Arts & Crafts Inspired Desk

Just before Christmas, I visited to my favourite place, The Victoria & Albert Museum in London. I love nothing more than aimlessly walking around the galleries to see what visual jewels draw me in. On this visit I found myself spending a lot of time in the British 19th Century rooms. I spent a lot of time gazing and taking in the furniture and decorative finishes. The rich colours and dark woods seemed to suit the December feel of London.

There was one little cabinet for me that stood out. It had a uniform flower design detail in a little square on it. The design was highlighted in gold which a liked. I took this seed of an idea in my mind back to my workshop. This is where I had this desk sat waiting to tell me what it wanted to be!

I decided to keep a small area of the wood exposed. So many of the Arts & Crafts pieces in the V&A were a blend of wood and paint and this desk had rather a lovely walnut veneer on that I wanted to keep.

I began be slightly sanding the exposed walnut veneer back to get rid of the old damaged varnish. Then a gave the piece a couple of coats of a dark grey called, 'Graphite' Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan. Once this was dry I lightly drew on free hand the design using a white chalk to show on the Graphite. I then used rich warm Chalk Paint colours to paint in the design and gold metallic paint to highlight certain areas. Towards the end of the painting process I used a fine detail brush and Country Grey Chalk Paint to highlight a frost like pattern dancing on the twisting stems.

I love the end design and the way it covers the piece organically, as if it wants to escape from the desk. I also quite like the trompe l'oeil handle on the bottom left, where the handle is missing! Sometimes the worn nature of a piece is part of it's history and to be embraced!