Everyone Should have a Secretary

First I want to start off by thanking everyone for their kind comments on my last project, and yes I  love the dresser in my bedroom and she fits right in.  Okay onto the secretary/ desk, what are they called anyway?  I picked this little gem up on craigslist for twenty bucks, I know, who would sell it for that?  The thing about the original owner is that she had this piece in her bedroom since she was a little girl and didn't have a place for it anymore, ohhh.  Oh well, I do! 

Most of the hardware was broken off and one of the hinges was broken too.  The hole drilled in the back was for electrical cords, I'm guessing.

So I took off the hardware and had to scrub her down pretty good.  The paint was bubbled in places so I had to sand and then prime her.

I decided to cover the hole up on the back with some old wall paper that I picked up at a second hand store for a dollar.  It's a huge roll and will last me forever.  I used modge podge to stick it to the back,  and it completely changed the look of the desk.  I then drilled a hole on the desk front for a hardware pull.  It looked kind of naked without it.

I really love the paris grey with the old white color scheme.  This is the first time I have used paris grey and like so many of you guys, it's my favorite AS color, anyway until I get another one.

      And there you have it, a fully clothed secretary.  I think everyone should have a secretary, don't you?

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Cracked but Beautiful

I've had this dresser for about five months now, I usually don't hold onto a piece of furniture for that long but this one I wanted to keep.  This piece had the biggest crack in it but I thought I could easily pull it back together with some clamps, that wasn't the case!

I twisted the clamps so hard that they were bending and I was getting blisters on my hands.  I never did get it closed all the way, but close enough.  Nothing some wood filler wouldn't fix, right?

After I glued the inside rails back in place I was ready to start priming.  I gave her two coats of Kilz oil based primer because the stain on the dresser came through the water based primer.  The primer revealed that I needed to sand the wood filler that I put on the crack better.

I stained the top with Min wax dark walnut and then sealed it with rub on poly.  I love my ASCP so I pulled out the old white and painted it.  She's looking good so far.  I sprayed the brassy handles with oil rubbed bronze spray on.  For the last step I distressed her and then used a wax that I've never used before but have heard a lot about lately.  It's Howard's Feed-N-Wax and I love it.  I've finally found the wax that I will be using all the time now.  It's in gel form and goes on so easy and wipes down great.  I was very impressed with it.  Here's the final result...

I love the detailing on it, perfect for distressing.

Can you see why I want this one to stay in my bedroom?

                                                                              
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From White to Tuscan Russet

I was browsing through craigslist the other day and came across this little white dresser for $10.  I couldn't get them called fast enough and luckily I was the who called first.  I have read several blogs lately where bloggers feel just like I do, tired of painting with white.  I love white but am ready to change it up a bit.  White is the best seller for me so I will always use it 99.9% of the time, but what the hey..... it's 2012, time to shake it up a bit (I'm so wild aren't I?)  Here's the before picture, pretty tired and sad isn't she?

I gave it a good washing then lightly sanded and primed it.  I sanded the top all the way down to the wood because I was hoping to stain the top.  Unfortunately the top had deep marks in it because there was a lot of wood filler on it. 

Instead of staining it I decided to paint it with ASCP in graphite so I could keep it dark.  I then did the body in Behr's Tuscan Russet.  After painting it I glazed it with Valspar's glaze, which I love.  It was fun painting with such a dark color, but now we'll see how fast it sells.  Doesn't it look so much better?

To finish it off I lined the drawers with fabric, and what a nice surprise for who ever opens the drawers.

  Have a great day.

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