Quatrefoil Painted Desk {tutorial}

Have you ever owned a piece of furniture that just made you say "blah" every time you glanced at it? Guilty! In fact, for over a year, I had been living with a used oak desk that my husband bought. It was a little too rough around the edges for my taste. It was in dire need of a makeover. The solution? I painted a quatrefoil pattern on the top, and now it's one of my favorite pieces of furniture!

The nice thing about this project is that it is super easy on the budget.

Materials - All you need is...

• to print a quatrefoil pattern (here is a great template from Tatertots & Jello)
• an Xacto knife to cut out the template
• a paint brush (preferably a small one with a strait edge)
• acrylic paint ($1.57) in your preferred color ( I used one 2-oz bottle of Apple Barrel's Burnt Umber #20512)
• Minwax's Polyurethane in Clear Gloss (if you want a big can with lots of leftover paint for future projects, go with the 32-oz can for $11)-- to seal the acrylic paint

Time - This is where the project becomes expensive in terms of the time it takes to finish it. I split it up into 2 days, and spent approximately 5 hours on it, if not more. In my opinion, it was worth it, though!

Let's take a look at the before picture of the desk. It's plain and boring and scratched up. Blah.

Time for a makeover!

Step 1 - Print and cut out the quatrefoil pattern using the template. I only cut out one template, but this also made the project take longer because I had to wait for the stencil to dry before I could add on to a section.

Step 2 - Once you have your stencil, tape down the parts that do not interfere with the parts you are painting.

Step 3 - The picture above does not show this, but I eventually found that my paint was more likely to stay within the lines when I used my brush and painted around the edges and then filled in the middle of each section. It took me 2 coats of paint, by the way. It could be worse! :)

Step 4 - Wait for a section to dry, and then move your template such that it adjoins with the section you just painted.

Here is what it looked like when I was about three-fourths of the way through.

I'm so surprised that I didn't mess up the pattern. I am by no means a perfectionist, so if I can do this, so can you!

Step 5 - After you have finished the piece of furniture and the paint is completely dry, give it a coat of shiny polyurethane to seal the acrylic paint. I waited approximately 4 hours and gave it a second coat.

Here is a photo of how the clear gloss can deepen your paint color, and make the whole thing more professional looking.

(Note: The other after pics of the desk were taken before I had a chance to polyurethane the desk. So, it actually looks shinier than that now.)

And here is the final result! (minus the clear gloss)

What do you think?

UPDATED: I wanted to show you pics of how the desk looks now with the polyurethane topcoat.

See how much shinier it looks? I like it much better, and now my quatrefoil pattern is protected. Yay!

Linking to...

Just a Girl Show & Share Day; Shanty 2 Chic; Thrilling Thursdays @ Paisley Passions; Under $100 Linky Party @ Beyond the Picket Fence; Power of Paint Party @ Domestically Speaking; Restored It Wednesday; Get Your Brag On @ Gluesticks; Creative Juice Thursday @ Momnivore's Dilemma; VIP Party @ Designer Garden; Favorite Things Friday @ The Speckled Dog; Sunday Showcase @ Under the Table Dreaming