Upcycling And Wrapping An Old Desk
We took this old 1980’s metal and wood veneer desk and gave it a new lease on life!
This desk had obviously seen some heavy use and damage from transportation over the years. The legs and metal side pieces were heavily scratched and dented. The veneered table surface was scratched and chipped, and the veneer was completely missing in several spots around the outside edge.
Before
After
We started with filling in those scratches, dents, and missing pieces of veneer with a combination of Bondo Body Filler and 3M Acryl-White Glazing Putty. We used a combination of the 2 materials because the body filler is better for filling large pieces of missing material, and the spot putty is faster drying and easier to quickly sand to a smooth finish. We sanded with 220 grit sanding disks. It’s a bit slower than lower grits, but we wanted that - removing material slower allowed us to creep up on our desired fill and smoothness without removing too much material. We filled and sanded in repeated steps until the missing areas were completely filled in and smooth.
Next came painting the metal pieces of the table. We masked the top surface with painters tape, and gave all the metal pieces a quick sanding with 220 grit sand paper to smooth any imperfections and give the paint a uniform (non-glossy) surface to adhere to. We went around the table with 2 coats of Satin Black Paint + Primer.
That left us with the last (and most fun) step - wrapping the top with a custom printed vinyl wrap. We went with a high-resolution stock photo of a plank of walnut wood. After adjusting the color to our liking and sizing the file to fit the table, we printed it on our HP700W latex printer and laminated the graphic with a durable, UV-resistant matte lamination. Because the edges of the table were still in a bit of rough shape, we applied 3M Primer 94 adhesion promoter around the edges of the table before finally installing the wrap. And viola! One custom upcycled desk, ready to live a new life.
You can check out the whole process where we describe the materials we used in more detail, and little tips and tricks for applying the wrap, in the videos below.