“Simply don’t do it” that was the only answer I could find when I did a search on ‘how to properly strip a desk with Mail slots in it’. But I had a problem, I had already bought the little desk. In an effort to encourage and support my husbands writing endeavors, I told him that I felt we should invest in a desk for him, one that inspired him. He had fallen in love with the photos he had see of this little desk in a local listing and it was now in the garage awaiting a deep clean (I used Awesome cleaner, with bleach) and perhaps a quick paint job……..and then I began to get Ideas.
I could see a very sophisticated desk under the grime, and I got it into my head to strip the whole thing down, and stain it. So several articles about how I should just simply not try stripping a desk with so many pockets in it and paint the whole thing instead, two very large bottles of paint stripper after I decided not to heed any of this very good advice, and several moments of being very giddy due to me not realizing until after the desk was already bare, that there was a chance the paint had lead in it, later, I was finally nearing the blank canvas I was hoping for.
I was very blessed in the condition of the drawer, it only had paint on the front and outside edges, so I was able to get all the paint off much more easily than the body of the desk. It was at this point that I had to switch to sanding, the wood was old, and areas of it had water damage, so I used a rough 100 grain sander attachment on a drill to even out the dips and edges. I did have areas that I ended up painting, because the pigment in the red was so bold that my amateur attempts to remove it all met with failure, and I was getting eager to finish up (I was fueled by a horror that this project would end up with the many others that had been started and not completed, so I was willing to do a slightly less than professional job, in order to ensure that I got it done) also, I very much wanted my Writer to be able to use his desk.
Next it was time to stain. I personally am in love with the early American shades of stain, I love how they highlight the the natural grain of the wood, I chose Rutst-Oleum American Walnut for this project and I stained the top, legs, edges, sides, and front edges of the mail slots, I taped out a rectangle as evenly as I could with ScotchBlue painters tape on the pull down of the desk so that I would have a lovely middle panel stained in the middle, with a painted outer trim. I then ordered a lock set, and some beautiful lion face handle pulls for the drawer that reminded me of Aslan from Wish.com (which I would not do again if I could find it locally or on Amazon, because wish is so sketchy sometimes) I stained the drawer and installed the drawer pulls, I used a multi tool to cut out the slot for the lock (this lock is primarily for aesthetics but I wanted it to be functional as well, it is not to keep out thieves it is only meant to dissuade snoopers and young children) I used a simple drill bit to make the key hole, drilling two separate holes and them connecting them with a third.
My In-Loves had recently finished repainting the exterior of their home, and I asked to use some of the leftover paint for the areas of the desk that I wanted to paint, it was a nice light brown, with an almost grayish tint that complimented the stain very nicely. permission to use said paint obtained, (which I do not know what by what company it was made) I painted the back, inside, and inside of the legs. and with that, the project was finished. I stood back, looked at the hodgepodge handiwork , and decided that this Mayhem had been Managed.
WOW! I am so impressed! You truly have an eye for spotting a diamond in the rough. I really love how you threw caution to the wind and ignored the experts. I reckon, you showed them 🤭
It’s absolutely beautiful 😍