Study Hall: Tyler’s Desk

The weekend before the fire, we visited my mom and scored a bunch of free furniture – which was promptly hauled out of the house after the fire, cleaned, and stored for four months. So I’m just getting around to fixing it now. Don’t judge.

Tyler’s desk was by far in the worst shape of the lot, so I decided to tackle it first. I’m far more handy with paint than I am with reupholstering.

The problems are pretty obvious – the finish is jacked up, the handles need replacing, and it smells faintly of Doritos and socks. But on the other hand it has good lines, doesn’t wobble, and is made of real wood (not veneers).

Luckily, there’s “Covers a Multitude of Sins” in a can, a.k.a. Zinsser’s Cover Stain Primer/Sealer.

Two coats of primer, two coats of semigloss white paint. Then it was time to get fancy.

I carefully measured and taped out a star on the top of the desk, and Jason taped off a couple of stripes down the sides.

After letting it dry overnight, we held our breath and peeled off the tape.

Shazam!

I let Tyler pick out the drawer pulls. He liked these because “they look like shields.”

Ooooohhhh…kay. Fine by me.

So, to refresh your memory, here’s the Before picture:

And the After:

Now, if I can just get him to sit down and study…..

Update: Now with bonus art!

For Tyler’s birthday last year, I got him a set of these amazing prints from Imagekind.

I matted them with – what else? – leftover burlap, recycled the frames from his previous bedroom art, and hung them over his desk.

I love them because they don’t scream “STAR WARS SUPERFAN.” They…. whisper it. Star Wars Superfan. Shhhh.