How to Refurbish Old School Desk for Children

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By Julia Fuller
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Refurbishing old school desk

An old school desk provides an area for your child to do nightly homework. The school desk with the storage area is even better. The storage area provides a safe place for homework away from pets and younger siblings. If your children have laptop computers, old school desks are just the right size for personal computer desks as well. Once you clean the desk, remove the rust, and add fresh paint the desk looks like it belongs. If your children poke and squabble at the table during homework, give them each their own work space. You can purchase old school desk at garage sales and school closing sales for a few dollars or less. Then it is inexpensive for you to refurbish the desk.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Sandpaper
Screwdriver
wrench
Paint for metal
Scouring pads
Cleaning products

Step 1

Disassemble the desk.

Disassemble the old school desk. Remove the bolts, screws, and nuts holding the desk together.
Step 2

Sand the metal parts until you have removed the rust and loose paint.
Step 3

Paint metal parts

Paint the metal parts according to the directions on the paint you chose. This may require a well ventilated area and a primer. The paint may also have minimum and maximum temperatures for curing.
Step 4

Scrub the wooden desk top and seat (if applicable) while the paint is drying.
Step 5

Reassemble

Reassemble the desk after the paint is dry using new hardware if necessary.

Tips & Warnings

Moisten old screws and bolts with WD-40. Later, it should be easy to remove.
You may need to purchase new hardware, screws, bolts, and nuts if these are rusted.

Resources

Comments

juliemcmurchie said

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on 11/20/2009 Great instructions on refurbishing an old school desk for children. I found one with a seat and fixed it up for my kids when they were little.