Sunflower Designed Desk

Misty Gaines-Johnson
by Misty Gaines-Johnson
3 Materials
$5
5 Days
Medium
When I picked this piece up I was just going to touch it up and resell it. That did not happen as I just had to stain shade a design on it and update it. I really love doing sunflowers so my plan was to put a huge whimsical sunflower on top, paint and clean up the hardware.
Here is the before. It had been painted blue and black. The hardware was silver. I had to fix a few drawer guides but it was a free desk and was solid wood.
As I stared sanding the top I ran into veneer...I hate veneer!!! There are different ways to remove veneer, I usually use an old iron and a wet cloth to steam it off. This time I took a small torch and burned it off. When doing this process you have to keep the flame moving until you see the veneer cracking, I scraped it off easily and sanded with 60grit, 120grit and then a 220 to finish.
Here is the sunflower taking shape on the top. I draw my sunflower on with a pencil and use stain to create the image. You can look at my project big’ol sunflower table to see a couple video tutorials on the process. I used Miniwax Espresso Stain.
The lines are the from the natural wood.
I have the first coat of paint on. I removed the metal leg covers and painted them gold, I also painted the handles gold. I sanded the legs down and will stain them to match the top.
I sanded the drawers and when I did, I discovered the brass inlay that had been painted over. I wanted to keep them showing so I cleaned them up, stained the outer drawer and just painted the middle
Top is finished and 2nd coat done. I put 3 coats of paint total.
Top is all done. I sealed it with poly acrylic one coat. Make sure you use a foam brush as it will help with not leaving lines. I use the water base because when I stain, the light areas I leave are raw wood, if I use a oil base it really darkens the wood and I don’t want that to happen
I distressed the painted areas
I really like how the brass detail makes the drawee look.
All done. It turned out amazing! I love the stained details against the white and using gold for the leg covers and hardware to catch the inlay on the drawers just pulls it all together.
The lines on top are not as dark in person, it is just the way the camera caught it.
tou can see more of my work here on Hometalk or visit my Facebook Page
Memaw’s House
www.facebook.com/memawslovelyglass
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Frequently asked questions
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  • Crystal Smith Crystal Smith on Sep 12, 2018

    Hello I'm totally blown away by sunflower that you've put on this project , however if your NOT a aficionado at painting can you purchase a stencil that large ? Or what would you suggest? I too just love sunflower's however I'm not a painter ! Any suggestions ? CRYSTAL SMITH

  • Muztob Muztob on Jan 26, 2020

    Did you draw t SUNFLOWER free-hand?

  • Arianna Acosta Arianna Acosta on Dec 08, 2020

    Is this desk for sale

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  • Robyn Powley Robyn Powley on Jan 25, 2021

    This is uniquely beautiful and the perfect blend of staining and chalk paint. You've achieved a balanced whole, while also making the individual elements shine. The stained sunflower is the icing on top!

  • Arielle Sargent Arielle Sargent on Feb 03, 2021

    This desk is absolutely beautiful. The colors are simple yet it is such a statement piece. I would design a whole room around that desk! Beautiful art!

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