Painted Antique Desk and Glidden Giveaway!

I have been sponsored by the Glidden® brand paint for PPG to write this post but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

This desk has been in my family since my dad built two for my brothers before I was even born. Thank goodness Glidden gave me some paint to review or it would’ve remained an eyesore – functional, but ugly – for years to come.

 

Chips, dings, knicks and more . . . just on the drawers.

The top of the desk had layers of who-knows-what from sixty years of usage, storage, and then more use, most recently by my mother after my brother passed. And then by yours truly after my mom died.

Yes, this desk is seeped in family history but was in desperate need for a facelift.

I chose Glidden’s High Endurance with a self-primer. I had wonderful results last year with Glidden’s Duo on my grandmother’s vanity so I felt comfortable using their paint again without priming or sanding.

Yep. I did nothing more than wipe the desk down with a cloth before I began painting.

Back up a minute. The best part of choosing a paint is the color . . . and sometimes the hardest. Not so with Glidden. They have so many helpful color tools and inspirations on My Colortopia which I used for the painted vanity. For this desk I went to Glidden.com for a creamy light shade with a bit of yellow.

It’s so much easier to choose a color than looking at a bunch of paintchips in a store, imo. Of course, nothing will give you a true color except the actual paint on the surface you’ll be painting. I just think it’s so much easier to see the tints and shades online.

Now . . . if you live alone or happen to enjoy moving furniture a LOT (or both) I picked up this little gadget that’s incredibly handy. It slides under any piece of furniture, easily raises the corner up just enough to get a sliding disk underneath. Once you have four sliding disks in place you can move any size or weight of furniture anywhere you want. Well, not upstairs.

I haven’t figured that out yet.

Just a l’il tip. Plus it lifts the piece up enough so you can paint the bottom edges.

Back to painting – here’s a shot of one coat of Glidden High Endurance. One coat on that grease-marked, stained desk top.

I used a trim brush as opposed to a roller. Just FYI. But I like to apply light coats rather than heavy with anything I paint. It lessens the potential for drips. People have many different techniques and furniture is not my favorite thing to paint.

Or it wasn’t, I should say.

This paint was almost effortless. Truly.

And I like as close to effortless as I can. Yes, I stacked the drawers on top of the desk, even after painting a coat on the top. I did, however, lay down some foam core. But this paint dried incredibly fast so I didn’t have to bend over and paint the drawers. Much less effort, thank you.

Except when you realized you forgot to paint the inside of the housing for the drawers. sigh.

That was okay though because I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to leave the desk as is with just the Candlelight Yellow, distress it, antique it, add some artwork or what.

The Candlelight is absolutely perfect for my home too. It’s neutral but not blah. (Yes, I know that grey is the ‘new’ neutral but I’m not a fan for my home.) I have mainly natural light from the north, which adds a bit of a grey tone anyway so I need/want warmth. This color brings it in beautifully.

I wound up painting between 2 and 3 coats. Three on the desk top, two on the drawers and sides. The only reason I painted three on top was for added durability. I got nice coverage with two coats amazingly.

I did decide to lightly distress the edges of the desk and drawers. There are so many knicks anyway, it would’ve looked a little silly to have it painted perfectly.

And I don’t want to cover all of those years of dings and chips. They were made by my brothers and mother who are no longer with me and I let my mind wander as I imagine how they might’ve happened.

I also decoupaged a bit and antiqued over the whole thing. I’ll show you how in the next post.

I absolutely love this desk. It’s completely different from it’s mate I painted a couple years ago. Although I still like that one too and it’s wonderful and special to have two desks made by my father.

As far as my review of Glidden’s High Endurance Plus paint, I couldn’t recommend it highly enough. It’s awesome. Plus, if it does this well on a piece that hasn’t been prepped – sanded or primed – I can just imagine how beautiful it’d be on a wall.

Since I rent I can’t paint my walls unfortunately. But I have plenty of side pieces lined up for Glidden®’s Candlelight Yellow, my new favorite “neutral”.

Now here comes the really exciting part – Glidden is giving one of my readers a $50 gift card to Walmart where you could buy all kinds of Glidden paint! Just enter the contest below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

I want to thank Glidden for sponsoring this Painted Antique Desk and Giveaway post.

Good luck!

Colleen

about Colleen