Spoiled Brat

Let me preface this post by saying that I have the most kind, considerate, generous dad-in-law of all time.  He is willing at any time to give of his time and talent.  I feel like a total brat for feeling the way I feel (that was a lot of 'feels,' huh?) as I write this.

So.  The kids have reached the age where we are ready to start them out on computers.  We are a family with a lot of computers to hand down, so all we needed were some work stations to set them up.  Enter GanGan.  He is a very talented wood-worker.  We have several gorgeous pieces of furniture that he made in our house.  When he heard we needed desks, he stepped right up.  I drew him a picture of what I had in mind that looked like this:

I wanted something simple with good clean lines.  I was going to paint them, so they didn't need to be made from fancy wood.  Other than standard desk height, I didn't care about the size.  Drawers?  Cool but not necessary.

"No problem!" he said.  "That's basically a trestle table.  I've built lots of those," he said.  "I don't need dimensions!  Building these will keep my brain sharp," he said.

This is what arrived at my house yesterday.

OMG, the ugly!  And there are two of them!  Yay...  With weird stick-out-y pieces!  And completely random pieces of trim!  And feet(!) that stick out further than the desk!  With routed edges!  Sob!  All the weirdness with the legs happened because he couldn't get the X-legs stable.  Hoo, boy.  They are stable now.  And SO heeeedeeeeous!

Now GanGan, for all his (many) talents, is very insecure.  All during the building process, he kept saying we could just chop them up and use them for firewood.  And I kept saying, "Never!  They'll be great!"  Which makes the fact that I want/need to completely change the legs all the more controversial.  Why don't I just kick a puppy while I'm at it?

On the up side, he took me at my word and didn't use furniture grade wood, so the supplies were cheap.  It won't be sacrilege when I cut the legs clean off.   And the tops are great!  Two drawers? Perfect!  But the legs?  Gots. To. Go. 

I'm such a brat.

So here is the plan (more or less):  1.) remove legs and all the assorted braces; 2.) trim out the top so that nothing is sticking out awkwardly; 3.)  attach new side panels to both sides; 4.) brace along the top and bottom of the back.  Something like this:

  Guess I need to add that to the 'To Do' list.  Sigh.