A Labor of Love
2 Materials
$30
4 Hours
Medium
This stunning antique teacher’s desk was a real labor of love for Cait from ! She chose Lazy Linen to restore it’s former beauty.
I am so excited to share this piece with you! This desk has been a real labor of love. A client of mine asked me to refinish her grandmother’s teaching desk and I was happy to do it! This piece had been sitting in storage for so long and needed a lot of tlc – here is what it looked like before:
And here is what it looks like now:
The first thing I did was scrape all the chipping paint off. I worked outside on a plastic mat and wore a respirator – safety is key! I gave it several good vacuums after that and a good wipe down. The top of the desk was split in several places in several directions and was beyond repair. I had a solid piece of oak from another antique teacher’s desk that I stripped and stained to replace it with.
I gave the rest of the desk two coats of to paint it which has a topcoat built in. The matte finish lent itself really well to the age of the piece. Also, because I painted over raw wood, I wasn’t worried about chipping.
I distressed the piece really well to bring out all it’s character. My client is also a teacher so it’s really special to be able to refinish a family heirloom along through a family of teachers!
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