Headed to the Beach in South Dakota

Finally! For those who have been in my garage full of Saturday yard sale goodies and tons of random crap that I will likely sell at my own rummage sale, one item has made it's way to the surface of restoration and I'm in love with it. I purchased this desk in college at a thrift store and it served it's purpose. I really started to hate it though when I realized it's translucent white paint was pretty much hideous, so I headed down to my favorite consignment store to hock it. They didn't have floor space so I took it home and there it sat in the garage for another few weeks before I got wild hair and bought some turquoise paint. The paint man at Ace got really into the idea of painting a piece of furniture this color, he even helped me pick out the bright red enamel to refinish the hardware and a beautiful cherry stain for the top I would soon by sanding down for hours. Here's a look at it's before stage, not much of a focal piece.

  


  


You can probably see why a tasteless college student would think it's cool. I mean a scuffed, white desk in a dorm room is pretty sweet. I think I even tried to distress it when I graduated and had free time on my hands. Naturally, I hit wood and it look like I'd just rammed a door into it so I gave up and decided to reupholster the seat with an even uglier fabric. Man I'm good. But regardless of it's state, I've always loved the shape. It looks antique and had a lot of potential to become a beautiful piece.

I really procrastinated while refinishing this desk, but it's very dear to me because I truly gave up a lot to get the darn thing done. I've blown off my climbing partners several weekends in a row to work on it, but I think it's is going to pay off, because I discovered to myself two important factors:

A. I'm somewhat knowledgeable enough to refinish a piece of furniture and,
B. My mother-in-law likes it :)

If I had a beach house and a cute sun room with french doors that opened up to the ocean, this would be the perfect place to sit and write letters to old friends and read. Pfh, yah, like I do either of those things. But if I had a beach house to put this in I would totally buy some old, romance novel and read for hours while my husband taught Hollywood movie stars how to fly fish.

Enough with day dreaming, here is my beautiful beach desk. I adore and hope you do too!

stained drawers pull it together

red enamel hardware

(notice the leather bound book) finished desk

i sanded the top down to the bare wood and distressed with a hammer and chain before staining with a deep cherry

refinished seat with a fresh floral fabric and this gal's ready for the beach