Princess Pink Desk

Yesterday was my Sugar Bug's great Sweet Shoppe birthday party and her big girl desk reveal!  


First things first, I highly recommend the silicone cupcake cake pans.... a ginormous cupcake cake is just what every 6 year old needs!!  It was easy, beautiful, homemade and the absolute best part was that Sugar Bug thought the cake was her favorite part of the whole day (not the Barbie's, or the Justin Bieber microphone, or the Pixos)!   SUCCESS!

http://www.squidoo.com/giantcupcake
I was so busy with little girl fun, I didn't get a picture but it was something like this!

My girl has been begging for a big girl desk for a while now.  As much as I love our house, my kids bedrooms are pretty small and with all the toys, dress-up clothes, baby doll equipment, I just wasn't sure where we would put a desk that we would both be happy with.  Then came the day that I helped Sabrina clean out her garage and organize projects.  There she was....a little beauty of a desk/vanity that desperately needed some love!  She had a few legs that were no longer attached, the drawers hung a little wonky, and she was just in a bad way, as my grandmother used to say.

I started with the repairs and then sanded her down.  One of the drawers had been repaired previously and unfortunately, it was not the best of repair jobs.  The only option was to either just go with it or re-brake the drawer and fix it again.  I opted to leave it and just work with it but, no amount of work on the slides could totally fix the crookedness; we'll chalk it up to character!  


I usually use a lower grit sand paper on this initial "stripping" part but because she was so rough already I used a 120 grit.  I primed her with 2 coats of primer, sanding between coats.  Believe it or not, she was still pretty rough so I moved up to a 220 grit paper and but on my base coat of paint.  I rubbed her down with steel wool and ended up adding 2 more coats of paint, again sanding in between, and finishing with a translucent iridescent glaze for to add a tiny bit of shimmer.  Last, but not least, I added two coats of polycrylic to the top to protect it from any markers or nail polish that might go astray!  


In order to get the perfect color of pink, I used some leftovers from when we painted the walls and then added a darker Ooops! paint.  Perfect!  


For the final finishing touches, I trimmed the drawers in green and added knobs from Hobby Lobby.  We will be adding fun fabric to line the drawers soon but, in the meantime, I think my Sugar Bug is a very happy little big princess!

One more of the before and after:

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Lisa