A Beachy Desk Makeover with Chalk Paint

This is the story of how I gave an old antique desk a beachy or coastal style makeover. This beachy desk makeover brightened the old wood.

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 I couldn’t say no! Let me show you how I painted this desk and gave it beachy desk makeover with a fun coastal vibe!

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

I know in it’s “hey day” 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.

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.

The first thing I did was take the desk completely apart, call the hazmat department and clean out all the rat poop! (I’m being dramatic, it really wasn’t that bad, but it did have an odor…….:()

Next I gave the wood a light sanding. I used a fine grit sandpaper to make sure it still had a smooth finish. I was trying to remove the “impurities” without disrupting the wood grain.

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!

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How I gave this desk a beachy or coastal style makeover

The paint I decided to use 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.

Below is the desk after the first coat of paint.

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.

Next I distressed the chalk paint a little.

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 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!

Beachy Desk Makeover

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!

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

Thanks for stopping by friends!

Lindsey**

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