How to Transform an Old Desk
April 7, 2010 by Cherie
Filed under Featured, Home Decorating
Today, desks are mainly built for computers, but a few years back there were wooden, with drawers, and people sat at them to do bills or homework. Older desk usually have three drawers on the right and left side, one middle desk drawer, and a small opening where you put your feet. Many of these desks look something like this:
Today, you can find these desks anywhere, because they really aren’t good for putting your computer on top of. But does that mean you should abandon these desks? No way! First of all, you can find them cheap at rummage sales and thrift shops, and they are still a great piece of furniture to hide treasures away. To make these desks a bit more appealing, here are some tips to jazz them up and get them to fit into your décor.
Paint
Don’t forget that paint is a great way to jazz up a desk, especially in a kid’s room. Choose a fun, bright color like red, hot pink, or turquoise, and spray away. Allow it to dry completely before moving it in their room, as wood like this can get tacky.
Decals
A nice way to get kids involved with decorating a desk like this is to work with you in putting decals and stickers on the desk. You could paint it first, then add stickers from a favorite character. To really make the decals permanent, use modgepodge over the top.
Sew a Desk Slipcover
We make slipcovers for couches and chairs, so why not a desk? Choose fabric that coordinates with the colors in your room, and do some measuring. To sew the slipcover shown above with the black and white toile material, I measured across the top and width of the desk to determine the size of the first panel. Then, I measured the height and depth of the sides and front. I allowed two extra inches to each of these measurements for sewing purposes, and left the back of the desk empty. So this slipcover goes over the front of the desk. This strategy is more forgiving than making one that goes over the entire thing.
Last, I added a border in a coordinating fabric to the bottom. This is optional, tho. It would look just fine without it if you’re not comfortable doing it that way.
We *loved* doing decals and stickers when the kids were young. We found that they had to be sealed though, or #1 son would pick them off when he was bored…
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Cherie Reply:
April 9th, 2010 at 9:27 pm
Yes, definitely seal them. Good tip!
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Those old-fashioned style desks (from my childhood – lol) are great as a sewing station or for various other hobbies like beading.
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Cherie Reply:
April 9th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
They are one of those things that you seem to find everywhere. We have three of them, and one is a hobby station but the other two are in the basement. It kills me not to use them. I brought one up from the basement and made that slipcover, so now it at least has some use. I also saw someone on TV use their old desk as a vanity topper for their bathroom. I suppose if you’re really handy, that would work.
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Isn’t that cute! It would make a great vanity sort of thing in a girls room too…just add a mirror above it and you are set….I need to go find one of that sort of desk!
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Cherie Reply:
April 12th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Oh, they are everywhere! Go to rummages or even Goodwill, you can get them really cheap.
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If you have a storage box or set of plastic drawers that fit in the open space, it works great as a filing system in your craft area.
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