lamp black desk
Back in April, I partnered with Habitat for Humanity ReStore Caln for a General Finishes demonstration. As a thank you, they generously gave me a beautiful vintage desk. Now what furniture girl wouldn’t love that as a thank you card?!
I recently finished work on giving it a new look, so without further ado, I present my latest furniture makeover to you!
lamp black milk paint and nutmeg gel stain
This desk is a typical shape for vintage mahogany veneer furniture from the 1930’s and 1940’s. It is beautifully constructed, solid and had fabulous lines.
The two sides are concave and bow inward while the middle portion is convex and bows outward. The sweeping curve of the front is replicated along the bottom as well.
For such a handsome shaped piece, I decided to paint the body of the desk in Lamp Black Milk Paint by General Finishes. To compliment the rich black paint color, I refinished the top and drawer fronts in Nutmeg Gel Stain (also by General Finishes).
Once the original mahogany stain was removed and replaced by the warm brown of Nutmeg Gel Stain, you can really appreciate the grain pattern in the veneer.
The piece isn’t perfect. It has some nicks and dings here and there. And bits of the veneer were missing. You can see a missing chunk on the second drawer from the top in the lower left hand corner. I think that’s part of the charm on this piece though. It’s seen some love over the years. After all, it’s around 70 years old! Imagine how you would look at 70? Not pristine, I bet!
And here’s the thing…it’s still a GORGEOUS piece of furniture, even with its imperfections. I once heard Miss Mustard Seed say that when she refinishes a piece of furniture, she’s not aiming to make it pristine. She doesn’t fix every little thing that’s wrong with it to make it perfect again. She simply aims to give it a new look and make it usable once again. I agree with that philosophy 100%!
After all, not much in this world stays perfect over time. Everything is subject to decay. It’s actually a scientific principal called “entropy”. When left alone and not acted upon, almost everything breaks down into disorder over time. Now I’m not being poo-poo about life and I’m certainly not being a Debbie Downer. I’m just making a point about loving second-hand furniture, people and all things just the way they are in all their states of being.
Cleaning the drawers
The drawers on this piece were in phenomenal shape inside! That’s unusual for most of the pieces that I find. These cleaned up beautifully with a treatment of beeswax furniture polish. I kept the product just on the inside of the drawers and only took it around the edges if it was needed. Like I mentioned, they were almost perfect inside. They just needed to be hydrated so the wood inside would shine again.
available at homestead studios
This lovely desk is available in my room at Homestead Studios for $330. It measures 48 inches wide, 20 inches deep and 30 inches tall. It would serve as a lovely vanity/makeup table as well.
If you want to replicate this look on a piece of your own, you can purchase all of the items that I used from my General Finishes display in my room at Homestead Studios as well. I’m also happy to ship product to you, so feel free to inquire about those services.
