Mid Century Desk and Chair Restoration

About a month or so ago I picked up this mid century desk from a lovely woman who recognized that it was worth saving.   It was in really poor condition and had been used, I believe, for tool storage in a garage or shed.  As you can see in the photos, it was missing one of its legs and someone had nailed a stick to the side.  The drawers also would not close properly.  The top had several stains and burn marks.  It was also very dirty and full, I mean full, of cob webs.

Here’s a close up of the prosthetic leg that was in place.  This also shows the poor condition of the wood.

My husband helped me unload this from my van and I’m pretty sure he thought I had lost my mind on this one!

Several months back, I had picked up this Viko Baumritter chair from the Goodwill. Another beaut, eh?  A perfect mate for the desk.

First, the desk.  I started by removing the wood handles and stripping the drawers with Citristrip.  I also stripped the top, but realized that the burns and stains were just too deep to salvage – top was getting painted.   Once stripped, I sanded the drawers and uncovered some nice looking wood.  Other than being filthy, the drawers were in great shape.  As I mentioned above, the drawers would not  close, so I sanded the tops and bottoms until they fit well.  Now they slide like a dream!  I stained them with 2 coats of General Finishes java gel stain and then sealed them with 3 coats of General Finishes poly in a satin finish.

I won’t make you scroll down to see the finished piece – here it is:

After giving this desk a thorough cleaning, I primed it with 2 coats of Zinsser cover stain primer, sanding between coats.  I then painted the desk and handles with 3 coats of General Finishes milk paint in snow white, also sanding between coats.  I sealed the piece with General Finishes high performance top coat in flat.

Before I could even start working on this desk, I needed to get a replacement leg.  As cute as that stick was nailed to the side, it just wasn’t gonna fly!  I ordered a replacement leg and brass cap from tablelegs.com.  You can find it here.    The McCobb leg is a perfect match to the original.  The brass cap is a bit larger than the original, but hey, anything is better than that stick!  I ordered an unfinished leg since I planned on painting it, but they also sell several finishes.  The leg and cap weren’t cheap – I spent about $30 total for the leg and cap.    Home Depot does sell a similar leg for a fraction of the cost, but it comes with a little leveler on the bottom and I didn’t feel this would look right on this desk.

The lady surfing in the photo is Mary Tyler Moore.  Isn’t that fun?  There I go again with my vintage beach photos.

Look at the wood on those drawers.  Isn’t it pretty?  Hard to believe it’s the same piece.

I had refinished the chair several months ago.  It’s a Baumritter Viko chair and has the most fabulous lines.  The frame is made of metal with a faux bois pattern.  I left the original brown finish on the metal and just cleaned it up.  I refinished the oval back, also using GF java gel stain and satin poly.  You can’t tell from the original photo, but the wood back was very dirty and the finish was in poor condition.   The chair seat and padding were beyond repair, so I added replacement foam and recovered it.  I had originally recovered this chair in a nubby teal fabric, but it did not hold up well at all.  It easily snagged and looked horrible after a few months of light use.  The second time around I went with this great navy and white fabric that I found at Hobby Lobby.  I like the faux bois pattern in the fabric and it coordinates well with the pattern on the metal frame.

The drawer interiors looked good once they were cleaned, but just for kicks, I lined the top drawer with drawer liner.

One last funny story about this desk.  When I removed the drawers, I found a secret compartment behind the bottom drawer that someone had constructed out of craft wood.  I couldn’t see into it and was soooo hoping to find something interesting or valuable.  No way I was blindly reaching into it though, so I got out my hammer and pulled it apart.  Unfortunately, all I found were more cobwebs and a rubber band.  Bummer.  It was kind of like when Geraldo Rivera opened up Al Capone’s vault.  Anyone remember that fiasco? A lot of hype, but nada.

Susan

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