A Simple Home Improvement Project to Tackle During the Hurricane

Hurricane Ian is pacing the halls!

I’m looking for a home improvement project to pass the time.

My ideal home improvement project would be a 1- or 2-day small project that I can complete independently. I need to see some results, quickly. My frustration is palpable. The ongoing bathroom renovation project, from previous blog posts, should have been finished by now. More on that in an upcoming post. I’m feeling inertia, and I need to feel that we are moving forward.

What are my home improvement project options?

Yeah…excuse me as I wipe away the tears of laughter. I have so many projects I would like to complete, at times I have wanted to surrender. I want to repaint the bedroom and laundry room, for starters. I need to refinish the bedroom furniture in the guest room. The bathroom hardware in the guest bath needs to be changed out. The countertops are due for replacement in several rooms. Unfortunately, they mostly require that I hire someone who can do the projects for me, except for the paint.

I decided on a smaller project that shouldn’t take long to complete. Notice the use of the word “shouldn’t.” That’s a conditional word and does not guarantee the ease or success of the project.

My home improvement project: Refinish the built-in desk top in the kitchen

You know those built-in desk areas in kitchens, the ones that nobody ever seems to use as a desk? So 1990’s, right? We have one in our kitchen. It has become the hybrid coffee/drink prep center, sometimes desk, and permanent junk pile for my husband’s stuff. It’s also painted, and to be honest I think I got it wrong.

Let’s start with a “before” photo from four years ago. It’s no beauty queen, that’s for sure. I painted the desk area when we first moved in, just trying to neutralize the yellow wood. Although we had all of the kitchen cabinets repainted a couple of years ago, I don’t think that the desk top finish is optimal. I rolled the paint, which left the desktop textured. The light paint also highlights every drip of coffee and every spill.

Solution: Wood-colored stain

My plan

First, I am going to tape and drape the cabinet beneath the desktop. Next, I will strip the existing finish from the wood and sand each crevice to the bare wood. Finally, I will stain the wood and apply a varnish coat to harden the surface. It’s been a while since I stained wood, but I’m looking forward to the opportunity to correct a design detail that I got wrong. I can complete the project by myself without help, and I have the materials to do it. It’s the perfect project for a weekend when I would probably rather be indoors, anyhow.

Hillary McAlhany is the owner of Gate City Design. She is a certified professional home stager/redesigner, E-designer & color expert. Although she is based in North Carolina, she offers remote design services outside of the central North Carolina region.