In the tradition of one of my favorite blogs, Life in the Fun Lane, I decided to give you folks a little preview of my new “office” 🙂
Since the old office will now be transitioning to the nursery, I needed to find another place in the house to work the Copy Cat Chic magic 😉 I found this cheap desk for $75 at a local secondhand shop. I loved the traditional lines and the brass hardware & brackets give it personality. I decided a good coat of paint it would be perfect for my new office nook.
I also used a new tool to do the painting – Since I’m not so good at DIY, I figured I needed all the help I could get. I was given this paint sprayer from Home Right, the Pro 8.0 Extra Heavy-Duty Paint Sprayer to review, so I figured I’d put it to good use. Can I just tell you it’s great? Compact and light and totally easy to use and it comes in it’s own little container to stow away. Plus it has nice, even coverage. I already have plans to do a nightstand and high-chair next!
The desk before…
And the desk after!
kelseyp says
The desk looks AWESOME, Reichel! What a transformation. I'm planning to re-pait our kitchen cabinets (white) and keep going back & forth between using a sprayer like that, vs. the more traditional 'old school' method. Would you recommend the sprayer for cabinets (both the doors and foundations)?
P.S. Just recently ran across your blog from the Better Homes & Garden mention–and have been an addicted RSS subscriber ever since. Great stuff!
– Kelsey
Chapstick Fanatic says
wow that looks awsome! great job!
http://lachapstickfanatique.blogspot.com
t-dwatson says
I absolutely love it! Gorgeous!
Alice021 says
oh my goodness. Reichel you are amazing!!
Katie says
It looks so great, we painted a hutch with similar hardware earlier this month and I love the contrast the brass gives the white. Typically not a fan of brass, but in this instance, LOVE it!
La Dolfina says
Reichel, that is amazing. I love your find but since you painted it, well, let's just say it looks like a million bucks!
I'd love to see you and Sarah sometime this weekend, just give me call or shoot me an email.
xo
copycatchic@gmail.com says
Thanks for the compliment guys! 🙂 I definitely think it was worth a lil' elbow grease.
@KelseyP – Using a paint sprayer is very easy, but it's the prep you need to be worried about. You have to make sure to tape off any part of the room that you don't want paint to get on…
@Terri – I'll be in touch!
kristinwithani says
That looks beautiful! Holly would be so proud.
Jennifer says
Could you let us know where the chair came from? Maybe it was an earlier post? LOVE it!!!
The Huntress says
desk look AMAZING!!!! thought you would like to see my post from last week about campaign furniture which your desk is 🙂 Perhaps you will add a tassel!
Amy
http://thehuntresslives.blogspot.com/2010/09/polls-are-open.html
theLENNOXX says
Your desk turned out awesome! I love that you left the dark wood square as is, and the brass pulls look fantastic against the white.
I'm all for chic on a budget!
xo Linda
Megs says
Gorgeous! I also love campaign furniture and will be doing a nightstand and dresser soon. Could you tell us what kind of paint you used Reichel?
alison (semi-fab lane) says
that looks so, so good! awesome job, and you said you weren't a good diy-er?!
copycatchic@gmail.com says
@Huntress – I'm totally loving campaign right now too! That's why I was so excited to spot this poor specimen at the 2nd hand store! And I actually already saw your post 😉 You're one of my daily reads.
@Lennoxx – Doesn't the contrast look great? It's actually dark leather on top, so I tried extra careful not to get any paint on it.
@Megs – I actually followed Bryn's directions:
http://brynalexandra.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-to-paint-furniture.html and I just used some flat white Behr paint from Home Depot 🙂
@Alison – Yeah, well…I think to be a good DIY'er it's best not to be lazy, like me! lol 😉
copycatchic@gmail.com says
@Jennifer – The chair! I absolutely love it! I tweeted about it, but didn't post. I got it from Overstock, but it looks like it's sold out 🙁 http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Milan-Hi-back-White-Office-Chair/3097421/product.html
thelonelywifeproject says
This is gorgeous! I'm blown away by the entire look.
Rambling Renovators says
$75?! What a great find! Great transformation. I like the leather insert.
Mrs. Chic says
Your desk looks amazing!!
Margaret says
It looks fantastic! I see lots of pieces like this (by this I mean, loads of potential and really beautiful and still in good condition in their own right) here and there, and I wonder- do you ever feel back about painting over such beautiful wood? I just can't bring myself to destroy a good finish…
Thoughts?
P.s. love the blog!
Sarah says
Gorgeous! That solid wood campaign desk for $75 is a STEAL! I have seen one listed online for $300. It turned out a lot like my painted end table which is a similar style:
http://room2think.wordpress.com/2010/08/19/end_table/
Navy Bean says
Looks amazing! And I absolutely love how you placed your laptop on a cake stand to raise it up as a monitor. LOVE!
Jenn says
what a great idea to put the laptop on a cake stand!!
Megan says
I am so excited to find a desk like this for the one I found a couple of weeks ago!! I may paint mine green! I appreciate the spraying tip!! http://sugarmegnolia.blogspot.com/2012/04/little-campaigning-desk-for-sale.html Turned out lovely!!