UTA – Fort Worth Center
Trash to Treasure Project
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In March of 2012, I began my entry for the UTA – Fort Worth Center’s Trash to Treasure Project Competition. I spend a great deal of time brainstorming as to what I wanted to do, what could I use after the project was over, and what would be the best way to utilize my designing skills. I finally decided on designing and building a desk organizer that I could use after the project was completed. I began searching the Metroplex for companies that offered reclaimed lumber or building supplies. And while there are many different companies that offer reclaimed building supplies, those items are unfortunately rather expensive. I began my desk organizer idea with using old house shutters. However, as I found out, those are hard to come by, and are expensive once they are located. Therefore, I had to find an alternative foundation source. I then began looking into cabinet doors; however, those are either too small or not sturdy enough to house the organizational properties I wanted to incorporate. Therefore, I went back to the drawing board for the 3rd time. I decided to make a trip to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and just wander to see what I could find. I walked around the corner, and I found the prize piece I had been searching for, for months! It was a gorgeous office door with two different tones of wood and the perfect size, and very affordable at $15. It was only just over half of the door, but that was all I needed. Therefore…the project began from there.
Cost Analysis
First of all, let me provide a cost analysis of each material included in the project:
Habitat for Humanity ReStore: Salvaged Office Door : $15
Home Depot: 3” Satin Brass Hinges : 4 @ $2.17 = $8.68
7/8” Plastic Guides (Base Feet) : 2 pkgs @ $0.96 = $1.92
12”x24” Metal Sheet : $6.97
Staples: Bamboo Memo Note Holder : $5.29
Bamboo Desk Organizer : $8.49
8.5”x11” Dry Erase Board : $3.00
12”x12” Natural Corkboard Squares : 2 @ $1.25 = $2.50
Magnet Clips : $2.00
Box of Push Pins : $0.50
Material’s Description and Construction
The construction of the office door desk organizer began by measuring out the door itself. I was lucky enough to have an even length of the door, which measured out to 48” long, allowing for 3 equal sections of 16” wide.
1. With the help of my brother-in-law, I cut the large section of door into the 3 smaller sections. We cut it along the back of the door, to ensure the gorgeous two toned wood along the front wouldn’t be damaged. Each panel measure out to 16” wide.
2. After cutting the sections, I used some sand paper to smooth down the edges of the door panels, to provide for a cleaner appearance as well as prevent any damage to both person and property while in use.
3. I then cleaned up the panels themselves with some wood cleaner and prepared them for construction.
4. Knowing the raw wood would easily scratch the surface of any wooden desk, I decided to install plastic glides on the bottom of each panel to protect the surface in which it was placed on, as well as assist in the stability of the organizer itself.
5. Being that the wooden door panels are extremely heavy, I knew that it would be important to affix them to one other using large brass hinges to provide a sturdy construction as well as a fluid mobility of each panel once placed on the desk top. I decided to use 3” Brass hinges with a 5/8th” thickness to ensure that steadiness.
6. Once the actual base of the desk organizer was constructed, I then did another pass on the edges with sand paper to once again smooth out the edges.
7. Then began the placement of the actual organizational features of the organizer. I began to think as to what features would be most useful to include on the organizer, those being: a metal surface for magnets for special notes, a dry erase board for quick reminders, a corkboard for tacking notes and forms to as necessary, and lastly a sticky note holder and pen / desk accessories organizer.
8. Once carefully measuring out the center of the panel, I took the 12”x24” metal panel and simply nailed each corner into the middle panel of desk organizer, allowing for a clean designed look but providing stability.
9. Knowing each of the outside panels had holes drilled through the door where the doorknob and lock use to be housed, I knew that I either had to cover them or use them somehow. I originally wanted to try to put an affixed light though one of the holes to provide illumination; however, the light fixtures I looked at, had too wide of a base to fit onto the edge of the panel and had a complicated wiring system that I didn’t feel comfortable using. Therefore, I came up with the idea of purchasing an eco-friendly bamboo desk accessories organizer and note holder to simply cover the holes. This allowed for a cleaner look of the panels and provided a nice function for the desk organizer itself. I took a tube of Liquid Nails and secured both bamboo pieces onto the wooden door panels, covering the holes on each side.
10. The 12”x12” Natural Corkboard panels allowed for easy access to notes and other forms. Being that the panels themselves were on clearance, and the perfect size, I decided to use those instead of a full corkboard panel piece. I used Aleene’s Original Tacky Glue to adhere the corkboard panels to the left side of the organizer. I placed heavy books on each of the panels as they dried to ensure an even adherence and a stable environment as they cured.
11. The 3rd panel, on the right, houses the larger bamboo desk accessories organizer as well as the dry erase board. I measured out the placement of the dry erase board in the upper middle panel on the right. The board came with its own double sided sticky self-adhering tape; therefore I simply removed the backing and attached it to the right-hand side panel.
12. Lastly, I allowed each panel to dry overnight and then stood it upright in the morning, luckily nothing fell off, and everything was secure and it was ready to go. Upon arrival of the Fort Worth Center, I’ll just add the magnets to the metal panel, push pins to the cork board, note pads in the bamboo note pad holder, and pens and other desk accessories into the larger bamboo accessories organizer, and I’m ready to go.
Future Desk Organizer Additions
Once the project competition is completed, I plan to go back and do some additional work to the piece. I want to add a nice soft, energy efficient light to the back middle panel to allow for an indirect back lit effect. I would also like to finish the back panels some, to create a more esthetically pleasing appearance as well as cover the doorknob and lock holes from the back. And lastly, I would like to add some sort of finished edging or baseboard panels to close off the raw edges of each panel to create a finished appearance.
Final Notes
I would like to thank the Fort Worth Center for providing this design competition and allowing all of us to get creative and implement all of our sustainable education into a fun and useful project. I hope that this project will inspire others to look differently at the world around them and see new possible uses for everyday things before throwing them away. Here’s to a world of reuse, re-purpose and recycling!
