A Beachy Desk Makeover with Chalk Paint

Oh how I love the feel of a coastal home with all of it’s beachy furniture. Who doesn’t love the bright colors and the light and airy feel a beach inspired home gives? Even if you don’t love the beach, coastal colors would brighten anyones day, right?  I know I’m a little biased, being that I live only miles from the beach. When a friend of mine asked me to transform his antique dresser with a beachy or coastal vibe, I couldn’t say no!

Let me first share with you this antique desk’s sad beginnings.

I know in it’s “heyday” this was one beautiful antique piece of furniture. Today, though, after years of sitting in an attic with a few (maybe a lot) of hungry rats, it’s seen better days.

Even with the rat poop (yep, and lots of it!) and the stains, there was a beautiful vintage piece of furniture underneath and I had to uncover it.

Normally I would refinish the wood on an antique piece like this and bring it back to it’s original glory, but my friend wanted the desk finished in a “beachy” or coastal style.

That was ok with me because “beachy” or coastal isn’t a style I normally create, so I was excited to try something a little different.

Next comes Chalk paint!

Since we're going for a coastal vibe for this desk makeover, I knew a light color on the wood was the way to go!

Note: this post contains affiliate links. This means that if you purchase from one of these link I will receive a small commission, but you will pay no more for the product.

Below is the desk after the first coat of paint. The paint I decided on was Rust-Oleum's Ultra Matte Chalked Paint in Linen White.  Honestly, I prefer Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, but I was out and I didn't have the time to order and wait for more paint.

Just a little FYI: you will pay way more for Annie Sloan, but I still prefer it over any other chalk paint that I've used.

After the first coat of chalk paint dried, I added a second coat. 

I then added a second coat of chalk paint to the spindled legs.

Now comes the fun part; Distressing the chalk paint!

When I distress wood I use a fine grit sandpaper (like 600) and distress lightly IN THE DIRECTION of the grain. This is important to make sure the "aging" or distressing looks natural.

After I finished distressing the wood, I knew I wanted to add a little color. I was thinking a green or blue hue.

Sometimes my favorite part of painting furniture is mixing colors! So here we go...

I had a bright green that I mixed with white to give it a softer pastel hue.

I also removed the existing knob and found another coastal or beachy style knob with the same color of green paint I was using.

I wanted to add a little color to the wood inlays to make it "pop."

Of course I had to add a little color to the chair too (I'm still unsure where that red color came from)!

There were two pretty diamond inlays that I wanted to accent with color.

The screws for the spindled legs were stripped and would not stay in the base. I added a little wood glue and secured the legs to the base and let it dry. After the wood glue was dry I also added a little hot glue around the base of the legs. You can't go wrong with hot glue!

The last bit of coastal flair I wanted to add was the wired jute rope.

My purpose in using the rope was two fold:

• to accent the beachy or coastal vibe to this antique desk
• to add support to the chair

The chair legs were previously broken, so I needed to find a way to secure them. I figured the wire in the jute rope would help with that!

After a little more touching up and distressing, this antique coastal desk makeover with chalk paint was almost done!

What do you think of the new knob? It came from Hobby Lobby. If you are ever looking for artistic and unusual pulls or knobs, that's the place for it!

Well there she is, in all her new coastal glory! Do you like the beachy accents I added?

If you liked this post and are interested in learning more about Chalk Paint vs. Milk paint, check out my post below:

Chalk Paint vs. Milk Paint and the one I prefer

See my other furniture flips HERE. 

Thanks for stopping by friends!

Lindsey**

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