A desk makeover

 One of the services we offer at Maison Decor is custom painted furniture.

Sometimes we track pieces down for customers to fit their requirements,

like this petite desk we just finished.  Our client had a small area in a 

remodeled kitchen that she wanted to put a desk, and she didn't want more

cabinetry, she wanted a unique piece to add personality to the space.

It couldn't be too deep or too wide~so I took her measurements and put 

it on our Maison Decor Wishlist of Customer Requests.

Sure enough within a week we found this pretty little charmer.

Of course it didn't look so pretty, or charming, but it had all the details

that makes a piece special and it was just the right size.

 Our client, Catarina, came up with the idea of having white peek 

through a mostly blue colored desk.

We call that two color distress technique and it was a great idea for 

this desk. Distressing it lightly would highlight the carved wreaths 

and the metal key hole as well as the pretty turned legs.

Catarina's pillow was our color inspiration.  

The desk was quite old and we decided to sand the top to make it smoother. 

 Normally we don't find ourselves using a sander~

but this piece had a lot of scribble marks and scratches 

that we wanted to take down a notch. 

 Then it got two coats of Old White Chalk Paint, with a coat of 

Zinsser Clear Shellac in between as this little desk had some 

staining coming through the paint (called bleed).  

The shellac will stop that and you can go right back to painting. 

Then we followed up the Old White with two coats of Duck Egg blue.

After that I started the process of distressing back the blue to reveal the white.

 This is a great technique to show off details like these pretty carved wreaths. 

 And no makeover story is good without the ugly before photo, right?

 The BEFORE shows a neglected beauty 

waiting to come back into the spotlight.

At least thats what I see when I find these pieces! 

 Catarins's desk~another piece of furniture

 saved by Annie Sloan's magical paint!

#chalkpaint #itsmorethanpaint