Home Decor, Making a House a Home

DIY Painted Secretary Desk & Accent Wall

We’re bringing you our final feature project from the Creating with the Stars promotion. This creation from Sarah M. Dorsey Designs for the paint theme of the contest is beautiful! See how she created this masterpiece and how you can up-cycle something similar to add a pop of personality to your home:

We started with a bookcase from Goodwill that had great lines and details. They were remodeling the back end of the building so we got it for 50% off, which ended up at $30. I’m thinking the drop panel was originally intended to be a dry bar, Goodwill even had it staged with an ice bucket and martini glasses!

Turning it into a secretary was the perfect solution since it would fix the choppy layout and add more functionality! We also added little feet to help it look not as bottom heavy and swapped the hardware for something smaller.

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We designed the stencils in the computer and cut them out on the silhouette. The big one is 9 – 12×12 sheets that were taped together! See those little lines? They were necessary to hold the stencil together, so I went back and filled them in with a little paint afterwards.
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We adjusted the layout so that its doors were together (on the bottom) and the shelves were together (at the top). I now love how the fold down door doesn’t break up the shelving, and now acts as a desk!

To paint, I followed the same principles I always do: sand, fill in holes/dents with wood filler, sand again, wipe down with a microfiber cloth, prime, lightly sand with a fine sandpaper, wipe with a microfiber cloth, and then apply the top coat (3 coats)! This stencil was pretty exhausting since it was so big, I had to hold down the stencil as I went since it didn’t want to stay flat on the wall. We did photograph it in the garage, but there is concrete there! I picked up some cheap (about $1 a ft) laminate from Home Depot. Finally, when styling, I’m big on placing it and stepping back to see what it looks like, David was nice enough to move things around for me.

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I found these brass pieces at a local antique store, only a few dollars each!

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See how thick that door is!? The doors alone were super heavy!

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I really love how a little paint can completely refresh a piece! Goodbye worn bookcase, hello new secretary desk!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this series of DIY tutorials. Stay tuned for future inspirational projects.

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Christine is the Content Marketing Coordinator for Homes.com. She's a small town girl at heart, who currently lives in Norfolk, VA with her husband and their fur baby. When she's not working, she enjoys cooking, decorating, traveling, and binge watching Netflix. As a proud Virginia Tech alum, she also loves cheering on the Hokies!