Ercol Desk with Hairpin legs

So it’s time for more of what I’ve been working on to be posted. It’s not many posts ago that I wrote about my previous my desk build. Now I really liked that desk, but we have now moved house. The new house is much older and full of character. The black office furniture is too dark for the room really and it needed to be dealt with.

I had lots of plans for what kind of desk, it started with a lego desk, then onto scaffolding boards. Finally in a complete rash purchase I ended up buying an Ercol dining table on eBay. My wife had refurbished an Ercol coffee table and I loved the shape and wood. Looking for larger ones there was one locally for an amazing price so I bought it.

I set to work sanding the top to remove the dark stain. It took a few hours work but it came out very well. I loved the grain underneath.

 

Once the table had been sanded back, the next step was to remove the original legs.  These were too bulky and designed for a dining table not a desk.

 

I then needed to decide what to do for the legs.  I had lots of different ideas, but in the end I went for a Hairpin leg.  These are beautifully designed, but are very sturdy.

 

 

They looked ace in the bare steel, but would rust over time.  I therefore painted them red.  This required lots of coats, but the end result was superb.

 

Mounting the four legs in place required some perfectly size screws, but went well. I kept the Ikea cable tidy from my previous desk to hide all the cables inside.  Long term I want to paint the tray red to match the legs, but for now it will be grey.

 

The last job was to get all my kit setup on the desk.  I’ve a vesa mount for my Apple cinema display which I screwed onto the desktop.  I’ve still got many more jobs in the office to do, but the desk is up and running.