This beautiful, solid wood desk has been completely transformed into this new finish I've aptly named, "Military Veteran". I picked up this piece, which was donated to Restore Decor, and as soon as I saw it, I knew what I wanted to do. The top had a leather inlay that was in really bad condition and I knew this "Old World" map transfer from Re-Design with Prima would be just what the Dr. ordered. Then not too long after I got this piece in the shop, Wise Owl released their Fall colors... And as soon as I saw "Military Bronze" I knew that was the perfect color to complete the military themed finish I had in mind. So after stripping the leather inlay completely, I started the process for this new finish. First came the Wise Owl Primer in Clear, knowing I'd be distressing later. Then a couple coats of that new amazing color, "Military Bronze". Then came that incredible "Old World" transfer. Just one didn't fit from left to right so I took a second and cut off the edges and added them into the sides. Then it was time for distressing, to complete this uniquely aged look, I distressed along the corners and edges throughout. Then as you'll see in the closeups of the top, I used a fine grit sand paper to sand down a lil into the transfer. This allowed a lil of the green to peek through and added to the aged look I wanted. For the painted areas I used Wise Owl Hemp Oil Furniture Wax in natural for my top coat. This gave the perfect matte look I wanted to truly add to this unique green color paint. The "Old World" map was top coated with Wise Owl Matte Varnish, to give a lil added protection. And to continue that aged look, I added Black Walnut Wax (painted areas) and Glaze (map area) to the top and bottom, sneaking into all the right places and gently blending it in to look as natural as possible. And as it is with most of my pieces, a lil bling always makes it better right?!?!? So to again continue with this military theme, I used Rub & Buff European Gold and brushed it on roughly to give just enough of that bronze/gold color back to the pulls and keyhole, but not too much to take away from that older look I wanted.

Be sure to check out my Blog post for "How To Remove A Leather Inlay - Desk Top" if you're interested in learning how I did it here.

http://www.refurbishedgentleman.com/blog/how-to-remove-a-leather-inlay-desk-top

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