Thursday, November 17, 2011

Metallic Herringbone Desk

I picked up a waterfall desk from a local thrift store a little while ago.  It had black painted drawers, a sad and flakey wood finish, and no handles.

P1070519 

Now, I’m in love with all the two-toned painted/stained wood combo pieces I’ve been seeing around lately.  Here’s a few particularly lovely examples:

 

White Butterfly

 

Design Sponge

 

The Lettered Cottage

 

European Paint Finishes

 

European Paint Finishes

Since this desk was already going in that direction, I decided to run with the two-toned look.  I repainted the drawers with a fresh coat of black, but then came the special touch I’ve been teasing about on the Facebook page.

Herringbone!!

I used the above example as my inspiration.  I loved that the neither the verticals or horizontals were perfectly spaced or even.  It gives it a more organic and loose feel than the very geometric and measured chevron design we’ve been seeing everywhere.

So I started off by drawing the vertical lines with a pencil using a yard stick straight edge.  No measuring.  This is a time when you actually want variation in the spacing of your lines (if you look at the example above.)  Once I had the pencil lines drawn from the top drawers to the bottom (so the pattern would continue from one drawer to the next,) I used a silver paint pen to hand-draw the vertical lines.  Again, you’re not going for perfectly strait lines here.  The variations give it the look we’re going for here.  :)  Once your vertical lines are all drawn and dry, go back and add in all the diagonal ticking.  It sounds tedious, but it really does go very fast.

P1070526

When I was done, I added some black cup pulls that I bought from Ebay.  It was a little tricky shopping, since the hole spacing was an irregular 2 3/4” c-c, but I found these cup pulls for $2 a piece and they worked out great!

The wood finish was extremely warn, and came off fairly easily with a little elbow grease. I used my orbital sander on the large, flat parts, and hit the details and corners with some sand paper and my hands. Once I had it stripped down to the bare wood, I used my favorite go-to stain, Minwax Dark Walnut.  I also plan on adding a satin Verathane top coat, but I’m waiting until I have all the projects I’m trying to finish this week lined up, so I can spray them all at the same time.  Efficiency of motion people!  ;)

And here she is all (well, almost) finished up!

P1070553

P1070551

P1070549

P1070552

P1070550

P1070548

I heart this piece big time!  Like look-all-around-my-house-for-someplace-to-put-it LOVE.  But I don’t have a place for it, so it’ll go over to Livy Lou’s as well.  There’s going to be a furniture open house there next week in preparation for Black Friday and the holiday shopping season.  I’ll make sure to do a proper introduction of the shop soon, I promise.  :)

My mother-in-law is coming over this morning to help out with the little kids while I get some furniture work in, including a whole lot of poly spraying.  :)  Wish me luck!

Linking to:

House of Grace, Sassy Sites, Primitive & Proper, Domestically Speaking, Somewhat Simple, Perfectly Imperfect, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Nest, Sassy Sites, Chic on a Shoestring, Miss Mustard Seed, Family Ever After, Tatertots and Jello, I Heart Naptime, Beneath My Heart, Thrifty Decor Chick

UndertheTableandDreaming

47 comments:

  1. Dear friend, you are amazing. I love it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am in love!!!! I want to go home and do this to something immediately!! Love love love!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I LOVE THIS!!!! WOW. This is really, really awesome. I seriously love everything about it. I'm going to share the link on my Facebook page. Gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This looks fantastic. I've been reading your blog for awhile and found inspiration to re-do a dresser, but my results are pretty basic compared to this desk. Beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ann Marie, that desk is gorgeous! I am Pinning it right now. :) I'm definitely going to have to try that pattern on something - I LOVE IT!
    Meredith @ Welcome to Heardmont

    ReplyDelete
  6. yes, i will be copying this at some point in time. it's freaking amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  7. A paint pen, how amazing. Love the herringbone.

    ReplyDelete
  8. wowzers. wow. It's so unique and smart looking!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Love the Plum Dresser and this Herringbone desk - what beautiful work you do!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Good giref that is fantastic! I can't get over how cool that slightly off herringbone is. Thanks for the inspiration. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Very unique, you did a wonderful job! I might just have to borrow this technique from you...thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Love the inspiration pieces and love your desk even more. It is beautifully original! Nice job!

    ReplyDelete
  13. OMG I LOVE it!!!!!!!! It is beautiful. Great job!

