Desk Makeover

8 Materials
$75
6 Hours
Easy

How we turned this desk into a beauty just in time for school.

Original


The before is always a bit sad. Scratches, water rings, dings and a bit of grime but our client found this desk for a great price with the intention of having us refinish it for her just in time for the virtual learning schoolyear to start for one of her children.


Sometimes I wonder if we know how dirty our used furniture really is! Oh well it is all part of the process, so Krud Kutter to the rescue! After spraying the Krud Kutter and scrubbing a bit then rinsing it started to look a lot better but we had some areas that would still need wood filler before we could get started on priming.

Filling Hardware Holes


We decided to use Plastic Wood to fill the hardware holes since the new cup pulls spacing was a little wider. Once the filler was dry, we sanded it off and continued to sand the piece until the scratches, water marks and other cosmetic issues were gone.

Sand + Vacuum


After sanding but before priming we always use a tack cloth to remove the dust, and we gave it a quick vacuum as well.

Paint


We primed with Shellac Based Bin and after drying, used our favorite sprayer, the Fuji Semi Pro in this fun color called Patina Green by General Finishes. It is actually a tinted poly, so when you have sprayed all of your coats it is already sealed! I get all of my General Finishes products from my local retailer and they can color match any color from any brand and turn it into a custom tinted poly. How cool is that! So after spraying our first coat we lightly sanded with 1000 grit paper, using a tack cloth to remove the dust, then sprayed two more coats using the same method. For our last coat it was super smooth and we didn't need to sand it at all.

The After


Here is the final look after changing out the hardware. Our client now has a practical and fun new desk for her child to start school in style 🙂

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  1 question
  • Liz Liz on Sep 22, 2020

    How did you get the paint off your driveway from the spray? Thanks for telling us about tinted poly.

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  • Dl.5660408 Dl.5660408 on Sep 22, 2020

    Beautifully done ❤️

  • Bek Bek on Sep 22, 2020

    Stopped me for just a second until I realized that you removed that inner shelf to paint it. I'd have been struggling and saying bad words. AND...I'll remember that!


    It looks wonderful!

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