black + gold

A full week of DIY projects are flooding the blog this week. I’m not sure if this is our form of nesting, but we’re trying to get as many home projects done as possible. The month of June is always a busy month as well with several birthdays and our anniversary all within days of each other. It’s a good thing we tend to celebrate all month long.

I am so excited to finally share how this secretary desk came out. In early December we spent an afternoon hitting our local consignment shops to see if we could find a new piece for the house. Mike loves old secretary desks, but I really don't care for a roll up top. It's too decorative for my taste, but while we were in one shop, Mike found this simple secretary desk which has a pull down hinge top. 

When we brought it home we found the perfect spot in our entryway hall to use as a drop zone for our keys, sunglasses and mail, but more importantly it was time to design. 

After trying a couple different stains we had on hand, I decided to go with a rich, black stain and brass hardware. Once everything was sanded down we decided to take out the bottom two drawers because they weren't in the best shape and this made us finish the inside and trim everything out where the drawers use to be in order for it to look finished. We took off the decorative trim on the bottom due to the wood being old and splitting, and added feet to raise it up so the desk didn't look clunky and heavy. Having movement through the bottom allows flow and makes it seem more light and airy to the eye. 

Together, we chose the gorgeous Prismatic Gem Knob from Anthropology for the pull down top. We had a difficult time finding the rest of the hardware. We ordered and returned two different times because the size was slightly off and drill holes were wrong. I really thought brass hardware was going to be the end of me because the third time we ordered the dang color didn’t match. We said screw it because there was no way I was searching for yet another knob to match our drawer pulls. All in all it worked out just fine!

The desk inside has a great organizer that we spray painted black, but it still needed some sort of pattern or color to really pop. We added gold paint splatter blog daubs on pink peel and stick wallpaper designed by Jenlats from Spoonflower; it's unexpected and fun which helps liven up the whole desk. Once everything was done, this sweet piece went from drab to fab and we are loving it to pieces!