From red to pink

Red phase complete!

There was a moment in time where red accessories were my jam and I decorated accordingly. I do still love the red but, maybe I’ve softened up over the years or I’m just channeling my inner girly girl these days. As I started planning out my sewing room, I became fixated on a pink desk. The problem? I love my red desk and didn’t want to buy something new. I couldn’t get rid of my awesome solid wood Craigslist find! Good thing I own my fancy sander and the DIY motivation to transform her.

The before

Do we really think I have a photo? Really? OMG I do! Circa 2011! See all the red in its glory? Sidenote: I totally recovered that chair back in the day. 2011 to be exact.

Bye Bye Red

First up, I attempted to use the same big can of paint stripper I bought for the porch swing DIY to try and save the splitting and peeling wood veneer, but apparently I don’t have the patience for such things. So instead, I just scraped off the peeling wood with a putty knife. It went much faster. When I went into the garage to go paint my 180 year old coffee table project, Jim discovered just how cool my awesome sander was and had fun sanding down the top.

I took over and rough sanded the rest of the desk to smooth down the bad red paint job (I bought it this way) to get it ready for primer.

Have I ever mentioned how impatient I am?

I was really curious to see how the top would stain and if I’d hate it and rather buy a new sheet of veneer instead. So instead of priming (which I probably should have done first), I dove in and used all the leftover stains. It didn’t turn out that bad after all. I really didn’t want to figure out where to buy, then cut, then adhere the veneer anyways. This will do!

I did have to figure out the top edging though…it would look weird pink like the rest of the desk, right? So I decided I’d get a brown paint to match the wood on top and maybe it would work out.

Prime time!

To protect my freshly stained desk top, I taped around the top where it meets the edging. I also taped inside the drawers for clean paint lines. It took two coats to cover the red up. But apparently I was so excited to get this thing pink, I totally forgot to take pictures of the primed desk. I’m the best blogger ever.

Pink!

I had picked up this pink when I was debating over my arch cabinet colors so it was just a matter of buying a quart.

Two coats later and I was ready for the brown. I decided the legs needed to be brown too!

Finishing up

A few touch ups later, I sealed the top and stained and sealed all of the drawers with my same stain concoction. Some of the drawers still had a tinge of red paint that I couldn’t sand out but I decided that it added character.