How to Makeover an Old Desk with White Paint

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Today I’m going to quickly show you how I gave new life to an old desk for my son’s room.  This old desk makeover is still one of my favorite furniture makeovers I’ve ever done.

You can see more of the projects I’ve done for their bedroom including their dressers and bunk beds.

How to Select the Right Piece of Furniture

I knew this desk was going to be in a room for young boys. Because of this I wanted the entire desk to be made of real wood.

I visited my local thrift store, Facebook Marketplace, yard sales, and the local classifieds website.

Other than knowing I wanted something large and solid wood I didn’t have a lot of requirements.  I wasn’t shopping for a new desk. Because I wanted to paint the desk to match the other furniture I was making over for their bedroom.

I found a desk on the classifieds website and it was not pretty.  It did check my requirements though.  It was solid wood and large. The desk also had a lot of drawers which gave the boys more storage which was great for their needs.

How to Prepare Painted Furniture for Makeover

Since this was one of my first furniture projects when I started this process I wasn’t totally sure what my plan was.

I wasn’t sure if what I thought would work for this desk makeover, would work. Unfortunately, I didn’t take photos from the very beginning.

I knew the desk was wood, and it was in very good condition besides being covered in paint.  The first step was removing the paint to reveal the natural wood and see what I would be working with.

How to Remove Paint from Wood Furniture

I used Citristrip to remove the paint.  I love this stuff.  It works really well and the smell is actually pleasant.  Use a paint brush and broad brush strokes to coat the Citristrip onto the entire piece.

Because this desk had many layers of paint I did have to use the Citristrip quite a few times.  After applying the Citristrip to the first coat of paint, let it sit for a while. Then use a scraper tool to remove everything that lifts off easily.

One type of paint I came across in the process that appeared to be acrylic paint took longer to remove so depending on the types of paint on your furniture you may need it to sit longer.

The first layer that was removed was a drippy yellow clear coat.  This layer was so thick that although it had obviously been on there for a long time and was still tacky.

Layers 2 and 3 appeared to be regular white paint and were removed pretty easily.

After removing the white paint things in this desk makeover got very interesting.  I’m not sure how many layers of paint I removed after that but I do know I found yellow, blue, red, pink, and green.  There were different colors in different areas of the desk which left me wishing I could see what the desk looked like at that point.

In the photo below you can see what the body of the desk looks like with most of the paint removed using Citristrip.

I also stripped the drawer fronts, sides, and insides to make sure that all the paint was removed as much as it could be.

Sand with Orbital Sander or Sandpaper

Once the Citristrip seemed to stop working it was time to break out the sandpaper.

To begin, I used an orbital sander with heavy grit sandpaper and gave it a good sanding to remove all the paint.

When the paint was all removed I changed to a fine grit sandpaper to get a nice smooth wood surface.

Under all of that paint was a beautiful desk.  There was so much paint that before I started I didn’t even know there was a groove in the top of the desk.

Initially, I had intended to paint the entire desk but the raw wood was so beautiful I changed my mind.  I taped off the entire desk top and then painted the bottom of the desk.

Prep Desk for Paint

Before you do any painting, staining, or priming fill any dents or holes with a paintable/stainable wood filler and allow to dry.

You may need to sand those areas again because they can expand as they dry.

Next, use a lint-free cloth and give the whole thing a good cleaning to remove all dust, dirt, and other debris.

The prep work will be helpful in getting great results in your finished product.

Prime Wood Surface First

I have found that using a good primer really helps your paint look good regardless of the kind of paint you’re using.  I’m a big fan of Kilz spray primer.  I did a light coat on the entire bottom of the desk and the drawer fronts.

If you’re using a chalk paint like Country Chic Paint or Annie Sloan Chalk Paint using a primer isn’t necessary.  Those paint types weren’t readily available in my area so I proceeded with the type of paints I had used before.

