I was taking a stroll with my family and noticed an old school desk sitting nicely at the curb. Wow! I thought. I can probably put it up for sale and get some cash for it. I ran back home to get my van so I can lug it back home.
When I brought home the school desk my girls immediately fell in love with it and asked me a bunch of questions. They wanted to know how old the desk was and if I used such a desk when I went to school. They told me not to sell it but to restore it to its former glory. They even promised that they would do their homework on it every day.
We decided to make a family project out of the desk. We went shopping for supplies at LOWES and got to work sanding, cutting, priming and painting. We replaced some of the wood and repainted the surface. The finished project came out amazing! Everyone loved it. Below are the pictures in its stages:
Stage # 1
Since the wood was split and weathered, it needed to be glued and clamped.The seat had a lot of splinters and loose wood that we removed. Wood filler was applied to all the cracks. When it was dry, the wood was sanded to a smooth finish.
Stage # 2
Since the desktop was decayed and beyond repair, we had to fabricate one out of solid pine. It was cut, sanded, primed, and painted. I removed the desk pole/bracket from the old desktop and primed and painted it a metallic silver by RUST-OLEUM. The desktop itself was primed with a RUST-OLEUM primer and painted a gloss purple with Painters Touch RUST-OLEUM paint. My daughters decided on the color purple since it matched her bedroom decor.
Stage # 3
The rust was sanded off and the chair was primed with RUST-OLEUM primer. The wood portion of the chair was covered and taped so that I can paint the metal part.Once the paint was dry I used # 7 polishing compound to have that extra gloss. I then did the reverse, covering the metal and painting the wood purple.
Here are the pictures of the before and after. My children loved it. Let’s hope they make good on their promise and do their homework diligently like they promised!
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