It’s not easy being green, and this green was not easy to look at. Underneath multiple layers of thick paint this desk had great details, beautiful brass pulls and dovetail joints throughout. Way, way, way, WAY underneath…

My initial plan was to strip the layers of paint on the top and drawer fronts to uncover all that great wood detail. It required multiple applications of Citristrip to get through the layers and many hours of scraping out the details with various improvised “tools”. I’m sure I needed multiple applications of stripper due to both the endless layers of finish and the questionable autumn temperatures in our overstuffed, unheated garage. You know the one – you’ve been there too!

Finally, under that last layer of paint I found beautiful wood grain…pocked with sections of grey wood putty filling various gouges and flaws. Ugh. So disappointed!

Time to revisit the plan.

Paint !!!

I gave the top a layered paint and stain treatment (because I still had my heart set on that original wood grain top). The rest I painted in contrasting grey and slate blue and sealed it with multiple coats of Polycrylic for durability. I really like the way it turned out.

The insides of the drawers were not in the best of shape so I painted those in a lighter grey tone.