{before & after} a desk on the cheap

Sister is an amazingly talented actress, up in the Big Apple trying to make it big!  She will, I just know it, but that doesn’t make the pre-making it life on a major budget in NYC very fun.  She has moved several times already and, as a result, hasn’t bought much in the way of furniture to feel more at home in her different apartments.  One major need is a DESK!  And she needs it CHEAP!

So I scoured Craigslist and found a desk being sold for $15.  $15!  Is that a deal or what?!  I strapped that bad boy to the roof rack on my car (just like with my fireplace mantle) and now I need to get to work.

not much to write home about, huh?

(Sorry for the terrible “before” pic – I took it on my iPhone in the basement before I started sanding it.)

It’s pretty ugly, huh?  The finish on the desktop was chipping like crazy, and the previous owner had taken to writing in sharpie all over the top and carving skulls and crossbones into the wood.  Awesome.  And that hardware is just horrible.  But I think the piece has good lines, and it’s in decent shape; it will be a beaut once it’s primed, painted, and adorned with new hardware!  There is such potential!

So what’s the vision with this piece?  She wants something “chic” but not “shabby chic”, neutral but with personality a la Anthropologie, and very “city hip”.  We’re going gray!  Here are a few inspiration pics she pulled from the fabulous knack studios:

maybe a little too yellow? but love the "roughed up" look

maybe a little too blue? again love the "roughed up" look

this is my fave!

We’re thinking of doing either lucite pulls or knobs (very Anthro), but we’ll get them from Home Depot for much cheaper:

should we do pulls?

or knobs?

And then we want to paint the insides a fun color, perhaps a green or turquoise.

I’ve already sanded the top so it’s now silky smooth.  Hopefully I can wrap up the sanding Friday after work, slap on some primer, and perhaps even get it painted gray this weekend!

Do you have any weekend projects in the hopper???

Tagged as: desk, gray, knack, {before & after}