Not So Pretty in Pink

This desk is the result of a late night Craigslist mission my boyfriend & I

went on. I just happened to check the "free" section right after this was posted,

luckily the guy who posted it was a total night owl like me. I e-mailed & he

responded right away saying to come pick it up that night (I obviously wouldn't

have gone by myself to do this).The guy was actually really cool & told me

that he got this desk from CL himself years ago, & that it was an antique.

He didn't have any use for it anymore & wanted to pass it on to someone else.

After I saw the pic he posted, I Googled "wicker & wood desk" to see if I

could get ideas of what it could look like. Which is what made me decide to go get it!

Here's what it looks like after a surprisingly quick makeover, such an

improvement! All it took was some serious sanding to the top, & about 4 cans

of Krylon's Heirloom White spray paint. I also re glued the wicker ends in some

places with a high-temp hot glue gun before painting.

The drawer was pretty banged up but it still had the original hardware on it

which I originally thought I'd change, but with the darker stain on the drawer I

like how the glass knob keeps it light & adds some sparkle to the front.

After sanding the drawer down I could tell that the drawer front was made

of teak wood, an unusual choice but after seeing this I decided to stain rather than

paint it. This shot is pretty blurry but you can still see what a huge difference

there is between the before and after - notice the "hold" tag hanging form the knob. The

desk had only been in my boutique for two days!

This is a close up of the library sides (shelves built into the side of the desk to hold

books, etc.) They were covered in veneer that was cracked peeling up. My boyfriend

actually took a hammer & flat head screwdriver & gently chipped this up, which to my

surprise ended up looking a lot better.

Here's the after shot, it looks like they must've used different types of wood

for the planks because on moth sides the stain took more on some pieces than

others, creating an almost striped effect.

This is the top, definitely the worst part of the desk. It doesn't look as bad here

but the veneer here had started to peel off & left huge jagged strips really rough

spots that someone had just painted over (when we sanded we also found a

layer of metallic gold paint-I don't know why but I kind of like that idea!).

The really surprising part is, that once we started sanding it all came up & was

actually really smooth.

This is the closest after shot I have of the desk top, I used Varethane's gel

stain in walnut. You can see closer pics in the background of my last post

here. I can't believe what a huge difference some sanding & spray paint can make .

Hopefully this little antique desk will be around for a lot longer now.