The Nightmare Desk

[mpmotley]

Hi all,

Before I can venture out on new projects, the wife has tasked me with "restoring" this desk she reported was an airloom. What was supposed to be an easy sanding and staining has turned into a nightmare, and im trying to find a way to salvage this desk, and my pride hahaha

It started with all this dark brown "stain" with fly specking and she wanted a full resurface and stain to a lighter color. I started out trying to sand off the top, when I quickly found out this heirloom was MDF with a veneer. I stopped sanding and switched to CitriStrip, which revealed probably 4 different kinds of wood and a bunch of MDF in the apron that ill probably need to paint along with the top (the citristrip also stained the top in places too =) ) Ive already done edge veneers, but the Mrs. refuses to pay for a new top veneer, so im trying to stain what I can and paint the rest (a white or black pain swatch is off the table sadly).

Any thoughts, besides "cure this with fire" or "where's your nearest dump"? I think particularly im wondering if it makes sense to do a grey stain to ease the contrast between the pine, poplar, red oak veneers, and other, or some other trick to harmonize this Hodge podge.

 

[Roger45]

Paint will be your friend on this project.

 

[Gotcha6]

It's hard for me to consider anything that has veneer over MDF as "heirloom" furniture......

 

[Berta]

A few years ago repairing and painting furniture was a big deal. My granddaughter did a few projects. Lowes sells paint for furniture.
You can also buy antiquing kits.
Be sure all surfaces are repaired and sanded very smooth, and no dust remains. Then paint it.

 

[jlwest]

Paint it

 

[mpmotley]

It's hard for me to consider anything that has veneer over MDF as "heirloom" furniture......

Thats why I spelled it as 'airloom' hahaha

 

[Wilsoncb]

If new veneer is not an option, then I think it’s fair to argue that paint is the best option. Otherwise the boss needs to know doing anything else may be an experiment. Some people can brush or roll to get a smooth finish, but I am yet to master it. If you don’t have the equipment to spray, rattle can may be done successfully. I like Zinsser spray primer regardless of how you top coat. The water based 123 is cheaper but doesn’t sand as well as the BIN shellac based primer which is 2x the cost. Good luck!

 

[ChemE75]

I’d do the paint and antique it - I often used a Williamsburg blue, light coat, sand through in the typical wear spots, then lightly brush a dark stain like Jacobean and immediately rub with a rag to remove most - usually worked out to look pretty good. Never ran into mdf, but if I did, it would make the decision to paint a lot easier.

 

[Echd]

Paint it. A nice matte or chalk paint, maybe some weathering over a dark basecoat... women love that. And without being able to replace veneer its your only option IMO.

 

[Gboot]

General Finishes Milk Paint. Not really true milk paint it’s an acrylic. Easy to apply and get good results. If you dig on their website there are examples of the colors and application techniques for antiquing it.