Hello to our new fans and to all those we met at the Troy River Street Festival this past weekend. I hope you had a great time at the festival, I know we did! It was so much fun working next to Tim from Mr. Doodles, meeting our previous Mayor Harry Tutunjian, getting to know some of you for the first time, and seeing friends from the past (including my old art teacher’s son).
On to this week’s Tuesday’s Treasures… our beautiful Aqua and Milk Chocolate Antique Desk. (click on any photo to enlarge)
Are you ready for what she USED to look like?
We had to completely rebuild the front of the bottom two drawers using Bondo. This may sound like no big deal, but it takes a long time. John sanded for about an hour one night and I sanding for about 1 1/2 hours the next day to get them the way they needed to be. I sanded with gloves on, even so my fingers were raw when I was done. Note to self… don’t sand for that long at once again. :) I am the pianist at our church so playing the piano with raw fingers is no fun. What was I thinking??
After repairing and sanding, we did all the typical painting steps. To see how we paint furniture, check out How to Paint Furniture.
We used Benjamin Moore brown paint and wood enamel for the top. It worked great and gave the exact finish I was looking for. The bottom was a mixture of teal and white that I had on hand, which was great because I wanted it to be a soft teal and I love when I can use paint that I have left over from other projects.
This desk has amazing detailing in the woodwork so it simply HAD to be glazed. That took quite a bit of time, but it really paid off. I am planning to do a step by step post on how to glaze furniture because I keep getting questions about it. Stay posted! I wanted to use as much of the original hardware that I could, but I also added a few new knobs that I thought might work. It definitely needed some crystal and I didn’t want them all to match. So, I bought similar styles and spray painted them all using Rustoleum hammered bronze. Oh, and while I was at Home Depot buying the spray paint, my 2 year old sweetie decided it would be a good idea to grab the can of paint and when mommy wasn’t looking, spray it IN her mouth. She screamed like a maniac, while I was on on the phone with poison control, yup the whole nine yards. Just keeping it real! Thankfully, she was just fine and we are alive and well – ready to conquer another day in the land of furniture repurposing. Man oh man! Enough about that! Here she is with an antique chair that is almost complete. 
A huge thanks to Lindsey over at Better After for featuring this desk on her site. Check it out, won’t you!
Happy Redesigns,
Sarah
PS- If you like what we’re doing, please like us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/funcycled or share this on Pinterest! Also, you can now get each of our new projects emailed to you when you enter your email address in the box at the top right side of this page.
I love this piece. I can imagine it in the corner of a small boutique where the owner does her paperwork, or in a small office where one talks to clients – a lawyer, financial planner, etc. – it cries out to be the center of attention. Nice work Sarah and John – great “up-cycle”!
Thank you, Jo! A big thanks to you for reading everything to make sure it make sense. Shure do now i strugle with spelin’ an gramer. :) Kidding! For true, it wouldn’t be the same without you.
What a beautiful transformation – love love love it!
Saw you at BETTER AFTER ( where I was featured today YAY )
Your newest follower – would love to have you visit and follow
back :)))
Hi Suzan! Thank you for checking out our site. I was actually already looking through your site today. I love some of your pieces. I will definitely keep an eye on your site. Have a great 4th of July!
Would like to know what the Wood enamel is that you used for this beautiful project?
Hi Martha,
Good question! Here’s a link to it so you can see what it looks like: http://store.283yellow.com/irlalowlumew.html
Thank you for checking out our site!
-Sarah
Hey Sarah! Obviously I’m a huge fan, having purchased two pieces. I will note, however, that though I LOVE the aqua color here (which I’ve noticed you’ve used a lot), I would be more tempted to purchase this if it was a more neutral cream with a glaze simply because then I wouldn’t need to redecorate an entire room around it. It did tempt me, though! :)
Hi Emily!
Thanks for the comment and for buying 2 pieces already. :) I know it’s a bold piece and you’re definitely right that a more neutral color would probably sell faster. I wanted to try this style/color though… yes, teal is my weakness. ;) lol I can do custom pieces with any color so if you need something else just let me know. :) Thanks for taking the time to check out our site!
-Sarah
I am in love with this piece and would purchase if you have another like it in the future. Very classy piece of art.
Thank you so much, Tonya! We do have something pretty similar on our upcoming projects page right now. It has a mirror on it, but the mirror could be removed. http://funcycled.com/upcoming-projects/ Let me know if you’re interested. :) You can email me at sarah@funcycled.com.