Hello everyone! I hope all you dads out there had a happy Father's Day! We spent the day with my
Dad in Clovis and had a nice visit with family and friends.
Well, I finally finished painting the vintage desk that I have in my mudroom. It really was quite a
chore. I think it's safe to say that painting furniture is not one of my favorite things to do. ;-) It didn't
turn out exactly the way I had envisioned it, but I'm happy with it nonetheless. As promised, I took
some pictures to share with all of you. :-)
Below is a closer look at the distressing technique that I applied to the finish.
My husband and I finally framed out the window in our mudroom, too, so this room is completely
finished now... yay! The closet system was something that I designed when we remodeled this room
about three years ago. If you'd like to read more about that, you can click here.
To achieve the distressed finish on the desk, I followed steps from an issue of Jeanne d'Arc Living
magazine that showed how to add patina to mirror frames. In the JDL issue they suggested using
three different colors of paint: green, tan, and a final coat of white. I only used two different shades
of white, so that's probably why it didn't turn out quite the way I envisioned it. If you'd like to achieve
the distressed look I applied to the finish, these are the steps I used:
1. First, I removed the original stain finish using Formby's paint and poly remover, following
the directions on the can.
2. Once the finish was removed, I used steel wool to remove any left over finish and/or paint
remover.
3. I then applied a coat of the darker shade of white paint to the entire desk, letting it dry
for 24 hours. I applied a second coat of the same darker white paint to the entire desk
and let it dry again for another 24 hours. It took more than one day to apply a coat of paint
to the entire desk each time. I used a sponge roller for the side and back panels and the top of the
desk. I used medium and small sized brushes to paint the drawers, legs, and the thinner edges around
the panels.
4. For the final coat of paint, I used the lighter of the two white paints and used a brush to apply the
paint. I started with the large panels first. I painted one panel at a time. After
applying a coat of paint to one panel, I used a heat gun (or blow dryer) to dry the paint, applying
extra heat where I wanted to remove more paint. You need to ensure that the paint is 100% dry. Once
the paint was dry, I took a putty knife to remove some of the paint, revealing the darker white
paint underneath.
5. I repeated step #4 over the entire desk. This is what took most of the time to complete.
6. Once I was done distressing the desk with the heat gun and putty knife, I then distressed the
edges even more with some fine sandpaper.
Overall, it took me about two weeks to complete the desk with a few days off in between. The paint
colors I used were Valspar's Blizzard Fog (#7006-18 ~ the darker shade of white) and Cool Gray
(#7006-10) in a satin finish from Lowe's.
I think from now on, I'm not going to buy an antique or vintage piece of furniture unless it's already in
the finish I want with the patina I want. They're really hard to come by around here, but that was
just too big of a chore for me, and I much prefer the look of original paint patinas.
I have lots more projects and chores to get done around here before our special visitors come
at the end of July... still can't say who, but I will as soon as I feel confident that it's set in
stone. :-)
Thanks so much for visiting... I hope you all have a wonderful week!
'Til next time...
~ Jo :-)
P.S. Sorry for the lousy pictures... just can't seem to get good ones these days... don't know if
it's me or the camera???
