Secretary Desk Makeover

Hi! I got this nice little flat-topped secretary desk off of FB Marketplace. The dark color is gorgeous in some settings, but not mine! Needed to paint it to match something in the room I was placing it in and decided it should match the trim.

First things first: disassembled all the pieces and put all the little screws and washers together in a safe place where I'd be able to find them later. Removed the mirror and set that aside.

I didn't like the old pull. It was a ring that hung flat up against the front of the drawer. It was not easy to grasp hold of. I decided to get a new pull that would be easier to grasp and add some pizzazz.

The piece was cleaned, and I painted directly on top of it. I did not scuff the surface. I did not apply primer. I DID spray Shellac all over it. Used three coats. I forgot to shellac the mirror part. So far, there appears to be no dark bleed through there.

I wanted to spray paint it initially to speed up the process. I am impatient with these kinds of things. But, I also didn't want to take the time to try to match white spray paint with our trim. So, I looked around and finally found a can of leftover trim.

It ended up taking three coats of white to cover the dark. I had a can of gold spray paint and used that on the cubbies just to be a bit different and lighten those spaces up a bit. I didn't really finish where the gold meets the white paint. There's no clean demarcation line. I decided I like it that way. Had visions of maybe doing a stencil at the transition point, but ended up not doing that (see above "impatient").

The vertical arms that hold the mirror in place were not cooperating when I went to affix them after they'd been painted. The added volume of paint to the piece and the arms was just enough that it shifted upwards the arms and the holes for the screws didn't line up. I had to scrape off the paint and sand even one arm to make them work.

After the three coats of paint was applied, I then applied polycrylic. More coats. More drying time.

Here's the end result! Now to find a dainty, small, solidly-built chair that can go with this desk and paint and reupholster it!

Thoughts or questions about this piece? Drop me a line!