Little Red Riding Hood...errr Desk

I first bought this desk for my brother when I learned he'd be coming to live with us. In a moment of old school nostalgia, I painted it bright red. Here is what it looked like when I got it (and I just realized this was likely the source of those knobs I repurposed on the entry buffet!)

And here is the bright red version- cute, but definitely juvenile.

Sorry for the quality, these were taken on a cell phone.

In any case, the desk wasn't really serving Ryan very well, so when we came upon this FREEBIE through Craigslist- we snatched it up and put it in his room. Now he can have all his media in one place, and it takes up less space. It feels like we doubled the square footage of his room!

The red desk was homeless, but not for long! I decided to use it in my office, since I was redecorating anyway and wanted to get rid of my cheap-o black particle board and metal Walmart special.

I decided to sand down the desk and paint it the same way I did the entry buffet. However, once I got to sanding I realized the top was actually a beautiful poplar (underneath FOUR coats of other paint-all different colors!) Totally inspired, I got this image of a neat butcher block-esque top on black legs, like this:

It will fit in perfectly with my vision of a stylish cottage inspired office. I'll give you the run down of the process (which involves both staining and painting) tomorrow!