A few months ago, the idea of a vintage desk for Stella popped into my head. It was most likely in the middle of the night as I lie awake playing the meat to the bread that is my husband and Stella. I have a lot of good thoughts that enter during this time of day, errr, night as well as some weird ones and not so good thoughts. But this one was a good one. I remembered my mom had a few so I questioned her about one. She said she thought she'd gotten rid of them which I called b.s. on because the woman never gets rid of anything. A better explanation was that it/they were probably just very well hidden somewhere in the barn. But I told her to keep an eye out for one for me.
Not long after, she called me after finding one at The Vintage Nest, a new shop in Sylvester. It was only $15!! Even better. I stopped by there two weekends ago to check it out. It was exactly what I was looking for so I grabbed it. Mint green was the color that instantly popped into my head when I saw it. I think of mint green as a vintage color and with this being a vintage desk I wanted that feel for it.
We returned to Atlanta on Sunday and Wednesday I stopped at our local hardware store, Vickery Hardware to pick out a paint color. Donald and I have been shopping at Vickery for years. They've been open since the 1950's and we love supporting them. They have a cat who runs around and the cutest little old fashioned play area for Stella to hang out while I browse.
I decided on Apple Mint and bought a quart along with two new paintbrushes.
Here are the before photographs.
As you can see, it was an old bluish-gray, very well worn desk.
This is a bit hard to read but I saw it stamped underneath the actual desk/writing part: American Seating Co. Made in the U.S.A. Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Apple Mint is the third from the top.
Stella wanted to help out. So I told her paint only what's blue, nothing else. She did good for about 10 minutes, then ran off to play. She'd check in with me periodically and say, "This is looking pretty good." Literally, every time she walked up she'd say the exact.same.thing. the exact.same.way. It was funny.
While painting the inside of the book holder I noticed this. It took me a few seconds to realize what it was---antique gum. And even better, someone stuck their pencil lead in it. Having used this exact type of desk as a child for quite some time, I can absolutely relate to this. It was impossible to remove, so yep, I just painted right over it.
I contemplated painting her name on the back or some stars, but ultimately decided to leave it alone.
This is probably the quickest I've ever gotten something to work on, began and finished. Definitely since having a kid.
As I was cleaning up my paint stuff and straightening the front porch, I heard some little girl singing. I peeked around the side of the house (through the lattice work in this picture) and saw this. Stella washing her feet off under the rain barrel. I walked up and did my "Whatchya doin'?" to her. "My feet are dirty" she exclaimed. Well, now her butt was too. She gets points for being resourceful.
How we shower in the South!
I let the desk dry underneath the carport for a day, then the next evening moved it to the front porch. Late, in the middle of the night, ok 4:00 am, I was woken up by the dog barking and incredible amounts of wind. The screen door was slamming all around so I latched it. And got drenched in the process from the rain blowing in through the screen. Then I thought of the American flag whipping around on our front porch. I opened the door to take it down and saw the desk---wet. I gasped. I quickly grabbed it, brought it inside and dried it off. It looked ok, but I couldn't really tell in crappy just-turned-on CFL bulb light. But luckily, the light of day the next morning proved it was just fine.
Here Stella is enjoying the new desk and drawing a picture for our neighbor.
Soon, the coffee table from IKEA by way of Facebook yard sale site that's currently in her room will make it's way down to the beach house. Then, I'll move the desk into her room. I think the color will go great. And for $15, I don't plan on getting rid of this one anytime soon.
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