Desk Makeover {Paint Stripping with Citristrip & Painting with Latex Enamel}
One of the unique features of our home’s floor plan is a “tech room” with built in desks just off of our mud room. When we first built our house I thought they would make the perfect place for our older boys to do their homework.
The builders painted the desks with latex paint and unfortunately it showed evey little mark and scratch almost immediately after we moved in. Within a few months I had already given the tops of the desks a coat of black chalk paint in the hopes of giving it a more durable surface. I was again disappointed within a couple of weeks.
In a last ditch effort to make the space look nice I did a total overhall last summer and redecorated the entire room.
It looked fantastic at first but again, it held up horribly. I knew I needed to come up with a solution that would make the desks both functional and durable.
At this point the desks had multiple coats of paint and my husband and I decided to strip them bare and start over. We opted to use Citristrip to strip the paint after much research. We have three small children and the lack of toxicity was a big plus for us.
Materials:
- Citristrip Stripping Gel
- Paint brushes
- Scraper/Joint knife
- Sanding block
- Latex Enamel Paint
- Safety Gloves
- Protective Eyewear
Instructions:
Clean your surface of dust and debris. (You can see how horribly my latex painted desk held up to three little boys!)
Apply a generous coat of Citristrip to the painted surface using a paint brush, you’ll notice the Citristrip has a thick, gel-like consistency and does not have the strong odor of other paint strippers. It is important to use a thick coat (if your Citristrip begins to dry out, it was not thick enough.)
You should wear gloves and protective eyewear when working with Citristrip. (I didn’t realize until later that my husband didn’t have his gloves on in many of these pictures. He has been sufficiently reprimanded!)
Allow the Citristrip to sit on the project for 30 minutes and test a small area with your scraper. You can leave the Citristrip on the project for up to 24 hours before scraping.
Scrape the Citristrip and paint off the surface, scraping in the direction of the wood grain. The paint should be removed easily.
Remove paint debris and thoroughly clean the bare surface. Sand surface lightly to remove any residual paint if necessary.
When our desk was stripped we were left with a large piece of MDF. We originally thought it would be regular wood so I attempted to see how stain would look on the MDF but the results were not good so that plan was quickly abandoned.
After much research into durability we decided to use a latex enamel paint to finish the desks. We chose latex enamel because it is a harder, more durable finish than traditional latex paint.
Apply one layer of latex enamel paint with a paintbrush and allow to dry fully. Do not place anything heavy or damp on the painted surface for 7 days to allow the paint to totally harden.
I’m happy to say it has been three months so far and the latex enamel is holding up perfectly! It’s durable enough to scrub and I love the deep, velvety appearance of the paint!
Pin for later!
Wow! This turned out great!
Striping is such hard work :/ one of my least favorite things to do!
Ashley
http://www.simplydesigning.net
What a beautiful transformation! Love the green and white board too!
I am addicted to your blog! Great Post! Looking forward to get more information from you. I have an older home with so many ideas in my head, but I also have 2 little ones that make doing things difficult. So for now I will decorate vicariously through you!
Here’s a little tip that my mother used to do and which has saved the tops of many pieces of furniture. Get a piece of glass cut to go on the top. For something that has straight sides like your desk it should cost under $100.00 to have it cut. I’ve even had tops cut for furniture with curved ends and it only cost me about $80.00 Even cheaper is to get a piece of plexiglass cut. I understand Lowes will cut it for you. (don’t ask home depot they don’t do it. ) That way when your children decide to draw smiley faces on the top of the desk it won’t ruin the finish. Oh and they will – They always do.
I really like an enameled surface – it’s very durable and so classic 50s!
Me too Lindsey, I totally agree!!
Wow, that was quite a transformation on that desk. The new one looks amazing.
Thanks Shannah! It was quite the process but we’re very happy with it now!
Paint stripping is a hard job. This makes it look so much easier. I am going to try it on my living room table. The desk turned out great!
Thanks Leanna! The Citrictrip made the job easy, it’s definitely my go-to paint stripper from now on! Good luck with your table!
Way to go with the paint stripping! I’ve always been intimidated by that…but you all rocked it. And the outcome is fantastic. Thanks for sharing the play by play!
Thanks Lauren, don’t be intimidated if you need to strip something from now on, the Citristrip was so easy!
I love how this turned out! There’s nothing more frustrating than finishing a project and having to turn around and do it again. Glad this one is holding up for the long haul! We’ve been in our new construction home for 2 years, and the builder-grade wall paint is awful; it doesn’t hold up to anything!
Our builder grade paint is the same Emily, I can’t even use command strips or even scotch tape takes it right off the drywall!
I had never heard for Citristrip & I thought that was stain as well. Awesome! Thanks again.
The Citristrip was amazing Colleen, so much easier than traditional stripping in my opinion!
Wow, what a great job! I thought for sure that was wood stain. Love it Melissa!
Hugs,
Jamie
Thanks Jamie! I’m so happy that after that long process it turned out well!
It looks great, Melissa! And I am so impressed with you and your paint stripping skills – I have tried it once and it went horribly wrong! Pinning!
The Citristrip made it SO easy Jenna, definitely try it next time around, I’m sure you’ll get a great result!
I love citristrip! I’ve never used latex enamel before, too chicken! After seeing how easy it is to use I’m going to have to try it for myself!
It’s definitely worth a try Jacque, the finish is so durable compared to regular latex!
It looks great, Melissa!! I have used latex enamel on cabinets and two night stands and it’s worked fabulously. And awesome to know about Citristrip.
I’m so glad I discovered that Latex Enamel now Laura, with my three little boys I think I am going to be turning to it’s durable finish a lot more from now on!
What a journey… you and your little desk have had, Melissa! I have to say the finish is stunning!! And wowza… was that a lot of paint you stripped off! I’ve gotta get my hand on some of that miracle stripper… I have quite a few pieces that I’ve painted one to many times! Oopsie! Pinning for later! 🙂
Thanks Candace! I think most of us DIYers have at least one piece that’s been painted one too many times!