Garbage Picked Desk to Gorgeous Portable Bar

I always tell my wife not to garbage pick items because she has no vision as to what project it can actually become. Go figure, I was asked to build a bar for my mother-in-law and ended up garbage picking a solid wood desk to use as the base and inspiration for this build. I ended up using primarily items I had laying around or picked up at an affordable price to make this build. The result is a great bar she can roll around the basement or roll outside to her covered deck area.

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Excluding the stain I had on hand, the total price was about $100 as follows:

Edge Glued Pine (60 inch by 30 inch): $45

Casters: $25

These products I had laying around so I didn't buy specifically for this project:
Sanding Pads (I usually buy in bulk, or try to get to Harbor Freight for some cheaper options)

Dowel Pins

2 Inch Spax Screw

1 1/4 Inch Drywall Screws

Stains and Polyurethanes

Kilz Original Oil Primer

Random Foam and Bristle Brushes

Tools Used: Random Orbital Sanders (I use Dewalt, but I’m sure some of the Ryobi options are more affordable if you want to stick to a reasonably priced brand)

Handheld Ryobi Trim Router

Circular Saw Highly recommend sticking to one brand, so here’s some nice Ryobi Corded and Battery saws

Jigsaws

Drill Bit Sets

Router Bits

Dewalt Table Saw

Ryobi Drill/Driver

Ryobi Miter Saw

Ryobi Nailer and Combo Sets

Ryobi Combination Kits

Forstner Bit Set

Dremel Multi-Tool

We sanded this desk for hours and hours trying to work out any water marks and imperfections. We sanded from about an 80-100 grit, up to 150 grit, and finished off with 220 grit.

After the thorough sanding, we started to get a whiff of urine. My best guess is that the desk sat on the floor near where a cat or dog had an accident. You can only smell it directly on the bottom grain of the desk, so we decided to use Kilz Original Oil Based Primer and sealed the edge-grain at the bottom of the desk.

In order to make sure the casters were anchored in, we added some 2x3 scrap of pine to the bottom of the desk using countersunk Spax screws, our forstner bits, and some dowels and glue. We trimmed the dowels using our Dremel Multi-Tool. We did this before our last round of sanding so that we could sand these supports as part of the last round.

We installed the casters using some wafer head screws we had laying around by pre-drilling and then driving the screws in. After they were fit in place, we removed them for a quick sand and prior to staining the bottom of the unit.

We decided to stain the desk at this point in time, but just the desk. We chose a darker stain, very similar to the finish it started with, so that any areas missed during sanding or imperfections would be less noticeable.

We wanted to make the top stand out, so we trimmed about an inch off of each side so it could be used to double the depth of the edge before adding a rounded edge.

We used our Ryobi nailer and some wood glue and mirrored the cut pieces so that the grains lined up perfectly.

We used a round-over bit around the entire piece, top and bottom and then sanded down the entire piece.

This took a little thinking, but we really wanted to use some black piping we had laying around. We needed to raise the top a few more inches from the desk (including casters) to get the height we wanted and to allow for some space for stemless glassware. To do this, we cut some scrap 1x4 pine down to the width of the flanges we were using and then cut them to length.

We affixed the flanges to the cut pine boards using some 1 inch wood screws we had laying around. Then we pre-drilled the matching flanges and affixed them to the desk at an angle. It was the only way we could think of to attach them given the limited space. We then removed the brace for staining.

We chose a lighter stain for the top (actually changed stains after seeing the first selection) to allow for some contrast. We stained and used the Triple Thick Polyurethane on the top and the mounting braces. While we had the polyurethane out we cleared the desk as well. We used the think paintable polyurethane first and then used spray cans to finish off the units with at least 3 coats total.

We got really, really creative for this step. We were going to add some battery powered string lights but didn't want to use hot glue or anything like that, so we decided to use staples. We stapled at roughly a 45 degree angle around the interior of the top and fed the lights through the staples after the unit was put together.

We used 1 1/4 inch drywall screws left over from another project to mount the top. The mounting brace has to be affixed to the desk first, then using weights we drove an angled screw into the bottom of the top.

Although we wanted to make something more elaborate, like a wine rack and built in shelving, we decided to go low-key/low-tech. We measured and cut a piece of OSB board (scrap) to lay on trim under the desk. This allows the end user to potentially remove the shelf for a small dorm-size fridge or put any other storage options in that space. At the end we used some left-over spray paint and sprayed the shelf black.

We delivered the unit to my mother-in-law and tested out the lighting (although we couldn't get the room very dark). Overall, we think the bar turned out fantastic. It was a great way to re-use garbage from one of the neighbors. We definitely think she'll appreciate the portable nature of the bar so she can roll it outside and entertain guests outside on nice days. Let us know what you think and please check out our YouTube page, Subscribe, and give us a Like as you check out some of our other projects.