WWYD? To Part With It or Not..

That is the question. 

This little rolltop desk of mine is a constant reminder to our family of the importance of faith. Yes, this one little ol' desk that I bought while living in a tiny two bedroom apartment , is a testament to the fact that resilience is buried deep within us, that hope is the last thing to die.

You see after 10 years of living in a little red 1950's ranch house, where all three of my babies were born, we were forced to sell.  It was necessary, but oh what a trial the trying to sell became. Four weeks into the big housing market crash three years ago our realtor put the sign out on the front lawn, and we prayed for a miracle.  The miracle came exactly one year later.

One whole year of trying to keep an old house in perfect condition for prospective buyers, with three little boys underfoot.  One whole year of hopes dashed time and time again.  There are no words, my friends, to adequately describe that year.

(Blurry picture of the retro kitchen we lovingly remodeled in that little red house)

But finally the much awaited moment arrived, the house was sold and we put all our possessions in a storage unit.  We thought we would surely find a new house in no time at all and so the only things that went into the two bedroom, temporary apartment we rented were our mattresses, on the floor of course, and our clothes.  Little did we know that the wait in that small apartment would stretch into thirteen whole months.

Here are two of my boys Christmas morning in the aforementioned apartment, five months into our house search. Note furniture-less living room and plain tree, devoid of  beloved ornaments and a tree skirt, that were at the time buried somewhere deep in the storage unit. (My eldest with his retainer on, just lovely!)

Around month number six, when frustration levels were mounting and despair was starting to set in I decided that for all our sakes I needed to make an attitude adjustment.  I calmly announced to the four men in my life that I would begin searching for furniture for our new home. Yes, furniture for the new home that was as of yet nowhere in the horizon. It was a leap of faith, a way of holding on to a dream. The furniture would consist of pieces I could transform with a little paint once we had a garage again .  I loaded our three small children in the mini van and  the treasure hunt began.

The first piece I bought was the small desk.  I lugged it up the stairs to our second floor walk up and immediately began searching for items to display on it. Decorating that desk top became for me a much needed creative outlet during those remaining months, it kept me sane.  The children began to look forward to seeing a new arrangement atop it every few days or so and even the mister complimented my efforts regularly.
 Here it is in all its unpainted glory on the eighth month of our apartment stay.

On month number thirteen the time came to say goodbye to that small apartment.  We had a house again!  I promptly  painted the little desk upon moving in and found a place for it between two wing chairs in the formal living area even though I knew a larger piece of furniture was what the space really needed.  I did not want to part with it. 

 

Now I have in my garage, waiting patiently, the perfect large piece for that space.  But what to do with the little desk?  Another good spot for it in the house cannot be found and it is only used nowadays to hold the countless 'treasures' the boys find at the park each day.

Butterflies and bark and other woodsy finds...

and yet to me it serves another purpose.  It serves to tell the story of a particular season in our lives, a season where clinging to faith was all we had, a season that taught me lessons I do not want to soon forget.

Have you had to part with any one piece of furniture that for you had great sentimental value?

How To Paint Particleboard / Laminate Furniture

Remember these sturdy Broyhill bookcases I got on Craigslist for our schoolroom? Well, they were hiding a little secret....

While the front and the drawers were made out of real wood, the sides, shelves and backs were made out of what I like to call the fake stuff. Yup, there was particleboard all over the place!
After seeing this inspiring image....

I decided that painting those babies white and putting them on either side of the window was just the thing to do.  But what about the fake stuff?  I knew from the start that the paint job needed to be indestructible. It needed to withstand three boys and the constant friction of books and other school items for the next 15 years. ha! Yeah, I did NOT want chipping paint and since we were dealing with particleboard (laminated wood?) I decided to do a little research.  I combined the advice of different painting experts just to be on the safe side (I was scared remember :-) I bought what I needed and took the plunge.

Here they are after eight months of daily use, nary a scratch to be seen....

I was so impressed that I recently painted our dining room table using the same process even though it is made out of solid wood.  I did not even sand it beforehand!

Before

After

Here is the scoop on how I did it: 

First I cleaned the bookcases thoroughly with a damp cloth. I then applied two coats of this primer...

 

This oil based primer is key!  It allows you to prime without sanding or 'roughing up'  the particleboard beforehand.  The odor is strong so I only use it out in the garage with the door fully opened.  I would not use it indoors, especially if you have little ones running around. To apply the two coats of  primer I used a small foam roller similar to this one..

This primer dries quickly, in about 2 hours, but I waited 12 hours between coats as a precaution.  After all the priming was done I applied one coat of Olympic's Zero-voc, white, latex paint in semigloss.  It can be found at Lowes.

After the paint was fully cured I applied two coats of Varathane Floor Finish, waiting about 12 hours between coats. It was boiling hot and bone dry here in Texas when I worked on this project, so it took only three days for the paint to cure. If you try this project in a cool or humid climate you might want to wait a bit longer for the paint to dry.

I used the brand Varathane recommended by the talented Holly from  

Life in the Fun Lane . It has not yellowed the white paint yet and it is so easy to apply! I now coat all my painted pieces with it. 

 So with just a little elbow grease the bookcases, fake stuff and all, went from this..

to this...

and best of all they have withstood the test of time amazingly well!
I am more than happy to answer any questions in the comments section below so ask away.  If you want to see more of my makeovers go here or here or even here :) Happy painting everyone!

Linking up to Miss Mustard Seed.