How to Do a Bold & Colorful DIY Vintage Desk Makeover on a Budget

Grab your pencils; school is in session! I’m working on making over a kids’ bedroom and I’m flipping some furniture, starting with this DIY vintage desk makeover. We’ll turn an old classroom desk and a basic IKEA stool into the new cool kids on the block. Keep watching for some colorful desk makeover ideas.

Old desk

This vintage public school desk belonged to a friend and has been sitting in storage for a while. Do you know how I know it’s authentic? There’s chewing gum still on it. Ew. The top is in good condition, but the metal base could use a little love.

Old stool

In contrast to the old desk that’s been out of use for many years, this IKEA stool has seen plenty of use. We’ve got dings, we’ve got scratches, we’ve got crayon marks. Let’s give it a little rehab.

1. Clean

Grab a little Dawn dish soap and scrub the furniture down. Then, give it a clean-water wipe-down.

2. Fill in the dings

The stool has a lot of dings and dents, we need to fill those in.

3. Sand & scrub

Sand the wooden surfaces down to make them smooth. You can use sandpaper or an electric sander for this.

For the metal frame of the old desk, we want to get rid of the rust. So, go over it with a wire brush, then sandpaper. Finish with a thorough wipe-down.

Note: always wear a mask and goggles; we don’t want to inhale bits of metal or get them in our eyes.

4. Prime

Tape off the pieces you don’t want to paint. If you’re a purist and you don’t want me painting a vintage desk, please know I left the original pencil marks to maintain the original character and intent of the piece.

Apply primer first (I needed a separate metal primer for the metal frame of the desk). Always apply from the top down, so you don’t go over anything twice.

Moment of hell: I didn’t feel like I was being too heavy-handed or spraying too close with my metal primer, but I ended up with a lot of paint sagging and drips. So, I had to wait for it to dry thoroughly, sand it back down, then reapply the primer. Which sucks.

Go for thin, simple coats.

Another moment of hell: I wore my good jeans because I thought I wouldn’t be at risk of spray-painting my legs. But, the wind and the aerosol particles in the air mean my good pants are now pink pants.

For the bottom of the desk, I wanted to add some extra bling. So we’re going to do what we do every day on this channel: paint things gold.

6. Seal

Finally, top off the paint job with a clear polycrylic sealer. (It’s boring to watch, so I didn’t include visuals here.)