Dining Room Set

I'm super sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. I have started a new job and I just moved to a new place. I got this lovely dining set, that I wanted to refurbish and use in my new home but it was vetoed by others. So instead I will still refurbish it and hope to sell it once it is done.

I was told by the previous owner that it was made in England around the 70's by their local craftsman.  It came with three regular chairs and one captain's chair. I hope once I am done refurbishing the set it will be wonderful!

Children's Desk

I have just found my next project! I just found this amazing children's desk that is in desperate need of refurbishing. It is covered in a bunch of stickers and finger paint, which might take a bit of work. If I don't find anyone who would want this desk customized, I plan on staining and finding new hardware.

Based on the hardware, I believe it was made in the 60's or 70's. I was relieved when I found out that it can be removed.

The biggest surprise I found was that there was a pull out writing board. I think it was the original color of the desk. I was also given an attachment that goes on the side to create the tabletop just a little bit longer. 

 The most amazing part of this desk is the metal feet on the legs. I hope I can clean it up all the way to make them look new. If not I will have to find a way to make each foot look the same.

I can't wait to post updates on this desk as time goes on. I will post more pictures soon!

Black and White Two Drawer End Table

So I completed this project a while ago and totally forgot about it until today. I found this end table at a yard sale and knew I just had to have it. I wanted to create end tables that would match even if they were different pieces of furniture. The first thing I noticed was it had the same hardware as another piece I already had.

Before

I sanded out all of the bumps and fixed the edges before painting. I used Behr's Carbon and Ultra Pure White paint colors. Originally I wanted to use a stencil on the top of it, but I opted not to due to the humidity levels outside.

After

Sadly once I finished painting, I realized I broke one of the pieces of hardware. So I had to find new, but nothing matched. I chose a small silver handle for the hardware that I picked up at my local Ace Hardware Store.

Two Toned Black and White End Tables

Hardware

 I have more projects to come. I can't wait to post pictures as soon as possible!

Hope

So I have been dapping in creating new items to have with Refurbishing From The Heart. My first item I created was a wall hanging that says Hope.

If you are interested in a piece like this let me know what word you would like and what colors you would want. 

The Vanity

My most recent refurbishing project was for a client with an old vanity. My client loved the vanity, but knew it was in desperate need of a facelift. It needed the paint to be refreshed and wanted a pop of black on the table top.

Vanity Before

Refurbishing it took a good bit of time, about three weeks, since I was running into different issues due to the weather. I originally removed the paint and sanded the whole piece was able to paint it, until the humidity arrived. It bubbled and the veneer on the tabletop came up in large patches. So I had to removed it and clean up the table top once again.  After that was fixed it didn't take long to finish refurbishing the piece.

Vanity After

 My client wanted a white vanity and a black table top, so I used Behr's White and Carbon. They also wanted to keep the original hardware, since the vanity was once refinished by her mother a long time ago

I will have more projects coming up. I will post pictures soon!

How To Remove Veneer

So with my vanity project, I have been running into every issue that could come up. With the heat and humidity, it made all of the veneer on it bubble and crack throughout the piece. So I needed to remove it. I have come up with some steps on removing the veneer.

1. Pull off/ peel off any veneer with your hands.

If there is any part of the veneer that seems like it would be easy to peel off, try to do it since it will peel off in large chunks. I suggest that you where gloves when removing the veneer, so that you don't get any splinters

2. Use a metal scrapper or putty knife to loosen up pieces to peel.

Only use the corner of it to get underneath the veneer and not straight on. If you go straight on, you will more likely gouge the wood underneath.

3. If the veneer is still stubborn, use a hair dryer on high when the scraper is underneath the veneer.

You want to blow the hair dryer underneath the veneer, so that the glue will loosen and will make it easier to scrape up the veneer and possibly pull up.

4. Use a wet towel, if there is any hard/ stuck on pieces. 

Use an old towel and wet it with hot water and let it sit for about 20 minutes and they should just come up.

5. Blow Dry the glue and scrape up.

I have been told to use an iron to heat the glue, but I don't trust it and used the blow dryer. It still works, but takes a little bit longer. You want to keep the heat in a small area and scrape up the glue.

I hope my tips help you remove the old veneer on any of your pieces.

Four Drawer Coffee Table

So yet again I forgot to take pictures before I started working on this project. I know I get caught up in the moment of working on a new project. I found this piece at a local flea market for only fifteen dollars. But when I found this table it was a dark brown, almost black, with a lot of gouges all over the top of it. Now it is beautiful as ever and has been given a new life.

