The Desk Things in Life Are (Almost) Free

It's finished! It was a busy, messy week, but the new desk has a new look. Here's what I've been up to:

First of all, we don't have a car here in Vienna and rarely have much need for one. It's just times like these when we're bringing home furniture finds, where it sure would be nice... From the pictures on eBay, we thought we could definitely carry it back together on public transportation, which we have used many times for bringing home all kinds of crazy bulky items. When we got inside the apartment of the guy selling the desk, though, it was immediately obvious that this was no IKEA type desk, but a serious piece of carpentry. It's all made from thick, solid wood, and it weighs a TON. Just getting it down the stairs was a real challenge, so we decided to call a cab, which was definitely the best decision. The funny thing was, we had gotten such a good deal on the desk that the cab ride was actually more expensive!

Here is the before photo one more time:

We finally arrived home in one piece, and I was ready to get to work. First I took the time to remove all of the old hardware, even though I was dying to start painting. There was just no way I could paint around the hinges and the scrollwork on the locks, so it was definitely worth the extra effort to remove everything and reattach it later. Then I used an oil-based primer for my first layer to seal the wood and any cracks in the varnish. I happily found an old paintbrush on its last leg that I could use for the primer and then throw out, eliminating a messy clean-up step. Later for the paint itself it's important to use a good quality, clean brush to insure a smooth finish for your final result, but primer can handle a scruffy old brush with no problem.

While waiting for the primer to dry, I scrubbed the hardware in a solution of vinegar, salt and warm water after soaking for a few minutes. It had all been that dark brown color from ages of tarnish build up, but after some scrubbing it regained some of its shine.

For the paint I chose a gray color called Jewels by Dulux in gloss. The oil paint spread and covered so well that I only ended up needing two coats, even painting such a dark color over the white primer.

At the last minute I thought of painting a different color for the inside of the desk, like a little surprise when you open it up, and remembered I had some extra pale blue left over from painting our living room walls a couple of years ago. The color was really pale, almost white looking next to the gray, so I mixed in a deeper turquoise blue from some acrylic paint I had lying around to make this color. Since the blue paint was acrylic, the inside needed three coats, plus two top coats of a water-based varnish I had lying around, too, to give it some shine and protection from all of the activity it'll have to deal with in there. The good news is, even with all of those extra coats, the inside didn't take any longer than the outside, since the drying time per layer was much shorter.

I'm so happy with how it turned out! It was such a fun project, and now I have a place to store my painting supplies.

So the next time you want to make over a room, remember: usually the cheapest way (and easiest to change again later if you don't like it:)) is with a can of paint!

Enjoy your Friday, and have a great weekend!

Liza