Sheet Music Desk!

Ahh! I'm so excited to show you guys this project-- it's probably one of my favorite projects because it involves two of my favorite things: furniture and music! I made a sheet music desk for my best friend, Crystal, for Christmas. I've seen several sheet music projects in blogland like this incredible dresser from Miss Mustard Seed and this beautiful desk from Shabby Creek Cottage. Crystal needed a large desk for all of her recording equipment she has. I kept searching and searching for the perfect desk, and finally I found one that looked large enough on Craiglist (for $25-- amazingness!). The problem was, it didn't have a wooden top like the other projects I had seen on blogs--it had a metal base and then a very thick piece of glass on top. Then it hit me-- why don't I just put the sheet music under the glass so I don't have to do layer upon layer of polyurethane! So, I did.

Here's the desk before (sorry I didn't put the glass on top-- it is so heavy!)

Materials I Used:

1. A sheet of plywood (I had the lovely gentleman at the hardware store cut it down to the exact size of the glass).

2.  Elmer's spray adhesive (I only used 1 of the 2 cans I bought).

3. A sandpaper block thing (I know that's a super technical term, but it's in the picture above)

4. Sheet music. I used sheets from 3 different types of music books I found at the thrift store. They were 50 cents each and I'm so excited to continue using them for other projects!

5. Black spray paint (I used Kyrlon's Black Gloss spray paint).

How I Did It:

1. First, I spray painted the base black. I had to do several coats-- the metal was a beast!

2. Then, I measured my plywood to make sure the man at the hardware store cut it correctly. It was not the same size.. argh! I would like to blame the man at the hardware store, but it was probably my amazing measuring skills. Nevertheless, this gave me an excuse to use my new jigsaw that I got for Christmas. Yesss!

3. Once the plywood was the perfect size, I sanded the edges a little bit. I also sanded any really rough spots on the top. I don't think this is a necessary step, but it made me feel better and I felt like it would keep the pages from ripping or tearing. 

4. This was the hardest step for me because I felt like the worst person ever, but you have to rip those beautiful, antiqued pages out of their books. I purposely chose not to cut them out because I wanted that old, ripped, delicate look. In addition, I went through all of the music and chose songs that I knew Crystal would know. For example, all of my books were Christian song books, so I chose songs that she would know and like to go on top (where she will be able to see them). Other songs that I didn't think she would know, I put on the sides or the bottom layer.

5. After that, I started gluing the sheet music to the edges of the plywood first. I glued around the edges so that you wouldn't be able to tell that it was plywood.

For the corners, put one sheet of music on one edge, and then put another sheet on the opposite edge. If that made absolutely no sense, please refer to the picture below:

6. Once I finished all of the edges, I layered other pages on top. Continue to layer until all of the plywood is covered. Like I said in step 4, I saved songs that she would know for the top layer.

If you're working outside, here is a bit of advice for you: bring your project inside to dry. I left my project outside and decided to bring it in around 9 pm. When I brought it inside, there were several bubbles underneath the pages because of the moisture in the air. To save you some crying, whining, and frustration, bring it inside. Luckily, the glass smushes most of the bubbles out.

 Once everything dried (I gave it about 24 hours before I put the glass on top), I put the desk all together. Here it is (warning: I went photo crazy):

 The lamp makeover project and the "baby grand" piano project go with it perfectly!

Crystal's favorite yard sale find-- Mr. Frog :)

Serious hard work is going to go on here :)

For real, though, I'm so excited to see all of this cute stuff clear off so she can set up her monitors and.. stuff that I don't know the names of. She's going to be an amazing producer one day. Remember the little people who made your desk, Crystal.. remember the little people :)

What do you guys think!?

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