that is so fantastic. i want it!

I was holding my breath as I clicked on the after photo. I just wouldn't have been able to stomach it if you had painted it pink. Looks sooooo lovely. Nice work!

love the color!

I want that for ME.

It looks really good. My question is how long does the paint usually stay? I can just imagine in crusting away and being picked off fast.

It's lovely!

love it!

@alyssasteffes she used a finish on it to maintain the paint. if you click through to her post you can find the name of it.

oh no, that poor antique!

I will admit that transformation of that chair amounted to no less than a MIRACLE, but the desk makes me sad.

@MeganPie, click through and you'll see the desk is constructed mostly of Ye Olde MDF. Not exactly a priceless antique.

LOVE it! Spray Painting furniture is my new passion :D

antique. hahahahaha! looks great!

Isn't it a vanity, not a desk? It's got a mirror...

Congratulations on transforming a lovely vanity into a junkyard find ready to have the paint stripped off of it and be restored to its former glory.

Ye gads, when will the paint go away?

When people stop hating color, so never?

er start hating color, when people start hating color.

Bad headline. It's not a desk, it's a vanity, but it did go girly indeed. It was a grownup piece before & now it's kid's furniture.

It's one thing to give new life to a piece that's in bad shape, but to colorize good furniture to make it contemporary is going to backfire. (The backlash has already started.) Restoring painted furniture is a pain.

#1 That is a vanity, not a desk.
#2 I am usually in the anti-painting wood camp but that thing is clearly from the 80s, anything younger than me I am OK with painting, especially if it's ugly wood. And it is so NOT an antique.

This is awesome. It was nothing special before, and now it's special to a little girl. No pearl clutching over painted wood necessary.

Cute as can be!

I too hate when people paint valuable antiques... But this does not qualify as an antique! If I'm not mistaken, MDF (as Erin said pieces of it were made of) was an invention of the 80s.

So I say great job! Very cute makeover!

I always hesitate to paint solid wood things, even if they would look way cuter afterwards (as this does)... but I think this is super cute, especially if it wasn't too precious to begin with. Also, I don't think calling it a desk is incorrect - it looks like the mirror folds flat so it could be used as a desk, and if it's for a little girl I'm going to guess she's more likely to use it for doing crafts than for doing makeup. :-)

Love it. I don't have a problem with the painting of wood. Bringing that chair back to life was indeed a miracle!

whoops, you got me there. I missed the line where she mentioned that parts of it were MDF.

Definitely not antique in this or any other generation. The only way to mask a cheap reproduction is with paint, and she did a great job.

I think it looks fantastic, but I actually liked the chair before too.

@delg23
completely agree. Love how the desk turned out but I really liked the chair before

however since it is for a child's room I see the relevance

Would recommend to anyone spray painting furniture to put a few thing coats of polyurethane over the paint. Scratching/chipping won't be a problem after that. Priming is always a good idea, too. You can get way more life out of painted furniture if it's given a layered, durable finish.

This is a cute makeover, although I personally would have either painted the hardware or replaced it.

Cute final product but 'totally re-envisioned' ? She painted. There is no 're-envisioning' in painting. And she covered the seat - reupholstery is not 're-envisioning'.

But it's cute and she did a nice job and any little girl would love to have it.

Thanks everyone. Agreed that this is definitely not an antique. In fact I spoke to a professional refinisher that told me they wouldn't go near it, so I decided to get creative, with paint. There were awful dents, scratches and other imperfections on it. It is a desk/vanity. It has the drawers and the top does go down, so it's used as a desk as well. My daughter is 4, so she uses it for workbooks, coloring and storing jewelry. As for the chair. It was really awful before, not real brass and was chipped. I originally painted it black thinking it would look like wrought iron, it just didn't look right. Since it was a pretty hopeless chair, I sprayed it purple (my daughter's favorite color) and to match the interior drawer liners. It's not perfect, but it works for us! Thanks everyone for the positive comments, I know it's not for everyone, but believe me, this was no hard to find antique :)

Wow! Erin you did an amazing job with these two pieces! This is something any little girl would love to have! Just beautiful! Great color choices! Love it!

Hate to bring up technicalities but this piece was a vanity, not a desk.

But...nicely done.

Ugh, I've been looking for a vanity like this forever. I love the new color, and the stool is amazing!