My sister Sarah had this vintage desk in her apartment for a year or so, and we always planned to do something cool with it, but then Sarah got a new couch and the desk did not fit anymore. So, it moved to my garage for several months, until my friend Robin decided that she really wanted it.....and wanted it Emerald Green!
To start this project, I decided to try stripping the side and top of the desk, because I wanted to see what the wood underneath looked like, and to get it really smooth without the mess of sanding. I opted to try Citristrip, based on this post by Jenny.
It's non-toxic, and actually smells like oranges, so it was fun and mindless to slather it on and scrape the old paint off. Here are a few chronological pics of my Citrustripping.
After all the stripping, I started painting. I painted the desk in Cilantro by Sherwin Williams with a Satin Oil Paint. I first painted the drawers cream, as I initially thought I'd have them contrast the green (no pic of this step). After looking at the cream and green together it was too much, so I painted the drawer fronts green and used my mouse sander to distress them. I finished the drawer fronts with this Wipe-on clear gloss poly-urethane.
There was a leather panel top on the desk which had been painted over. (You can see it in the above pictures.) I could not get the leather part totally smooth, so I covered with a hand made paper from the local art supply store, and topped the desk with a piece of glass.
Finally, I cleaned up the original brass hardware with Bar Keeper's Friend and the emerald desk moved to its new home this past weekend.
Ooh! Pantone's Color of the year. Love it.
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