Giving an Old Desk New Life…and Progress in the Big Girl Room!

We are ROCKING AND ROLLING over here on my oldest’s room makeover. This is what happens when you’re hosting a big holiday party in a couple weeks – you feel the need to finish projects so your house isn’t in total disarray when there’s a bunch of people over. Really gave me the kick in the pants I needed! 😉

I am SO lucky when it comes to family members and furniture. There’s always somebody with something collecting dust with this big ol’ family of mine. I kinda hit the jackpot in every way possible when it comes to these peeps. Truly.

So there was this old desk of my niece’s collecting dust, and my sister said it was mine if I wanted it (this is like the 3rd major piece of furniture she’s given to me recently. She rocks.). They’ve moved, and done a whole new look in her room, so this was just sitting in storage.

Old Desk, New Life

The knobs were gone, and the backing (particle board) was falling off. Nothing a little paint, knobs, and a few nails couldn’t fix. The size was perfect for my 8 year old, and this would do just the trick in her room.

First, I took the drawers outside and lightly sanded them. Like, took me 30 seconds. I wiped off the sanding dust, gave my ol’ spray paint can a good shake and sprayed a couple coats of Valspar La Fonda Mirage. It’s a seafoam/minty green color, and is a paint/primer in one. I was going to just paint them with a brush and paint, like I was planning on doing for the rest of the desk, but this color is perfect, and it’s SO quick to just spray them. I gave them a protective coat of clear finish when I was done. So they can now take the beating that is headed their way;)

After that, I was on the hunt for the knobs…

I found some awesome white and gold ones at Lowe’s. Wasn’t sure exactly what I was looking for, but once I saw these, they were absolutely perfect for her room and the color scheme.

This is alllll working out swimmingly so far.

I mixed some Plaster of Paris into a sample of white satin paint I had on hand, and slapped some of that on the hot pink desk. When you add P of P into paint, something magical happens and you don’t have to sand, prime, etc etc. It’s super quick, and you just have to wax it when you’re finished. I use Minwax Finishing Paste. Wax on, wax off. I’m good to go.

I had bought a big bulletin board a year or so ago at HomeGoods, I believe. I never ended up using it, but it was very reasonable and I knew I’d end up using it somewhere at sometime so I didn’t return it. Well, that somewhere and sometime is my daughter’s room and right now!

Big girl room makeover progress

I taped the cork to protect it from the paint, and while I had the white paint out, I gave this a couple quick coats.

Are you ready to see the transformation??

Heeere it is!

Old Desk, New Life

Old Desk, New Life

In addition to the minty green, her room will have accents of gold and coral (in case you didn’t pick up on that already!). I think it’s such a dreamy combo.

Old Desk, New Life

I picked up that little lamp at IKEA last week, and that gold vase is an old glass one I had here and wasn’t using anymore. I sprayed it with gold spray paint, and stuck some coral flowers in it.

Old Desk New Life

I was pumped to find drawer pulls not only with gold AND white, but also had a corresponding knob for the long skinny drawer.

Old desk new life

I know this stool isn’t a great solution long term, but she’s so tiny now, it actually works out just fine. I’ll be on the lookout during yard sale season for something;) In the meantime, this serves not only as a stool, but her bed is right next to this desk, and she pulls it over as a nightstand for her book and glass of water at night – there’s not enough room for this desk AND a nightstand. It’ll all make sense when you see the whole room reveal. You can kinda see in this pic below just how close the desk and bed are.

Old Desk, New life

I’ll get into all the other fun deets, like paint colors, that gold flecked wall, her STEAL of a bed, and sooo much more, when I post the reveal.

Which, God willing, will be sometime prior to Easter;)

 

Comments

  1. Adorable as always, your daughter has to be just thrilled with it!

  2. I love it so far! It’s very feminine without being girly. How fun!

  3. Sherri S. says:

    Lovely…as always!! So bright and pretty. 🙂

    Happy Spring…
    Sherri

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