From Drab to Fab... A pretty desk

So I had previously shown you the before pictures of my daughters NEW to her desk.  I picked this little baby up from my local Restore.  If you are not familiar withe the Restore, it is the Habitat for Humanity store.  They receive items donated from people and retail stores and sell it. All proceed go to helping build homes for people with low income.  If you want more information on Habitat for Humanity, here is the link to their site http://www.habitat.ca/.

So I will include the before picture here, so you don't have to go looking for it.  I was lucky that I went to the store when I did and picked this little baby up for $20.  YES, just $20 for BOTH the desk and chair.  The chair alone I think was worth $20.  

This is what the desk looked like at the restore.  It didn't have anything wrong with it, so it made it a perfect candidate for my first furniture painting project.

Now I will say ahead of time that I will never paint a piece of furniture in the winter again. This is definitely a spring/summer/fall kind of project.  But non the less I have learned a lot about painting.  Now I have to add that the desk and chair are not totally finished, but that's OK.  It will do for now.

So I took this baby home and started working on it right away.  I washed the outside of the desk and chair with some T.S.P.  Little did I know that the primer that I was using said not to use T.S.P.  So I had to clean it again.  I just wiped it with water.  I knew that I would sand the unit anyways, so any residue would most likely be sanded off.

I then used a very light sand paper and sanded the pieces.  The desk has a veneer on it, so I did not want to do much sanding.  It was mostly to remove any cleaning products, dirt etc. that would have been on the unit, as well as to scuff up the surface a bit to be able to have the primer stick to it.  

Chair after a light sanding. 

The primer that I used was Zinsser Primer/Sealer Cover Stain, says that you don't have to sand prior to applying the primer.  I just did to make sure that I didn't run into any issues later. 

I used a foam roller and a foam brush to apply the primer on to the chair and the desk.  Sounds easy.  Well not really.  The primer dries fairly quickly, so you need to work fast.  The desk wasn't too hard to do, but the legs on the chair were quite difficult to do.  Non the less I persevered and got the primer on.  I waited the recommended amount of drying time.  I then lightly sanded it to make sure that the finish was smooth before I applied my first coat of paint on the desk and chair.  

After only 1 coat of primer.  Not bad.  

I opted to use the same paint that I used on my trim around the house. I found that the paint is very durable to scuff's, nicks and washing.  It is a product from CIL called Smart3 trim and door in a semi gloss. 

I applied 1 coat on each of the pieces.  I found that the application was much harder than I thought. 

Here you can see the brush strokes and how the coverage was not that great.

So I ended up going to Walmart and getting a can of spray paint.  I purchased the Rust-oleum Painters Touch Ultra Cover 2x in a white gloss.  They did not have a semi-gloss, so I had to go with the gloss.  (The photo below is the product, just not the right colour)

I first applied it to the chair as this was the harder piece to work with.  I had every intention to continue to try and paint the desk with a roller.  Until the other day.  I decided that I would have to use the same paint if I wanted the same finish on both.  So I spray painted the desk as well. OOPPPSSS!!!! I ran out just as I was finishing off.  So I will need to apply another coat for better even coverage.  But for now it will do.

You must, must, must spray paint in a WELL ventilated area where the temperature if above 10C. I used my basement, where I set up a little room with plastic walls.  I used a face mask and the fumes were horrible. The smell also lingers on for ever and the over spray gets on everything. SPRAY PAINT OUTSIDE!!!!!!!!!!

So here is the final project. Oh forgot to mention that I replaced the hardware. Since the desk was for my daughter I had to bling it up a bit, so I used crystal knobs and stainless steel pulls (as I didn't like the crystal pulls). Here it is:

The carpet is there temporarily.  I did not have any felt pads for the legs of the chair and our floor scratch supper easy.  

The desk cost $20.  The hardware total approx $30.  The paint and primer I had already and the only thing I had to purchase was the bottle of spray paint.  So the project only cost me about $60 in total.  Not bad.  

The possibilities of transforming a piece of furniture are endless.  From desks, to tables, to vanities in the bathroom... the sky's the limit.

If you have any thoughts, suggestions or want to share your project, please do.  I love to see what everyone else is up to and how their project worked out for them.