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Vintage School Desk Makeover

January 29, 2014 By Erica Deuel 1 Comment

Revamp an old school deskDo you ever just have the extreme urge to pull into a thrift store? Almost like the thrift store is calling to you? I get that craving. The other weekend my husband had to work late, and the kids and I had to get out of the house for a bit.

We pulled into a thrift store and I realized why I was there. I found this vintage school desk for $10. I have been eying them in magazines and pretty pictures for a while and wanted one. I never thought I would get one for $10! What a steal! We loaded our find into the van and brought it home.

thrift_store_shoppingI had so many ideas on different ways to make over this little desk. I decided to just start with a base color and do one step at a time to see which direction to continue going with it as I worked on it. I’m going to show you step by step how I revamped our school desk, so you can do it too! Switch out the colors or fabric (yes fabric!?) to make it more personal to you and your taste.

DIY_vintage_school_desk_makeoverI loved the old wood look right from the start, so I thought I was just going to paint the metal, but as I started working, the wood got covered up as well.

old schoolhouse deskI used Kilz and painted over every part of the desk but the top (writing surface area). I felt this would clean it and would be the best way to make sure that whatever design I came up with would last for a long time without chipping.

painting_an_old_schoolhouse_deskI knew I wanted it to be a fun, statement piece so I grabbed my Rustoleum hot pink spray paint and sprayed all the metal and underside of the desk with it. After spray painting it hot pink, my son was sad because it was so “girly” so I grabbed a deep red and spray painted over it again. It turned out that base hot pink coat probably was good for our red spray paint. The red stuck with one coat. Make sure to spray light coats, so the spray paint doesn’t start to drip.

spraypainting_school_deskAfter the red spray paint dried, I used a little acrylic teal bottle paint and squirted some in the cubby hole and spread it all around to paint the inside a fun pop of a new color. I ended up painting one of the back rest panels the same color.

painting_school_deskI wanted a couple of colors that worked and popped with one another. Once the teal paint was dry, I worked on the seat of my chair. I started with painting it a simple mustard yellow and then created my own tribal pattern on it. You can read the full tutorial on how to create your own tribal pattern here.

I then picked one of my favorite, small-scale print fabrics and used the same technique I did on this love sign to cover the top part of my chair.

upcycled school house deskI love how it all came together and how my new friend Heidi said, the desk has personality. It sure does. It is hanging out in our living room and will be where Caleb probably does most of his school work from now on. I see a cleaner kitchen table in our future as a result! Yes!

vintage_desk_makeoverHave you seen see any fun vintage school desks makeovers? Would you use crazy fun paint colors and fabric on it too? Or keep more of the natural rustic charm?

If you love this piece like me, please feel free to pin it and share it with your friends! Thanks so much for checking in!

**On another note, congrats to Cherie J. for winning a Spoonful Tribe craft kit! I will be in touch!**

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My Craft Desk {a special furniture revamp}

May 24, 2013 By Erica Deuel 2 Comments


craft area

Do you ever buy things…like big things…pieces of furniture, not knowing where they are going to go? It seems like a piece of furniture should be a big purchase that requires lots of thought and consideration before buying. It usually isn’t for me. When I find something that I like for a good deal I usually buy it (assuming that by the time I refinish it I’ll have a use for it).

That is the story of this desk and chair. I really fell in love with the chair more but for the pair only being $30 together, I knew I wanted it. They weren’t always so pretty though. When we got them home they were a nice dirty, ugly brown. I saw the potential though.

I want to quickly show you how I revamped this piece of furniture, so you too can find an old ugly piece of furniture and give it new life.

My first step in revamping old furniture is to remove all the hardware and give it a nice Clorox bath. I like to know that any germs, dirt, or dust on that piece came from me or my family.

old desk

cleaning used furnitureThe next step is to sand it down. Although the desk is real wood, the top of my desk is some kind of laminate/coated wood. I went ahead and sanded it too with a piece of 60-Grit sandpaper, since it had dried paint, pen, and glue stuck to it. Sandpaper Tip: The lower the number the rougher the grit. 40-60 = stripping. 80-120 = general use. 150+ = fine tuning and finishing. Change out your sandpaper based on your project stage. I often use 60 at the beginning to strip down and rough up my pieces. I then move to 100+ for smoothing and finishing. 

sanding furnitureAfter everything was sanded, I primed it with a nice coat of Kilz. Since I was using Kilz paint, I could have skipped sanding my piece (for my paint to stick) except that I wanted to create a nice even base for my paint. There was a lot of discoloration in the wood. Sanding it helped to give everything a more even start to then prime and paint.

priming a wood deskI didn’t know what to do with the top, since it was not real wood. Around this time I was thinking this was going to be my craft desk at our new house. I decided to not paint it because of how this desk was intended to be used. I knew as a craft desk that it would get scratched and things would get stuck to it quite often. The original laminate covering would wear better versus a coat of paint on top of the laminate. I then used left over paint from Reagan’s dresser makeover to paint the rest of the desk. My color is Disney Paint’s Pluto’s Paws.

painting a wood desk

I then layed out the stencil I had bought (Learn how to use the stencil over here: a colorful stool).

laying out stencilsUsing Disney’s Cool Marine, I started filling in the stencil and was then forced to decide how much of my new color I wanted to be on the desk. The answer would decided which way I used my stencil as you can see in the picture below.

using a stencil

using stencilsI stared at those two wider drawers for the longest time, trying to decide which one I liked better. I struggled to decide. I’m not usually a “yellow” fan, so I opted for the design on the right that featured more of the Cool Marine. I really liked the look of the design on the left though, so I used that technique on the middle drawer. I like how the mix all looks together.

