The Little French Desk that was kicked to the curb

Hope everyone is having a “le beau lundi” and a beautiful start to their week. 

A couple of weeks ago, while en route to pick up a Craig’s List find, I magically happened upon this sad little desk:  

Hard to believe, but it was sitting all by it’s lonesome, in a not so lovely part of town, in front of a very run down home that was clearly empty.  Yes, “la bonne fortune” was smiling on moi!

I threw this thing in the back of the van as fast as I could, worried someone else would spot it at the same moment and fight me for it.  (Even though the only people around were shifty looking teenagers and the random odd looking street person).  You just never know who might be curbside shopping! 

It had a lovely “l’odeur de cigarette”. Although probably pleasing to the previous owner, may not be so appealing now.  I gave it a thorough wipe down with TSP, and evicted all the lovely critters that lived and died in the recesses behind the drawers.  (Yes, I have a glamorous job).

I painted it with two coats of Zinsser Water Based Primer.  It blocks out smells, stains, everything.  

I then painted it with three coats of Sherwin Williams, “Rock Candy” paint I had left over from a previous job.  I painted the recessed drawers with leftover SW paint from our office, then used my new favorite tool, the Krylon Paint Pen, in “Silver Leaf” to add detail.  

The Desk came without hardware, so I found something I thought would coordinate at Home Depot for CHEAP!  However, it was ugliesh rubbed copper.  Not to worry, used the Paint Pen again to “paint” the knobs.  This is my FAVORITE new painting tool.  If you haven’t tried these out, you must!  

Three coats of a nice Polycrylic to protect it from future writers (and little girls who might want to decorate the top with their own artwork), and a nice coat of Clear Wax to top it off.