The HUGE Red Desk

                                                 I posted this great find a couple weeks ago~

The desk was missing some hardware, and the top had had it! 

 The man at the thrift store gave me a killer deal on this~ $25!  It is a monster desk!



I probably sanded on this thing for about three hours!  It has tons of nooks and crannies, so there was lots of hand sanding, too.

I already had a plan for this desk.  My mom had just given me four of these pretty red stools that were topped with black glaze.  I thought the desk would look great painted the same way!

At Home Depot I picked out this "Allure" red and had it mixed up in the paint + primer (Behr Ultra).

It's been pretty cold, rainy and windy here, but on Monday the weather cooperated, so I was able to pull out my spray gun to use!  Yea!!!

I've heard that red can be a pain to paint with because it seems to be hard to get good coverage.  Using the Behr Ultra, I had zero problems.  I just sprayed the whole thing once, and it was good to go.  I didn't even bother to prime on this one!

Next I got out my Ralph Lauren black glaze.  It says "Black Truffles," but the lady at Home Depot added a bit more black to it for me.  I think that's why it says "ADJ" for adjusted. :)

I've found that if I take a wet cloth and wipe over the section I'm about to glaze FIRST, the glaze is a bit easier to work with.  Next, I worked the glaze into the wood with my brush (just a little, not globbed on) and then took a wet cloth and lightly wiped some of it off. 

Here is a picture of the cabinet doors ~one before glazing and the other after glazing~

BEFORE

AFTER

After the glaze had time to dry, I finished the desk off with Minwax Wipe-On Poly in satin~

I wanted to fancy up the drawers a bit, so I dug around for the extra fabric left over from the black buffet project.  I thought it would look great in the desk drawers, too.  This time I used Fabric Mod Podge.  It's more spendy than regular MP, but I wanted to give it a try. 

It's thicker and a bit more smelly, too.  The smell reminded me of the days when I used to get perms in my hair!  :0    I brushed a layer right onto the bottom of the drawer.  Then I layed the precut fabric on top and smoothed it out with my hands.  A popsicle stick works to smooth out the edges and corners.  Fabric doesn't bubble like paper, so that is a nice bonus! 

After drying, I used my regular MP to seal the top.  Since it isn't as thick, it went over the fabric easier than the Fabric MP.

Half of the hardware on the desk was missing, so I went to Lowes and found these inexpensive and VERY shiny brass pulls. Great price, cute style, SCARY color!  Here they are waiting to be sprayed with black primer and paint!  Careful, the shininess might blind you!

I wasn't kidding!

Always better after a little spray magic~

I also wiped the pulls a couple times with the wipe-on poly.

I didn't want the silver screws from the hardware to stick out, so I primed and painted them red so they'd blend in better.  Here is a little trick to painting screws~

Stick 'em in some styrofoam and paint away!

So, here is how the desk looked when I found it at the thrift store~

This is what it looks like now~

Here's the cute door~

...and a close up! :)

Glazing details~

Top of the desk~

Peek inside the drawers~ 

Side view ~

This desk even has a fancy back!

Yippee!  Red was sooo fun to paint with!  It felt like I was applying lipstick!  :)