How I Did It: School Desk Coffee Table

I picked up this old primary school desk a few months ago and have been pondering what to do with it. I really liked some of the marks and colours on the desk, but it was in too much of a state left as it was, so I decided to refinish the top. The sides were a little dull, so I wanted to do something to make it more interesting, and compliment the worn and colourful look of the top.

I used a rotary sander and hand sanding to strip off the old varnish and some of the stains from the surface of the desk. Some of the marks and staining are extremely deep into the wood, but I like the worn and used look of the wood. I took apart the desk as much as possible to make sure the desk is thoroughly cleaned and stripped. I used some sugar soap to give it a final clean, and scrubbed at the sticky paper inside the drawer lids.

I unscrewed the brass plate over the inkwell, and gave it a thorough clean in a bath of Brasso, and cleaned inside the inkwell.

I wasn’t keen on the black coated steel legs of the table, so I went over them with the rotary sander to give them a similarly worn look and expose some of the underlying steel. I then gave them a coat of Owatrol Oil, a clear coat that goes on like oil and provides great protection against rust.

I went over the metal fixtures of the desk with some light sanding, to keep some texture but smooth the surfaces. The dovetail joins and top planks of the desk needed some mending, and glueing back in place.

Once the desk was stripped and cleaned, I mixed some of the sanding dust and Gorilla Wood Glue to make a putty to fill the gaps between the planks of the desk top, then sanded it back when dry. I masking taped off the top of the desk, the metal legs and metal details. I cut masking tape to cover the dovetail joins, so they would stay bare wood at the end.

I then used a selection of Rust-Oleum Chalky Finish Furniture Paints in an array of methods to create a colourful base and underside to the desk. I chose colours that were present on the top of the desk and some complimentary colours. When the paint was thoroughly dry, it was given a coat of clear satin finish Ronseal varnish to protect it and deepen the colours.

I removed the tape protecting the top of the desk, then used masking tape again around the edge of the top to protect the paint from the wood treatment. I smoothed out the table top with 240 grit paper to ensure a lovely smooth wood surface. Once the dust was cleaned up, I used two thin coats of Osmo Oil Polyx-Oil in clear satin finish, applied with a new kitchen sponge, both inside the desk and over the top. When the first coat was dried, I used a sand paper with 400 grit so ensure the final surface will be nice and smooth. With the Osmo Oil dried, I screwed in the brass inkwell plate and removed the masking tape. And with that, the desk was finished! You can buy the coffee table here!

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