Elegant Country Chic Desk

This is a wonderful desk that a client brought to me to paint. It had no structural issues, it was very solid and full of beautiful detail. As you look through the start to finish pay attention to detail, because I am adding even more detail than it starts with.

First job is to strip the top so it can be stained in a dark Kona color.

Drawers are degreased and clean and ready for paint.

Here is one coat of Kona stain, but it is the mahogany color is still popping through too much so I am going to do a second coat.

First coat of paint is on!

It's a start but there is so much left to do

Here is the added detail that is going to make this desk really stand out, embossed wallpaper. I originally bought this wallpaper at Lowe's and it is designed to be painted. Right now it is just set in there and not painted,  just to see if it would work. All I did was paint a layer of chalk paint, and then cut the pieces to fit. Once I knew the pieces would fit in nicely I just followed the direction for the wallpaper. It is pre-pasted so all I had to do was dredge through water, fold in 1/2 paste side facing in, let set for 30 seconds then unfold and set in place. Then very gently I rubbed all the air bubbles out. I let it fully dry overnight before I painted the paper.

Here is my tester piece that helped me and the client decide what color to paint the desk. We picked the middle color and it is a mixture of mostly Old White and a little bit cocoa , Annie Sloan chalk paint.

 To get the aged look on the embossed paper I painted it the same color as the desk, then I mixed a glaze mixture with a clear paint extender, and antique glaze from Lowe's . I brushed it all over the paper and dabbed off the excess. After it dried I did a dry brush technique with old white to make it pop. 

I did have some bleed through with the original stain, so I had to do a spray shellac in those areas. I then put two more coats on, for a total of 3 coats of paint, and clear wax. Some people like to sand and shabby chic it after they wax, but I actually like to sand before waxing. I like a smoother finish, still shabby chic, but not to rustic looking.

Here is the final piece, and she is a beauty!!!

Flashback to the 90's Desk revamp

Now if any of lived through the 90's we all dabbled in sponge painting, well there was a time and place and  that time as long since vanished. (thank goodness). 

I bought this desk as you see it in the first picture, and who ever painted it was surely a teenager or someone who couldn't see well. Aside from the sponge painting the paint job on the whole desk was horrible, thick brush stroke going every direction, so the prep work for this one involved a lot of sanding. As usual it will be worth it in the end.

BEFORE

My doggie helper, or at least keeping me company.

I decided to strip the top since the paint strokes were so thick and went every direction, I thought starting clean was easier than sanding forever.

Sanded and ready to go

Green be gone! Already looking better.

I haven't stenciled anything in awhile and I thought this piece needed something extra special.

It is not waxed yet but I thought it would be fun to see it with the hardware on.

 More to come.

Final product!!! Way more charming than it was before.

Jolly Green Dresser Redo

This has been a fun project because I got to do this dresser for my Sister in law. Our husbands are brothers and this dresser is a family antique going back 3 generations. It has been painted many many times, I counted 3 layers and then I added the 4th layer. It was white then an antique glaze over that, then it is was light blue, and then green. I even found remnants of stenciling of daisies on it.

It was time once again for this dresser to be updated so here we go on the journey of the Jolly Green Dresser.

First thing was to sand the many many layers of latex brush strokes off the dresser

Then I wiped the whole dresser down with a cleaner that makes sure the piece has no residue or grease on it.

Ok ready set go!

Green is disappearing fast. The drawers and side panels are a mixture of 1 part Old White to 1 part French Linen by Annie Sloan chalk paint.

I was going to paint the top the lighter color and then paint a strip of the darker color near the top drawer, but then I decided that there was an imbalance of light to dark, so I am going to paint the whole top dark.

I like it much better with the dark top. This is it before the wax goes on, but my work shop got to dark to do the fine sanding and then waxing, so I will wait for the light of day and then take better pictures.

Hard to believe it used to be green!
Final product what a simple yet classy redo!