Contemporary Desk Makeover
The gist of this post is to help you get over your fear of painting things that aren't wood. This desk was comprised of both wood and plastic and the makeover is stunning!
9 x of 10, there's an original plan that is thwarted somewhere along the way. When we picked this up, the plan was to highlight the checkerboard veneer on the top, but shortly in to prep, I discovered that 1) the veneer was a paper like material (like the Eclectic piece I posted earlier this week) and 2) the wavy facade was made of plastic and a faux wood grain.
Desks are a hard sell as is, so there was no way I was going to put more time into this project that I thought it deserved. I did my standard prep for high gloss on the desktop (read all about it on the "Paint Method" page of my blog). In short, all nicks and dings were filled and I also filled the checkerboard seams so that there wouldn't be a visible checkerboard pattern through the paint. This is accomplished with: Bondo, MH Ready Patch and Primer.
Here you can see the plastic peeking through the faux wood grain - my prep for the plastic was the same as it was for the wood, except everything had to be done by hand since I cannot operate my sander over a wavy surface like that. And while I did fill the grain on the top, I did not fill the grain along the wood because the desk is HUGE (59 x 30) and filling it would not do anything but create a bunch of work for me that would be appreciated by no one. So, I left it. And it actually looks really nice to have the "grain" peeking through the paint, especially in contrast with the high gloss, smooth top. I love it!
This photo doesn't really capture the grain, but it is there!
To achieve the high gloss surface, I used the steps mentioned above: prep is so important! I painted with two coats of Fine Paints of Europe Hollandlac Brilliant. It did take me several tries (as it always does) to get the top right. Because the surface is so large, it was very challenging to the get the paint sprayed evenly. I eventually laid the desk on its side so I could evenly access the desktop from the same distance as I sprayed it (vs spraying too heavily on one side and too thin at the farthest point of my reach). To perfect the surface, I rubbed out using my friend Kayla's technique (link over from my blog).
I know plastic / formica sometimes seems to "ruin" the best opportunities for painting, but I actually think its great because you don't have to feel guilty about painting plastic, and once it's painted, no one will know the difference!
High gloss has my heart. It truly does.
Thanks to all of you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend - cheers to the beginning of summer. Get out there and DIY your own painted makeover. :)
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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3 of 7 comments
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Magazine worthy!!
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I agree with everybody. I'm sure this will not be a hard sell, it's wonderful.
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