School Desk and Chair Makeover

It's back to school time!

Are you sending your kids off to school or homeschooling? Either way, its just a crazy time of year, isn't it?!

I WILL be starting home school preschool with the older two kids next week (I'm so excited and scared all at the same time!) and in the spirit of the season (and so we would have somewhere to do school work) I decide to makeover a couple desks that have been sitting in the garage all summer.

These types of desks are pretty easy to come by at thrift stores and yard sales and usually are fairly cheap, they are also fairly ugly...unless you like beige and brown...

Personally, its a little too blah for me, so I decided to paint it. I taped off the wood parts of the chair since they really can't come apart and I also removed the tabletop from the desk.

I gave everything one light coat (you really just need one, even tho it can be really tempting to do multiple coats, it will make any distressing you want to do lots harder!) of aqua spray paint - my favorite is Rust-o-leum - and then let it dry for a couple hours. After it was dry I took some rough sandpaper (80 grit) and went over all the metal parts of the desk to rough it up and expose the metal underneath. I love the distressed look and its a great finish for kids, since I know they would  just beat up the finish anyways. 

To revive the wood on the chair, I wiped it down with a mixture of olive oil and vinegar. It helps clean and hydrate the wood all at the same time. For the desk top I went back and forth on what I should do with it. It is a laminate material, and even though it isn't real wood it IS super durable for a work surface. I may hit it with some chalkboard paint in the future, but for now I am enjoying the light wood tones and the aqua colors together.

I styled the desk in front of a giant school chalkboard that I had leaning against a wall - I have plans to hang it, but it hasn't happened yet. The globe was my husbands when he was a kid and we picked up the rodeo pennant & school box at a local auction.

I plan to keep the school area clean and simple and clutter free and I still can't decide if it should go in the office upstairs or in the living room....I might be in denial about how much it can take over. Any suggestions? There are some great homeschooling room designs out there that I have been using for ideas, but real life advise is always welcome! So, obviously, this won't be how we set up for homeschooling, but I couldn't resist a little styling session for the blog!

 I have another bigger double desk that I've decided will work better so I'll blog about it once I get the home school area set up! In the meantime,....this little desk and chair set is up for grabs. If you are in the Boise / Nampa / Caldwell area, feel free to email about making it yours!