RevapHeader

Continuing our January project series to show our spaces a little love and create treasures from worn or plain pieces in our homes, Spoonflower staff member Allie Tate transforms her childhood French provincial desk into a fresh work station ready for new creative projects! 


Finished 1Growing up my two sisters and I all had matching French provincial bedroom sets. I had kept mine through the years and love it, but it needed some serious updating. Having been through my childhood and too many to moves to count through college and life after, my poor furniture had certainly seen better days.

Unfinished DeskA fresh coat of paint, some decals, and fabric to recover the chair cushion and it would be good as new! Choosing the right decals and fabric was the hardest part of the whole process, and I went with two longtime favorites, CandyPenny’s Woodtype Alphabet decal design and Wolfie and the Sneak’s Kristen fabric.

Sanded desk
To start the project, I removed the hardware and sanded the desk. Since it was already a light color, I choose paint of similar color that contained primer and was able to skip an extra coat of paint.

Painted desk
With the help of a paint spray gun, it was super easy to achieve a smooth, even coat of paint in an amazingly short amount of time!

8358310683_c364086f0b_hI chose to update the hardware by spray painting it black to tie in with the black in the decal and fabric designs.


Paint chairTo update the chair, I first painted it a similar shade of blue to the one found in the fabric design.

Seat recoverRecovering the chair, I cut the fabric to size and then used a staple gun to attach fabric to the bottom of the cushion. For me, strategically folding and stapling the corners so they weren’t a mess was the most challenging part!

DrawerLining drawers with decal was an easy way to update the drab drawers. I simply measured the inside of the drawers and using large 30”x30” decals I cut a piece to size and covered the bottom of each drawer.

Ta-Da! The end result is a definite upgrade from the sad-looking desk I started with. Now to work on organizing all my crafting and sewing notions that fill the drawers! Looking for more furniture re-do inspo? Follow our Handmade Home Decor board on Pinterest.