Little Gray Writing Desk

I must admit- I am in love with the sleek lines on this desk.  Nothing fancy; just smooth and symmetrical.  It makes me happy.

This was another custom painted piece.  It started out like this:

Now, I'm not exactly sure what this desk is made out of.  I had assumed wood... until I took it outside to start sanding it.  POWDER flew off EVERYWHERE! Seriously, it looked like I poured a bag of powdered sugar all over the place.  And really, the desk didn't look any different. It anyone cares to venture a guess as to the material, I'd love to hear it.  

So after my quite unsuccessful attempt to strip it, I painted over it.  I used my very favorite light gray that was left in the utility room by the previous homeowners and covered the whole desk.  I knew I wanted to distress the edges eventually, but also that there was nothing really to distress down to.  No wood, no dark undercoat, nothing! So I brushed some dark gray paint over the edges.  Then I applied another coat of light gray completely covering the dark places.  I dry brushed some white over the whole thing, and then I sanded the edges just enough for the top coat to rub off enough to reveal to dark paint underneath.  I touched up just a little with some more dark gray. After that, I sealed it with polycrylic to give it just a bit of sheen.

Oh! I also replaced the knobs on the two drawers.  They were a dark bronze that did not match the new paint at all.  I found some really sweet crystal knobs at Hobby Lobby, and they really gave the desk its finishing touch!

As much as I love creating pieces of my own, I really love doing custom pieces for specific people.  It is such a joy to create something for someone.  Hopefully I can keep doing it!