Shabby Chic Dropleaf Desk & Desktop Organizer

When I found out there was a group of bloggers who paint furniture every month and compete for paint prizes, I couldn't wait to participate! Enter the Fab Furniture Flippin' Contest...

Every month's challenge has a theme and the theme for this month's is "Shabby Chic Storage" and happens to be sponsored by the  "Old Fashioned Milk Paint Company", so the prize package will be from them. I love the look of pieces painted in Milk Paint and one day hope to get my hands on some to get the chippy layered look that I love so much!  Did you know that "Milk Paint" has been used for centuries to paint furniture. And I really appreciate that it is a safe, non-toxic paint that is totally green! You can't get any better than that in my opinion!

Well I love the shabby chic look, which for me conjures up images of furniture in soft muted colours, and or chippy paint finishes. Think Swedish Gustavian and French furniture.

I had a few pieces in mind for this challenge, but the piece I finally decided on was a small drop-leaf desk that I had bought as a check out stand for my craft shows. I had so many people interested in purchasing it during my shows that I decided to repaint it for resale.

The piece looked to me to have been painted in a high gloss spray paint. The inside was painted in a different shade of flat white. To ensure better adhesion I sanded the exterior with a wet sanding block. I removed the punched tin insert to clean off the excess paint that was on it, and to make painting the surrounding door frame easier.

I also removed all the knobs and hardware. I wanted the hinges to blend into whatever background colour they were on, so I painted them half white and half aqua. Dark hinges tend to make a piece look more country in my opinion and that was not the look I was going for. I debated on what knobs I would replace the old wooden ones with and decided on white enamel ones. Classic and understated. Again, I didn't want the knobs competing with the focal point of the piece.

When I spotted this small desk organizer that I had thrifted for $3 and painted more than a year ago I wondered how it would co-ordinate with the desk. And they were almost the same colour. For this piece I used a recipe for home made chalk paint and a mistint from Lowes. I mixed a few different shades of aqua and layered them one over the other distressing between colours and finishing with a clear wax.

The little faux enamel tag you see I made using recipes that I learned through the Farragoz online Patina classes. You can get the tutorial for them here. And the keys and ticket on the top of the organizer are scrapbook stickers. They look so realistic!

I love how it turned out! And how it looks on the little secretary desktop, adding more wonderful storage. Another match made in heaven! Styling it for the photos was one of my favourite parts of the whole process. The photo of the Eiffel tower in the blue frame is also a sticker from the same scrapbooking set as the keys and ticket.

The paint colour that I used on the desk was a combination of 3 sample colours that I mixed to get the aqua colour that I wanted. They were left over from my days as a Blackberry House Paint instructor at a nearby antiques mall. But that is another story. I also used a white sample to refresh and unite the whites and added a clear coat of wax to the exterior.

And to top it off it looks great paired with a shabby chair that I picked up at a thrift store. It did not have a price on it and so when I asked the cashier how much it was she just cringed and said "Eww" "You can have it for $2". I tried to contain my excitement over the price and it's chippy perfection! So even though not everyone likes chippy patina goodness, this time it worked in my favour!

Here's another view of that chair… I can't stake claim to the finish… it came that way! I think this would look so cute in a cottage by the lake or the beach or in my future home, but for now it isn't going anywhere!

T o see all of the entries in the Fab Furniture Flippin' Contest head on over to Thirty Eight street or Ciburbanity.

If you are a blogger who paints furniture and would like to take part in the Fab Furniture Flippin' Contest you can contact Stacy from Anastasia Vintage at info@anastasiavintage.com or Evey from Sweet Song Bird at info@eveyscreations.com

Hope I have inspired you to get your creativity on!

Blessings,
Lucy

Partying at these locations...

Talented Tuesdays @ Home Remedies
Dream Create Inspire @ Vintage Refined
From Dream to Reality @ The DIY dreamer
Swing into Spring @ DIY by Design
Wow Us Wednesdays @ Savvy Southern Style
Vintage Inspiration Party @ My Salvaged Treasures
Creative Spark @ Weekend Craft
Share Your Cup Thursday @ Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson
Home and Garden Thursday @ A Delightsome Life
Share Your Style @ Common Ground
Feathered Nest Fridays @ French Country Cottage
Creativity Unleashed @ Practically Functional
Fridays Unfolded @ Nancherrow
Shabbilicous Fridays @ The Shabby Art Boutique
Inspiration Friday @ The Painted Drawer
Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest
Catch as Catch Can @ My Repurposed Life
Furniture Feature Friday @ Miss Mustard Seed
Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home
A morning Cup of Joe @ The Cottage Market
Simple and Sweet Fridays @ Rooted in Thyme
DIY Inspired @ The Girl Creative
Anything Blue Friday @ The Dedicated House
Upcycled Link Party @ Funky Junk Interiors
Saturday Sparks @ Pieced Pastimes
Share it One More Time @ One More Time Events
Sundays at Home @ Thoughts From Alice
That DIY party @ diy showoff
Inspiration Monday @ Redhead Can Decorate
Something to Talk About @ The Altered Past
Inspire Me Monday @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
The Scoop @ Stone Gable
Home Matters @ Life with Lorelai