Writing desks

Have any of you ever kept old pieces of wood around thinking that you just might use it later?
I don't think I know any woodworker that hasn't.
My wife and I have been keeping two old pine coffee tables in the basement for years just waiting for the right project to come along. Well it has arrived, my wife said that she wanted me to build writing desks for our daughters to do their homework at.
I've sanded the tops down and made a skirt for one of the tops that was just a top and legs, the other top had a center drawer on it. I'm going to add a drawer to the other one and make a version of  Queen Anne legs for the two tops.

Here are a few pens I put together for my fellow Photographers at the paper for Christmas. Makes me sad that there aren't twice as many this year, I guess that's what happens with layoffs. From left to right the pens are made out of Cherry, Walnut, Eucalyptus Burl, Sycamore, Sycamore.