Letterhead Desk Redo

I just had to share this desk with you. I had been watching it at my local Goodwill waiting and hoping the price would drop. Eventually it hit $14.99 and I decided that was the magic number...it was mine.

It was typically dark and boring like most of the pieces I pick up, but I had a vision that was centered around a decorative letterhead paper I found at last summers Plucky Maiden Junkfest. It's weird how pieces just speak to me sometimes, I look at them and picture them finished. I can't remember my name some days, but if you ask me a furniture or paint question; I probably can remember it verbatim.

I started off by painting it with primer. This was really necessary on this piece because it had some blue ink on the top that just kept wanting to bleed through. I painted the body of the desk in bright white except for the top and the drawer fronts. I have found that the paper sticks better to the primer than the paint.

From the beginning I planned to paint the top with chalkboard paint. I have been using it a lot lately since it seems to be so popular. It looks classy black if someone chooses to just use it that way too. I covered the drawers with the letterhead paper and distressed the edges as well as the edges of the desk itself. When I put the drawers in it still looked too pristine to me, not enough character. I decided to pick up a variety of wooden letters and numbers in different fonts from the craft store and nail them to the drawer fronts. A couple of them had to be cut in half between two drawers to fit.

I finished it off with some dark wax to emphasize the distressed edges. Sorry the pictures didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. It is definitely one of a kind. It turned out even better than I had expected. Now it is time to focus on a few projects for our upcoming garden event this Saturday. I can't wait to share the unusual potting bench with you that I am working on. Have a fabulous week!




Linking up with these lovely ladies: