The Olde Farmhouse on Windmill Hill: 2/26/12

Monday, February 27, 2012

Desk Makeover~How to Update an Oak Rolltop Desk

Well, I'm happy to finally be finished this project! I started it last spring just before I started feeling icky with my pregnancy. I worked at it s-l-o-w-l-y for awhile then ceased altogether. Until last week. I had a burst of energy and decided it's time to get this project DONE!

I had bought this vintage age roll top desk from Craigslist with the intention of giving it a few updates and reselling it. So, it's now for sale if you know someone in Northwest Ohio looking for a good solid desk. :)

The people that were selling it had cats (read there was cat hair all over it) and it was their daughter's desk. It was good and solid but dirty and not pretty. They lived in a very small house and were getting a piano for their daughter so the desk had to go to make room for the piano.

Here are some pictures of it "Before":

And here it is after I added some cute little bun feet, changed the drawer pulls, painted it with Annie Sloan chalk paint (old white), and waxed it. I think it's 100% improved.

You notice I didn't paint all the cubbies.... I was too lazy. :) I thought about just removing that part of it but there's just something I like about having it for organization. It was in good shape, unlike the top and the work surface.

So, I just left it as it was. And I think it looks ok this way.

The insides of the drawers were kinda marked up and ugly so I lined them with some pretty damask scrapbook paper.

I didn't like the big 'blocky' drawer pulls so I found these pretty, vintage knobs with back plates on eBay. They were white so I gave them a coat of oil-rubbed bronze spray paint. I think they're much better.

And here are some other shots 'just because'.

In this picture you can see how I did the feet. First I added a board that was 1" larger than the bottom of the desk on 3 sides and screwed it down. Like this:

These two pictures are shown with the desk upside down.

Sorry, this is a really poor shot but it's the only one I have like this.

Then I put cove (I think that's what it's called) moulding around it on the ledge I created. For the feet, I just bought bun feet and mounting plates from Menards. Screw the plates to the bottom of the desk and then screw the feet into the mounting plate. I didn't take any progress shots (they're boring anyway). And because I like side by side comparisons here's the before and after again: