Whimsical Desk
This desk has been so much fun to refinish. From a boring, beat up mahogany desk… to a solid black, sleek desk… to a fun and whimsical piece of art… she has gone through a major transformation.
This mahogany desk had seen better days when we picked it up. Covered in deep scratches and missing several areas of rope trim, it was discarded at a habitat restore. Never one to turn down a good challenge, I loaded her up on the truck with dreams of making her pretty once again.
Using my favorite orbital sander by Dewalt (https://amzn.to/2zGFfBV), I sanded it down to remove the old finish and even out some of the wood from all the dents and scratches. Next, she had lots of repairs that needed addressed. Using Pro Finisher Wood Filler (ttps://amzn.to/2NKVrdi), we filled all the dents and scratches that couldn’t be sanded out. Using a putty knife, we apply the filler to all the low areas and scratches and then allow it to dry. Once dry, sand down to smooth and make an even finish. This can be done by hand using a sanding sponge alone or by wrapping a piece of sand paper around a sanding sponge to give you a little more grip and control. We like this pack of washable sponges we order from Amazon that comes with different grits for all your different projects. https://amzn.to/2zJPSni
Because the desk was missing a few areas of trim, we had to work on rebuilding those before we could think about paint. If you’ve never tried it, I’ll tell you an easy way to replace any style of trim/design using hot glue.
First you’ll need a hot glue gun and lots of glue sticks. You’re going to use the glue to make a mold. Locate an area on the piece of trim or design that is NOT damaged. Use your glue gun to apply hot glue very heavily over the undamaged trim. You want to make sure to completely cover it as this will be your mold to rebuild a new piece. Once the glue is dry, gently remove it from the original wood trim/design. You should now have an almost perfect mold of the piece that was missing. Now, spray the inside of your newly built mold with a cooking spray.. yes I said cooking spray as in an aerosol version of vegetable oil like Pam. 🙂 (or you can use WD-40) This will help your new piece of trim we’re about to build slide easily out of the mold when we’re ready for that step.
Using an all purpose putty (we love Bondo https://amzn.to/2Ll7o6W), start putting it in your newly built mold to create a new piece of trim. Pack the putty in heavily (making sure to get it in all the low spots) using a putty knife, spoon or your finger if you like. Allow to dry. Once dry, gently remove the new piece of trim. Using wood glue, apply your new piece of trim to the furniture. Our favorite brand is Titebond. You can find it here https://amzn.to/2NQ8ieB. Sometimes you will need to use clamps to hold the newly glued piece of trim in place until it dries. We have some very good, heavy duty, old ones that a dear friend gave to me. They are perfect for building our farmhouse tables. However, for smaller jobs like this, some plastic ones will work. We keep several kinds on hand so we have what we need for different jobs. Here are some of the ones we use frequently. https://amzn.to/2NMdZKm or https://amzn.to/2ZIHdfF
After all the repairs have been made, it’s time to properly clean your piece. You will hear people say all the time that you don’t need to prep with certain brands of paint. I’m sorry, but I just do not agree with this. If you don’t start with a clean, properly prepped piece of furniture, how can you expect your finish to look good or last? You will not get a smooth finish. You will not get an evenly toned finish. You will not get good adherence. You will not get a finish that stands the test of time. Spend the extra couple of hours and do it right. Trust me, you don’t want to have to strip it and start over later. Now that I’ve preached a little, back to the cleaning. We use TSP (trisodium phosphate) to clean our pieces. It is a chemical degreaser that is great at removing gunk (is that a real word?), residue, grease from hands and years of furniture polish (do people still do that?), dust, etc from your furniture. You will have to clean your piece with it several times sometimes. Just keep cleaning until your water is clean. You can find TSP at your local hardware store or order here from amazon. https://amzn.to/2NJAMq9 It comes in both liquid and powder form. You can get it in pure form as a powder or in a substitute liquid form. The powder form is stronger and more irritating to the skin (wear gloves). We get the liquid form and then mix it in batches (diluted) as we need it. After cleaning with TSP, you will need to wipe down again to make sure you don’t leave any of the chemical residue from the TSP behind as it can sometimes react with your paint… especially if you use the pure form. We’ve never had any issues using the substitute form. We clean after TSP using a 1:1 mixture of Denatured Alcohol and water. Fine steel wool will also help you get into any nooks and crannies around detailed pieces. https://amzn.to/2ZKCiuq
Almost to the fun part guys, bear with me. Next the desk got 2 coats of primer using Bin Zinsser Shellac Primer (https://amzn.to/2LeUQPr) to ensure we didn’t have any bleed through from that original mahogany finish. This was applied by hand using both a brush and roller. Be sure and allow plenty of dry time in between coats. Also, we like to sand (by hand) in between coats to get a good smooth finish.
