Decorating with Cast Plaster

Turn "blah" in to "beautiful"!

 I had to laugh at myself as I gathered things for the Goodwill donation truck and set this little desk out to be donated because I was giving away something I could totally make over and make gorgeous!

Now mind you, I am actually trying to get rid of the excess furniture in this house so we don't have to move it to our new home in Idaho and this desk has been something that has just been "in the way" and useless for years!

I thought: "Gosh, why don't I give this a make-over for the website first!".

So I hauled it back inside and gave it a good coat of primer.

I decided to add some small cast plaster pieces to it, which I did by applying "tacky glue" to the backs and seating them on the front of the desk.

I combined the three small designs to create more interest in the front corners.

Once they were dry, I then painted the entire desk jet black.

You all know how much I love the look of gold in decorating so I used our Raised Plaster Chadsworth Border Stencil to add a central frame with gold paint on the top of the desk then painted the outside edge and drawer front molding in gold as well.

I lightly brushed gold paint over the tops only of the cast plaster pieces to give them a wonderful "antiqued" look.

Two coats of polyurethane later and I DREAD giving this desk away! It's so beautiful now and though I racked my brain as to just where I would put it in our new home, I just won't have space.

Someone shopping their favorite Goodwill will come across this little desk and will feel they hit the jackpot!

So the next time you consider throwing out some drab little piece of furniture, give it a second thought and instead, give it a new look as quickly and easily as I did.

Designers tip:

When casting plaster pieces for furniture or super high traffic areas such as baseboards, chair rails etc, mix 1 part plaster of paris, 1 part portland cement to 1 part water and you will achieve pieces that withstand abuse.

Desk Before

Click photo to enlarge

Cast Plaster Applied

Desk After

Exciting News!
Victoria's husband Dana has finally released his fabulous "Smooth Jazz" CD that includes Victoria's single "Gravity".

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cdbaby.com
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Click here!