Furniture makeover - Computer desk to Dressing table

It's no big secret that I love furniture makeovers. I'm relatively new to it - well VERY new actually! - but I'm addicted already.
That 'makeover' mindset is now well and truly ingrained and I see every piece of furniture as a potential for creativity - whether it be a bland boring piece needing some funk or an old piece needing some TLC! and funk! lol.

This makeover came about because I needed a dressing table for my new bedroom and being the thrifty crafter I am I just couldn't bring myself to buy one - at £200 for something half nice I figured nah! - enter this old computer desk that was just plain awful......

See, awful isn't it! Almost as bad as my work area I hear you scream! Well in my defence I have a builder for a husband and so I have to take whatever inch of space I manage to pilfer in his workshops. Though you would think a 60ft workshop would leave little ole me just a teeny bit clear huh!
Anyway, a cheap and tacky bit of furniture is never going to be transformed into a stunningly marvelous piece of kit is it, I mean chipboard covered veneer is not Oak no matter how much you may wish it!
So here is what I managed to turn it into:

And I love it, despite it looking a bit like dolls house furniture.

So how did I do it?

Well first I scrabbled about for a bit of space to work in, then I took it all apart and left just the sides, the top and a panel across the back.

I then added an internal partition as I was aiming to put some drawers in it from an old small chest of drawers I've saved.
It was then sanded, sanded and sanded again.
I filled every hole (and there were plenty) with a good filler - well whatever filler I could find actually - and then left it to dry for 24hrs. It was then sanded again and filled again and left to dry again and then finally sanded again - phew!

All ready now for the best part - painting.
Normally I would use a brush however I've decided I don't like the brush stroke effect and I don't want to lather the layers on. Several thin layers would be better than a couple of thick marshmallowy layers.
Not having a sponge brush to hand I dived under the sink and came out victoriously waving a Jumbo size car washing sponge to the befuddled, confused looks of my non crafty family.
I cut the sponge up and painted. You know what a child looks like after finger painting, well I had it everywhere but the effect on the table was much better than a brush so alls good!
Each coat was left to dry and then I gave it several coats of Satin floor varnish, again with the sponge, it's a much better finish. I guess Floor varnish may not be every crafters choice of sealant but I figured if it's good enough for floors then it's good enough for this.
I then positioned and secured the drawer runners taken from the old chest of drawers I mentioned before and quickly decided that it's not something I'll ever be in a hurry to try again. This piece of work came veeeery close to being hammered, kicked and all other manner of not nice things!
Those plastic runners were a nightmare! But I soldiered on and prevailed. yay!
Next I had to decide what drawer handles to use:

Which to use, which to use?
I opted for the flower pulls. Obviously they looked a bit ropey and needed some work  so I primed, sprayed and laquered them with ........ car spray paint. Yup, car spray paint!
My car happens to be an off white colour and I'd purchased primer, paint and laquer for a rear wheel arch, which never got done so I figured why not!
Waste not, want not! As my mum used to say!

Just a wee note: Spray painting is addictive - you were warned!

The drawer fronts were painted the same plum colour as I used on a cabinet for the end of my bed, check it out 'here' and then sprayed with the laquer purely because I was getting too impatient to wait for varnish to dry. (Do many of you find that you get a bit impatient and dare I say it - lackadaisical - toward the end? You just want that piece finished).
The finished effect is pretty darned good anyway!  BTW the drawer front s look blotchy on the photo but they're really not, it's just the flash bounce.

That done it was all put together.
But a dressing table without a mirror is not much good really is it so I spray painted my wooden mirror with the car sprays and then attached it to the table with a couple of lengths of 2x1 attached to the back of the dresser and bolted through the mirror.

Ta da!

The vase and the basket on my Dressing table were a real find. Usually i won't buy such things and I've been dabbling with the idea of making a fabric basket however a recent trip to 'Homebase' revealed these bargains - £3 for the basket - a bit bigger than I would have liked but good quality and a lovely lining.
£2 for the vase - what else can I say, Bargain!! Maybe needs a single stem flower added to it though.

So there you have it. A crabby old computer desk that would have hit the fire heap morphed into a Dressing table.

This blog is linked to:-

'Lil' Luna - All things Good'

'Gingersnaps' wow me Wednesday








'Miss Mustard Seed'
'The shabby Nest' 
'It's a Hodgepodge life'

COMING SOON.

A stool to match the dressing table. Made from the chest of drawers that I salvaged the drawers from for the above dressing table.

And a relic of a wardrobe gets a revamp.