It’s finally time for the fun part…. PAINT! The desk was given its new look by first laying down some Wise Owl One Hour Enamel (OHE) in Black. This was sprayed on using our Home Rite sprayer (https://amzn.to/2MLV8zz). Two coats were applied. If you haven’t used this stuff yet, you should. It sprays on amazingly! Not only does it dry fast, but it cures hard in one hour. If you’re trying to get a lot of work done quickly, this stuff will definitely speed up your turnaround time. And boy is it a hard finish!
We could’ve stopped there but I saw more in this ol’ girl’s future. I wanted to highlight her curves and details. I wanted her to stand out in a crowd. I wanted her to be remembered. I started by painting stripes and leopard print on the desk drawers using Wise Owl Chalk Synthesis Paint in Kashmir. I did a video on how to get flawless lines and how to use vinyl for your designs. You can find it on our YouTube channel here https://youtu.be/Ps5plUm_rsg What a pretty color Kashmir is. Not white; not cream; not tan. But somewhere in between all of those. It was perfect paired with this black.
All of these designs satisfied my desire for whimsy which is what my goal was when I decided to not just leave her solid black. But now she needed something more. Something to soften her up and add a little femininity to her. So I brought out the ReDesign With Prima Transfers and knew exactly which one I wanted to use. It had to be Dark Romance. Even the name was perfect. Dark. Romantic. Beautiful colors to compliment the black and white. Gorgeous flowers to add that softer touch I wanted and the background color on the transfer was black. It was perfect. I started by applying it to the inside panels of the desk (where your legs go) but knew that it needed to be displayed where it could be seen more easily. So I added pieces of it to the smaller panels on the outside of the desk.
Now at this point, the top of this desk was still mahogany because my original plan was to put a wood plank top on this desk and stain it. But as I worked on it, my vision changed and I decided it would actually look better with a black top. Thus, I started filling all those scratches and sanding and prepping the top.
Once the prep was done, it was painted in the Wise Owl OHE too. Then because it just looked a little… empty or plain… I used the remaining flowers I had left from my Dark Romance transfer to dress up the top. I cut around the individual and groups of flowers and placed them in arrangements I thought complimented the shape of the desk. Since the OHE paint does not require any kind of top coat or sealer (hello money saver), I left it alone. I did use clear wax to seal over the Kashmir (chalk synthesis paint) and transfer. All that was left now was the hardware.
The original hardware for this piece was actually very pretty. It was tarnished and dirty but that is a pretty easy fix. It was all cleaned using TSP, rinsed and allowed to dry. Next I sprayed the hardware with Rustoleum Enamel spray in black (https://amzn.to/2ZHX5mo) to get a high gloss sheen that is durable.
I had an old chair from another desk I had and decided it would pair nicely with this one. I sanded, cleaned, and prepped it. Painted it in the OHE and recovered the seat in new fabric. How good is this before and after.
That’s it. All that was left was photos. I wanted to go buy staging items (such a struggle to not do this every time you stage a new piece of furniture) but I was determined not to. I picked up some heels, some red faux flowers, and some books (Twilight and Eclipse from back in the day 😉 ) from around the house and cut some crepe myrtle blooms and got started trying to get some fab photos. I’m pretty pleased with them and I didn’t spend any money for staging items! I call that a win.
You can purchase your Wise Owl Products, Cling On Brushes and select ReDesign With Prima Transfers under our Shop tab. As always, thanks so much for all your support of our small business. We appreciate each and everyone of you.
Tyler and Vicente…. Rehab 2 Fab Designs
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