DIY Desk Makeover: From Old Wood Desk to Adorable Desk for Girls Room

Sharing is caring!

A DIY Desk Makeover of an Old Wooden Desk: Easy Makeover of a Wooden Desk for a Girls Room.

A couple of years ago, I picked up an old wooden desk at a neighborhood yard sale. It was sitting at the end of the driveway with a big FREE sign, and I couldn’t resist.

I knew it was a diamond in the rough! My daughter had been talking about needing a new desk for her room, and I knew with a little TLC, it would make an adorable desk for her pink girls room.

(Note – this post was originally published all the way back in 2011. I’ve since updated it to provide more information about how I did this desk makeover, in the hopes that it adds more value to readers!)

My DIY Desk Makeover: Desk Makeover Ideas for a Girls Room

One Old Desk: How it Started

I’m not going to lie. This desk was in pretty bad shape. Most sane people probably would have passed it by, not planned a massive old desk makeover project!

But that’s just not who I am, okay?

The handles were all chippy…

The old desk drawers were lined with 60-year-old newspaper (which were actually pretty cool to see!).

And the top of the desk was covered in a “wood” contact paper that took a lot of sanding and Goo Be Gone to get rid of the stickiness!

The Paint Job

No matter what, I knew my old desk makeover would need a paint job. The wood was in too rough a shape to leave it au naturel.

It took me a long time to decide what colors to paint it. I actually went through a whole bunch of different colors before deciding on the final look.

Before my desk makeover was complete, I gave this old wooden desk 2 coats of white pain, a coat of red paint, 2 coats of blue paint and then 3 more coats of white paint!

I painted the top of the desk in a beautiful robin’s egg blue color, to coordinate with the DIY Michael Jackson Desk Lamp and Upcycled Bench project. I painted the body of the desk white.

(And while I was at it, I painted the frame I used in my button monogram art for the BabyQ Baby Shower)

Stencilling

After painting the desk, I talked to my daughter about a stencil, and we decided on a spring-like bird and twig theme to fit the robin’s egg blue color.

I used my Cricut to cut a stencil from contact paper. However, if you don’t have a Cricut, feel free to pick up a pre-made bird on branches stencil.

As a tip, cover the area around the stencil with newspaper before you spray paint the stencil area. That will help you to avoid overspray, and messing up your gorgeous desk top!

Upgrade the Drawer Pulls

While the stencil was drying, I decided the drawer pulls needed an upgrade.

While I could have bought new pulls, I wanted to keep this old desk makeover cheap and cheerful!

Instead, I used Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint on the drawer pulls. It made such a difference! 

Distressing the Desk

Finally, I decided to distress the desk as part of the makeover.

It was my first time distressing, and I love how it turned out. Because I’d given the desk so many different coats of pain in different colors, distressing was a way for some of that to shine through.

I absolutely love how the blue came out from the undercoats!

Behold My Gorgeous DIY Desk Makeover for a Girls Room

I absolutely love how this desk makeover turned out.

And best of all? My daughter loved her new desk.

She was so excited, she did all the “staging” for this photo!

Final Thoughts About My Old Desk Makeover

I hope you liked seeing this project as much as I liked making it! I can’t believe we turned a FREE desk into a gorgeous desk for a girl’s room!

If you liked this project, please share it!