Governor's Desk Meets Old Fashioned Milk Paint and a Stencil
1 Material
$60
18 Hours
Medium
This sad and neglected Governor Winthrop desk had been abandoned to rot by its former owner, and again at the auction where I purchased it. I found it slumped in the corner with its broken foot laying limp next to the leg propped upon a chunk of wood in a lame attempt to stabilize it. As I stretched my hand to open the slant front door, it tumbled forward onto me. That was it. It came home to my workshop.
I first painted it in Lexington Green for the base coat which would peek through the crackles and the lighter tones of my second color coat.
Just look at that deep saturated green. It is so rich and gorgeous. I did not want to cover over it, but I had already designed this piece so I followed my plan.
I applied OFMP's antique crackle medium to the Lexington Green, and while it was drying, I mixed a custom color blend of about six OFMP colors which I would use for my second color on top of the green.
I just eyeballed the tone against the green and played with adding colors until it reached the color I loved. While in the waiting, the drawers got a few coats of pristine Snow White by OFMP.
I wanted to add a stencil across the front serpentine drawers. I turned this square one diagonally and taped it in position.
For the stencil, I wanted to draw from the base color of the green, so I used only that color and mixed it into a paste to keep it from dripping down behind my stencil.
Pouncing was a tad tricky because the paste pulled on it, but with strategic hand placement for resistance, I had no drips or smudges under my intricate stencil. Whew.
I sanded the drop front down to the bare beautiful mahogany and coated that with OFMP's Safe Coat inside and out for protection.
I used Daddy Van's clear wax for the body and both the Safe Coat and the wax lent a perfectly matte luster to the entire piece.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Comments
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3 of 97 comments
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Beautiful the way you did there stencil covering the drawers
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Thanks!
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Never ever paint, sand, varnish or otherwise alter a true antique. When in doubt check with an antiques dealer. You could be destroying a valusable piece of furniture.
Frequently asked questions
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How do you remove the handles from the top drawer when there are no screws behind it like the rest of the other drawers