Grey Secretary Desk Makeover

Medium
This vintage secretary desk used to be my grandmother's, and now my mom has it in her guest room. It had been sitting in that room with picture frames and decor covering its entire surface so that she could hide the bad shape it was in, so my mom asked if I could help revive it.
My entire life I remember seeing it in my Grandmother's dining room and I had always thought it to be a buffet table, but turns out it is actually a secretary desk! Quite unique, especially as the piece has something I haven't seen before with secretary desks; open side shelving.
After many years of use this desk had special "history marks" all over. Lots of the surface was roughed-up with round-rimmed grooves from vases or flower pots and odd things stuck to it - our guess is the summer sun melted some items to it when it sat in their dining room.


However, the drawer fronts were still in good condition and I liked the original color of the stain, so I decided to work with what it had and go for a two-toned look. My mom loved the idea, so I set to work!
Here is it after a LOT of prep work, involving wood filler, light sanding, and taping off areas for clean, crisp lines.
First coat on! I chose a light grey milk paint from General Finishes called Seagull Gray that would contrast well with the dark stain of the drawers.


After applying a few layers of topcoat for added protection, we were left with this!:
Now guests will have a statement piece in their room when they come over to my Mom's. ;) We both love how it turned out!


p.s. - If you like this piece, I'd love it if you could do me a favor! :) I've entered this seagull grey secretary desk into a contest at General Finishes. If you could take a moment and vote for me there, I'd love you to pieces! (no signup needed - just click the 'vote for this item' box, and that's it!). Voting ends on 3/30/15, so please vote today! THANKS a ton!!


https://generalfinishes.com/contest-entry/seagull-grey#.VRB3ZP7F9yJ


Living in a Fixer Upper
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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