Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Desk Makeover

Awhile ago while I was shopping for various used furniture pieces, I spied this cute little desk.  The tag showed the price of $149, but Shelton's always seems to have a "Today Only" 1/2 price sale.  So, that dropped the price down to $75, which isn't bad, but I figured I'd see if there's any room for negotiation (can't hurt to ask), so I asked if they'd give it to me for $60 and they did!  Sweet!  So here it is before:


I loved the pseudo-Greek key detail under the top:


Before painting the piece, I took off the hardware and got out my Brasso.  These were a bitch to clean, since I'm pretty sure the hardware isn't actual brass.  After scrubbing and cleaning for about 45 minutes, I figured I'd just leave it as good as I could get it and not worry about it being perfect.


I was originally going to paint it with Martha Stewart's Maine Lobster color, but after scanning the "oops" paint section, I found a quart of red paint for $1.  Sold. 

After sanding, the desk got a coat of primer, then three coats of "Chianti" red. 


It actually matches the guest room quilt completely perfectly.  Hooray.  I love this four-poster bed that my grandfather made, but it's so tall that normal nightstands wind up far too short.  The desk is a perfect solution.  Still don't know what I'll put on the other side of the bed, but I'll figure it out.


The artwork is temporary; it's a bit generic for my taste, but the room needs something there, so this'll do for now.


The room still needs a rug and drapes, but it's coming along:


2 comments:

Sleepwalker said...

Very nice. Did you put some kind of finish over the paint? I'm thinking I need to put something over the basement furniture we painted red.

I Have To Have It said...

Kathy--I haven't put anything over the paint yet, but I'm going to. I plan on putting some Wipe On Poly on the top at the very least in order to protect the paint from chipping.

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