How to Refinish an Old Desk into Something Beautiful

Craiglist is a great place to find beautiful, worn out furniture that needs a second chance at life. What’s even better than the great finds is the great price. For this how to guide we will focus on an old desk I purchased for $15.00 and gave it a new writing surface, fresh coat of paint and a little style.

The first image in the before and after shot is the desk I originally purchased. It has a cute style, but desperately in need of repair. The desk was dinged, smelled, and had deep holes in the top where something had been mounted making it a sad piece of woodwork.

Sand Down all Imperfections: This desk was old and had lived a hard life--- it had some chipped pieces and dings that had to be sanded down. This was easily accomplish with a hand sander and medium grit sandpaper.

Fill in Deep Gouges: There were a few deeper gouges that couldn't be sanded out. Those were filled in with a hard setting wood filler. Minwax high performance wood filler did the trick. It sets hard, can be sanded down, and painted or stained.

Remove the Top: The top was really messed up-- it had deep holes where something had been mounted. I could have easily filled the holes and applied a fresh coat of paint, but what is the fun in that? ! Instead I decided I would create a beautiful plank top out of some deck wood i had leftover in my garage. First, I needed to remove the existing top.

Turning the desk over i was able to easily unscrew the original top and remove it- which made it a lot easier to paint AND i was able to replace it with something unique and beautiful.

Paint Desk Body: To give the desk the antiqued look I was looking for I decided to do a gray base with a white top coat so that when lightly sanded the gray would show through.

For this particular project I used a gray latex paint I had hanging around and an off white- latex top coat. I added in a Chalk Paint additive because it goes over pre-finished surfaces like no other AND gives it the look I wanted.

Paint Drawers: I have a slight obsession with blue right now and wanted the drawers to really pop out from the rest of the desk. I used another latex paint again and added a chalk paint additive to. I find using a good quality latex paint with the chalk paint additive provides a lot better coverage than several of the pre-mixed chalk paints out on the Market.

Light Sanding: After the paint had dried I lightly sanded the areas that would typically be worn down to make sure it looked a little aged.

I focused on the edges and made sure not to over do it.

Clear Wax: You have two routes you can take with finishing 1. Wax, or 2. Polyurethane. Polyurethane is essential for high traffic items that will be subjected to oily hands and dirt and grim.

The reason I chose wax for this particular project is I like the effects of a dark wax for aging better than the look of a glaze and you CANNOT mix wax and polyurethane so you really have to pick one or the other. Learn more about glaze vs wax.

Dark Wax: Add the wax sparingly- making sure to wipe off any excess. If it gets to be a little much the clear wax will take it right off. The wax will sit nicely in crevets of the wood.

Clear Wax: Add two additional coats for clear wax to seal and protect the paint.

Construct a new desk top out of planks: You can use any type of planks you have lying around for this--- I thought the deck wood I had leftover in the garage was beautiful so I chose it.

Cut the planks of wood to fit. I staggered the pieces which is a little more challenging to put together. You can use all pieces of wood that are the exact length of the desk for easier work.

Held them together by screwing two thin pieces of wood along the bottom side

Turn your wood planks upside-down and place two thin strips of wood on the back center (Have to make sure these were placed where the top drawer runs so that the top piece could rest flush on the desk).

Add two screws into each plank to really secure it.

Fasten the new top to the desk base: This was a little tricky--- but were able to accomplish it by using the same screw holes from the original top

Apply new drawer hardware: I LOVE knobs and have a bit of a stash in my house. I have found that Joss and Main and Ebay are great places to find unique knobs.

Oil the new plank top: You can find beeswax wood oils that are great for protecting the wood. Rub it on once a month to keep the wood protected and richen the color of the wood.

Line the bottoms of the drawers with wallpaper: I purchased a roll of white wallpaper with a floral pattern on it on Amazon. Installation was very easy- cut the wallpaper to the size of each drawer bottom and adhere it using spray adhesive.

The nice thing about spray adhesive is it is temporary-- so if your cat eats the wallpaper (there is a reason I named my cat Monster) you can easily pull that destroyed piece out and replace it.

The end result was a pretty piece that could be used as either a vanity or desk.