Patriotic?

Been another busy week.  I seem to either be swimming in projects or have nothing to work on.  Which is actually ok, lets me kind of balance things out at home, and keeps me from burning out on stuff. 

This last week my awesome friend Adrienne suggested we get together and have a "project" day. 

She had a few things she wanted to sand and restain, so I loaded up and went to her house. 

The thing at the top of my to-do list was this awesome desk.  Another donated item, from a very generous friend's mom.  The most info I could find on it was a stamp on the bottom of the drawers that lead me to believe it was manufactured somewhere around 1947 or later.  Which explains why it took so much time to sand that dang green paint off.  I realize the picture is bad but that sucker was REALLY green :)

This is the top after several rounds of sanding...which actually led to an idea.  Initially I thought I would have a project that wouldn't require any special staining or painting techniques but we all know how that goes.  With all the paint that wouldn't come off and the amazing imperfections that were on the top I decided something "different" was definitely in order.

On went a coat of spray on Kilz.  Thank goodness for primer!

This is the first of many coats of Krylon Georgia Clay.  As the desk was sucking in all the paint it occurred to me that to save time and myself a trip to the store that the drawers might need to be a different color from the desk.  They got several coats of Valspar Churchill Vanilla.  When they were dried I distressed the edges and knobs a little and added a clear coat of wax to seal them.

After 2 and a half cans on the desk itself the top was still very distressed so I decided to add to the effect with Valspar's Antiquing glaze in Asphaltum which really made the dings and imperfections stand out. Then came my bright idea.  We kept throwing around the words ombre and tone on tone.....Adrienne had this great glaze in her box of supplies.  Valspar's Bronze and Patina glaze in Copper 135. Some eyeballed stripes taped on and voila!!

I know it's not ombre, and not exactly tone on tone, but the 2 coats of glaze really makes the top stand out, in a good way of course!  I love all the projects I work on but I think this one really turned out great and I'm having a hard time agreeing that this desk should go to the shop and not stay home with me.  My husband says it almost looks patriotic.  I could add a small blue square and stars, what do you think?

I think the 2 tone looks great and hope that this guy finds a great home.  Come down to Persnickety's this weekend and make it your own!!  Before you do remember to become a follower and see what else I come up with.