Walnut stain with Behr's White paint

I love, love, love the original hardware that came with the coffee table so much that I kept them and reused them on this piece. The one thing you can't tell in these pictures is that the drawers go both ways on the table so you put items in them on either side.

Up close of one of the drawer's handle

Side view of the coffee table

Handle on the side

I love the finished product so much that I will be using this once I have a place of my own. I can't wait to share more about the vanity project, once I have more work completed on it.

My first sale

So I finally feel like I accomplished something with Refurbishing From The Heart. I was able to sell the teal and white nesting tables on the 7th.

If you live in the Greater D.C. or Baltimore area and are interested in a piece I have completed email me at refurbishingfromtheheart@gmail.com. 

Children's Toy Chest

So my most recent project I completed was a children's toy chest. It started in pretty rough shape, but had a great structure to it. I was a little silly and wanted to start working on the project right when I got it, so I forgot to take before pictures.

I wanted this to be more unisex so I knew I needed to purchase a different color so that anyone could enjoy it.

Behr's Tanzanite

Maple Stained Top

Inside pained white

I'm really happy with the end result of this piece. I will post more pictures and have more tips for refurbishing furniture soon! 

Top 5 tips for painting furniture with latex based paint

If you have ever looked at using chalk paint or milk paint for painting furniture, then you know how expensive it can be just to buy a quart of paint. I prefer to use latex based paint to save a little bit of money.

Top 5 Tips For Painting Furniture With Latex Based Paint

1. Use only the best quality supplies for any job.

In order to start off right, you need to make a small investment in purchasing the right supplies. It will make your projects a lot easier to achieve the look you are going for. 

Prep Supplies:

The first thing you will need is a wood filler for any nicks in your piece and I suggest any Elmer's brand of wood filler. You also need painters tape and the go to is Scotch Blue Painters Tape. They come in multiple widths and now even make one that works on wet paint. The other supplies I suggest are in my The Top Five Tools I Use For Refurbishing Furniture. 

Painting Supplies:

I think the best brand for brushes and rollers is Purdy. You can buy any range of size and they even sell a pack of three brushes. When it comes to paint you don't want to scrimp on the quality as well, so you would want to get a paint and primer color. I personally buy Behr at Home Depot. Even when you find the right paint you need to paint at least two layers to get an even coverage. The last thing you would need is a sealant that is water based like Minwax Polycrylic.

2. Take your time prepping your furniture. 

You don't want to ruin your project or restart your project when you are in a hurry to finish a piece. The first thing I do with any piece of furniture I get is I wash the piece with PineSol. This helps get any dirt or sticky substances off of it before I do anything else. The next thing you want to do is remove any hardware and drawers from your piece, while keeping it organized so that you know where the hardware belongs. Then you want to sand your piece until it is nice and smooth. I suggest to use an 80 grit, then 120 grit and lastly 220 grit. The last thing is to clean off the dust with either a wet cloth or tack cloth.

3. Don't scrimp on the paint and have fun painting. 

Once your piece is fully sanded, you are ready to paint. I suggest painting a light coat for the first coat, and then use more paint each time you add another layer. In between each coat wait at least an hour. It might take over a day of painting to get the right color you want to achieve. Depending on your work space, you may want to take a part of your piece outside to see how the color  looks in a different lighting.

4. Store your wet brushes in a ziplock bag.

When you are waiting for your coat of paint to dry, you want to ziplock your brush so it won't dry out before you are ready for another coat. This will keep your brush nice and fresh in between the coats. 

5. Seal your latex paint with a water based polycrylic protective finish. 

The last thing you want to do is to seal your paint. Using a sealant that is water based will protect your piece of furniture from chipping any of the paint off. At least one coat will do the trick, if you are worried about missing spots, you will need to lightly sand it and paint it a second time after 24 hours of your first coat. 

I hope you enjoyed my tips for painting furniture with latex based paint. If you have any questions or any tips you have please comment below.

Dog bed end table

Another project I completed about a month ago was a dog bed end table. It started as an end table that had a huge opening in it.

Before (closed)

Before (opened)

I removed the door, sanded down the whole piece, stained and painted the inside of dog bed. Then I created a pillow for the dog bed out of the same fabric as the bench.

Pillow for the dog bed.

