Dahlia Desk

Vintage furniture and stencils are a match made in heaven. You've gotta try this! In order to offer my parents a cozy room for their stay here, we had to break out the big guns when it came to improvising style on a serious budget when paint and things you have around the house already are your main ingredients.
I've had this little old sewing desk for a couple of years. It's sturdy, folds out to a large sewing table with a sunken spot for a built-in, but missing sewing machine and 3 deep drawers for stuff. Since I prefer to set up my sewing sweat shop on the dining room table instead though, it was severely underutilized and merely collected drywall dust in our bedroom when it wasn't buried under a laundry basket or tools.

[Before: Mahogany sewing desk with drawers already removed]

After a thorough cleaning and rub down with deglosser, the first coat of primer went on. For a moment I was tempted (notice a trend) to keep it white, but then braced myself and pushed on. I'd chosen a mellow yellow as an accent color to the soft grey and crisp white in the room, and wanted to use the desk to introduce another pop of color.

[In-progress: A mellow yellow desk]

In the spirit of using what I had (and avoiding having to run out to the box store for more supplies) I grabbed the bucket of yellow paint we'd used in the kitchen and painted the desk. The color is lovely, albeit a bit too pale for a piece of furniture. It looked sweet but incredibly bland.
What's a DIYer to do?


Stencil to the rescue! Armed with a stencil and some of the blue-grey paint we'd used on the walls, I wrapped the stencil around the corner and down the drawer front of the little desk.

It's a little hard to see so maybe this project will warrant a bit o' photoshopping the photo rather than using it straight from the camera. Hmm ...

The handles were next. While I like the honey-golden glow of vintage brass, it just wouldn't do for the mellow yellow and grey desk.


This stuff is "Da Bomb!", I'm telling you! It adds a silver shimmer and nice even finish to your hardware without making it look like it was spray-painted. And it dries quickly. Very rewarding!

[After: Drawers with trailing dahlias and fresh hardware]

Cost? Nada. Not a single extra penny spent! Fabulous!