Little Edwardian Brown Desk

Introducing my latest painting project…a unique vintage brown mahogany desk on castors in an (mostly) unloved shade of brown.

Desk-pre-loved-in-shedDesk pre-loved open shed

 

My first thought was how to make the most of the shape and character of this piece…what colours to go for, what finish? The possibilities were endless but where to begin?

 

Desk-white-brushmark

I started off with a clean base, to help me visualise the potential of the piece.  On went the first layer of colour – Annie Sloan’s classic ‘Old White’ chalk paint.

Desk-paint-tray-detail

Hmmm…so far so good…and things soon started to take shape…A few more layers of ‘Old White’ later…

Desk-all-white-

I liked the crispness of the white – it certainly made a change from brown, but I already had a vision of Annie Sloan ‘French Linen’ for this little beauty, and sometimes you have to be brave and take the plunge…

Desk-chalk-paint-pot

 

Desk-4-stages-grey

Step by step, ‘French Linen’ covered the whole of the desk. No going back now…even if I did wonder if I’d made the right decision!

Desk-all-grey

Onwards and upwards and time to complete my vision…I’d decided on cartoonish lines to pick out detail on the desk. But I certainly didn’t envisage how tricky drawing lines could be – since masking tape only takes you so far! (Random thought whilst painting – Why don’t they make curved masking tape?)

Artist-at-work

Finally, fast forward to the completed piece… As the French would say, et voila! Or otherwise known as the ‘Da-Dah!’ moment…

Desk-finished-4-stages

Desk-finshed-angle

Desk-open-CU

Desk-finished-open

I hope you agree that upcycling this little antique desk was worth every bit of effort! Look out for it in our shop very soon…