Finished Project

Since I did not open up the entire front of the dog bed end table, it is able to fit a small dog. I am almost done with the next two projects and will post more pictures as soon as they are completed.

Mirror mirror on the wall

There are a couple of projects that I am a little late on. One of these projects was an antique mirror that I found a Goodwill. This is by far the best place that I have gone to to find furniture, but it's hit or miss when there are good pieces there. 

Before I did any work on the mirror it was a orangish gold color. I wish I had taken a picture before I started any work on it. 

I was able to spray paint a light coat going around the mirror and then hand paint the rest of it. I am very happy with how it turned out.

Top of the Mirror

Bottom embellishment 

I will post more pictures as soon as I finish my next project!

Two-Toned Furniture

Recently I have found out that I am getting slightly obsessed with creating two-toned furniture. It is really neat to add a pop of color to something that would have been plain or boring. I have mainly been doing this technique on end tables with the top one color and the legs another.

I think white is one of the easiest colors to create a two-toned effect on a piece because it goes with any color that you can use. The white I used is just the basic white that comes in a Behr paint can.

Pecan stain with Behr paint

  I love nesting tables. It's the easiest way to have two or more pieces that go together.

Mint Majesty and basic white paint by Behr

Black is another color that can almost go with any color when you want to create a two-toned effect. With this black paint I used Carbon by Behr, it doesn't look like it's warm or cool and just black.

There are more projects to come. I will post some pictures soon!

What happens at your first flea market

So last weekend I finally went to my first flea market to sell my furniture. Well things didn't go great, but I still was able to sell a few small things. When you are going to a flea market, but don't really know what sells in the area, everything can be up in the air on how it will turn out.

Before you want to start selling your pieces, you might want to create a business card. I have had many people ask for them and I didn't have any. It is the best thing to have when you are trying to promote you. Also I would suggest getting a credit card reader, like a square, which will allow people to pay with cash or credit.

When the time comes that you want to sell at a flea market, the first thing I look for is the cost for a small area. I feel that if is very cheap to sell at the local flea market you should try it out if you have never been to it because if you didn't sell anything then you only lost that small amount. I went to the Germantown Flea Market, which it only cost $20 for two parking spots. That was a great price for me because most of this area for flea markets, it can get up to $70 to $80 for a small area to sell. If the cost for a spot is quite a bit, I would suggest to go to it and see whats there and how much items cost in order to know what the competition is or if it fits with what you are trying to sell. Personally I think its best to find out the areas that you should not go to, so you don't waste time or money at those places.

Once you find your flea market that you are going to, the best thing to do is to promote your items. This could be by posting on craigslist, on your website or mentioning it on your social media pages. Doing this might get some people come to look at your items and possibly purchase them.

On the day of the flea market, try to get their as early as possible. Most places allow the vendors to pick the spot where they are at. The best places are around the edges or at or near the front of the flea market. Some people will only walk around the outside edge of the flea market. But don't worry about  people coming to your area, since vendors will shop around after they are done setting up. This is also your best time to see the best things that they have. One main thing when you are setting up, always have a sign for who you are to peak people's interest.

Some flea markets you might not sell much or almost everything you have, it just depends on the day. It will take some time before you find your perfect flea market and have people remembering who you are and what you do.

Let me help you Refurbish your items From The Heart.

Do you have any furniture that is in need of a face lift? Have you ever found an item from a thrift store, but don't have the time to refurbish it? Did you inherit an older piece and don't know what to do with it? If you answered yes to any of these questions, please feel free to allow me to refurbish and make it the center of your home.

If you are interested and live in the greater Washington or Baltimore area, send me an email with a picture and your contact information, then we can discuss about Refurbishing your item From The Heart.

My obsession of the month

So I have been recently obessing over stencils. I think they are the greatest thing to have when you want to add a little something special to a piece. There are so many stencils out there that I can choose from. I have found a few that I love and I purchased them at Micheal's.

This one is super amazing and give a bit of flair to any plain or boring piece. I am currently using it right now on this end table. I know I have to get the hang of it since I have a few smudges on it. I am planning on fixing it once the paint is completely dry. 

The second one came in a box with like twenty other stencils and has a bunch that could work with any piece. I just like adding something special to my pieces to make them more unique. I used the stencil to add on to a magazine rack that I found at Goodwill.

The next time I want to purchase more stencils for any piece of furniture, I want to go to Downtown Frederick so that I am supporting my local shops instead of going to a major retailer.  

