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11 Magnolia Lane

Sharing our easy DIYs, decorating, entertaining and more!

Restoring My Daughter’s Vintage Painted Desk

November 2, 2015 By Christy 1 Comment

This Post Contains Affiliate Links

36 shares

Vintage painted desk | 11 Magnolia Lane

This post is sponsored by Elmer’s.  All opinions are 100% my own.  See our full disclosure policy {here}.

If you’re a regular follower, then you know that we had a pretty terrible move from Georgia to North Carolina this summer {read the saga here}.  We’ve almost finished the claims process, and now I’m starting to work on the items that we didn’t have professionally repaired.

My daughter’s little vintage desk has been a staple in her bedroom since she was in first grade; it’s a find from the Cameron Antique Fair in Cameron, NC.  I think that it was originally part of a vanity set, because it’s a little shorter than a normal desk, but it’s just the right since for my tiny girl (she’s 12 now but very petite).

It got pretty banged up in our move:

Vintage painted desk | 11 Magnolia Lane

Our movers didn’t wrap our furniture in blankets and so there were lots of rubs and chips, plus a big gouge on the top.

Vintage painted desk | 11 Magnolia Lane

I have quite a few items of furniture that are in a similar state, so you can understand why jumped at the chance to work with Elmer’s–I’m going to be using A LOT of their products as I make my repairs!

They sent me two of their Carpenter’s® Color Change Wood Fillers to try; one that dries white and one that dries natural.  Both are sandable, paintable, and stainable, but since I was going to be giving this desk another coat of white paint, I chose the one that dries white.

Elmer's Wood Filler | 11 Magnolia Lane

This was a very easy project, but as with all DIY jobs, taking the time to prepare the surface is key.

I started by cleaning the desk off and letting it dry.

clean-surface
Next, I applied the filler with a putty knife and removed the excess.  Depending on how deep the damage is, you may need multiple coats.

spackle copy
When the filler turns white, it’s ready to sand.  I used 200 grit sandpaper and finished with 400. Of course, I repeated this process in several different places as I filled in the worst of the chips and gouges.

sand
Next, I gave the desk two coats of white chalk paint.  Since I didn’t want to haul the desk downstairs, I used a brush instead of my paint sprayer.

paint copy
The finished piece is immaculate–the damage is undetectable!

Vintage painted desk | 11 Magnolia Lane

Vintage painted desk | 11 Magnolia Lane

We are decorating the house a little early this year to be ready for a home tour; my daughter is a very dedicated dancer and so we use the Nutcracker Ballet theme to decorate her room.

Nutcracker Christmas decor | 11 Magnolia Lane

You can see last year’s holiday decor {here} and {here}, and the rest of her room {here}.

Vintage painted desk | 11 Magnolia Lane

In the meantime, I am enjoying how beautiful her desk area looks now.  I was so glad to be able to give this vintage piece new life!

Vintage painted desk | 11 Magnolia Lane

Nutcracker Ballet Christmas decor | 11 Magnolia Lane

Here’s a handy graphic to pin, recapping the steps I used:

How to Use Elmer's Carpenter's Wood Filler to repair damaged furniture | 11 Magnolia Lane

I also recently used Elmer’s Carpenter’s® Wood Glue to build this DIY plate rack for my pantry and to assemble our pantry shelving; check the linked posts out for all the how-to’s.

DIY Plate Rack for $40 | 11 Magnolia Lane

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Our posts contain affiliate links.  If you make a purchase after clicking on these links, we will earn a small commission, which helps to keep our content free.  You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise, since that would be tacky!

Sources:

Desk and pink picture frame:  Vintage

White Chalky Paint

Silver wreath, apothecary jar: HomeGoods

Chandelier

Desk chair: IKEA

White shelf and Santa pillow:  handmade

Pink Christmas Trees: Hobby Lobby

Sugar Plum Fairy Nutcracker

Puffin In Bloom Books

Pointe Shoes:  my daughter’s never-ending supply 🙂

Final New Christy headshot 2015

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Filed Under: Childrens' Projects, Christy's NC Home, DIY/Projects/Tutorials, Furniture, Reviews/Sponsored Posts Tagged With: Christmas, Furniture, holiday, repairs

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Shirley@Housepitality Designs says

    November 4, 2015 at 6:55 pm

    I have a few things that can use the wood filler…Love the results of the repair, so off to the home improvement store to stock up on the Elmers….the desk turned out so beautifully….I am sure your daughter is thrilled with the results of your hard work to restore the desk back to its beauty that it deserved. Love the theme of the Nutcracker!!…

    Reply

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  • MEET CHRISTY & AMY
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      • LAUNDRY ROOMS
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36 shares