I came home late one night after going out with friends and this gem was just sitting on this sidewalk outside my neighbor’s house. Why would you ever get rid of this?? Sure, it’s in rough shape but I’ve never seen anything like it. My mom says it’s a writing desk from way back when (but the “when” is unclear. I have no idea how old it is).

So I rescued it from the curb and brought it inside. I don’t have the room or the know-how to do fairly major restorations like this, so I brought it to my parents’ house. Over the course of the next few months, my dad helped me refinish it whenever I came home for a visit. 

First we unhinged the legs to make them easier to work on, and then stripped and sanded the whole table. That’s the worst part. Seriously, it takes forever. There were a few layers of brown stain on it that had to be removed, which took several rounds of sanding and stripping. I have to be honest and confess that Dad did most of this step in the process. What? He’s just better at it than I am. I’m not lazy, I swear.

Then the fun part is painting it! Dad and I went to the paint store and picked out a lovely yellow-gold, which we were a bit nervous about it being too bright, but willing to take the risk. We did a couple coats of paint, making sure to get in all the crevices on the side-panel details (again, took forever). We hinged the now-painted legs back on and put reinforcing brackets on the inside of the legs to make the table a bit more sturdy (it was slightly wobbly before).

Here’s the finished product. I love it, don’t you?

My advice for taking on this kind of project would be to A) Be ready for some hard work and elbow grease. B) Allot much more time and energy than you think it will take. I’ve done projects like this before and expected to get it done in an afternoon. Foolish. C) If you don’t have your dad or equally handy adult help you, make sure to read up (or You Tube up) on how to do this type of project. There are lots of little tricks (like the direction you should sand in) that I never would have known. D) Don’t be afraid of color! I initially thought of going with a neutral like brown or grey, but I love the yellow and how it brings a pop of color to my otherwise-neutral living room.