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Hearts and Sharts

A Little Cute, A Little Unexpected

Antique Secretary Makeover

August 2, 2015 by Hearts&Sharts 20 Comments

Back in March I got a rush order from GordonDunning to refinish a dining room table, a pair of end tables, and an antique hutch… and by rush order, I mean, like 10 days. Ten days seems like plenty of time but, because I’m me and I don’t know the meaning of balance I went ahead and added a bamboo dresser and another pair of end tables to my schedule that week. So, five projects in 10 days. All that painting in such a short time period is what made me realize that I needed a paint booth to be able to work more efficiently. Time is money, baby!

Anyway, the antique secretary was the biggest transformation from that batch of work, here it is before:

Antique Secretary Makeover || Hearts & Sharts

It was really, really gorgeous. If you’re a purist and you’re hating me for painting this, believe me, this hurt me. Really just a good coat of Howard’s would have made it look amazing, but this is what their client wanted and I like money, so I did it. Don’t hate.

At least I didn’t use chalk paint.

Antique Secretary Makeover || Hearts & Sharts

The order was to paint the entire thing in a high gloss light gray (Passive Gray by SW) and re-felt the desk area in navy. Getting the old felt off was a bit of a chore but I tried all the methods I found on Google and the combination of all of those got it all off. You can use a heat gun or a cloth and an iron to heat the glue or you can saturate the felt with water and scrape it off and then address the adhesive residue with some Goof-Off… lots of options here, just be ready to put in some elbow grease.

Antique Secretary Makeover || Hearts & Sharts

Antique Secretary Makeover || Hearts & Sharts

Removing all of the hardware from this thing was crazy! It took two hours just to take it all apart!

Antique Secretary Makeover || Hearts & Sharts

And then it took another 9 hours to tape it all off!

Antique Secretary Makeover || Hearts & Sharts

The doors to the top section had to be taped off because each one of these sections of glass is its own. There wasn’t a glass panel to remove, each of these was set in. And they were thin as heck. I had so much anxiety about those doors.

Some of the hardware was in there so I had to tape it off and trim with an X-acto knife.

Antique Secretary Makeover || Hearts & Sharts

Okay, here she is in her new home!

painted-antique-secretary-after

Antique Secretary Makeover || Hearts & Sharts

The new felt makes a huge difference and wasn’t super hard to install.

Antique Secretary Makeover || Hearts & Sharts

I started by measuring the width of larger back section and the total depth of the desk and used my self-healing mat and a roller blade to cut it down. Then I used double stick adhesive tape to dry fit it to the wood. The image below looks as if the felt is in two pieces but it is actually one piece, there is a crease in the felt from where it hinges on the desk.

Antique Secretary Makeover || Hearts & Sharts

Then, using a super sharp X-acto blade, I cut the front smaller section to size. I removed the double stick tape and applied a heavy layer of extra strength spray adhesive to the back of the felt, making sure to get the edges really well, and put it in place on the desk.

Antique Secretary Makeover || Hearts & Sharts

Then I went around the edges with a credit card, smoothing and making sure it was really on there.

Antique Secretary Makeover || Hearts & Sharts

I haven’t even thought about this project since March and I’m just remembering what a huge transformation this was… Crazy what paint can do.

Before:

Antique Secretary Makeover || Hearts & Sharts

After:

Antique Secretary Makeover || Hearts & Sharts

And, just because, here are the pairs of end tables I did that same week:

These went to my booth at Woodstock Market.

Painted End Tables || Hearts & Sharts

And these went to the same home as the secretary, allll the way to Texas.

Painted End Tables || Hearts & Sharts

Okay, one more look at the secretary:

Antique Secretary Makeover || Hearts & Sharts

After:

Antique Secretary Makeover || Hearts & Sharts

Soooo… yeah, I painted an antique… but it’s kinda pretty.

I think I should get a pass on this one.

Antique Secretary Makeover || Hearts & Sharts

Wink.

Upholstery Free Chair Makeover
Decoupage || Using Napkins on Wood Furniture

Comments

  1. Christine S. says

    August 13, 2015 at 3:37 pm

    I’m usually a wood purist as well and would have probably just cleaned it up, maybe changed the hardware (I do not like gold/brass hardware usually…), but painted it? Never would have wanted to. And then I just read your post and yours is gorgeous! I LOVE how it turned out! I will give in, this time, and agree that it should have been painted! Haha. Thanks for the inspiration!

    Reply
    • Hearts & Sharts says

      August 18, 2015 at 2:10 pm

      I was surprised how much I loved it as well! Thank you, Christine!

      Reply
  2. Trisha D. @Black and White Obsession says

    August 10, 2015 at 4:28 pm

    Wonderful work as usual!

    Reply
    • Hearts & Sharts says

      August 18, 2015 at 2:08 pm

      Thank you, Trisha!

      Reply
  3. Sarah says

    August 6, 2015 at 12:47 am

    Beautiful. What type of paint did you use.

    Reply
    • Hearts & Sharts says

      August 6, 2015 at 8:32 am

      Hey Sarah! Thank you! I used Passive Grey by Sherwin Williams in high gloss. 🙂

      Reply
  4. Gwen says

    August 5, 2015 at 2:01 am

    All the pieces give me inspiration!! You are such a talented and patient painter.

    Reply
    • Hearts & Sharts says

      August 6, 2015 at 8:31 am

      Thank you so much, Gwen!

      Reply
  5. Elizabeth says

    August 5, 2015 at 12:18 am

    That looks really great! Like fresh and new! I know the intro paragraph said it was going to be a light gray, it looks white- did your clients change their minds or is it that light of a gray?

    Reply
    • Hearts & Sharts says

      August 6, 2015 at 8:30 am

      Thanks, Elizabeth! I know I didn’t say what the paint color was, I was being too lazy to get up and go look. Ha! The color is Passive Grey by SW in high gloss. It’s a suuuuuuper light gray, almost white.

      Reply
  6. darlee says

    August 4, 2015 at 7:27 pm

    As always…Great Job. love ya

    Reply
    • Hearts & Sharts says

      August 6, 2015 at 7:29 am

      Thank you, Darlee!

      Reply
  7. Sharon says

    August 4, 2015 at 4:18 pm

    Hi Dena,
    I’m new to your website. Love it! So do you spray paint all your furniture? It’s beautiful. No distressing? Can you tell me what paint you use? Sharon

    Reply
    • Hearts & Sharts says

      August 6, 2015 at 7:36 am

      Hey Sharon! Thank you! I do spray everything; I use a Wagner Flexio 570. I am not a huge fan of the distressed look although I did do one recently with satin paint that has made me want to try it again. I usually use high gloss latex enamel with Zinsser primer underneath.

      Reply
  8. chris aka monkey says

    August 4, 2015 at 2:55 pm

    if they shoot you for painting it then they have to shoot me i love it so much more in white xx

    Reply
    • Hearts & Sharts says

      August 6, 2015 at 7:30 am

      Ya hear that, Haters?!

      Reply
  9. Christine Leahy says

    August 4, 2015 at 2:07 pm

    As usual, bomb-tastic. I love the sec. so much!

    Christine

    Reply
    • Hearts & Sharts says

      August 6, 2015 at 7:29 am

      Thank you, Christine!

      Reply
  10. Hong says

    August 2, 2015 at 7:00 pm

    Beautifully done!

    Reply
    • Hearts & Sharts says

      August 3, 2015 at 10:32 am

      Thank you, Hong!

      Reply

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