Monday, July 9, 2012

Desk: Before and After!

I'm starting this week off with a bang. I know last week must have been awfully rough for all of you because of my blogging hiatus ;) but I'm back in full force! 

I finally caved and bought some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, and Wax. I resisted for a long time on this paint trend, mainly because I'm cheap ... and Annie isn't. I started with a couple of sample pots and a can of dark wax, and my first project was this desk. 

I found the desk at a second hand store and was immediately drawn to it because of it's unique design. It's solid wood and has tons of charming little imperfections. Despite the fact that it was only $17.50, I passed it up, fearing that it would sit in my garage for the next three months untouched. The next day I was daydreaming about it and envisioned what it could be, I immediately packed up the kids and went to get it .. and I'm very happy that I did. 

Here's the before, the drawers I had taken out and you can see in the photo, the desk was gross, covered in bugs and bug nests and very dark and scary on the inside. 

Tada! I decided to do an open shelving look on this desk because I had a different idea for the drawers (which is a story for another post). I sanded down the top and coated it with a delicious honey oak minwax stain which brought out the red hues. I painted the desk inside and out with a nice satin cream (not Annie Sloan) and the front I painted yellow (not Annie Sloan either). I hated it, so when I got my Annie Sloan green sample pot I slapped it on over the yellow, rubbed on the dark wax and did some distressing. I'm totally digging how it turned out, and I love this shade of green. 
So far I'm happy with the Annie Sloan product. I really liked the way the paint went on, and it dries incredibly fast. I LOVE the wax, and I was able to use the wax on other brands of paint, so I'm definitely sold on that product. We'll see how long I can resist buying more of this stuff :) 
What do you think? 


8 comments:

  1. Anyone would be proud to have this in their house.

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  2. First of all.... last week was incredibly rough for me because you weren't posting! Secondly, this desk is awesome! The desk I have right now is pretty old and I got it from GoodWill but all I did to it was paint it white and it wasn't even a good paint job.... you would be ashamed to know me if you could see it, especially since the paint is peeling off! But the other day I was getting annoyed with my drawers because sometimes they don't close properly after I open them and because all they do is hide a bunch of crap that I don't need. So I was toying with the idea of taking the drawers out and just having open shelves, and now thanks to you I have a visual for what that might look like. I'm also wondering if the skinny drawer at the top of my desk can be flipped over so when I pull it out it's like a flat surface instead of a drawer full of stuff. Maybe I should just send you a pic and you can give me suggestions :o) Oh! and when I was younger I use to take the drawers out of old desks and dressers and hang them on the walls in my room and use them as shelves. I took them all down when I moved back home. I wonder what you'll do with your extra drawers now?! Sorry for the long comment, but I was just so excited to see your post!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Liz! I love your idea to flip your top desk drawer, it sounds like it would work! I love old desks, but they're definitely hard and time consuming to paint, so I totally understand why you just slapped on a quick coat of white. It's awesome that you used to hang drawers on the wall as shelves! I love that! I'm concerned now that I've mentioned the drawers that you will be underwhelmed with what I did with them :) haha

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    2. you're so silly! I won't be underwhelmed, if anything I will most likely be inspired to do something with my old stuff.

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  3. LOVE this desk!!! I've been looking for an awesome deal on this style desk but haven't found one yet! Now I am inspired how to redo it when the time comes! Thank you! This is just beautiful! :)

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  4. I love that shade of green - it's beautiful! You've done such a great job!

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