Painting Furniture

Once those steps are complete it’s time to paint.

I used a white spray paint by Krylon.  I’m a fan of their nozzle and it worked really well with the Kilz spray primer.  If you don’t want to use spray paint I would use a high-quality paint brush or foam roller to prevent getting streaks in your paint.

I did light coats and allowed it to dry the recommendations for my paint between coats.  If you’re using spray paint make sure you pay attention to the weather because spray paint requires certain temperatures to use.

I knew I did not want the finished product to be a bright, pure white paint.  So once I was done painting and the paint was dry it was time to do a little distressing.

How to Distress Painted Furniture

To distress painted furniture you want to have an idea of how much distressing you want.  If you want very light distressing I would not use a sander.

I wanted a medium distressing on the entire desk so I hit the sides of the drawers and other touch points with a sander using fine grit sandpaper.  One of the reasons I like this look is because now I don’t have to worry about the boys scuffing or nicking the paint.

Another reason to love distressing is because you can do as much or as little as you want.

How to Stain the Desk Top

The staining process was actually really easy.  I used Minwax Early American stain and an old t-shirt to apply it.

Simply dip the cloth into the stain and rub it onto the entire desk top surface.  I like to apply stain to the entire surface and then use a piece of cloth without stain and wipe the whole thing down to remove excess stain.

If it isn’t as dark as you want the first time you can repeat the process as many times as you want.  You can always go darker but you can’t really lighten it up so I like to do multiple quick coats vs. one long coat.

How to Stain Distressed Areas

I like to take a cloth that has stain on it and wipe it over those areas.  I don’t apply a lot and it doesn’t always require wiping back off.

How to Stain Other Areas of Furniture

As I mentioned above I did not want my finished desk to be bright white.  To get the finished look I desired I used a cloth that had stain on it that was mostly dry and wiped the drawer fronts and sides of the desk.

Immediately after wiping the stain on I wiped it off with a clean cloth.  I did not want the whole painted area stained just little pops of stain here and there.

How to Finish Your DIY Desk Makeover

There are a few different ways you can finish your newly painted desk.  The first step is to allow the paint to dry.  Depending on where your furniture will be used you may want to add a clear coat to protect the wood.

This desk will not be used anywhere near food or water so I am not worried about the desk top since it is stained and not painted.

I used a clear spray sealer for the painted area of the desk including all the drawer fronts and the rest of the whole furniture piece.

Another option is to add drawer liners to protect the inside of the drawers.  My boys really like to drop toys into the drawers so if they were painted I would add a vinyl liner to the inside to protect that paint.

Add Hardware

I was really lucky and was able to reuse all of the original hardware that came with the desk.  I did add a fresh coat of paint to make them look good with the new paint job.

If you are using new hardware you need to make sure they either line up with the current holes or, before painting add wood filler to the holes and sand to get a smooth finish.

Next, you would drill holes for the new hardware.  The plus of using old hardware is not having to fill and drill holes.

Close Up of Finished Desk Makeover

I want to show you a close-up of the top of the desk.

I really can’t believe the wood looks so good after having all of those layers of paint on it.  You can see the grooves in the desk top and that the pieces are dove-tailed together.

​I feel like the stain really brings out the wood grain and compliments the whole look beautifully.

I really can’t believe what a little TLC did for this desk.  In fact, the finished product caused a bit of a disagreement in our home.  Nate was convinced that the desk was now too nice for the little boys’ bedroom and thought we should put it somewhere else.

I’m happy to report I got my way and the desk that was made for the boys ended up down in their bedroom as the perfect addition.  It is getting lots of use between lego building and homework and so far they’re doing a great job keeping the top cleaned off so they can use it when they need it.

I know this isn’t a full step by step tutorial with photos, I apologize for that. If you have any questions about the desk makeover process feel free to leave them in the comments and I’m happy to answer them for you.

I’d love to hear about your desk makeover project, so tell me about that too!