Tutorial: Trash-For-Mation #1 DESK

One of the features I want to add to my blog is a segment where I show how I transform and refurbish what someone else has defined as "TRASH".  These are pieces I usually pick up on the side of the road somewhere. (I have no shame--at least not in this area!)

trash   (trash) ,  n.  1. anything worthless or useless; rubbish.

  
I have a distortion problem.
I do not see what others define as "trash".

This is what they see.... 

This is what I see........

 

The top was a glued-on laminate.  I started to peel it off with the intention of adding a new piece of wood when I saw how beautiful the wood underneath was.

I scraped it off (this took some time).  I then sanded it down to the bare wood, making sure to get all the glue off.

I also lightly sanded the legs.  The drawer had layers of paint so I filled in the holes where the knobs were and sanded the drawer down almost to the wood.  It was more work than I wanted to invest so I changed plans mid-project (which is what creative people can give themselves permission to do) and left some paint still on the drawer.

I then used an "oops" sample of  Glidden sample paint (not a typo) for .50 from Home Depot.  Sorry I don't know what the name of the color is.
I painted the drawer full strength because of the aforementioned problem and with a damp 100% cotton sock I rubbed in the paint on the legs and bottom so some wood would still show through.

I wanted to highlight the wood after the paint dried, so I rubbed stain on and then wiped it off the whole bottom, including the drawer.  (Sorry I don't remember what kind of stain I used.)
I stained the top with a built-in stain/finish so I didn't need to polyurethane it.

I then replaced the 2 wooden knobs with a metal pull handle and then added 2 metal brads for decoration where the old knobs were.
              And there you go!
                   
BEFORE                                                                                                                AFTER