Before & After: Gray Desk Makeover

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This post is just to show you how something kind of ordinary can look amazingly different with a little paint and stain. Sometimes I forget that. We are always looking for the most unique, decorative, antique pieces, but sometimes it’s just a plain little desk that will really make you say, “wow”. This gray desk makeover is one for the books, let me show you!

This little desk was found by a friend. It was a cute little desk, with good bones, solid structure, perfectly functional, but it wasn’t the look she wanted. You see, she was in the process of redecorating her room, and had a color scheme going, and a vision, she wanted it to match this Gray Dresser I painted for her at the end of last year. She needed a desk, but not one that was an orangey maple color.

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Gray Desk Makeover

Supplies:

Here’s the desk when we started:

We chose to refinish the top and really make the wood pop. She had a favorite wood tone that was used in other places in her room she wanted to replicate, so we sanded and re-stained the top with my favorite mix of stain. Revealing a beautiful piece of wood underneath. The top was sealed with 3 coats of High Performance Topcoat in flat finish.

You can see my fool proof method for sanding and re-staining wood here.

Then we painted the base of the desk a dark rich charcoal gray, Queenstown Gray. It’s her favorite color and contrasts nicely to her light blue walls. Painting it this neutral dark gray will also last her a long time to come with however her space and decor may change over time.

We changed a couple of the pulls to make the hardware a bit more modern and darkened the knobs to match the pulls with Black Gilding Wax.

Just like that, with a little elbow grease, and some vision, this piece looks like a whole different desk!

This little desk went home to a whole new room and will be focal point in the room my friend can be proud of. See, sometimes that transformation can really take you by surprise. A little maple desk, updated and ready for use.