How I DIY upcycled a free curbside desk into my Dressing Table

How I DIY upcycled a free curbside desk into my Dressing Table

I have always wanted an Old Hollywood boudoir-style changing table. I always pictured it would be metallic and have a pop of color inside the drawers. Not only did I not the like the price tag on new furniture that could function this way, I certainly didn’t find anything that matched my color dreams. I imagined decorating a corner of my master bedroom to be the area where I would lovingly store and display my makeup and also be the station where I would style my hair and apply my makeup every day.

I alerted all my thrift store divas to let me know if a desk-like piece of furniture caught their eye and was bargain basement in price. After about a year of looking, I found this diamond-in-the-rough on the side of the road in my mom’s neighborhood:

A couple of the drawers needed work, there were some gouges in the top surface, and the front facing on the left legs was broken, but otherwise it was solid, functioning and I believed I could transform this into something special.

First I removed the drawers and  removed the hardware from all of the drawer handles.

Then, I sanded down all the surfaces of the desk and all of the interior and exterior surfaces of the drawers with fine grade sandpaper. Filled the holes and gouges in the tabletop with woodfill. And, let it dry overnight. Then sanded over it again to be smooth.

Next, I painted the hardware and the interior of the drawers with a spray paint with primer combined. I applied two coats and let it dry.

I painted the desk and the exterior of the drawers with a metallic paint/primer spray paint that has a hammered effect. I applied two coats and let it dry. I also applied a coat of this paint to the drawer pulls that were previously painted the turquoise. After letting this third coat dry,  I sanded them again to give them a distressed finish with a pop of turquoise coming from beneath the metal finish.

One of these days I’ll remember to wear my gloves for an ENTIRE PROJECT! I seem to remember to wear them 90% of the time.

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I would love to see your creations. Just as much fun as making these myself is the satisfaction I get from seeing my designs come to life and other crochet fans wearing them too. There are now 2 ways you can share what you have done!

• Share yours by joining  Create. Share. Inspire on Facebook where you can interact with me as well as many other members who have a love of knitting and crochet just like you! It is a wonderful and safe place to share your photos of finished projects in my knitting or crochet patterns or yarns, and to see what others are making, too.
• I have recently added a wonderful new interactive section to the website which I invite you to take part in, it has been a smashing success and such fun so far. It is the new “Share Your Project” section. You, my creators, can upload images and descriptions of your creations to share with the ever growing community! To upload simply click here. 

Additionally, I host a livestreaming podcast weekday on my YouTube Channel called Create Share Inspire Podcast. You can join the audience and even ask me questions LIVE! I often do a show and tell, or quick demo and I always interact with the live audience. It is a lot of fun!

You can browse through over 800 previously recorded episodes HERE: Create Share Inspire Podcast Playlist . Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube Channel to get reminders when the next episode airs LIVE.

I look forward to seeing what you create!

xoxo,
Kristin