I think it’s important to realize that everything doesn’t have to be exactly the same so it “matches”, and different things together can really be beautiful.

small sewing deskI then sanded the edges of my drawers and desk. I wanted the desk to look more rustic. I was going to be staining this piece to tone down the brightness of the yellow a bit and knew the rough edges would help to hold the stain’s color better.

sanding painted furnitureMy stencil job is not perfect as paint smeared under parts of the stencil where it was not supposed to. I think the sanded edges go with that “imperfect” look better. It kind of makes the whole piece imperfect and rustic with charm.

difference in sanding

wood sanding projectI like to paint the back of my projects to have an area that I can test things out. On this project, there were a couple different stains I was thinking about using. I tested a gray stain out on the back and didn’t like it so I went with Early American by Minwax.

I think the wood color stain compliments the warm yellow color better than the cool gray would have done.

testing stain color tip

small wood sewing deskI went ahead and stained the top laminate as well. I don’t think it changed the color much, but it did give the desk back its shine (that I had sanded off during the cleaning and stripping process). After my stain was dry, the last step was changing out the hardware! This is an old desk and I couldn’t find hardware that fit the exact width of my horizontal holes. I used carpenter’s wood filler to fill one hole then drilled a new hole to line up with my new hardware. It was a couple of extra steps but totally worth it. The newer slick handles allow for the stencil to be the major eye catcher rather than the old handles. I also used three different handles on this piece and I love how they all look good together but are different.

mixed drawer knobs

My new desk was then done! I simply had to move and set it up! Although I didn’t totally know how it would fit in our new house,  I knew I could use this piece. I love how it turned out and it is perfect in the corner of our bedroom. (a.k.a. my new area for creating!)

craft deskI have found a few of my favorite things to help decorate this area.

  1. One of my favorite pillows I have made.
  2. A new, sweet reminder embroidered hoop art that I made right before we moved. I also really like how I can use my Ikea hanger as an old school (before Pinterest) memo inspiration board.
  3. The week we moved in, we found this bird’s nest with three little eggs just a few feet off our deck. We got to watch the birds hatch, feed, and learn to fly away that first week we were here. It was such a special and exciting time as a family discovering our new place and experiencing joy together in our new house. It is one of my first memories in making this house our home, and I love the reminder of sweet family moments the nest brings.
  4. Scrap sewing pieces and an awesome light that I won from Red Head Can Decorate.
  5. Fun metal tin to hide my paperwork, receipts, and patterns.
  6. Vintage playing cards from my favorite childhood movie that helped inspire my blog’s name.

craft desk itemsThis area is not done. I have to hang up some of my organizers and figure out a shelf system I like. I’m making progress though and was so excited to share with you a new piece and place that will help me bring lots of creations back here to show you!

my crafting spot

Thank you so much for stopping by! I am excited to show you next week the piece my husband was making over simultaneously as I was working on this one!

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DIY End Table

August 3, 2012 By Erica Deuel 1 Comment

I have been wanting to share this project with you for a while now.  I finished this little table back in May and was saving it for a week like this one…when my “projects” were not the spectacular crafty sorts but just more life sorts.  For example, tackling a consignment sale is not my every week sort of thing.

For eight years we have had the same two end tables in our living room.  I was getting a bit board with them.  We turned one of them into Caleb’s work bench outside.

He adores it!  He now has a place to store his tool box and work on his projects, where I wont start moving them all around and cleaning up.  It is his area.  The second table needed a makeover to keep using it in our livingroom, so I turned into a decoupaged, painted, fun piece.

I love the way it turned out!  I will try to keep these details short, since I have been having some rather lengthy posts lately.

Step One:  I primed it and painted it white.

Step Two:  I painted the bottom half with gray paint we had left over from our kitchen makeover.

Step Three:  I painted the top ridge with a light, light icy blue.  It almost looked white, until it was put against white.

Step Four:  I mod podged music sheets to the top of the table.  I did several coats of mod podge on top (letting it dry completely between each coat).

Step Five:  Put your hardware back on and enjoy!!


That picture fully shows my DIY photo coasters I made a while back.  I love to enjoy my projects once they are finally finished!!  It is such a rewarding feeling to see something you made, give a room a new look.  You guys can do this project!  So easy!  The hard part is waiting for the paint to dry!  I’m not a very patient person.  🙂

Thank you so much for checking into my Friday Project Spotlight!!  I am off to Ideafarm this weekend!  I can’t wait to join my hubby and the rest of the Broken Voices team for a life changing, inspirational weekend!  You guys might remember me talking about Ideafarm here.  In short…

“IDEAfarm is a four-day experience for college-aged people who are looking to take a specific discontent they have with the world today and do something about it. It’s an experience for young people who are looking to do something more, looking to be a part of something bigger. Each summer, IDEAfarm takes place at Lake Jackson in Atlanta, Georgia, providing an intimate environment for our students to grow and thrive. With the use of whole group sessions, small group meetings, and free time to spend both in community and in solitude, IDEAfarm’s purpose is found.”

I can’t believe this weekend/event is already here!  The summer flew by!

I hope you guys have a great weekend!  I’ll be back next week with a post of how this weekend went!  Please be praying for us and our students!

Party It Up at:  One Creative Mommy, Cheerios and Lattes

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