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A couple weeks ago, one of my besties was getting rid of an old desk. I big puffy heart love when Miss K goes into spring cleaning mode! My youngest inherited a whole bag of clothes and has been playing dress up every day since. She’s even worn, wait for it, jeans! (Or, “hard pants” as she calls them, always with a scrunched up face and absolute disdain in her voice.) I can’t even begin to explain how awesome it was to have her not wear sweatpants in public. I pick my battles, people.
But, back to the desk.

When I grabbed this thing off Miss K’s porch, it looked like this…

Red spray paint with a side of crayon.
The little stick figure man was my favorite part of the whole piece! It was almost too cute to paint over.

It took me a little while to figure out what color I wanted to go with on this piece so I spent a lot of time searching images of desks on Pinterest. I tried to think about what person this piece would be perfect for. The dainty build made me imagine a tween girl doing her homework or writing the latest Jr. High drama in her diary. I feel for you sweet girl! Jr. High is worse than starting your period while wearing white pants. Hang in there, summer vacation will be here before you know it!

So, that cute imaginary girly got me thinking, what dramatic 7th grader wouldn’t love a dainty turquoise desk with glass knobs?
And, so the work began.

I vacuumed out the drawer and cubbies, then wiped the whole thing down with some tsp substitute. Once it was good and clean, I started sanding. I made sure to get the drips from the previous paint job sanded down with a medium grit sandpaper (60-80 grit is ideal for stripping paint and knocking down rough edges) then switched to a 120 grit (any fine grit sandpaper will do) to make things nice and smooth.

After sanding, I wiped down the desk with a tack cloth. Side note: Make sure to wear a glove when using tack cloth so your hands aren’t sticky for the rest of the day. I always think that just this once I can grab the tack cloth and just wipe up a little spot without putting my gloves on, and every dang time I end up with tacky feeling hands. It’s not a happy feeling for me, but some of you out there may not be weird like that so yeah, if it doesn’t bother you than just do what makes you happy and have tacky hands. It’s your life.

Once everything was completely sanded and wiped down, I masked off the drawer with painter’s paper and tape. Usually I would just pull the drawer out, but this one was attached to the desk and I didn’t want to deal with it so masking it was!

Then I put some paint and a little bit of water in my paint sprayer and mixed it really well with a stir stick.
The paint I chose for this project was Patina Green by General Finishes. I really like General Finishes line of top coats and have been wanting to try out their line of furniture paint for months, so I figured why not go bold and try one of the brightest colors they had! Can I just say how much I LOVE this color? It is so fun. I bought my paint at Woodcraft in Sandy. They have a great store with a fabulous staff.

After several thin coats of paint, sanding with a very fine grit sand paper in between coats, I let it dry overnight. Then, I sprayed on some General Finish High Performance Top Coat. It’s has polyacrylic blend characteristics so it doesn’t yellow lighter paints like regular polyurethane does yet it’s very durable. It also has a UV stabilizer in it so you don’t have to worry to much about having your hard work fade near a window. (I’m not getting paid to tell you this, I just really like this finish so thought I would share.)

I added some pretty clear glass knobs and she was done.

I didn’t distress this piece because I loved the clean young vibe from the bright turquoise mixed with the sweetness of the desk. I think the clear glass knobs fit the style perfectly. I found those at Hobby Lobby.
Hint: Several weeks of the month, Hobby Lobby has ALL their knobs and hardware for 50% off, buy them then! You can always check the ad online to see if they are on sale that week. I learned that the hard way… 3 times in the last 2 months I’ve ended up there on a week that the knobs aren’t on special and that did not end well.

I love the simple lines and the glam the shiny glass brings.

I think this darling would be perfect for a tween or teen girl’s bedroom. I can totally see mason jars lined up across the top holding sharpies, pens, scissors, beads, and other necessities. The cubbies across the top would easily hold notes and other homework paraphernalia. Though I didn’t cut the hole, you could totally make one of those cubbies into a charging station. Simply drill a small hole through the back panel, stick a charge cord through and you’ve got a great little drop spot for a phone or iPod.

I could go on and on, but I better stop. I’ve got a hellacious project going in the garage and a trucker (who likes his side of the garage free of furniture) coming home in a few.

This cutie is available on my Facebook page if you are interested.
Hopefully soon I will get my shop section on the blog going, so stop back in and see if it’s finally up and what’s listed!

What color/knob combination would you have chosen for this dainty desk?