refurbished desk

I'm slowly tackling the projects in my home that I've promised myself I will do. My latest completed project is redoing my childhood desk. Here is a before picture so you can understand what I was working with.

This is a piece that my Great-Grandfather made sometime during my Grandmother's childhood. One handle had lost a screw and another handle somehow rusted out before the others. A walk around a couple of modern stores informed me that they don't make "two-screw" handles that would fit in the existing  holes. With all of the modern handles, the screws are father apart. So, I purchased some wood putty to fill the holes, and my helpful husband filled the holes while I sanded the desk. Originally I had imagined staining the desk a dark brown to match the classy china cabinet and bookcase we already have, but since they will never live in the same room together {unless we end up in a studio apartment or a one room cabin someday... or a hut...} I figured I would try to reflect my personality more. My personality = less classy, more whimsical. So I chose a beautiful bright teal. This was a several day project. Basically, I'm almost tired of paint. The whole desk took like five coats {possible exaggeration} of primer and five more coats of paint. Even though I am aware you aren't supposed to "paint" the desk to perfection with the primer, I basically can't help myself. While I was going through the process I found some neat little reminders that my mother and I are more similar then I sometimes give us credit. When the top, middle drawer is removed there is a small note.

Two years before I was born my mother wrote that. It makes me feel connected to her, because I too doodled on the desk. I was careful not to paint over it. When we went to buy the drawer pulls, I was undecided on what style I wanted. Round, for sure. I'm not a square person. But did I want wooden, twine, typography, damask, pink glass, floral, or paisley? Um, yes. To all of the above. I was a woman divided. Matthew piped up. "Do they have to match?" Why didn't I think of that? I think sometimes I try too hard to be an adult. So I walked out with nine of my favorite knobs. After a small mishap with the glass knob {basically, he over tightened it until it exploded}, we were finished.  The finished product is exactly what I was hoping for. Whimsical, cheery, and almost childish. The kind of desk you want to do art projects on, or sew on. Both of those are good ideas. So here it is. {Sitting in the middle of our living room, where it does not belong}.

I still can't decide which knob I like the best. I was going to name off a few, but it was going to be like seven out of nine, so I decided not to. I was going to put up pictures of the knobs, but that's nine pictures and that seemed like over-kill. So here's what your stuck with. My decisions on what this post should be like. :) Here's one final {non-over-kill} picture of my {almost} week long project.