how a thrift store table became a college dude’s desk

Hello everyone.

Yes, I’m back from my whirlwind week of moving. And after driving a grand total of 1500 miles up and down the state, I’m happy to report that both boys are in their new places and settled in for the school year. In the meantime I’ve been catching up on Life and still feeling a bit tired from the crazy pace of it all.

Today I thought I’d share the thrift store project I finished for Michael’s new college room..

He needed a desk for school work and while I was in the thrift store a few weeks ago I saw these two pieces that caught my attention. As you can see, with the Queen Anne legs and the shiny, gold hardware this table wasn’t exactly screaming out ‘masculine college desk’ but I bought it anyway.

Along with this tall, dirty file cabinet…hey, for $15.00 how could I pass it up?

The first step was picking a paint color for these pieces. Michael had gone shopping with me at IKEA (once) and had picked out a giant picture of a wave for his room that we spent most of his decorating budget on. But it helped set the color and theme for his room…

Here’s my cell phone photo of him in IKEA. I referred to this shopping trip as “quality time together,” and I think he called it torture.

 

And here’s the paint color I selected for the desk. After I turned this quart into chalk paint, I painted the entire body of the table.

I decided to sand the top of the desk and write Michael’s soccer number on it.

After I printed out some different style fonts, I let him pick out his favorite. I wish I had a picture of him staring at the paper…it was so cute

I’ll be honest. This project reminded me of how much I hate sanding old varnish off furniture. Even using a hand sander, it still took me over three hours. I kept thinking about Sharon and Suzan and all their wonderful furniture projects and I seriously wondered, “how do they do it?”

But afterwards I was happy with the results.

 

When I spray painted the hardware black I started to feel even better. It was looking more like a guy’s desk.

After it dried I sanded some of the paint off .

Here’s a photo after the first coat of clear polyurethane. If  I’d known how much darker it would get with the polyurethane I would’ve sanded more paint off the letters.

I think my favorite thing about the desk is the black hardware.

 

Here’s a few photos taken with my cell phone…

(let’s pretend all those wires are hidden)

A shot of the room on a sunny day….

After we said good-bye, Michael went to the beach to watch the sunset and texted us this picture while we were on the freeway. He’s only four miles from the beach and he loves his new home.

And I can’t think of anything that makes me happier (and yes, you can feel happy and achy at the same time).

 

---

Flowers for you.

xo

Leslie

 

 

I’m linking this post up here:

• http://www.funkyjunkinteriors.net/2013/08/diy-rustic-shelving-ideas.html 
• http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/2013/08/nifty-thrifty-tuesday-no177-and-my-four.html
• http://elizabethandco.blogspot.com/2013/08/be-inspired-features-and-link-party-84.html

 

Technorati Tags: DIY,thrift store makeover,college desk,dorm room decorating ideas,chalk paint project,boy's room decor