Artist Leslie Linsley explains how to make an inexpensive desk, using file cabinets as a base and topping them with a hollow-core door painted to look like leather. Materials:
Hollow-core door without knob hole
File cabinets
Latex paint in cream
Translucent glazes in mocha and burnt sienna
Roller or nylon brush
Color-wash brush
Softening brush
Paper towels
- Apply a base coat of cream-colored latex paint to the sides and edges of the door.
- Load the color-wash brush with mocha glaze, and paint Xs on the door with short stokes (figure A). Cover the entire surface while blending and overlapping the strokes, getting as much paint off the brush as possible.
- Don't let the glaze dry. Dip the same brush into the burnt-sienna glaze, and paint more Xs sporadically on the door so the different colors blend together evenly.
- Without loading the brush with more glaze, go back and forth over the entire door, blending the colors to create a two-tone color wash (figure B).
- While the glaze is still wet, gently brush a clean softening brush over the surface to soften the finish and create more depth (figure C). To soften the look even more, roll up a clean, dry paper towel, and gently dab it on the wet glaze to give it a cloudlike look (figure D).
- After the door has completely dried, place it on a pair of two-drawer file cabinets to create a desk.
Glaze-Finished Desk Accessories Finish plain wooden boxes with paint and glaze, and use them as desk accessories (figure E). Apply a base coat of cream-colored paint, and when it's dry, finish them with one of the following methods: - Crumple a clean, dry paper towel into a ball, dab it into colored glaze, and dab the color over the entire box.
- Place some colored glaze on the paintbrush, and paint a small amount onto the box. Drag a paint-combing tool or a hair comb through the glaze to achieve the desired effect.
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