For Christmas, my oldest daughter, Izzy, asked for two things: A desk and a Bible. Not a baby Bible or even a children's Bible, but a regular Bible "with lots of tiny words."
Yes, it has been brought to my attention I may be raising a small Amish person.
As I was pondering how to come across a children’s desk, I thought to myself, it can't be that hard to give an old desk new life by slapping on a new coat of paint. I read blogs. I read lots of blogs and some of those writers are naturally crafty people who write about furniture rehab.
I talked myself into a Christmas desk project.
I went over some Internet tutorials and got tips I'm going to combine into MY OWN TUTORIAL.
Step 1. Find the piece of furniture you want to redo. I opted to go through Craigslist. When you find the piece you want and come to an agreeable price with the seller, arrange for someone to go with you for pickup. This is two fold. One, you won't have to do all the heavy lifting alone. Two, you most likely won't get your head hacked off if you go in pairs. My hubby was out of town, so I talked my brother-in-law into going. And let me tell you, you can only imagine my nervous tic acting up as we drove further out to the middle-of-nowhere Firth, in the dark, to a vacant house to pick up my desk. I'm sure he enjoyed the drive as I spent the majority of the time trying to decide the probability we would end up being decapitated. The further out we got, the more I increased the odds. When a very pregnant woman greeted us, I lowered them a little. Just a tad. I guess the most important part of this step is to live in order to complete the project.
Step 2. Read tutorials besides this one. This one will actually probably not be good for much. But as you read through these additional tutorials, take into account that you are probably not as good as these people, which is a lesson I learned the hard way. This is not mentioned to bring you down, but I have to be honest. The people that write these blogs spend time doing the project and then additional time bragging up the project on the Internet. Their craftiness level is higher than ordinary Muggles like you and I.
Step 3. All of the blogs recommend that you take the original finish off. But that sounded like a lot of work and I don't like to touch sandpaper. So you need to find someone else to do it for you. I cut a deal with my brother-in-law. He sanded it down and I agreed to sell his brand new iPhone 4 on Craigslist. Yes, I had to take an insufferable amount of emails from people named Truly Love and Edward McMahon and thirty other people who were all magically working oversees and wanted me to ship my "item" to Africa so they could inspect the condition. Do people still fall for that crap?
Step 4. Now that it has been sanded down, head to Home Depot. Park your cart in front of the painting section and wait for someone to walk by that looks like they know what they are doing. Preferably covered in paint because the odds they have actual life experience are much greater. My little one and I stalked our victim in only 15 minutes. He recommended a product called Floteral to keep the paint wet for longer, which worked really well.
Step 5. Pick out the right refreshment while the hubby primes, paints and covers your desk in polyurethane. I went with a Rockstar. Yes, I was worried about having to use the restroom an abnormal amount of times, which would mean leaving my supervisory role but I went for it. It all worked out well as my hubby is naturally talented and I had lots of energy to run up and down the stairs.
Step 6. Give the finished product to a small child who will, most likely, have lower standards and think it’s the greatest thing on earth. Now that you’re an accomplished furniture rehabber like myself, get started. Or you can check out Downtown Shabby, which is a great new store in downtown I.F., for a wonderful selection of already-rehabbed items from naturally talented people. You know, whichever sounds easier.