Thursday, September 20, 2012

Chalk paint desk with stenciled knobs

 So this was one of one of those purchases I got IN BIG TROUBLE for bringing home.  BUT SERIOUSLY!!!!  Anyone in their right mind would have brought it home - it was $5!!!!!!!!!!  I barely looked at it.  Saw the $5 price tag, gasped and grabbed the nearest dude working in the St. Vincent De Paul and said "I'm going to go back up my truck to the loading dock.  Hope you ate your Wheaties this morning, cuz you're going to load this up for me!"  Then I decided I'd better see how the drawers worked and upon opening one, found the legs.  Ahhhh, legs.  Didn't even think of those.  Good to have some legs.  And away I went with the gigantic, heavy antique beast.
So here's where I got in trouble (Besides bringing the big thing home in the first place and needing help getting it off the truck).  The legs just didn't go in right.  They were wobbly, the holes they went in were too big, it seemed like there should be eight...  but there wasn't and there also wasn't any holes where the other four inside ones should have gone... Thankfully my nice, mostly patient Dad who I can talk into doing  just about anything for me, was visiting a month or so ago and I persuaded him to help his darling daughter out and even buttered him up with his favorite meal - mac n' cheese from scratch.  Yeah, he's real hard to please.  Switch it up from stir fry a little and he's happy.  He and my MAN worked for quite a while on those legs and they are mostly sturdy now, except for one back corner one that's not always straight... but holds up just fine anyway.  THANKS, Dad and Hubby for helping me!!!  Now, I have orders to not buy ANY MORE JUNK that I have to enlist them to help with!!!!  Yes sir!  I promise!  (finger's crossed).
So first I decided to strip it.  Oh  my word, I just don't have the patience for all that jazz.  I spent  what felt like forever stripping the top and was only 1/48th done.  That's it, I just got a vision.  This desk needs to be gray and white.
Yup, forget this strippin', keep your clothes on and let's grab the good ole' Plaster of Paris, dump some into my gray for some good ole' budget friendly home made chalk paint and let's go.  When that dried, I edged all the drawers in white and then went on a hunt through my stash of knobs.
Can you believe I came across these at a garage sale this summer ?  Fifty cents for the whole lot!  JACKPOT, BABY!
I painted them white and then sorted through my stencils, narrowing it down to this doo-dad on a corner.  Perfect!

I had picked this up in a thrift shop or garage or something just a week or so ago and decided to see what it was all about.  Hmmmmm thick and chunky....  sort of like the consistency of wall paper paste maybe?  I actually loved to work with it, unlike polyacrylic or polyurathane, it didn't run and drip and make a mess.  However, when it dried, my paint brush strokes were quite obvious!  I sanded them as much as I could with super fine sand paper.  Unfortunately too, the part of the top of the desk that I had stripped started yellowing through.  Rats.  I have no idea what to do about that, but hopefully someone will just embrace it as part of it's distressed and vintage personality.  Oh come on, Grandma wouldn't be Grandma without her wrinkles and age spots, right?!

Sorry for the somewhat poopy photo.  I can't move this thing, it's so heavy.  Therefore had to take pictures of it in my barn.  What do you think?  Does it looks like it needs four  more legs or is it good to go? Well, doesn't much matter, I ain't puttin' more legs on her. :)
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7 comments:

  1. I don't know...it sorta looks like it needs the other two front legs in the last photo especially, but I also like it on the floor with no legs. 😃your choice!!

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  2. Sorry, Girl, ya gotta have more legs. Even before i read the description, that was my first impression. You're not going to let a little thing like its weight stop you! Just give it a rest and you'll be ready to tackle it some other time. (After you install a hydraulic lift in your barn?)

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  3. Afterthought: how about using clunky ones instead, as long as you're re-doing this part. Oh, that's right. You said it ain't happenin!

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  4. love this and love the story.....yeap what would we do with out our hubby's and your so lucky, next time you see your Dad give him a hug! and say thanks for all the ways you help me....when gone you wish yu did...legs on front of desk, give it some time and yeap I think you need some at least on the front.So maybe 2 you can talk the hubby into

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  5. Saw this on the for sale group-couldnt convince hubby that he should take a brake from harvest to get this for me..its darling!!

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  6. Really cute paint job you did with this desk, and I love the new knobs that you stenciled!

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  7. so fun! those knobs are awesome! they totally look like skates to me (the kind you find in the ocean, i mean!)

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