In our San Francisco one bedroom apartment, we are beyond lucky to have a "bonus room." This little room sits between the kitchen and living space, and the layout is quite quirky, which makes it hard to arrange. On top of the tricky design, we use the room for many things-- working out, painting furniture, playing banjo, displaying our Christmas tree(which I would keep up all year-round if it weren't for James reminding me it's a fire hazard). You get the picture.
Originally, we had an old, wood drafting table in the room to serve as a desk. I liked the look and the idea of having a drafting table, especially when I was drawing and painting more often, but it soon became obvious that the table was too large for the space, and we just didn't need it. So, goodbye to the drafting table and hello to a little desk. We still wanted a place that James could write music at, where I could blog, etc., so I found this petite desk on craigslist and swooped it.
Pretty cute, right? But it was definitely in need of a fresh coat of paint. First I removed the knob from the drawer and found metal ring knobs that my uncle gave me. I spray painted one knob gold, and tested it out on the desk. Bringing in the element of metal to contrast the wood updates the desk from country cottage to urban modern (sorry for the lack of photos of the process).
Next I painted the entire desk with a couple coats of graphite by Annie Sloan. I wanted to do something to accentuate the tapered legs, so I painted the bottom of the legs white(about 6 inches from the bottom).
Then I taped the legs 4 inches from the bottom and spray painted the legs gold. I used the same gold as the handle, and the finished product looks cohesive and modern.
I'd like to say that I now spend my early mornings blogging at this desk with a cup of chai, rather than on the sofa in front of an episode of
New Girl... But it is getting well-used by by song-writing, banjo-playing husband. So I'll call that a success.
