Dingy Desk to Dora the Explorer Escritoire

One of the trending topics in the blogosphere is that of handmade items for Christmas.  I never really thought anything of it – I like making stuff and I usually give one big project to a family member.  This year, instead of one big item to one person, I’m planning on multiple smaller homemade items.  I started off with a gift for my 2-1/2 year old niece.

My dad is really good at finding and picking up decent stuff that’s been thrown out.  On a recent visit, he brought me a vintage wood and metal school desk.  I loved and then dreaded the thought of another diy project when I already have a binder full of to-dos, so there it sat in the garage for a few months.  While talking with him one night, he asked, “Well, why don’t you fix it up for Ella?”  And during a conversation the following week with my mom, I found out that they were planning on fixing Ella up with a Dora the Explorer room – complete with a new big-girl bed.  Ding!  That was it – I’ll make Ella a big-girl Dora desk!  She loves reading and learning and doing big-girl things so this will be perfect!

The Dora color template exists of vibrant colors:

• Purple
• Orange
• Pink
• And I threw in Lime Green, because it’s my fave color and it’s looks good with the above colors
• Brown – you know, Dora’s big hair…

After stripping the wood…

and sanding it down…

My plan ended up being:

Outdoor Brown by Krylon – everywhere else (the metal parts of the desk)

Metallic Purple by Rustoleum – Desktop and seat (backrest)

Pink Berries by Rustoleum – Seat (buttrest)

(At this point it looks cartoon-girly, but not Dora, so….)

Dora “stickers – which I couldn’t find anywhere so I bought a $3 book at WM, cut pictures out and spray-adhered them to the desk.  I didn’t trust my inkjet to print them out.

(Ok, it’s getting somewhere, but it needs something else…)

I printed off a “Dora” font that said “ELLA” and made my own stencil.

I then used lime green and hand painted the alphabet, 1-10, her middle name (which is mine too ), and a couple swirlies.

And there you have it, the one and only personalized Dora Desk created from a free vintage desk, a book, and some paint!

Thanks for visiting!  If you’re interested in recipes you can check out my food and recipes pages.  If you want to know what diy projects I’ve been up to this week, visit my front page!

This article is happy to be shared with the following carnivals:

• DIY Day @ A Soft Place

(And giving credit where credit is due: Dora the Explorer and all her buddies belong to Nickelodian!)