Haha!  I got you.  I bet you thought this post was actually about a real Secretary, as in person, who actually bathed in paint!

Well it isn’t.  It’s about this gorgeous Secretary, ready for Spring, but she didn’t start out this way.

It’s about a Secretary Desk,  that was literally bathed in paint.  It came to me about two years ago, and after a half-hearted attempt to remove the Pink Paint.  It was too complicated, so it got filed away into the middle of my furniture cube, and there it stayed.

About 6 months ago, Emma and I discovered it and tried the stripping process again.  We tried the best there was, Zinnser Citrus Strip.  It was a totally uneven match from the start.  The Secretary just snickered and absorbed the stripper.  We gave up a second time and refiled it, this time leaving no trail.

After our recent garage clean up, (You can read about the fabulous makeover HERE) we found it again.  It kept turning up like a bad penny. I decided it was do or die.  I brought in the big guns this time.  The Orbital sander with a grinding pad.  I worked at it for about an hour, and finally, finally!  Got through about a dozen layers.

Once all the old paint was removed and I had a smooth surface to work with, the Secretary suddenly came alive.  I did some minor repairs and got to the fun part.  I painted the exterior with just one coat of CeCe Caldwell’s Alaska Tundra Green.

This color is like the quintessential Vintage Color.  It was one of the first colors I tried, and still one of my all time favorites.

For the interior, I used one of CeCe Caldwell’s newest colors.  Chesapeake Blue. It is almost a Periwinkle color, and plays so nicely with the Alaska Tundra Green.

I can’t say I am sad to say goodbye to my secretary.  I gave her an excellent reference, and am confident she will find the right setting for her skill set shortly at this weekend’s Paris Flea Market Sale.

PS Her resume includes a lovely place to hold the season’s first blooms. 

My Secretary is applying for positions at these fabulous get togethers: