Distressed Wedding Desk
A friend of mine asked if anyone had a turquoise desk that she could use for her wedding for signing their vows, and I thought what a great project that I could give them for their wedding.
1st stop was the Whistler Rebuild it where you can find lots of treasures for a small amount! I had a choice of three desks and the winner was $25.It was well used and the drawers were decorated with felt pen & gum, but I knew with alittle cleaning and bonding primer, I could clean it up.
1. Cleaned all surfaces of the desk with a cleaner/degreaser, rinsed off with clean water & let dry.
2. Primed all surfaces with Benjamin Moore STIX Primer with a foam roller. STIX is a specialty primer that is perfect to use when you have no idea what coating is on an old piece of furniture. Stix ensures that the primer coat will bond to any surface. It is odourless and cleans up with soap and water.
3.Sprayed all insides of the drawers with high gloss white just to seal everything and make them wipeable. I discovered this great tool which is a spray trigger handle. Not only does it make spraying effortless, it was much easier to control the flow from the spray can. I will use this tool on every project now!
4 . Rolled out all outside surfaces with Benjamin Moore Aura Matte which was tinted to 2040-50 Hazy Blue, the brides choice of colour. Aura as a product has a primer in it, is easy to apply, low odour and when cured is extremely durable. I applied two coats to the outside of the desk.
5. Now comes the fun part! Distressing the desk. Distressing is the process of inflicting intentional damage to a new or newly painted piece of furniture. To make it authentic the distressing should be in places where the piece would naturally weather. To start I took a sanding sponge and sanded the edges of the drawers and desk. Then to create a few dents I used the edge of the paint can and a wire brush to create some scratches. You can use various tools to distress your furniture piece. It just depends on how damaged you want it to look. Some will string a combination of screw heads, bent nails, washers and spikes on a string and roll or flail it on all surfaces. Done properly, distressing can make a new piece look genuinely old.
6. Add a few drops of burnt umber tint into your paste wax. This creates the “antique” look. Apply the wax with a lintfree cloth to all surfaces and let dry. Buff wax with a clean cloth.
7.For the finishing touches I added crystal knobs and a piece of scrap wallpaper as a drawer liner.
It was a beautiful wedding , decorated by Whistler Wedding Planners and the desk was a big hit carrying on into the night as a cake display.
DIY Supplies needed:
Benjamin Moore’s STIX Bonding Primer
Benjamin Moore’s Aura Matte Paint- tinted to 2040-50 Hazy Blue
High Gloss White Spray
Spray Trigger Handle
Foam Roller Kit
2” Foam Brush
Sanding Sponge, Wire Brush, Distressing Tools
Paste Wax
Burnt Umber Tint
Rags
Glass crystal knobs
Decorative wallpaper
Mountain Home Decor 