How To Find a Great Items At Yardsales

I'm so sorry that I have not been able to do a new post in awhile, I have been busy prepping for my big debut at a large flea market this upcoming weekend. During this past week I have been going to as many yard sales as possible to have quite a bit of pieces for next weekend.

When it comes to yard sales there are many ways to find them. The first way I find them is the old fashioned way through the classifieds of my local newspaper. For the area I live in, I used the Frederick News Post or the Washington Post. Both papers usually have large sections for yard sales and I tend to look for either community yard sales or estate sales, since there should be a lot to look through to find the treasures. The second place i use to find yardsales is Craigslist and is labeled garage sales. Most people who post about them will create a list of items that they are selling and I always look for the words furniture or antiques. The next best website I use to find yardsales is www.yardsales.net. I think it is very helpful, since not everyone posts on Craigslist or in their local paper. If not the last way I find them is just by driving around and seeing one. Once you have found the yardsales, it would be best to create a list where they are located and what time they start. I think you will be able to find the best items at the earlier time and you have the higher possibility of fining great quality tressures. 

Now on to the actual yardsaling. If you are looking for furniture, it's best to pick out the wooden pieces over plastic. I myself have had the issue of thinking it was real wood instead of faux wood until I started to sand it, which turned into a gigantic mess. I think it sometimes take a couple of tries to learn the difference. I think the biggest difference is with weight. The faux wood will seem to be lighter than what it should be. The next part when it comes to looking for furniture is to see if there is any dovetailing on the piece. This is a sign that it was made really well and is a great quality piece to work with. The dovetailing could be with the drawers on a desk, table, dresser, on the end of the piece, etc. 

If you are looking for knicknacks or things to decorate your house with, you may have a better time finding your treasures. I have started to look at old glassware and have found pieces that were made in West Germany, so it predates WW II, and different old French bottles from the 1800's. These were by far the coolest finds I found. But when it comes to yardsales you may never know what someone has for sale until you look. More people are selling smaller items than bigger items like furniture.

I suggest that when you want to go yardsaling one day to create a list of items you are looking for and go on an adventure trying to find your buried treasure. If you have any great finds you have found in e past, please post in the thread below today's post.

Memorial Day Weekend

Overall I feel like I had a very successful weekend when it came to refurbishing. I was able to complete three projects and start on two more projects.

The first project I completed was a on a desk that I received from a neighbor in my neighborhood. It started off with this grostesck white paint that was chipping all over the place and ended up with a stained top and gray body. It took a lot of work just to remove all of the paint. It is a great accomplishment of mine just to say that I completed it. If you read my earlier posts I mention about paint removal and staining or painting. 

The next project I completed was a small chalkboard frame. By far these projects are the most fun to complete. I can finish them within a day by sanding, priming, painting both the frame and the board with the chalkboard paint. I feel like my net adventure with them are going to be with creating chalkboard paint. I'm at ease when I am working on a chalkboard project.

The last project I completed today was a jewelry frame or a momentos frame. I did the same process with it was in sanding, priming and painting. The next step was using fabric as a background and adding chicken wire to the front to hold all of the item in the frame. It's a really cool piece when you think about all of the different aspects of the piece are. 

Currently I am working on refurbishing a side table that was hollow and turning it into a dog bed/ end table. This is the a lot of work, but in the long run I think it will all work out in the end. If you are currently working on any projects that you want to talk about, comment below.

To Stain Or Not To Stain

This past week I have been working on a few projects and was contemplating wether or not to stain a piece of furniture, and well I chose to do both on one. There have been an increased amount of new furniture that has some part of it stained and painted and I wanted to try it out. 

In my mind staining is by far the easiest thing to do to a completely cleaned up and sanded item. You just paint on the stain and wait two to three minutes and wipe it off and wait for an hour. Then you can see if it needs to be sanded with a fine grit like 220. If it's a little rough then you get to sand and then stain it another coat. Once it's smooth and stained you just need to paint on a top coat, which I prefer a semi gloss clear coat. Then you clean up all of your materials with mineral spirits. Even though it is a very easy process, you can see a lot of imperfections that might be in the wood that didn't come out during the sanding process. 

That is what happened to me, which made me decide to paint those areas. The project I was working on at the time was originally a painted white desk that was chipping beyond belief. So after removing the paint and sanding it, it showed that I wasn't able to completely remove all signs of having paint on it before. So this is where I thought of painting the bottom portion of the desk and stain the top of it. 

