| Project by Mark Brown | posted 325 days ago | 2528 views | 16 times favorited | 8 comments |  |
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I designed this desk for my wife for her Cricut scrapbooking supply. If you’re not familiar with a Cricut machine, it’s similar to an ink jet printer or small plotter, but uses a cutting knife instead of ink. The machine uses plug-in cartridges that typically include several themed patterns or fonts. My wife is a school teacher and over the past few years, she has managed to collect quite-a-few cartridges. After searching the local stores and internet, she couldn’t find a desk that really met her needs and asked if I could design\build one for her.
I built the desk using birch plywood for the cabinet boxes, maple for the drawers, popular for the rail & stile doors and side panels, and MDF beadboard for panel inserts. The desk top was made using butcher block that I purchased from Ikea. Because the desk was wider than a standard kitchen countertop, I had to glue together two pieces of butcher block. The left side of the desk has two slide-out shelves for her Cricut machines and the right side includes four drawers with dovetail construction. The narrow compartment on the bottom is designed for storing large poster board.
The top hutch has 28 shelves for storing over-sized scrapbook paper. The hutch also includes two sets of small shelves that are designed to hold 56 Cricut cartridges. I also added two polished aluminum rods between the shelves for holding her spools of ribbon. The shelves for the cartridges are raised up off the top of the desk top to allow additional space when working on larger paper. I added an electrical outlet in the top for other accessories.
This was my first desk and I learned a lot while building it. Thanks for looking…
-- Mark, Pearland Tx
8 comments so far
BentheViking
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501 posts in 369 days
#1 posted 325 days ago
Mark,
Very nice desk set up. I was actually about to comment on a forum regarding my wife helping me use her Cricut machine to cut out some letters to use as stencils for something I am working on in my shop. Also professionaly I work for a company that installs Ikea kitchens and have used the butcher block counters many times. Which one is this the oak, beech, or birch? I haven’t used the beech, but have the other too. They are really good and surprisingly cheap.
-- It's made of wood. Real sturdy.--Chubbs Peterson
SawdustDon
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13 posts in 360 days
#2 posted 324 days ago
Great looking unit and very functional too. I will have to show the wife.
-- Don
Woodwrecker
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2511 posts in 1380 days
#3 posted 324 days ago
That came out spectacular.
Anyone would love to have a crafting center like that.
The design arraignment & layout features are very well thought out as well.
Nice job!
-- Frui Iter (enjoy the journey) Eric
majeagle1
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1331 posts in 1301 days
#4 posted 324 days ago
Very, very nice Mark….. beautiful design and craftsmanship….
I don’t dare show this to my wife, or this will be my next “must do project” !!!
-- Gene, Majestic Eagle Woodworks, http://majesticeagleww.etsy.com/, http://www.flickr.com/photos/majesticeagle/
Mark Brown
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6 posts in 498 days
#5 posted 323 days ago
Thanks for all the encouraging comments.
Chubbs, the top is made of Beech. We originally wanted to use Oak, but they were sold out. Maybe it was meant to be, because we’re very happy with the look.
I did have a slight scare when finishing the top. We had applied one coat of sealer to the bottom and top and then as we applyied the finish coats to the top side, it began warping. At one time, it had at least a 1” bow across the middle. I tried to fix it by clamping it down, but as soon as I pulled off the clamps, the bow came right back. I assumed it was moisture\humidity that was causing the problem, so I decided to add a few more sealer coats to the bottom side and store it in the house. Within a day or so, it flattened itself out.
-- Mark, Pearland Tx
Broglea
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637 posts in 896 days
#6 posted 323 days ago
Hey Mark, Nice job with this. My wife has been asking for something like this for a few years now. She is a school teach like your wife. I’m going to favorite this and reference it as I make mine if you don’t mind.
RexMcKinnon
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2584 posts in 1000 days
#7 posted 322 days ago
Great job. My wife is into scrapbooking. Gonna hide this from her.
-- If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail!
christy
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1 post in 133 days
#8 posted 133 days ago
Are you ready to go in business? I love this!
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