It was destined for the dumpster.

The picture doesn’t do it justice. This was in bad shape!

The top has a major crack in it.

Veneer was peeling off, paint was horribly chipped and more than one of the drawers were completely broken. 

Dad stopped by and rebuilt the drawers and stabilized some of the structural problems with the desk. 

Honestly, I almost turned this down. But, I always like a good challenge. Plus, I love finding furniture that lends itself to a great decorative finish and this fit the bill.

I lightly sanded the top to smooth the finish (leaving the crack as-is) and mixed a custom color of Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint: Two parts Eulalie’s Sky to one part Kitchen Scale. 

Most of the drawers had holes for handles in addition to a center hole for a knob. The most expensive investment would be new hardware ($48 for crystal knobs) and I needed to cover the old holes. I busted out an old Thomas Guide (thanks Michelle Black) and decopauged them on the center of the drawer faces. Once the blue was dry, I tore off the excess paper leaving ragged edges.

After that, I made a new batch of paint, except I made it a very thick, goopy paste. I applied the goopy milk paint around the edges of the decopauged drawer faces and then let them sit for about 30 minutes. 

Finally, the desk received a second coat of paint and a stained top.

I used Curio on the top. Once it was applied, I took a wet wash cloth and wiped it down so that the color would be very erratic to match the rustic finish on the base. 

After the drawers sat for 30 minutes with the goopy paint drying, I used a credit card to pull the thickly applied paint toward the center and then let them continue to dry outside in the direct sunlight. 

The heat from the sun caused the paint to lightly crackle. Once it was dry, I used my palm sander with 180 grit sand paper to sand through the paint and get down to the maps beneath. They just barely peeked through. 

I continued working the palm sander across the framework of the desk to get down to the original white paint and some of the wood.

All of the chipping veneer here and there was left as-is…think of it as a living history. One can only imagine what this desk went through. 

It certainly isn’t prissy or pristine. But, it is rustically girly. The glass knobs add just the right touch of femininity and elegance on an otherwise rough finish…in my opinion. 

In other news, our BAZAAR is right around the corner! Keep your eyes out for some posts about our featured vendors who will be selling their homemade and redesigned projects. 

And, wish me luck and keep me in your prayers as I travel up to the Central Coast this weekend to run a 1/2 marathon. I’m out to beat my time of 2 hours and 16 minutes. I think writing it down will motivate me to run a little faster when I am feeling defeated and like I can’t go on. Almost like I have a group of readers to keep me accountable for not giving up. 

That being said, have a great weekend!

Michele