Let's Do Some Work

I'm in the process of reworking my home office and no surface is being left untouched, including my roll-top desk. A dear friend had her sitting in storage and when my friend offered her of course I said, "Yes!" Well, she then sat in my office for over a year and last Saturday I decided it was time to stop the procrastination. I think mentally I was psyching myself out because of the roll-top, thinking it would be harder to refinish than it actually was.

If you follow my blog than you know it did take longer than anticipated, not due to the difficulty, but because life got in the way. Between dealing with clients, a splitting headache and a delayed knob retrieval I didn't officially finish until Friday evening. But let me tell you she was well worth the wait.

Here she is before. (Forgive the mess, I was moving everything around.) Not an antique by any means, just a desk with cheesy gold-plated handles.

Here she is with her top down.

Before we get to the after... Let me apologize for not taking photos of each step. I'm bad at that, besides my hands/gloves were covered in either paint, stain or poly during the entire process. But I can tell you what I used.

And now on to the after... oh she's a beauty!!! (If I do say so myself.)

The majority of her got a light sanding, two coats of primer and two coats of Dover White by Do It Best. Of course I couldn't stop there. Then came the distressing and antiquing with Dark Walnut wood stain by Minwax. (Oh yeah, I used a flat paint because I wanted the stain to stick.) I covered all the painted surfaces with the stain, waited a minute or two, then wiped it off with an old towel and followed by a damp old t-shirt. And finally two coats of Wipe-On Poly in Clear Gloss by Minwax.