painted secretary desk

Whew! That’s a mouthful.. but it is what it is… which this beauty is from the early 1920’s, has beautiful bow front drawers, cool “secret” compartments and some fine claw feet! Yes, it needs some love… don’t all of my pieces?

BEFORE

Well here she is after said “love’”! Just gorgeous! I decked her out in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, Duck Egg for the drawer fronts, Old Ochre for the body and I sprayed the handles flat black…

Check out her yummy curves! A little bit of distressing on the entire piece was all she called for…

I just LOVE ball & claw feet… and hers were intact. Sometimes when a piece is this old you might be missing some of the “toes” or parts…

I love this combination of Duck Egg & Old Ochre!

Voila! For the inside I used a flat black and waxed it after I distressed it.

I got very lucky as the back of this was off so I just removed the whole mail sorter piece and refinished the door and drawer fronts and sprayed the rest flat black. I lightly distressed the edges and waxed all of the edges and fronts and then reinstalled the piece… I cannot imagine having to have to paint this by hand!

So lucky the key is still here.. can you imagine! Did you know these little columns pulled out? I didn’t until I removed the piece… pretty cool huh?

One last look at her ready for a new home!

My middle daughter so wanted to keep this to replace her current makeup vanity but it was just a smidge too big… she loved the little door on this piece… it reminded her of Alice in Wonderland…

I see what she means!

Thanks for stopping by… until next time!

Linking up to these great parties!
Between Naps on the Porch, Coastal Charm, Sumo’s Sweet Stuff, The Dedicated House, A Stroll Thru Life, Elizabeth & Co., Primitive & Proper, The Ivy Cottage, Western Warmth

I have a wonderful client, Stacy, who brought me this secretary desk to paint for her. It was previously painted a lovely crap brown, but thank goodness whoever painted it did a great job!

She saw a picture of it on Craig’s List and bought it from the store over the phone… a little dangerous not knowing what kind of shape it was in… but thank goodness it was in good shape and the price was right!

She lives about an hour away so she mailed me her candle holder and pillow case to help pull color inspiration from…

I chose Aubusson Annie Sloan Chalk Paint for the exterior and for the interior I made custom mix of ASCP in order to achieve a very beautiful Coral Chalk Paint color (equal parts Emperor’s Silk, Barcelona Orange & Antoinette)

I also added her monogram using transfer paper and black paint pens (SUPER low tech)…

I just LOVE how it came out… now what else can I monogram

I heavily distressed this piece and I just adore the way the it looks! Check out the bow front drawers!

After distressing I waxed the desk in clear wax then dark wax to achieve this look.

The original knobs were wood so I replaced the drawer knobs with these great lions head pulls, which I think coordinate perfectly with the feet! The upper knobs are very small so Stacy is going to try and hunt down some small glass ones to replace them, until she finds them these will do as I painted them to match the pulls.

Love me some ball and claw feet!

I still have to reinstall the glass in the upper cabinet, but it is so much easier to take a picture without it so I just left it out for now…

It is still hot and humid here in Virginia which makes sanding down chalk paint a little bit of a bear… but that is all I can complain about with this paint!

I hope you liked the new look for the secretary desk, personally I think she is much happier… blue is definitely her color!

Thanks for stopping by… until next time!!