Man Picks Up 'Free' Vanity Desk From Yard Sale — Owners Have Sellers Remorse After He Transforms It

Oct 13, 2020

When Ross Taylor from Pennsylvania picked up an old vanity at a garage sale in 2017, he couldn't believe his eyes or his luck. Not only was the desk marked as free, Taylor, a woodworker by trade, would turn it into something well worth having.

To the untrained eye, the vanity desk appeared as if it was ready for the furniture graveyard. Although the drawers were pretty beat up, Taylor saw the potential in the piece of furniture and set his restorative plan into action.

Not your average DIY project, the process of restoring the old vanity took a little bit of skill and thinking outside the box. Taylor began dismantling the Art Deco piece by carefully removing each of its parts. Once totally broken down, he set out to restore the beauty that had long been forgotten.

Although the outer appearance of the vanity was that of old paint, Taylor saw beyond what lay on the surface. With a scraper as well as a heat gun, he successfully removed the majority of the old paint from the desks' drawers. This method helped preserve the printed-on grain, while paint thinner helped to remove the remaining paint.

After an entire 24 hours, Taylor used a scraper to free the entire desk of its old paint. As for any paint that remained, he then rubbed a lacquer paint thinner into the piece and allowed it to sit for a few days in order to dry. As for the tight spaces and crevices, a small tool was used to gently remove the remaining paint.

Just as the majority of the vanity was pretty raggedy, the drawers were the worst part. To revamp the drawers, Taylor removed the bottoms before giving them a good sanding down on the outside and edges. During the reassembling process, he added reinforcements by using glue blocks on the bottoms.

There were some parts of the piece that simple scrapping of paint or a good sanding just wouldn't do. For those portions, Taylor used his skill and creativity to turn the old parts into newer ones. He even changed the color of the stain on the drawers giving them a much lighter hue than before.

While furniture restoration has become quite popular, it takes a special eye to see beyond the surface. Ross Taylor was able to look past the tattered drawers and old paint to see the beauty that lies within such a remarkable piece. It just goes to show that a little bit of optimism and a whole lot of TLC can bring out the beauty in virtually any situation. You can find more information about Taylor's work on his website, and see more of his projects on Youtube. 

How did you like the finished results? Let us know if you would try a project like this yourself and how you would tackle it. Talk about it in the comments, and don't forget to pass this article to all of your friends.