Emmy in her Element: My little Mustard Desk

Last summer while the Mr and I were out running errands on a Saturday morning, we drove by a garage sale in town and I casually glanced out the window as we drove by. I love garage sales, but have found that I have to be careful or I end up with a TON of junk in the basement, just because it was a good deal. Even 50 cents or 3 bucks here and there adds up, so I am learning to be much more selective about my thrifty purchases.

So, as we drove by, I noticed a little antique desk amongst all the junk.

I squealed for my husband to turn around and let me have a closer look at it. As soon as I saw that all 4 drawers worked, that it was a true heavy duty solid wood antique desk, that it had amazing character, and adorable features, and was marked as a steal at only 10$... I HAD TO HAVE IT.

I quickly gave my hubby "the nod" (the no I cant live without it, come and load it before someone else gets it right now nod) and it was a done deal within 10 minutes.

Since I am a busy Mama, she has been waiting patiently in the basement for about 6 months. Every time I walk passed it I dream about how beautiful she will be with her little face lift.

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So about 2 weeks ago I couldn't sleep and I felt like I wanted to start a project. I knew just where to go!

Here is the before picture. (I do have all 4 drawers)

Here is a picture with the first coat of paint and primer. I wanted to leave as much of the natural distressing as possible. I think it adds so much extra character and makes it an absolutely one of a kind piece.

I think it is really special when you can see the dark stain of the natural distressing even after you have painted it a new color. The way to get this look is simple to have a very small amount of paint on the brush when you go over these areas, and to do it with a light hand.

Sometimes when I start a project like this, I feel like I want to get it done all at once because I don't know when I am going to have time to work on it again after the first coat of paint. If you don't be careful and let the paint have time to dry between layers, It will stay very tacky for a long time and you wont be happy. BE PATIENT. Trust me, I know how hard it is.

The next hardest thing is choosing a color. Truth be told, I hadn't decided on one yet for the desk, but I had a few cans of left over paint in the basement, and I thought I should use them before spending money on new. I knew the desk was going in a room upstairs with mustard curtains, so I settled on this yellow. The other cool thing about painting old furniture is, If you hate the color, paint over it. simple as that. The more paint it has, the more shows through during distressing, and the more antique it really looks. WIN WIN.

After 2 coats of the yellow, and being very very patient to let it dry, I took it upstairs to her new room. I want to heavily distress it, but I want to give it 2 weeks up sitting upstairs to get really really dry. I am doing this because if the paint is tacky at all when you try to distress, its just going to peel off and you will not get the look you want.

One more before...