Upcycled Telephone Desk

I am honored to have the very creative, animal loving, well-traveled, and crafty Kimberly Noelle from Quirky Cool share her fabulous upcycled telephone desk.  Inspired by her family and home decorating magazines, Kimberly is a writer and avid DIY’er. She has some beautiful projects including her Burlap Furniture entertainment stand and her most recent beach cottage inspired side table. Be sure to follow her on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

Welcome Kimberly Noelle!

Hi everyone!  I’m Kimberly Noelle from Quirky Cool.  I’m so excited to have been asked to write a guest post on the lovely DIY Inspired about my upcycled telephone desk.  I hope you enjoy…..

I love secondhand. There is just something about  a well lived, aged, or sometimes even horrid piece that gives me inspiration and drive to make it quirky, unique, and beautiful. I like to think of myself as the Fairy Godmother to my secondhand furniture finds and my paintbrush as my magic wand.

As I went on my weekly thrift store jaunt, I stopped in at the Goodwill which can be a hit or miss. However, I spotted this cute little telephone desk in the corner. It was in perfect shape, had great bones and in fact looked as if it had been painted recently, but the color…. It was questionable. I thought what the heck, and picked it up for 20 bucks. I put it in a few different areas throughout my home, debated on what to do with it and finally after asking myself the question of “should or shouldn’t I paint this?” I decided to go for it and so the process began.  During a trip to Wal-Mart I stopped by the paint section and picked up a beautiful spicy banana pepper yellow color. I went home grabbed some sandpaper and “tried” to sand the piece down so I could start painting.  The paint was not lifting so I decided to use a paint stripper that I at the time was using on another project. Oh my…….why I did that instead of priming it will forever be a question I ask myself!  I don’t care what anybody says stripping paint is not easy, at least not for me. I had failed to realize as I slapped the stripping gel on that the 25 spindles that made up the telephone desk were going to be the death of me. So what happened? I got so frustrated with the massive process of it all that I left it sitting for 2 weeks until I finally  had enough mental pep talk to tackle the project…. and  tackled it I did.

The Process…Here’s a look at the stages of the desk. I’m glad I let myself take a break from it. I almost gave up completely during the stripping of the paint, but I conquered….2 weeks later of course.

Here is a few close ups…Finally in a spot I like, decorated up pretty, and shining like the Spicy Banana Pepper Yellow that it is!

After I painted the telephone desk I decided on a whim to paint the top of the desk in black Chalkboard paint for an extra touch of detail. Not to mention I am obsessing over chalkboard paint right now.  I used sandpaper to ruff up the edges and spindles. It gave it that beautiful aged look with its own unique character. I am so happy with how it turned out.  It now fits my style and home décor perfectly.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my upcycled Goodwill telephone desk and to remember to never overlook the ugly pieces sitting in a corner. Even they, have great potential with a fairy godmother and her magical paintbrush at their service.

Please check out my blog at Quirky Cool for tons more Goodwill finds, Upcycled furniture and DIY’s. I also have a blog with my sister and mom where we talk about our pieces we upcycle and DIY for our Flea Market Booth at Prairie Sisters Boutique.

 I hope this has inspired you to DIY…

Kimberly Noelle