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    Home » DIY Tips & Tricks

    October 28, 2019

    Thrifted desk makeover with Rustoleum chalk paint.

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    Today I am sharing a simple thrifted desk makeover with Rustoleum chalk paint. I had time to waste the other day and I meandered into a Thrift store. I wasn't really looking for anything specific. I saw this primitive solid oak desk and felt called to swoop it up. It was so perfectly simple, sturdy... and I knew with a coat of paint it would look so great. Bonus it was only $15 so even though I wasn't exactly sure where it would end up in our house.

    Thinking about it, I may have mostly bought this desk because I had been wanting to try the Rustoleum Chalked paint I saw a couple weeks ago at Home Depot. My local Home Depot only carries a few colors- white, light grey, and charcoal. I also grabbed the Rustoleum matte top coat to try out with this project too.

    This is what the desk looked like before, nothing overly special about it. As I said before, I liked the simple classic lines of it. I felt like I could easily bring it into this decade.

    Thrifted Desk Makeover with Chalkpaint

    I was a little apprehensive about buying a premixed color, especially in a grey color. Grey's are notorious for being so difficult because of the undertones in them. I am happy to report that this Charcoal color was actually the, dare I say it, perfect shade of dark grey paint! It doesn't pull blue or green which Charcoal paint does often.

    Thrifted desk makeover with Rustoleum chalk paint

    The Charcoal color of this paint was so good, I was really impressed with the absence of brushstrokes which really makes for a beautiful finish on your pieces.

    Once my paint was dry I used the Rustoleum matte topcoat. You must seal chalk paint because it is porous and not wipeable. With the Rustoleum top coat, you simply brush it on with a synthetic brush. At first it gave a really plasticy looking finish which not going to lie, stressed me out. But as it dried, it turned into the most beautiful matte finish. I am SO happy with it. I typically like to use a wax product when I'm using chalk paint because it gives a similar finish that I am fond of. However, wax is kind of a pain to work with to get it even and it wears off the more you wipe it and use the surface. There seems to be a lot of paint leftover once I had finished painting, but I was not certain that I will use it again. Perhaps the most pertinent question for me would be How to dispose of paint, for which I would need to do some research online.

    I stuck this desk over in our family room, under the Ikea shelves I installed this summer, you can see how I did that here. I plan on moving out my older computer out here so my kids can get on their learning games that they enjoy and not be locked back in a room away from the rest of the family.

    I love how quick + easy using this product made this little furniture update! I have always been a sucker for painting thrifted finds, like this painted dining table I did recently too.

    I found some other colors of this paint available online, I love that navy + medium grey! So good! I just love this new product, I am so happy I tried the Rustoleum chalk paint! I feel like it is going to be a new favorite of mine!

    Shop the post by directly clicking the images below.

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    jenna and family

    Hi, I'm Jenna! I thought I would share a little bit about me, and try to be as minimally cliché as possible. My name is Jenna, and I have always loved Interior Design.

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