Creative Aunt Turns A $20 Desk Into An Amazing Sandpit For Her Niece
Refurbishing old furniture into unique and interesting pieces is a popular trend right now. Those who have gone through the cycle of a project from start to finish know that starting with the right material is key. The more rare or unique the source items, the more likely the finished project will catch people’s eye.
If you love DIY projects and have kids in your life, you’ll especially appreciate this creative project that an Aunt took on for her niece. It takes something familiar, a desk, and turns it into something completely unexpected.
Check out the pictures below for the full story of this crafty Aunt and her one-of-a-kind idea. Instructables user AnitaH2B is known for being a clever DIY-er, but this time, she’s outdone herself. You won’t want to miss the final photo of the finished project!
Searching online for interesting and affordable items is all in a day’s work for AnitaH25, and this time, she found a desk for only $20. At first, she thought she would just refinish it and use it somewhere in her house. After getting the desk and inspecting it further, she realized that it would be more work than it was worth to refurbish it as a desk. Not willing to give up on the desk altogether, she was struck with the incredible idea to turn the desk into a sandpit play area for her niece who’s only 2 years old.
Her first step was to decide how big of a sandpit area she wanted, and so she measured it out on the desk and penciled in the borders. Then she drilled holes that would act as starting points for her jigsaw, and she subsequently cut out a large rectangular shape.
AnitaH2B knew her 2-year old niece was small, and the desk as it stood was much too tall for her. As a solution, Anita cut part of the bottom of the desk off.
The next step was to insert a plastic container into the rectangular cutout on the top of the desk. Knowing that this might look unsightly, Anita added a small strip of wood to the front of the desk to hide the plastic.
Next came the fun part! Anita stained the entire desk to look like a dark mahogany, and she finished it with two coats of protective varnish. The container holding the sand can be closed with a lid when her niece isn’t playing with it.
If you’re thinking the table is missing something, then you’re on the same page as Anita. She decided to make a matching chair from pieces cut from the desk and some table legs from another project.
The finished result is an incredibly innovative sandpit play-station for her little niece. We’re guessing if she’s anything like most 2-year-olds then she loves her new sandpit!
What do you think of the sandpit in a desk project? Do you think kids would enjoy using something like this? Share your feedback in the comments!
