Old school desk makeover

How I turned attic treasure into cute kids furniture.

You know that the kids from Goonies found that treasure map in their attic? And you know how the news will occasionally have a story about people buying an old house and finding some valuable art or historical item left behind in the attic?

Well, friends, I too was lucky enough to find some left behind treasure in the attic of our house. Yes!!!! It may not be valuable or even treasure to other people, but I loved it instantly. It was a rusty old school desk and chair.

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This old school desk was rusted and covered in grunge when I found it hiding in the attic.

This thing looked rough. It was scraped up, rusted, and covered in gunk. It needed some serious DIY love. I found it in 2012, when we moved in, but it sat in the garage, neglected for another 2 years. In that 2 years, we were busy making this house livable and having our first beautiful boy.

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Disclaimer: Make sure to always read the directions for any products or tools you use while building. Always check for square and double-check those measurements too. Read the full disclaimer.

In 2014, I finally found time to give the old school desk a makeover. Yea for nap time! I scraped and scrubbed off as much of the rust as possible. I used Citri-Strip Gel on the chair seat and back to remove the layers of old varnish. I tried the Citristrip on the desk top, but it has some sort of laminate on the top. I had to leave it pretty much as-is after a good cleaning. The paint on the metal didn’t budge either.

But once the varnish and rust was off, I was ready to start the makeover. I couldn’t decide whether to stain or paint the wooden parts of the chair and desk. If I did it today, I probably would have stained it first then added a few colorful stripes. But in 2014, I decided to paint it the same color as my son’s room and top that off with lots of colorful stripes. It took lots of painters tape and many coats of different colors. I covered all of the metal in this spray paint. It has a rust inhibitor that has worked perfectly for the last 2 years.

Makeover complete on this old school desk

These stripes always make me happy!

I love this little desk. Now that my oldest is getting close to school age, I can picture him doing homework at it or just playing ‘school’ with his brother. How adorable, right! I want to find another so that each of the boys can have one, but that’s just another item on my never-ending to-do list. Maybe one day…

Desk makeover complete. Class is in!

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Looking for your next woodworking project? Check out my Chunky Leg Farmhouse Bench DIY.

Feeling inspired? Want to do your own old school desk makeover? Follow the links above to get the things you’ll need from Amazon. Have fun and let me know if you have questions. Or post pictures of your work and tag Abbotts At Home on FB, I’d love to see it!