Awesome-fied Desk and Mirrors

By Mandi • 11/02/2010

I hope that everybody had a chance to go and check out the Crafting With The Stars entries this round. They were in a word INSANE! Every.single.one of them. This was my entry:

This is a little desk area in my 7 year old daughters room. I found the desk at the DI for $5.00. I peed a little when they told me that’s how much it was……cause I was so excited!

It needed a TON of work though.

There were HUGE gouges in the top and the veneer was peeling off of the drawers. But I thought she was Beautiful!!

Kind of sick right?

I started by peeling off the veneer on the places where is was chipping (the arch at the bottom of the drawers and the middle drawer)  Then I used drywall putty and covered the entire spot. Once that was dry I lightly sanded the entire desk down.

And then I sanded the top more heavily with an electric sander to remove some of the scratches. (don’t forget to leave some character ladies!)

Once all of the sanding was finished I wiped it down with a wet rag and primed it with Kilz Spray Primer. (It took 1 and 1/4 cans)  Then I went to bed. (which is why there are no pics)

The color I used is my favorite red ever. Its Krylon Banner Red. It has more of a orange undertone than pink. The best advice that I can give regarding spray paint is make sure (especially on the first coat) that its light. There is no way that you should even attempt to cover everything in one or 2 coats,  you will just get a drippy mess.

Next comes the LOVE of my life (besides my hubs) Ralph Lauren Faux Glaze in Black Silk. You can see my glazing technique {here}and {here}

Glazing is really easy to do on heavily carved pieces,  because there are lots of nooks and crannies to stick to. A piece like this desk is a little harder because its almost 100% flat. So I am going to show you my technique to glaze a flat surface.

Get your gear! I use an old t shirt with 1/2 of it wet. My glaze and one of the $.99 crappy brushes from Home Depot.

Start by putting the glaze in whatever crack you do have.

 
now here is the tricky part. Wipe it in the opposite direction from your edge ONLY! No swirling, no wiping back and forth, no down the crack, nothin. It will just pull all of your glaze out and you will have to start over. Like this:

It will leave glaze in your minute crevice. Here is another example:

For the drawers I spread a small amount of glaze on the whole surface (concentrating on places that had cracks and dings.)  Then I really lightly wipe it off. (picture the way the the 4th grade lunchroom workers would wipe a table off)

I loved the tarnished brass handles but the drawers needed a little updating so I moved them from the middle of the drawer to the top. Its a simple change but I think made a huge difference!

And there you go!

43 thoughts on “Awesome-fied Desk and Mirrors”

  10. Hi,

    First off, I LOVE your blog!! We just moved into our first little house but are on a tight budget. I was so frustrated after trying to shop for some decor b/c 1. everything is expensive and 2.Everything all looks the same to me…boring! So when I found your blog it was so exciting to find some unique ways to decorate. Keep it up!! 🙂

    I do have a question though. Do you know about how many cans of spray paint it took to paint the desk? I have never used spraypaint on furniture before so I have no idea how many to buy. I’m doing a dresser about the same size as the desk. Thanks!
    [email protected]

    Reply

  12. I totally DI-ed a bubble gum frame like the one in your picture! Nope, never even considered using it for something else!
    I told you that you would get to the next round! Oh are you maybe doing some baby car seat covers for twins for your next round?
    Good job Mandi, keep it up!

    Reply

  13. I’ve seen a lot of red furniture redos lately. Makes me want to try red. Thanks for the detailed info on how you did the glazing. This will come in handy for the project I’m working on now.

    Reply

  15. I have a desk I would LOVE to do this technique with, but I was wondering how well it would hold up to daily use, because it is our computer desk with a human being (almost) constantly sitting there with an occasional glass of tea. Is there some kind of sealer/protective coating you would recommend?

    Reply

  17. This desk is fabulous. The color amazing and the glaze the perfect finishing touch! I just picked up a freebie desk and it is a MESS! Now I see hope!

    Reply

  25. I love the desk and I’m super jealous about the price. My DI never has that great of deals. Thanks for the info on glazing too. I’ll have to get some RL glaze now and try it out. Sounds like it will work better than some of the other glazing techniques I’ve been playing with.
    Best wishes
    April from HomeHinges.com

    Reply

  32. I clicked over from All Things Thrifty. I had to comment on her page because I’ve had some success with flat projects, too. And with straight paint via dry brushing. Anyway, I remember this from Crafting With the Stars. I bought that exact desk from the D.I. ten years ago while in high school (also for 5 bucks) and the veneer was coming to pieces and I scraped it all off and then just painted with a mistint I had then took it to college. My project was very, very, very, much less successful than yours. So when I saw it, “I thought THAT is what I should have done… I knew I wasn’t crazy for buying it!” I got crap all the time from my family for the things I’d bring home from the D.I. Anyway, glad to have found you! Into the reader you go!

    Reply

  33. That is just beautiful! 🙂 I love the new color of it and it just doesn’t look like an old desk anymore. Awesome! Thanks for sharing.

    Adin B

    Reply

  35. Hi ! I went to some flea markets today. Got some really cute, cheap mirrors and picture frames to paint. Then I went to the Home Depot in the town that is 20 miles away. I was looking for the Ralph Lauren Faux Glaze. They informed me that they are the ONLY Home Depot that doesn’t carry Ralph Lauren!! I just love living in po dunk, Arkansas. :/ BUT, they mixed some Behr faux glaze and tinted it to match the Black Silk. Can’t wait to try it out tomorrow!!! I’m gonna take before and afters. Love your Blog! Marilynn

    Reply

  37. I just heard that Home Depot is discontinuing Ralph Lauren. Gasp! Does that mean you cannot get the glaze anymore either? But I don’t have any yet! What is DI?

    Reply

  38. I tried hanging some pics of my kids together so all the frames where touching…talk about a nightmare!! Do you have a trick? I noticed all your framed mirrors are touching and I am in love with it…but how in the heck did you do it!!!???

    Reply

  40. hi there, i’m new to your blog.

    just wanted to say that i love the red desk. i’ve never used kilz in spray form before, but now i’ll have to try 🙂

    also, your gallery wall of coloured frames is nothing short of amazing.

    Reply

  42. Very cool, I loved all the glazing Brooke does at All Things Thrifty and I saw your comment on how to glaze flat furniture, which is perfect for me since I don’t seem to have a detailed piece of furniture in my home!

    Reply

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