If you are wanting to do this, I advise to stain the top at least once before painting so that you can see where you need to cover it to avoid any accidents with the paint. Then you will need to tape the edges of the top and then you can start the process of painting. With the desk I was working on, I used the same paint primer I used in my other projects and I found a grey paint at Home Depot in the oops section, so it was at a discounted price. Once the paint was dry and after three coats of paint, I did the rest of the process that is involved with staining (sanding, staining again and the top coat).

In my opinion I don't think I will do the combination with the stain and the grey paint again, but I might with a much lighter color because it will allow the stained part to stand out a little bit more. I think staining or painting a piece is all up to a personal preference and if you want to try to do both in one project I hope you enjoy it. 

Top Five Places To Find Restorable Furniture

Recently I have been asked where do I find all of the pieces I have worked on, of which there are five places that I look at on a regular occasion. There are so many different ways on going to find furniture to makeover your home and I thought I should share my places with you. You may never know, there might be a place you never thought of yet.

1. Thrift Stores-  For the area I live in, which is near the Washington D.C. area, there is Salvation Army, Goodwill, any church thrift store, etc. Depending on where you go, prices for furniture may vary from being amazing bargains to outrageous prices. I try to not pay a lot for a piece here, unless its really nice piece that will add a lot value. 

2. Friends And Family- These are the people who will be willing to help you out in your endeavor. Once some of my family members found out that I was refurbishing furniture and saw the work that I have done, they started to bring items for me to work on. You never know when someone is downsizing or wanting to get rid of little pieces that they didn't need anymore. Just let everyone you know what you're doing and you will never know who would like something restored. 

3. Yard Sales- There are so many yard sales in this area during the spring and summertime and you can find so many treasures at bargain prices. Even in this area there are community yard sales so numerous houses in the area are selling items. Many people are willing to bargain with you because they want to get rid of their items and don't want to pack up their items at the end of the day. The best time to go to them are when they start, since there are better finds, but if you go later in the day you can always get cheaper prices. In my neighborhood I found numerous items for free because the people just wanted to get rid of them. Always check your local paper in the classifieds or online for the yard sales of the week.

4. Classifieds- So there are many different ways to find things, either in your classifieds in your paper or on different types of classifieds online, like Craigslist or eBay. With some of these you can just pick up items for free because they just want it off of there property. This can be a good or a bad thing. I suggest if you go to someone's place to pick up an item always take a friend with you because you don't know who you are meeting. But if you go the route of choosing to just look through eBay always read the description and hope that there are a lot of pictures so you have a general idea of what it will be. You can get items super cheap because you can start bidding at a dollar and just do small increments. 

5. Your Own Home- Sometimes you have furniture that is right under your nose, which you might want to fix. I have a few items of my own that I want to fix, but I have to wait until I am done with projects in lined to be fixed. I have gone through the basement and found a bunch of antique frames that my great grandparents had and I would love to fix them up to use them in my own home. 

I hope these resources were helpful and I would love to hear about different resources you use to find your restorable pieces. 

How To Create A Chalkboard Frame

So I have a couple of projects I am currently working on at the same time. One of which is creating chalkboards out of picture frames. The best place I have found frames from is thrift stores like Goodwill and Salvation Army. I found four or five frames for 88 cents each that range in size. It will cost more for a frame if you want something that is a larger size.

When selecting a frame you want to find a frame that is relatively undamaged. You can either just find a frame without glass and a backer and create a backer from materials from a craft store or search for one that has a good backer that you can paint. What I look for is if there is glass and a nice backer to paint the class to create a sturdier chalkboard.

Next you need to select a primer for your chalkboard paint. If you are painting glass I suggest using a Rust-Oleum primer, since they are great on glass and metal generally. If you are just painting the backer then just use a regular primer for wood or walls. You can either choose to spray on the primer or paint on the primer and I suggest using the spray on primer since it will go on a lot smoother. If you don't prime your work and are using glass, your chalkboard paint will slide off after the paint dries.

Once your primer is set, you can paint with your chalkboard paint. They make a spray or brush on your paint. I typically brush on the paint with a foam brush, since I can make a thick coat and it will still be smooth. But you can also use a spray chalkboard paint, and still get a nice and even coat for your chalkboard. You need to wait at least 24 hours before using any chalk.

