Revamped Desk for Kids Play Room

My daughter is a budding artist so I really thought she’d love a space to create and color of her own. While I was at Goodwill a couple of weeks ago, I found a great desk for $30 that was in pretty good shape. When I called my hubby to see if he could pick it up, he mentioned that his mother had an old desk in the basement from when he was a kiddo that we could have... for free!



I nervously passed on the desk from Goodwill to see if I could turn my mother-in-law’s trash into treasure. Luckily, when I saw the desk in the back of her basement covered in toys and books, it was worth the wait! While it had some scratches and dents, overall it was a steal.

So here’s the before... and after! Here’s how I completed the transformation:



The first thing I did after getting the old desk home was give it a complete cleaning. The bottom was covered in cobwebs and the drawers were a little dirty. I washed everything with some light soap and water. Then I sanded the entire desk down.

The top had a large ball of puddy stuck to the top which I had to use the power sander to fix. For the drawers and crevices, I just used some light grade sandpaper. Once I was finished giving the desk a light sanding, I wiped down the table again to make sure it was clear of any leftover dust and grime.



To prime the table, I used Zinsser cover stain with the brown label. I used a roller to cover the large areas of the desk, a brush to get into the crevices and the spray paint version to cover the drawers with a smooth finish. I decided to prime the desk with two coats since I knew it would get a lot of wear and tear, sanding the desk lightly between each coat.



Once it was fully cured, I sanded the desk down once more and wiped off all debris. Now, this desk is going in a play room for now, but eventually I hope on having this playroom turn into a nursery and move this desk into my daughter’s bedroom. So, in order to do this, I had to make sure the color scheme would fit in both rooms.

For the actual top coat, I decided to use Rustoleum white semi gloss spray paint on the base of the desk. For the drawers, I used an offsetting color of spray paint, Sweet Cream by Krylon. I wanted the drawers to pop a little bit off the rest of the desk, and I thought the Sweet Cream color would go perfectly with my daughter’s bedroom set once it’s moved.

To finish the project off, I coated the desk in Minwax polyurethane spray paint in semi gloss. This will really protect my paint job and give it some durability.



Total cost of this project: $23 for the can of Zinsser cover stain paint (with plenty of leftover for future projects!), $7 for two cans of Rustoleum white spray paint, $7 for Minwax polyurethane and $12 for rollers and paint trays. The rest of the supplies I already had in my paint closet, mostly just drop clothes and sandpaper. So, the total was $49 (yeah, remember I got the desk for free!). LOVE IT.

For the desk accessories, I found the pencil holder and organizer from WalMart for $10. I wrapped a green and brown striped ribbon around the pencil holder to bring out the colors of the room. I filled the accessories with my daughter’s favorite art supplies.



I will probably line the drawers in the future with some cool scrapbook paper and of course I need a chair, but until then it’s perfect!

Painted Storage Chest for Entryway

One of my favorite recent finds at Goodwill was this walnut chest for $30. I’ve always been wanting something for the underneath our wall cutout between the great room and kitchen and thought this piece would be perfect, but wanted to switch it to black.



So here is the before... and after! Here’s how I transformed the piece:

Once I got it home, I removed all of the old brass hardware. I was thinking of switching it out to something new and modern, but thought a coat of metallic silver might be worth a shot since I really loved the current hardware. It was a little ornate and out of the ordinary! Luckily the metallic paint did the trick and I think it will really pop against the black.



Once I knew I was going to keep the current hardware and holes, I used a light grade of sandpaper to quickly run over the entire console to get rid of any bumps. I washed the entire piece with a towel and water to make sure no grime was leftover or dust from the sandpaper.

When it was all clean and dry, I lightly primed the chest with two coats of Krylon black primer and let it dry overnight.



The next day I coated the entire unit in Krylon flat black spray paint, including the inside shelf and the inside of the doors. Once it was done drying, I used Minwax satin polyurethane as a protective top coat to give it a little bit of a shine. I didn’t want it overly glossy, so the satin was a perfect fit. At first it seemed quite glossy, but once it dried and I wiped it down with a wet cloth, the paint really became subdued.



I put the shelf back in place and attached the hardware and moved it to my desired location in the foyer. Ah, so in love with the finished product! The satin finish fits perfectly with my current pieces in the room and the black really pops off the wall.

So again, here’s the before space and after!





So, total costs: $30 for the furniture from Goodwill, $8 for the two bottles of Krylon black primer, $7 for the two bottles of Krylon flat black spray paint, $5 for the Rustoleum metallic silver spray paint and $7 for the Minwax satin polyurethane. Total cost was $57 and some change, but of course I have some leftover paint as well to use for future projects. Love it :)

Accent Table for my Red Kitchen Wall

One thing that has always bugged me about our house is that the kitchen is somewhat small. Yeah, I know... it’s our first home, but the kitchen always seems to be the gathering place when you have company over.

We used to have a larger oak buffet that rested along our red accent wall. I’ve had this piece for years that floats from room to room, depending on where I need storage. It was really too large for our kitchen; we had to walk the opposite way around our kitchen table to get to the fridge. So I’ve been keeping my eye out for something that would match my kitchen colors and have that eclectic feel.

Then I found her! It was on sale at Pier 1 Imports for $149 and matched the color scheme I want for my kitchen transformation. It had orange to bring out the oak in my cabinets, red to match my accent wall, gray to match my countertops and black to go with my dining set and appliances. Really, absolutely perfect!



Normally I don’t like to spend money on new furniture (especially when I have an old piece that I can paint and style to fit the space I need to fill), but I this was the perfect size/coloration for my kitchen and I couldn’t pass it up.