Monday, April 8, 2013

What I've Been Working on - Antique Desks in Progress!

Over the weekend I got stuck in to two desks that have been sitting in the junk pile (ie my garage) for a little while now. Both were roadside finds and were in need of a bit of repair work before I could get started. So unfortunately I don't have a finished project to share, but I've got two works in progress instead...

 photo Antiquedesksinprogress_zpsb506c311.jpg

I spent the best part of two hours getting the paint off this baby, with my new heat gun. The gun is fantastic; there were a few close calls... sometimes I was so busy scraping that I wasn't watching how close I was holding the gun to my hand, but nothing too serious. And before you say it - yes, the instructions say you should wear gloves. I couldn't find any. Next time :)

The insert on the table top isn't in great condition so I will probably replace it before this girl gets a paint job. Undecided about colour as yet - love to hear your thoughts if you have any suggestions!

  photo Antiquedesksinprogress2_zpsc1daec95.jpg

The second desk is proving to be a bit of a challenge as the stain bleed is horrendous. There are pink streaks all over, and while some might go in for that look, I don't! I'll have to grab more stain blocker tomorrow to see if that can stop it. Cross your fingers! I've also heard shellac works, so that might get a whirl too.

At the moment I've left the two drawers original, as I'm thinking of painting the desk white and then stenciling some kind of geometric pattern across the drawer fronts. But as I said, it's a work in progress!

So that's it from me today - looks of busy work but no finished products just yet. How about you?

Thanks for stopping by...

5 comments:

  1. The desks will be lovely when they are finished! Maybe I should invest in a heat gun?

    ReplyDelete
  2. can't wait to see the end result....be careful!
    Bec x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Maybe the first little desk could have a blackboard paint top ?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Heat guns are great but I've had burnt boobs once when I was stripping back a door (in situ) and the boiling paint fell down my top. talk about ouch!
    good luck with the bleed through; I've been dealing with that a lot lately also.
    Fiona xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. oh i love the first one as is in its stripped condition! :) and with a chalkboard like sandra said would be cool!!!

    ReplyDelete

I'd love to hear from you!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...