The {D}evolution of an Antique Desk

A few months ago, Landon ran to the store to get me something for dinner. Awhile later, he came waltzing through the door with a spontaneous gift. It wasn't flowers, it was this beauty:

If you are asking yourself --- "Why on Earth would anyone paint over a gorgeous turn of the century piece of furniture with that horrible orangey, not-quite-wood color?" you are not alone, my friend.

I had been combing Craigslist for a children's table for Walt. I wanted something cute, durable, and tiny so it could fit in our kitchen. Also, it had to be cheap. Because of that whole Landon has been in school for the entire 6 years of our marriage and we live below the poverty line quite happily thank you very much thing. This fit the bill, and bonus: awesome photo prop!

At first, it was covered in who knows what:

And then, we made it look worse:

But, after two weeks of elbow grease, it gradually started to look a little better:

On the left is the stripped metal; on your right, years of grime, spray paint, and other buildup:

It was pretty fun to uncover all of that history. I wish I'd thought to take a picture of the initials scratched into the top of the desk.

Eventually, we found the wood. Success!

It was almost a shame to cover it up; but we wanted something a little more vintage.

Several late night staining/painting/varnishing sessions later, and we came up with this:

It's now living happily in a corner of our kitchen. There are baskets of crayons and paper in easy reach for Walt, and the chalk is nearby so he can use that supervised. He's already colored on the wall once...I have a feeling this treasure will be in our family for a long time to come. Every time we do a project like this, we remember that we don't need a lot of money to have nice things. We actually prefer to make them ourselves! It gives us a chance to talk, hang out late at night, watch every episode of Saved By The Bell, and feel a lot of pride in our accomplishment at the end of the day. Thanks, whoever passed this lovely desk onto us!