Homemade is Love: Upcycling: Antique Desk Made into Desk

I cannot believe how quickly this summer has gone, but then again, when I think about it, I can. Working at the Marion County Superior Courts Probation Department for my internship 40+ hours a week for a 10 week period as well as planning the big move to Tampa took up a lot of time! Although the summer thus far has been a little too fast paced and stressful, I at least can say that I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the specialized sex crimes unit I interned with and not a second of my time was wasted. I built some incredible relationships with some amazing individuals while learning about the field in which I am now determined to work in one day. From the experience I gained confidence, determination, and a more defined direction towards a career.
As of right now, I am currently sitting in my new patio in Tampa! The search for the right place was rough (at times I didn't think I'd make it through), but I'm extremely happy to say that I love our new home. I will have a lot of new, fun posts coming soon with all the projects I've been working on to decorate. But until I get those finished, let me tell you about a project I did earlier this summer but didn't have the time to post about at the time.
One day a friend of mine was telling me about this amazing skeleton key antique door she had been storing in her garage for years. It had been her grandfather's so she wanted to keep it but since it was so large and heavy, it was a pain to keep moving it around in the garage, and it always seemed to be in the way. This same friend had previously told me she was thinking about redecorating her office with a rustic beach theme, so I connected the two together and came up with the idea to make an office desk using the antique door. I had seen some pictures of how people have upcycled doors into furniture on craft blogs and thought I could easily come up with my own design. My friend loved the idea and together we created something unique and meaningful to add to her home.
   My first thought for the design of the desk was to purchase a used, cheap piece of furniture and remove the legs to use for the desk. But after seeing the antique door for the first time and realizing how large and heavy it was, I knew my idea had a lot of possible issues with it. Then, she showed me two short bookcases she had in the closet of her office. After considering our options and calculating the measurements of the bookcases, we finally came up with a design. Next all we had to do was make it come together.
   The two short bookcases were originally brown and were made out of a plastic like material was made to look like wood. The door was already white with five panels trimmed in baby blue and we loved the look of it so much that we designed the room around it. We purchased white spray-paint for plastic materials and went to work on the bookcases. But before we started painting we removed the back panel of the bookcases and later covered them in a heavy fabric before nailing them back into place. To create a smooth surface for the desk, we purchased cuts of glass and inserted them into the five panels of the door. To add a finishing touch to the desk, I made some cute seashell curtains to add to the beach theme of the room. We still had some spray-paint left after the desk was finished so we purchased some old wall shelves from Goodwill and painted them to add to the room as well.
   It was a lot of fun designing and creating this desk with my friend. We definitely made some great memories along with creating a desk out of materials she already had. I can't wait to start a new project like this one and I'm already surfing the Internet for ideas and inspiration. I just love summer projects!