My office space has needed an upgrade for quite some time now. A space that is dedicated to working needs to have balance and style something my space has been lacking. I refinished and painted my office desk as a start to upgrading my office space.
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My office space is really lovely, it is right off the living room and is big enough for a workspace and my crafts. To be honest, though, I don’t use the office portion of the space often enough, and lately, I have felt like I should utilize the space more.
One of the reasons I don’t like working in there is because it’s unfinished. It makes me feel unorganized which is never good for a workspace. This needed to change and the first thing to tackle was redoing my office desk. Dark-stained wood is my favorite, so I wanted to stain the top of the desk and paint the rest.
Supplies I used
- Varathan Dark Walnut Wood Stain
- Varathan Satin Polyurethane
- Sandpaper, I used 80 grit to sand and 150 grit to smooth
- Electric palm sander
- Heavy duty gloves
- Disposable gloves, for staining
- Pure White flat interior paint
- Rags, for staining
- Painters tape
- Paint brushes
- Metallic gold spray paint
- Respirator mask or face covering
First, I sanded the desk. When sanding any wood always sand in the direction of the grain or it will cause scratches that will show up in the finish.
Since I was planning on staining the top of the desk, I sanded it really well. This was way harder than I expected. The original finish was thick and took hours to sand off, but once I got down to the wood it was really pretty.
Once I got all the finish off I lightly sanded the rest of the desk. Since I was painting the rest of the desk I didn’t need to sand it as much, which was a relief to my hands. I sanded it just enough to create texture.
The entire desk was wiped down to make sure there was no dust and taped off to prevent dripping. Making sure the room was well-ventilated and wearing my mask, I started applying the stain.
Using a rag I wiped on the stain in the direction of the grain with long quick strokes to ensure the wood didn’t soak up the stain too fast.
Once I covered the entire top I let it sit for 3-5 minutes and wiped it off, following the instructions on the staining can. I repeated this 3 more times because I wanted a dark stain.
After the stain was dry I started with the polyurethane. This top coat comes in matte all the way to super glossy. I chose to use satin, not too matte and not too glossy. Using a different rag I wiped it on in the same way as the stain. Allowing each coat to dry for two hours and I applied a total of three coats.
While waiting for the polyurethane coats to dry, I took off the handles and began painting the drawers. Being careful when painting over the handle holes to ensure I didn’t paint them closed.
Using a wood skewer, I poked through the holes after I painted them. It’s tempting to paint quickly just to get it done but that can cause dripping and an uneven paint job. Light coats and allowing them to dry completely in between gives the best results.
My initial plan was to find new handles but instead of having to drill new holes, I spray-painted the original ones. If you are redoing a desk and want different handles, finding used ones at a thrift store or Habitat for Humanity Restore is an inexpensive option.
After cleaning the handles as best as I could, I laid them on an old towel outside. Using the spraypaint, I lightly sprayed one side at a time and allowed them to dry thoroughly between coats. When the desk dried I added the handles back onto the drawers to finish my desk.
Goes to show that even if you don’t know what you are doing projects can turn out great! And if they don’t then at least you learned something for next time. My improved desk already has me using my office space more.
