FoxCarr

Remember when “back to school” meant 5 days of time to yourself? 5 days of work that was uninterrupted? I literally just got interrupted right now writing this, again, for the 20th time in the last hour. Sighhhh… Covid-19 is no joke. It has rocked our world in more ways than one.

I know that we are in no way special to this, because we are ALL in this together. Everyone is having a hard time adulting and working alongside small children, teens and our spouses. Each and every day can seem repetitive and truly quite difficult. But what I do know is that through frustration, we have our health which we are undoubtedly grateful for.

I try to remember that this too shall pass and feel thankful that we all still have the capability to work, learn and LOVE during the crazy 2020 pandemic.

School Year 20/21

The end of last year was a battle to say the least and I knew that with school up and running again (in one way or another), we needed a better workspace and environment that would accommodate our children, my husband and myself.

Productivity and calmer, more stress-free days are the common goal for all of us. So we created a desk using items we already had at home with the exception of one small and inexpensive trip to Home Depot. Desks can be quite expensive when purchased online or in store and if you have kids, you know that they will likely trash it soon anyway. Investments like that are so not worth it for our family.

We wanted a desk that fit our “Rustic Decor” vibe but also doubled as storage. Here’s what we used to make it work.

Four Old Crates (Fairly easy to find if you don’t have them)

First I took four crates and spray painted them with two coats of chalk paint. You don’t even need to do this part truthfully. The rustic appearance of a crate as is, is really pretty. But if you DO want any kind of color then read on….

Chalk Paint in White Spray Paint

It’s tough to say exactly how many cans you need for this because depending on the nature of your crates and your desired coverage it will change. I would start with 4. There are many brands of chalk paint available at your local hardware store. Find a color that works for you and a price point. Again, keeping in mind that kids will likely destroy this over time, especially with the extra time being spent at it.

One 6ft 4×4 Piece of Wood- Cut into (1) 4ft piece and (2) 11in pieces

I knew I wanted it raised a bit due to my son being tall for his age and knowing that he needed to grow into it for a few years. So this is where the 4×4 pieces come into the picture. If you don’t feel that you need the extra height then guess what? Skip this part too! I also spray painted these to match what I was going for color wise.

The 4ft piece completely covers the back end of the desk underneath the crates, and the two 11in pieces go in front under the crates raising the entire desk up, but leaving room up front for a chair and feet.

Stack the crates with the storage facing the outside, one on top of the other. If you don’t care for that then turn them inward, but we wanted to use ours as book storage as well and easily accessible. So it helps in a space-saving aspect too!

Two Laminate Wood Grain Shelves for Base – 12in x 48in

Next, we wanted a wood grain top that ALSO was easy to clean and comfortable to sit at. We went into Home Depot not really knowing what the heck we were looking for and when we saw these we knew they’d be cheap and a perfect fit. You can find these in a variety of different finishes and colors, the ones we chose were Rubbermaid Brand.

Brackets

You’ll need to use about 9 brackets to put this together so that the base can become the proper size and sit on top safely in addition to attaching the crates to the desk base. If you want to add more, then go for it.

This project took us little to no effort, and by us I mean mostly my husband. (LOL) But it turned out beautiful and “very cool” in my sons’ opinion. Let’s hope it gets him excited for the abnormal school year and ready to learn in his own little virtual world.

No matter what your family’s school year looks like, we wish all of you the best of luck for the 20/21 year.

You totally got this!