Am I Officially a DIYer Yet?
Finally, we have reached the point where this Desk is done and I’m actually using it in daily life. So just a little background, I hired someone to work at my salon on the days that I am not there. And because there is now going to be two different people doing two completely different things, I needed more storage that what My IKEA desk had to offer. So scrolling through Facebook Marketplace I went. I will say thing, I looked for weeks, I honestly looked probably longer than I should have because I couldn’t make up my mind. But Finally, after two Raspberry Mules, I messaged someone about a desk.
The Facebook Marketplace AD
I fell in love with the details mainly. I loved how compact it was and the mid-century modern feel. Originally it had a bookshelf that was attached or could be attached but I left that behind, for good reason. When I got to the lady’s house to pick it up, I knew I had made a poor decision. I straight up pulled into a hoarders front yard, rain soaked carpets on the front lawn and everything. Now, before y’all go judging, I am not judging how this lady and her boyfriend were living, these are just the facts. Thank God for my Weather Tech car liners, because I can’t imagine what would have soaked into my car’s carpet. Said Lady and I carried to the car, it was so heavy I’m surprised we got it in. And off to Lowes I went.
I truly regret going to Lowes after I picked it up but at the same time I dont. That slightly roach infested desk sat in my car for the hour that we were in Lowes, and to this day I haven’t found one, thankfully. When we got to Lowes I know that I needed the Valspar Furniture Paint. I had used this twice before, on my bathroom cabinets and on my dinning room chairs, so I knew it worked! I didn’t prime my cabinets so I just assumed that I wouldn’t have to prime the desk. You know what they say about assuming, right?
The paint color had me pickled, I thought I just wanted to do a cool white, but then I was thinking, would it be too much white in my salon. So then I thought about pink, everybody loves pink and the perfect pale pink would go with my Palm Beach vibe perfectly. The only problem was that there wasn’t a “pale enough” pink on the menu of paint colors at Lowes. So that was my dilemma, I decided on pink but couldn’t find a pale enough one, what were my options? I know from mixing up extra DHA in my spray tan solutions, that if you wanted more add more, if you wanted less, don’t put as much in. I marched my little (more like huge) butt up there and and asked if they could only use 25% of the dye in the paint, they could so that’s what we did!
The color I chose was Pink Ribbon by Valspar but with only 25% of the dye. This Pale Pink was perfect! In certain lights it looks pink, and in most others it looks like a cool toned white, with just a hint of pink. The Lowe’s Associates said they they had never done it quite like that before so it was an adventure to all of us.
I bought my gallon and when on home.
Once I got home and got Fin settled, it was time to pull everything out and get to work. I used an old salon sheet as protection for my garage floor and got all of my supplies out and ready. The first step in this project was definitely deep cleaning. This thing was absolutely disgusting, I'm sorry but there’s no other way to describe it. I used Clorox spray and paper towels and got to work. And yes, I did fine a plethora of mouse droppings and a whole Cockroach Village. I about threw it out back and was going to cough it up to a loss, I mean it was only $30, it didn’t cost an arm and a leg, just my mental health. Lol
So with my cabinets in my house I never used primer, I mean it says right on the gallon bucket that it’s not required, so why would I do an extra step that not required with this project. I started painting on the pink and I knew something was wrong. The paint wasn’t “adhering” correctly, like I would paint a swatch and it would retract within itself. So I did what any sane person would do, I called my only friend that does DIY’s. She told me that the desk probably had tannins in it (it did) which are oils to stain the wood. Because of those extra oils, I needed to prime.
I know you’re questioning, well you probably picked up some Kilz Primer at Lowes while you were there. Yeah, I didn’t do that. Thankfully the DIY gods were looking down on me that day and I had one small bucket of primer just sitting in my garage. Saved me a huge headache and a $100 Instacart.
I feel like once the primer was found it was easy sailing from there. I used one coat of primer, that’s all I had, and then I started on the pink. I ended up doing 4 coats of the Pink, I think I could have gotten away with three but I did one for good measure.
In between coats, I looked at Etsy for knows and narrowed it down to four. I was obsessed with these ones that had little jade and crystal balls on them, but guess what! I didn’t measure. Do you know how hard it is to find three inch drawer pulls, real hard. I finally found ones that had the cutest flower detail that I think fit the mcm vibe. Added to Cart.
Well, two weeks later, these pulls came of course all the way from China and finally got to me! I think they add the perfect vintage but modern touch.
But I need to know what you think. Do you like it? Should I do another project? Should I make DIY’s my whole personality? Should I quit my day job? Just Kidding, but seriously let me know what you think?
Love you Mean it!
Alex
