Desk makeover

One of the items that happened to be in the garage at H2 was my husband's childhood desk. It was given to him by his aunt. I think our niece used it as well, but the desk itself was showing it's age. This is a picture of how it started:

Ok, that isn't exactly how it started. There were three wooden knobs and the top wasn't sanded. Two of the drawers had missing backs and two of the wood pieces that support the drawers had fallen off. But you get the idea, it was in rough shape. My daughter saw the potential, though, and wanted this painted green for her bedroom. On the whole, it was a pretty easy and fast refinish.

First things first, there was a spot on the top corner I had to patch with wood filler. This stuff is really stiff, but works well. This is what it looked like after it was filled but before I sanded it down-

I used a palm sander to sand the entire finish off the desk. I'm not sure of the wood, perhaps mahogany or cherry. The wood was red straight through so it wasn't simply a stain. After sanding-

Next, I rolled primer on. With all the primer options, I'll be honest. I rolled on the Zinsser primer we happened to have. It did not list bare wood on the label, but I ignored this. It took 3-4 coats of primer to completely mask all of the wood. Three for most of the desk, four for the drawer faces and top because they are the most visible surfaces.

I didn't think to take a picture of it after priming, basically picture it white. I had planned to have paint mixed to the right shade of green and roll it on, but happened to see a can of Rustoleum brand paint in nearly the exact shade of green my daughter picked out. I put about 4 coats on which required all of one and part of another 2X (twice the coverage) cans. 

Since I already had these knobs leftover from an old loft bed, we decided to reuse them. You can see two are missing, that is because two of the screws that were with the knobs were too short. 

The desk fits perfectly into her dormer. As in, an inch more and it wouldn't have worked. 

I promised I'd show you how the top came out. The bad spot was right above this heart sticker. Can't even tell now, can you? That wood filler has probably saved us $500 in doors that my husband has been able to salvage instead of replace. The door jambs in nearly every interior door have been clawed to bits by cats. Like the surface of the desk, however, once they have been filled, sanded, primed and painted, you would never know.

You might be able to see that I distressed the edges slightly with a sander. This brings up a faint white line from the primer and gives this simple piece a little dimension and enhances the fact that it is a vintage desk. I put several coats of Minwax finishing wax over the top surface to give it some protection. I didn't bother with the sides because as you can tell, noting can really touch them in this location.


Give me your thoughts! Makeover success?