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:-
'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.
So cute! I love how the white hardware pops against the dark purple drawers. Great job
ReplyDeleteThanks Bethany, glad you enjoyed it! I'll be posting the stool that matches very soon too.
ReplyDeleteI love your blog. I particularly like the teacup pincushion idea - very cool.
Thanks for stopping by.
This is so awesome! I love how funky it looks. Awesome job!
ReplyDeleteHi..
ReplyDeleteSuch as great Design for Home decoration with Furniture.we can change our old model deign with this Furniture. Thanks for sharing a great news .
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