Shabby to Chic

Another French Provincial project!  I picked up this desk along with these side tables a couple of years ago.  

 

I think they were actually a few of the very first pieces of furniture I bought when I decided to start painting –  so, I’ve probably had them at least 3.5 years (but who’s counting) and planned to refinish them for our daughter's room.  At that time I’d done a little research on painting, but wasn’t aware of the necessity of adding a protective coat over the paint.  I think after the primer, I actually painted the desk in an eggshell latex paint and left it at that!  The desk sat in my daughters room for probably 2 years and was sadly looking pretty shabby...and not in a chic way!  I finally decided to drag it back down to the garage and refinish it properly!  

The desk didn’t come with a chair, but I had a small one tucked away that I knew would work well with it.  I lovingly refer to it as my “painting chair” because I would sit on it when I used to paint my furniture by hand.  

Now that I’ve upgraded to a paint sprayer, the chair wasn’t necessary anymore.  I’d painted it last year with a DIY chalk paint in a deep red to use as part of our Fall decor on our front porch.   

I knew it was time to give it another little makeover.  I had some leftover DIY chalk paint from another project and so I decided to use that.  It’s a beautiful soft “green/blue” color.  If you’re familiar with Annie Sloan chalk paint, it’s almost identical to her “Duck Egg” paint color.  You’ll likely be seeing this color a bit more over the next little while – I just love it!  

 

To refinish the desk, I lightly sanded it, sprayed it with a fresh coat of primer, a couple coats of crisp white paint and then a couple clear coats.  

I chose to remove the decorative accents that were originally on the top drawers.  They were plastic and already loose, so they had to go.  I decided to use the original hardware on the bottom drawers but updated them by spraying them with a metal primer and then a couple coats of glossy white.  

The desk was missing one of the original top drawer pulls, so I replaced them all with some pretty glass ones.  

I decided to line the bottom of each drawer with a soft green vinyl sheet to freshen them up and make them pretty.

And a few more pic's just because I can.  *wink*

And that pretty pillow?  I picked up some soft linen-like fabric last night and whipped up the pillow this morning!  I love the simple look of the single flower.

I added a single "cracked glass-look" bead to the center for a little extra sparkle.

It is now ready for its new home and is listed in my shop.

Thanks for stopping by!