Desk redo!

This project is SO much fun. Coming home from work and having two huge pieces of furniture to sand, paint and decorate is a blast. I'm 3/4ths of the way done, and here's what I've accomplished so far.

Some of these steps are taken from Shelia McGraw, author of Painting and Decorating Furniture.

1. First I sanded off the old finish. The desk was kind of an early 90's executive "power" desk.A brighter cherry maple color, with lots of shine! and gross gold drawer pulls I am excited to get rid off. I think the sanding was fun for me because I could do it by hand, without a power sanding tool. They sell sponge-shaped sandpaper now, instead of just sheets of sandpaper, and I think people are often worried they won't be able to sand evenly without help. Just sand and look, sand and look. (I prefer a coarser sandpaper, and they have parallelograms that are excellent for working with edges and wood under trim and in corners) It's hard to mess up a surface you're going to be painting over anyhow. The reason we do this step is so that the paint absorbs instead of sitting on top and being able to peel. You want a desk with this many layers to have the best starting hold possible.

2. I coated the top of the desk and the fronts of the drawers with a water-based primer. I taped off some of the old desk color and finish before sanding so that when I'm all finished it's a blend of the before and after. Keep tape on any edge you won't be painting: all four sides, any decorative trim, the sides of drawers, maybe the cover of key locks.... this is the most meticulous step so don't tape as you go.

3. After the primer I taped off an interior border. You can see this in the photos - I measured in a few inches from each side and placed tape around the surface area to create a nature looking "frame" for the decoupage on top. The edge of the drawers and other wood I won't be decoupaging now have this same paint color as well. I used the green color from my slide file drawers, since my offices for years to come will often have both in the same room. This green will tie them together.

Next I'll carefully peel up the masking tape and design the fronts of the drawers and surface area. I'm using maps. Yay, I can't wait to finish.