Student Desk {Girl}

As promised, we finished up the girl's student desk this weekend.  We got it hauled upstairs, accessorized and it has already been christened (as in, it has marker on the top already).  Last week I shared the desk project that started last November with the purchase of 2 "vintage" student desks.  I spray painted my son's desk brown.  My daughter has white furniture in her room so I brushed on white paint for hers.

I used a white flat paint and put on several coats with a light sanding between each coat.  I really liked using the flat paint as it does not show the sand marks like the satin spray paint did.  For this desk I put 4 coats of paint on the top and drawers in order to offer a strong finish since these areas take the biggest beating.

I followed up the paint with several coats of polyurethane.  In hindsight, I should have used poly-acrylic which offers a clear finish.  The polyurethane created a yellowish tint to the desk.  At some point I will probably go back and redo the finish but for now it is fine.  Again, I put a couple of extra coats on the top to better protect this surface. 

Ultimately, I would like to have a piece of glass cut to fit the top of each of the desks.  Not only will the glass protect the surface, it will allow the kids to put pictures and notes underneath like a scrapbook.  Note, when putting glass in a kids room, it should be tempered glass.  In the event that it breaks, like safety glass, it does not make as big of a mess and is safer by not creating the sharp, jagged edges.

I lined the drawers with another roll of Target Dollar Spot wrapping paper.   My daughter loves the polka dots.  I also added some fun, pink acrylic butterfly drawer pulls that I found in the dollar section at Michael's awhile back.  The knobs fit a bit close to the drawer so I put a white pony bead on as a spacer.  This makes the drawers much easier to open.

Of course, we had to accessorize.  For my girl, we hung a white Ikea magnet board and some kitten pictures from a calendar I picked up at the dollar store.  Target had some cute kitten buttons in the dollar spot.  I added a magnet to the back and they make great "girly" magnets.  I also used a couple of pink and green mini-buckets from the Dollar Spot for markers, pencils, etc.

Again, I am still on the search for the perfect chair for both kids desks.  After having the desks in their rooms, I am thinking we will paint the chairs a fun color - pink for the girl and blue, red or even green for the boy.  I hate to have their furniture too matchy-matchy and the punch of color will be fun. 

I look forward to both kids getting a lot of use out of their desks over the years!

Before

AFTER

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