Antique Child’s School Desk Redo

I was recently asked by a friend’s father if I could redo this child’s desk for him. He found this antique child’s school desk at a garage sale and wanted it as a gift for his grandson. He was hoping the deep scratches and gouges could be cleaned up enough so that I could then re-stain and paint it.

I was a little nervous at first because it seemed at first that some of the gouges were way too deep. I definitely didn’t want to tell my good friend’s father “NO” though, so I smiled and said “Of course! Anything for you.”

I instantly was hoping I hadn’t bitten off more than I could chew.

Before Pics

The pics below show the extent of the damage and what I had to work with.

I started out sanding with my orbital to see what would happen. It actually worked wonderfully! He originally told me not to worry about redoing the inside but I just couldn’t leave it unfinished like that.

After 2 days of sanding with the orbital and the mouse sander, I started out by repainting the metal base of the chair. I did sand and smooth everything out along that base as well. The client chose to keep the paint black, so I stuck with his vision and WOW….once I painted the base and re-stained everything else (including the desks interior) before bolting the base to a nice thick board (also painted black) where I placed felt circles on the underside so it wouldn’t scratch up his floor.

I LOVE how it turned out!!! And better yet…so did he! I forgot to take a picture after bolting on the base, but look at how amazing the new stain and paint look!

After pics!

Close up of antique child’s school desk after re-staining
Inside of antique child’s school desk
Redone chair that goes to antique child’s school desk