    Jenny
    www.simcoestreet.blogspot.com

    P.S. I am super excited about a throw pillow giveaway I have going on. If you'd like, come by and enter!

    xo

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi Ann Marie,you are amazing. I ADORE this. You'll no doubt set off a round of people copying this design ( me included!)
    Love it
    Cheers Fiona
    www.lilyfieldlife.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh, wow, I love this so much! It is gorgeous, I was skeptical at the picture of just the drawers, but all put together it looks amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Can you hear the applause? I would never have guessed this could be so stunning. I absolutely love it. Congratulations on a job well done and the inspiration to do it in the first place.

    ReplyDelete
  17. This is so unique ~ I love how all of the tones work together!

    ReplyDelete
  18. really like that one! be sure to show it all nice and shiny!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hey Ann Marie,
    I commented on this yesterday, but I just wanted to say I featured your herringbone desk today on my blog. Amazing job!
    http://welcometoheardmont.com/2011/11/friday-five-8
    Meredith @ Welcome to Heardmont

    ReplyDelete
  20. I LOVE it! So handsome! And I love how you kept the wood, it's in such good condition.

    ReplyDelete
  21. This just looks so classy...like a snappy tweed jacket. Beautiful!
    ~Pam
    pamspaintparlor.typepad.com

    ReplyDelete
  22. Love this idea - so easy and makes such a statement!

    ReplyDelete
  23. This is absolutely amazing!! Saw you on Primitive and Proper! I will definately be using this pattern somewhere in my house! I love imperfect look of it! Awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  24. I absolutely love this! Darn it. How am I going to fit another piece of furniture in my house!? ;)

    ReplyDelete
  25. This is fantastic!!! I love that you weren't afraid to try this herringbone design freehand. It goes very well with the walnut stain (my favorite stain ever!!!). Great job, so envious of whoever buys this piece.

    http://secondhandclass.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  26. Wow! Another stunning makeover! Thanks for linking some of your jaw-dropping talent up to the Head to Head Showdown! ~Jen @ www.icantstopcrafting.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  27. this is adorable.
    you did a fabulous job!

    I hopped over from tater tots and jello :)

    lovelovelove
    moo.

    http://themusingsoflilmoomoo.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  28. I looooove this!! Simply stunning

    ReplyDelete
  29. I featured your desk over at Lemon Drop Life!

    http://www.lemondroplife.com/2011/11/26/best-in-show-9/

    ReplyDelete
  30. I'm in love! I am a self-proclaimed herringbone ADDICT [i have a few h-bone projects on my bloggy!] and would die for this dresser! kudos girly! <3

    xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  31. What a piece. The style of the desk is very special and not so common. And this look you gave it is so right for this desk. It's very unique, what you did.

    I just love being inspired like this. Haven't seen anything like it in a while. Thank you.

    You blog is awesome by the way. So many creative projects. Glad I found you

    December wishes
    Annika

    ReplyDelete
  32. just spied this lovely on D*S... congrats! i love to see someone take on the waterfall! i'm hemming and hawing about a waterfall wardrobe that i've been hanging onto awaiting inspiration.

    looks fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Awesome, creative and unique work - love it. What an inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  34. I came over to see this desk earlier when MissMustardSeed featured you and I had to come again. The color and finish of the wood is SO gorgeous. I have a desk identical in style to this in my garage right now but it is covered in white and mauve paint. I was only planning on painting it but after see this I am tempted to try and get down to the wood.....wish me luck! I'm your newest member! If you have a moment I'd love it if you visited me at AllThatBringsJoy.blogspot.com :)

    ReplyDelete
  35. I am new to this, so have a question. I was reading through your blog and saw the desk. I just purchased a similar desk with authentic old bakelite drawer pulls. Somebody had already refinished everything except the sides, so in keeping with the deco look of the pulls I have been trying to figure out what type of finish to put on the sides. Your herringbone design would work great. Did you actually use the pens directly on the wood, or did you do it on paper and then attach? Thanks so much. Your blog is great!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The drawers were already painted black. I just used some canned spray paint to refresh the paint on the drawer fronts before I used the paint pen to draw the herringbone. Hope that helps!

      Delete
  36. Can I ask what kind of stain or what finish you used on this desk????? Thank You!!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Hi! I want to do this herringbone design on some wood chairs that I plan on painting coral for the apartment I'm moving into next month. What kind of paint pen did you use to make the design?? Love it so much! Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
  38. LOVE YOUR DESK AND I WOULD LOVE TO FEATURE IT, IF THAT WOULD BE OK WITH YOU PLEASE LET ME KNOW,
    LAUREN

    ReplyDelete
  39. I simply stumbled upon your weblog and wished to mention that I've truly enjoyed browsing your weblog posts. office desks for sale miami

    ReplyDelete
  40. Your blogs and every other content is so entertaining and useful It makes me come back again.
    wage envelpoe

    ReplyDelete

We love lovely gals showin' some love!