Peekaboo Desk Makeover

It’s funny (not funny haha, but funny strange) that two of my favourite people on the planet are going through a divorce/separation at the same time I am.  It’s meant that I’ve had shoulder’s to cry on and hopefully I’ve given mine a bit in return.

My one friend was setting up her new home and realized that this desk just wasn’t going to make the cut.

I have no idea why?  Clearly this desk has been thoroughly loved:

I have enough desks at my house (one of my favourite items to refinish), but my second friend that is getting separated has two daughters, so I thought maybe this might find a home as a craft desk for his girls.

First step in my desk makeover was a thorough sanding – there was a lot of paint gunked on that had cured quite solidly.  I smoothed everything out as best I could and then used a bit of wood filler to hide the bigger nicks and gouges.

Note:  This post contains affiliate links to the products I used.  For full affiliate disclosure, please see sidebar.

I brought out my handy-dandy HomeRight medium spray shelter (which pops up and down in a minute) and added two coats of Zinsser Bullseye 1-2-3 primer and then 3 coats of BM Advance paint in snow-white.

I do have the large spray shelter as well, which would have given me more room to work around the desk makeover, but my garage is full of projects right now, so I didn’t have the real estate to set it up.

The medium spray shelter is best for  projects like a tallboy dresser, nightstands or other narrower pieces of furniture.  With a little fanagling, it worked pretty well for this as well.

There’s just something about a clean, crisp white isn’t there?

I upgraded the hardware with these brushed nickel handles from Liberty Hardware.  Again, clean, simple and a huge improvement from the dated ones that were on the desk before.  Sometimes the best thing you can do on a desk makeover – on any makeover really – is change out the hardware to update your piece.

Want to see how great this desk looks now?

Almost perfect for a little girls room or as a craft desk right?

Almost…

But I had to add one more thing to take this desk makeover to the next level of awesome:

I had this beautiful gift wrap from Spoonflower that I wanted to add to give the desk a “peekaboo” treat when you opened the drawers.  I used a spray adhesive to hold the paper in place and then painted over with a coat of triple thick polyurethane and a foam paintbrush.

A little something different to make this desk makeover stand out a bit from all of my others.

I also made a small drawer divider for the top drawer and tucked some markers, pencil crayons, scissors and a notebook inside to surprise the recipients.

All the gunk on the top of the desk?

Gone!

This cutie is ready to start a new life in someone I love’s new life.  (thanks to someone else I love’s generosity)

How about a before and after (I love the shock-value);

Pin it for later:

I’m so pleased with this desk makeover – mainly because of how we were all able to help each other out during a difficult time.

Have a great one!