Slate desk and February Barn Sale

Gearing up for the February Barn Sale (http://www.stylishpatina.com/thebarn) I came across this cool little oak drop front desk.  The finish had some water damage and alligatoring from sitting in a Barn in PA for about 40 years.  It was a perfect candidate for painting.  I chose to paint the outside in Old Fashioned Milk Paint in Slate and I also painted the interior of the desk and drawer in their Buttermilk color mixed with Extra Bond for durability.  I knew the milk paint would chip and crackle, but that was the look I wanted.  I wanted the finish to appear to match its age.

Love the bowed front legs!

The desk was missing its drawer hardware, but I happen to have a big box of antique glass knobs that I've collected.  The drawer was badly damaged and pretty much fell apart.  The front was in good shape with it's curved bottom. but I had to rebuild the drawer box.  After disassembly, I re-glued and re-nailed the drawer before it was painted to match the desk interior.

Sweet glass drawer pulls

After I snapped a couple of pics (Don't mind the un evenness of the wall, we are restoring our 1890's home and I recently skim coated the old plaster after shoring it to the lathe) the pics seemed a little blah.  Don't get me wrong, the new camera is working out great, but it needed something else.  I walked around our dining room and grabbed a few items that were hanging around to add some depth to the pics.

Can't wait until we get to refinish our floors!

I really like the mixture of the chippy paint and rusty keys.  Very appealing to my eye!

I think I'll put all of these items in the Feb Barn Sale.  I really LOVE old cameras and have a hard time getting rid of them, but I've accumulated about 30!!!

Can you see my self portrait?

I also have a thing for old bottles.  I really like this old seltzer bottle with its chrome jacket and refillable nozzle.  I bet it still works too!  These old aqua bottles were on our mantle from our Christmas decorations. Add in some old skeleton keys and a flower frog or two (I bought this one in Spain this summer) and you have a neat little display with some interesting pieces.  The aqua bottles come from a water bottler in Harrisburg PA.

If you're in the Maryland, DC, West Virginia, or Northern Virginia areas, be sure to swing by our little barn this coming weekend.  Open Fri-Sun 10am-5pm.

-Terry