So during your day of waiting, I suggest to paint your frame. So go through the normal of cleaning up the frame by sanding and using tack cloth to clean up the dust. Then paint your frame with a white primer and later paint it with the color you want your frame to be.

After you are done with your frame and your chalkboard is past its 24 hour period, rub your chalkboard with a piece of chalk completely and wipe with with a wet cloth. If you don't do this then the chalk won't show up as well on a brand new chalkboard. It might take two times of rubbing a piece of chalk on the board to make your chalk nice and clear on your chalkboard.

Stripping Paint Off Of Furniture

When you are working on a project that involves paint removal there are a few items and steps that you need to take.

The things you need:

- chemical resistant gloves

- splash guard goggles

- a paint brush (do not use a foam brush)

- paint remover/stripper (a heavy duty and a light version)

- a glass or metal container 

- a plastic scraper

- cotton cloth

- 00 steel wool

So here are the steps you need to remove paint:

1. Shake you paint stripper to make sure you have everything mixed together

2. Pour some of remover in your glass or metal container

3. Paint on a heavy coat of the stripper on a section of the wood

4. Once the paint starts to bubble, start to scrape off the paint. (Depending on the brand it can take less than 15 minutes and up to 45 minutes to be completely ready)

5. Wipe down the section with a wet cloth.

6. If there are still small sections, use the light version (like EZ Strip Paint Remover) and scrub it with the steel wool

7. Wipe it down again with the wet wash cloth. 

* Right now I am using EZ Strip Paint Remover. I would suggest using this if you have a small patch you need to remove and not for large items. I have been having issues with this remover on the desk I am working on at the moment, but found a regular can of paint stripper in the garage I will use later. If you want to use EZ Strip Paint Remover for a large project it can take about an hour for a section to be ready.

The Top Five Tools I Use For Refurbishing Furniture

There are a couple of tools I use on a regular basis when I am working on any project. These are the most useful tools and important ones that anyone should have when working on refurbishing furniture.

Craftsman Mouse Sander

The main tool I suggest everyone should own is a hand sander and I believe it's the best thing to have. A hand sander allows you take less time, than just using a piece of sand paper. One will still need sand paper or a sand block for the fine details, but a hand sander is very useful. I personally own a craftsman mouse and have found out that it doesn't matter if I purchase a different brand of sandpaper, but just find one that is meant for a mouse sander.

Also, one should have a really good paint stripper. Right now I have EZ Strip Paint Remover. You just have to spray it on the piece of furniture (instead of somewhat painting it on) and let it sit for fifteen to twenty minutes and scrape it off. It does wonders when it comes to paint removal, but you might have to use it twice in some spots.

37 Piece Ratchet and Screw Set

I also have a set of screw drivers that has all different ratchets and bits for it. It's very resourceful to have just incase if one needs to take apart a piece of furniture, so you have all in one screw driver instead of trying to find a billion different tools. I have already had to use it on my bench to take it apart and put it back together with all new hardware. I believe I got this at Walmart for like ten bucks or something like that.

Another thing you will need to have, if you are painting furniture is the best set of paint brushes and rollers. I have found out that if you use the cheaper brands, they start to fall apart easily after one use or leave different streaks on the pieces. I personally try to find Purdy brand for rollers and brushes. They have the best reviews from everyone and most workers at any home repair shop has recommended them.

The last thing I would recommend is that if you are planning on doing any upholstering, you should purchase a good staple gun. I was able to take one from my father, since he has four staple guns for some unknown reason. I think I might be able to go through all of his tools and take any thing that he has in multiples that I think I would use to refurbish furniture. But now let's get back to the staple gun, I typically have used a 3/8th inch staple because they are a little bit smaller and able to get around the award corners for any piece of furniture.

What I fell in love with

The piece I fell in love with was a desk from the 1940's to 50's. The family who I purchased it from didn't know the exact year, but knew that their great grandmother was the one who had it when she worked as a secretary for a local department store. It shows a bit of wear and tear on it, but has great bones to it

Before

I wanted the desk to match the bench I just completed.To do so, I used the same Teal Majesty by Behr and purchased County Dairy by Behr.

Desk painted in Mint Majesty

I used the original hardware that came with the desk to keep the antique feel of the piece.

Cleaned up the hardware with Brasso

Completed look

I am very happy with the completed look of this desk and hope that I will have more completed pieces to come shortly. Lastly a quick question, if you have ever refurbished furniture, what is the very first piece that you fell in love with?