Picked up a busted desk from a garage sale and found a whole new way to build one

I was at this garage sale over in Maplewood last weekend, just looking for cheap stuff. This old guy had a computer desk that was totally warped on one side, water damage probably. He wanted ten bucks for it. I almost walked away but then I flipped it over and saw how the whole frame was just bolted together with these simple metal brackets. Honestly I had been overthinking my desk build for months, watching all these fancy videos with custom cuts and expensive wood. But this thing was just a slab of plywood and a few screws. I ended up buying it for 5 bucks, took it apart, and now I'm using those same brackets to build a new desk out of a solid core door from the ReStore. It cost me like 35 dollars total for the door and some stain. Has anyone else ripped apart old furniture just for the hardware instead of buying new stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

tyler49214d ago

Wait, so your fancy hardware is just expensive garage sale brackets?

charles91915d ago

I appreciate you sharing that, but I see it differently than "a whole new way to build one." Most of those cheap garage sale desks use stamped metal brackets that are really thin and bend easily over time. I built my own desk a few years back with proper steel corner braces from the hardware store, and it only cost me about 15 dollars more than your door setup but feels way sturdier. So I get the appeal of salvaging parts, but I think a lot of used furniture hardware is made to just barely hold together.