Peter Taylor is an editorial and commercial photographer based in Charlotte, NC with clients that range from national and local magazines to Fortune 500 Corporations to ad agencies to TV networks. A graduate of RIT, he has worked as a newspaper photojournalist, a war photographer, a fashion photographer, a sports photographer, a travel photographer, a food photographer, a still life photographer, a news and sports photo editor, a set builder and designer and a prop man. All of these vast and different experiences have help shaped him and the way he sees the world. When not shooting or editing or doing marketing or billing, he can be found playing with his 3 dogs or fly fishing on a mountain river.

I have a few hobbies that fill my time when I am not shooting or tied to my computer. I have extensive flowerbeds that need tending almost everyday this time of year, and I fly fish. I fish a lot. I fish for anything that swims  - from carp to tarpon – in rivers, oceans, pond, streams, drainage ditches, wherever there is water and fish. But, both of these hobbies and most everything else took a back seat to my latest hobby/project. I built my own desk and work station.

Now, I am not a newbie to building stuff. I have taken on dozens of home improvement projects from installing new floors to taking down a wall to building a 12×12 shed. But this project was something different. This project had to look good. It had to be finished, not painted. It had to fit into a very specific space.

Let me back up a little.   I was using a small wood desk. It was cramped, and when the new RAID system came, I had to buy a small shelf set. My office was starting to look like a thrift store. And I had no room to work. My last promo project was done on a folding table in the middle of the room. Something had to change. I got it! I’ll build my own desk from reclaimed wood! This part of NC is loaded with old barns, tobacco barns and other out buildings and I’ve always loved that wood. I found some places that sold that kind of wood but it was very expensive, $40 a board foot! Way out of my range. I then reached out to some friends from the mountains and one of them knew a guy, who knew a guy, who knew a guy that had a few barns worth of this stuff just lying around in another barn. Next thing I know I have a truck load of 8-12 foot 200 year old, yes, 200 year old, tobacco barn wood!

Now, what to do? I stacked all the wood against the house, picked out the straightest and truest boards to make the tabletops that would become my desk. I also had been given 1 and ¾ of two 100+ year-old church door that the friend of the friend just wanted out of his barn, I thought they would make a good base for the tops after I stripped them. I learned about joinery, I didn’t have a jointer so I had to find someone to plane the edges so I could glue them together. I learned this after I tried to hand plane a board. After a day of working on that, I made some calls and got some advice. Find a man with a jointer. After that, it was all me. Once the boards came back, I learned how to use the biscuit cutter and biscuits. I cut and joined and glued the first top, and attached about 6 pipe clamps to it. I don’t have a garage, so I was doing all of this work in my driveway, but the tops need 12-24 hours to set up in a dry place, so I cleared out half of my office and moved the workshop indoors for the gluing process! The next day I unclamped the top and, wow, I was happy and, to be honest, a little surprised at what I had made! As it sat for a day and a half, I started working on the second top. I then cut the first top to size and added ‘bread board’ ends. This will help keep the tops from warping and they look super cool. I then repeated it for the second top. Ok, so now what? It was time to sand. After experimenting with different finishes and levels of sanding from no sanding down to 320 grit finish sanding on an extra board, I decided to clean up the boards down to 220 grit, which is a fine smooth finish. While I liked the very rustic rough feel of the aged wood, I am going to be working on this desk for a long time and I wanted it to have a slightly more refined look..

With the tops sanded and ready to finish, they were wrapped in furniture pads and set aside. I then tackled the stripping of the doors. Now, I was probably a little naïve in thinking it might take 2 days, 3 max to strip all four sides of 100 years worth of paint.. Yea, I was naive. I started out sanding the flat surfaces. This worked fine. For the flat surfaces. There was no way I could get into the details of these doors with hand sanding. Time to get the chemicals. The stripper worked very well in multiple coats (4-5), but I still ended up having to take the panels apart and hand sand each individual piece of detail molding. I ended up putting in about 70 hours into just the stripping! I did learn something very cool about the doors. After getting the paint off, it wasn’t looking like the pine I was told it was, it looked a lot like cedar. When I mentioned it to the guy who gave them to me, he says “Oh yeah, I remember now. These doors are Lebanese Cedar imported around 1900 to help keep the sanctuary in line with Old Testament building laws” Um, what? Yea, that’s what he said. I’d like to believe it is true. One last thing to do before fitting and finishing, I cut the boards for the shelves, 40+ feet of shelving above the desk, and I ordered the shelf brackets – 21 of them!

So with everything built and stripped, I did some dry fitting and measured and cut anything that needed to be fit. There is an 18-inch bump out along the wall, so I had to make a cut out for the top to fit flush to the wall. It was not easy to have to cut into the beautiful top, but, man, it fits so nicely now! Once it was all fitted together it was time for a final sanding and then the finish. I chose to go with oil finishes that are all natural and are still made with the same ingredients and manner they were in 1850. These are hand applied rub on finishes. Again, this couldn’t happen outdoors, so the office became a sea of flat surfaces! And, of course, the whole house reeked of finish.

When applying this finish, you have to rub it in. The more you rub, the better it looks. This is not with out hazards. While the wood was sanded very smooth, it is still covered in knots and nail holes. A sliver popped up off of one of the nail holes and went right through my thumb! It didn’t hurt, really, it didn’t.

With everything finished, it was assembly time. It all went together very quickly, since it was all cut and fit very precisely.  Shelves were hung, some pocket holes were drilled, a few screws put in, and…it was done. I let it sit for a few days to let the finish cure for a little extra time, and then I started setting the whole desk up…computer first, then printer, RAID, and lava lamp. I picked up two small base cabinets with drawers and set them in place, and the desk is in full use. I’ve been using it all for a few weeks now, and I love it. I have a camera here, charger there, and more room than I know what to do with! Everyone who sees it loves it. I still have trouble believing that I built it. But, I did, and I would do it again tomorrow! In fact, my wife likes it so much that she has been talking about my making us a new farm style dining room table!