint treatments here). Here are a few close ups of some of the trouble spots that need a little love:

I was a little worried about the structure at first, because a few drawers wouldn’t close all the way at the thrift-shop, but after getting her home, I discovered a bunch of old papers (nothing interesting) to be the culprit.

So an issue that probably scared some people off (letting me get lucky enough to find it!) actually turned out to be a very easy fix, much to my delight. Now all the drawers slide perfectly and close securely.

Overall, the desk is in great condition and I’m thrilled with my find. Couldn’t be happier!! It’s the reason I thrift. You never know what treasure you’ll stumble across and be able to bring back to life. I’ll keep you posted on the refinishing process!

Hope you had a great Thursday!