Little Red Riding Desk

Holy Crap! It has been 3 weeks since I last posted. Sorry bout that. We have had a birthday, a death of a dear friend and some teenage angst and knuckleheadness to deal with so I haven't exactly been feel in' the blog mood. I also have been asked to start teaching some painting classes at the Antiques Mall on Ohio River Blvd. where I sell my pieces so I have had to get ready for that and gather ideas of what I want that to look like and then create some rockin' brochures to entice people to come. Free food is always good right??

I do have a little desk to show you that I created for my little Tessa for her birthday. She was completely smitten with the Roll top Desk (below) I had made for the shop and was so disappointed when I told her I was selling it!

you can see it here

She kept asking for that desk for her birthday so ya' know I had to find something that would make her smile.

The search was fruitless and I was seriously panicking when I happened to stop by a Goodwill I don't normally frequent. Because I was strapped for time I totally forgot to take a before pic but it was bland let me tell ya'. AND it had huge casters on the bottom that weren't workin' for me so thank goodness they were easy to remove and will be used elsewhere at another time. Picture this desk as a very dull boring brown and look at how boxy the lines are.

Boxy  and boring no more!
Here she is…
(trying to get good light in my house and a free wall is like trying to raise the dead so sorry if these photos are either too bright or too dark…plus Pittsburgh can't make up it's mind if it wants to have spring or let winter stay like an out of town guest that has worn out it's welcome...)

 I used MMSMP in Tricycle but was not happy with how it looked. Just kind of blah. 
The drawer did not have any hardware originally so I thought maybe that is what it needed to make it sing so off to Hobby Lobby I flew! No one knob stood out to me and I was about to leave empty handed when I spotted the yellow knob and then the green one. 
Well, maybe two different knobs? 
Let's get a little crazy said Prince in my ear..
 yes three, knobs!
I just love how this looks and I love how they kinda smile at you since a row was not going to look quirky enough for me. Now once I had these on, that's when I decided to try out my hand painting skills and see what could happen. I still thought the desk looked a little plain. 

I used a tangerine, a bright pale yellow and a sea glass blue to add some dots, splashes, sweeps, and whatever you call the rest (none of the pictures really do these vibrant colors justice.)  I was going for a middle eastern/ Indian inspired look. Not sure I pulled it off but 
they make the table pop and were just the thing to take the table from plain to fun and fabulous.
(I am going to add a piece of plexiglass to the top for added protection)

 Most of the dots were just touching the tip of the paint brush to the table or putting the brush on it's side to create an elongated tear. I just played around with things until I liked the final product.  
Here are some more pics so you can see the detail. 

sorry about the red here, I had to monkey around with the red so you could kinda see the blue better

See how some added details make a plain straight lined desk into a fun funky piece of art that might just still be used as a 6 year olds desk. 

She said she loved it more than the other desk….

best compliment EVER

Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!

Read more at http://diyshowoff.com/2013/04/01/that-diy-party-10/#xgMAcRCgRocl5vmh.99       

 

 

http://www.remodelaholic.com