From Drab to a Beautiful Wood Desk Furniture Makeover Before & After

This project went from drab to a beautiful wood desk furniture makeover. Do you have a piece of furniture that needs a little loving?

I sure have lots of furniture pieces!

This desk was found at a vintage junk store two years ago. It was stained in a ugly color. I tried a new chalked paint in black with a clear top coat. Honestly, I never liked it or the quality of the paint nor top coat that was used. Never did I use this particular brand again.

Disclosure: This is a paid sponsored post by Dixie Bell Paint Company. The opinions are always my own.

You can see on this piece, the paint was just not holding up. It had marks on it. It was very dull.

I decided to give it a new paint job to take this piece from drab to a beautiful wood desk furniture makeover.

WHERE TO GET THE GOODS

DISCLOSURE: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. The opinions here are always my own. It helps me to continue to bring to you new content, DIY and projects tutorials on my blog. It cost money to maintain a blog.

SUPPLIES

• Pristine Cleaner – to clean your piece of furniture
• Midnight Green Silk All-In-One Mineral Paint – Now Available
• White Cape Silk All-In-One Mineral Paint 
• Gold Gilding Wax
• Basket Weave Mylar Stencil – Belles & Whistles
• Good Synthetic Paint Brushes – I use Dixie Belle 2 inch mini angle
• Continuous Mister Bottle and Sanding Sponges
• Dixie Belle Mud – White
• Dixie Belle Mud Spatula
• Tack Cloth
• Artist Paint Brush (optional)
• Sponge or stencil brush
• Krylon Easy-Tack Repositional Adhesive Spray
• Frog Tape (optional)

Tutorial

1. Sanding

This piece in had a top coat on it. Since the paint was already marked up pretty easily, a sanding sponge was used to knock off any remaining top coat.

A tack cloth was used to try to remove as much dust before washing the piece.

2. REpair

Any repairs should be done before you give the piece a cleaning and before painting. I did not notice until working on the first coat that there was a deep mark on the front. It was noticeable once the first coat of paint was applied.

You can fix dents or gaps with Dixie Belle Mud. This product is available in white, black and brown. Not only can Dixie Belle Mud can be used for repairs, it can also be used for embellishments and special effects. 

It can be used to fill veneer, gouges, scrapes and holes. You can even create impressions with stamps and other raised elements. It is a great product for those of you that interested in Mixed Media Art.

With the mud spatula, you can apply an amount over the gouge or hole. Use the spatula to smooth it out as much as possible. It dries quickly. When the mud has completely dried, you can use a sanding sponge to get it smooth.

You can see in the last photo that the paint appears darker. It is because I used my Continuous Mister Bottle to spray and wipe off any dust from the Dixie Belle Mud.

3. Clean

After sanding your piece of furniture, it is good to clean your surface before painting with Pristine Clean to remove the dust and grime. I use White Lightning Cleaner when if the piece has been stored for years and really dirty.

This piece of furniture has been in my home and needed Pristine Clean to make sure all of the dust was gone from sanding. This quality cleaner will de-grease and remove all debris from the surface of your piece.

4. Paint

Quality paint will make your projects turn out amazing. On my blog if I love a product or product line it is shared here.

If you have followed me for a while or know me personally, I enjoy doing furniture makeovers for myself, family and friends.

When Dixie Belle came out with ten new colors, I knew this Midnight Green Silk All-In-One Mineral Paint would be perfect on this desk.

The black paint color of this piece was not up to my standard. It was painted 2-years ago using another brand.

Last year, I switched to using the Dixie Belle Paint Company product line. A friend told me about the this paint line. After doing one project, I was sold on the quality and finish of my project.

The Silk All-In-One paint has a built in primer, paint and top coat. Basically, it’s all you need for most projects.

Is this color not stunning? Love it!

With this piece being painted in black, it took three coats. Typically, two coats will provide good coverage.

You can use a Continuous Mister bottle to spray across the furniture. It let’s your brush glide across the paint. The Continuous Mister Bottle is one of my favorite tools for painting.

It’s been said before, but this simple product has been a game changer for me. The paint dries quickly and the mist from the Mister helps me to get a nice finish.

Between each coat, you can give the furniture a light sanding with a sanding sponge. Use a tack cloth to remove and dust or residue. It helps to give you a really good smooth finish.

In this photo, two coats have been applied. It looks great but one more coat will give it a really deep color. Midnight Green is one of ten new colors released this year in the Silk All-In-One Mineral Paint.

5. Adding Gold Gilding Wax

Gilding Wax can be applied using your finger or with an artist paint brush. You can apply it to your hinges on the furniture or as an accent over the paint.

It looks beautiful over furniture pieces that have carvings. For this piece, the Gold Gilding Wax was added to the balls of the legs and the hinges. The gold looks beautiful against the deep green color.

6. Stenciling

Krylon Easy-Tack Repositional Adhesive Spray was applied to the backside of the stencil. The stencil being used for this project is from Dixie Belle Paint’s Belles & Whistles line. It is called Basket Weave Mylar Stencil.

This stencil looks beautiful on a drawer front. With this little desk being on the plain side, the front of it was stenciled using White Cap Silk All-In-One Mineral Paint. The basket weave in white against the Midnight Green gives the piece a beautiful contrasts in colors.

To stencil, you will place the tacky adhesive side to the furniture to hold it in place. If the stencil is bigger than your furniture use a piece of Frog Tape to place where you want the stencil to end.

With a sponge or small stencil brush apply a small about of the White Cap. You will work the paint across the stencil in a circular motion. Less paint is more and will prevent an bleeds under the stencil. You can go back over it for a little heavier of a look. Again, less is more. It is more of a dry brushing technique.

Wait a couple of minutes and remove the stencil.

This pattern is really fun to use and looks wonderful.

Final reveal

This color green is so beautiful. It’s a nice dark rich green. The gold pops as accent colors. A gold key hole would look amazing on this piece.

Again, two brand new Dixie Belle products were used on this project: new color Midnight Green, Silk All-In-One Mineral Paint and Basket Weave Mylar Stencil using White Cap, Silk All-In-One Mineral Paint.

If you have any questions about how to do a furniture piece or item in your home, please feel free to email me. I am always glad to help.

OTHER Painting Posts

• From Old to Modern Farmhouse Storage Chest
• How To Paint A Chair Easily
• How To Update and Refresh A Plain Old Mirror
• Upcycle An Old Tool Caddy Into A Beautiful Magazine Rack
• Jewelry Armoire Makeover – Before and After

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Have a wonderful day!