Making Lemonade out of Lemons {MCM Desk Makeover}

I found this simple desk at a garage sale many moons ago. I promised my husband I'd start working through my stash in the garage, so it was time for this desk to get a makeover. 

At first I thought it was from the early 90's dues to the pickled white oak, but once I started taking it apart, and noticed the construction, I realized it was definitely Mid-Century. Structurally, it was in great shape, but cosmetically it needed some help.

The bottom aprons under the drawers had chipping veneer. 

I peeked underneath the veneer and discovered solid, hardwood. So, off the veneer came. Not the most fun project in the world, but I've had worse.

I've found that often it is better to remove damaged veneer than to try to repair it, but it all depends on your sub-structure, desired finish, etc.

In addiction to the damaged veneer, There were a couple nasty burn marks on the desk top. Even after a pretty aggressive sanding they were still obvious. 

 Not wanting to damage the intact, top veneer, I decided to take a "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach and work with the discoloration instead of trying to remove it.

Make lemonade out of lemons.

I decided this little desk need a matching chair. I dug through my stash and found another, mid-century relic.

I tried a new paint gun, which I'll talk about down the road (HOLY COW its amazing!!! Seriously, I'm so excited to share it with you). 

The whole lemonade idea gave me inspiration and I sprayed the chair and body of the desk a cool, light yellow, sealed with 3 coats of Minwax Polyacrylic in satin. The top got a "weathered wood" finish using the same technique I talk about here, and was sealed with 3 coats of matte Polyurethane (my new favorite sealer).

I filled the existing hardware holes with Bondo, so I could add my own updated knobs. I wanted the knobs to be simple, yet stand-out. So, I hit the hardware store and came up with some homemade backplates. 

 I took some 1 1/4 inch fender washers (for $0.24 a piece) and painted them as well as the new knobs.

I attached the new hardware and here is the final look. What do you think?

I'm really happy how the dark weathered oak and the yellow go together.

To tie the chair and desk together, I painted the wood hole plugs on the chair in the same metallic paint I used on the hardware.

What do you think? Would you study here? The set is available under my shop tab.


Linking at:

Remodelaholic

Talkin' Tools #3: Speed Square

Hi everyone! This week, for Talkin' Tools I'm going to cover one of my most valuable, albeit simple tools, the Speed Square (sometimes called a "rafter square").

When I first started building, my husband handed me a speed square and said "You're going to need this." He is a professional framer and keeps one in his pocket at all times. His gets used countless times a day. Although I am not putting up walls or finding the pitch of a roof (usually), I still consider my speed square invaluable.

The best part of all... They are dirt cheap! I think I got mine at Harbor Freight on sale for $1.

Time for an anatomy lesson:

The whole thing is shaped like an equilateral triangle and has one side with a flat edge, like a "T".

It has lots of numbers on it. On the 2 adjacent sides, there are ruler markings (very handy) used to measure length. On the edge of the hypotenuse are angles in degrees.

And on the inner rail, there are a bunch of dashes and numbers. These are to find the pitch of a roof (4/12, 6/12, etc). 

*On that note, living in Arizona and our sea of 3/12 and 4/12 roofs, I'm so jealous of the rest of you with your stately 6/12 pitches! 

Although a speed square can be tremendously helpful in finding and ascribing angles, I typically reserve finding angles for my combination square.

90% of the time I use my speed square to mark lengths from an edge, giving me a way to draw a perfectly perpendicular line.

Or, to check if two boards are "square" with each other.

Plan on building or repairing a piece of furniture soon? I would highly recommend shelling out the $1 to get yourself a speed square. It will help you avoid stuck drawer boxes and wobbly legs.

Do you have a speed square? Are you constantly using yours?

Linking at:

Remodelaholic

Bathroom Upgrade Part 2: New Light Fixtures and $100 GIVEAWAY!!!

In my last post, I showed you how I took my bathroom lighting from this:

 to this:

Not much of an improvement visually, but just like most renovations, it looks worse before it looks better. Now, let's address the pretty part.

I was recently contacted by the great people from National Builder Supply. They offer thousands of home products and asked if I would be interested in reviewing a couple. I knew I was planning on upgrading my master bathroom and I thought a pair of new vanity lights would be perfect!

When I went to search through their online catalog, I could have taken hours! Literally. There are 3211 vanity lights alone to chose from! You can find plumbing and lighting fixture for any style of home. Their prices are very reasonable as well.

I decided on a pair of Riley Vanity Lights by Kenroy Home in chrome.

                                                    

Installation was a snap! I attached the mounting plates to the outlet boxes, then it was time to wire.

Time to address safety:

*Before you attempt to work with an electrical wiring in your home, first make sure the outlet is switched off. Then, switch off the power to the circuit at the breaker box. If you are unsure about your electrical abilities, please hire a professional electrician to help you. 

Wiring a light fixture is simple. The video below does a good job of explaining the steps.

Once my lights were wired, I attached them to their mounting brackets, added the glass globes, screwed in some CFL light bulbs, and I was done! All I had to do was restore the power.

I now have 2 upgraded vanity lights. They are beautiful! I love the way they look. My husband loves how much light they provide (way more than the old fixture). Much more our style! 

Thanks to the kind people at National Builder Supply, I am giving away a $100 credit towards any online item! What an amazing gift! $100 could buy you quite a lot on their website.

Fill out the Rafflecopter below for chances to win. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I have been compensated for this post. All opinions are 100% mine and have not been influenced by my sponsor. 

Linking at: