A chalk paint two tone solution might be an interesting solution.

Maybe put color on the back

What is the room like that it is going into. Honestly these decisions are not made in a vacuum.

A nice gray wash stain over the current finish will help give the desk a more aged/farmhouse look. A two-tone finish with white shelving is a great idea and will personalize the desk. Before making this decision, it is important to consider all of elements and finishes in your space. If you know you are going to have many painted finishes in your space, it would be better to keep the entire desk in a more natural stained finish versus all or some paint.

Good luck with your project!

Thanks, all, for the comments so far. As mentioned in the original post, the rest of the furniture is either white or espresso. If I were to go for a two toned finish, what other color could I pair white with? Also, would white on the table top work, with color on the legs and the back? What would make sense? Thanks!

Where will we find pix of the room it will be in? That would help a lot.

I'll try something like this and see how it goes from there:

Do the wood knots look unsightly on the original desk?

Honestly how can we help with no info at all, the knotsa re part of that wood if you are going to paint you will have to seal them. Espresso and white furniture do not in my mind scream country or farmhouse so if you don’t want to post pics I’m out.

Try to paint it light warm grey.

Like this:

What would you recommend for the finish? Since it's a desk, it will be used a lot, so maybe something resistant to scratches and wear?

Use a clear desk mat on top will work. Or how can you change the finish since you try to repaint this piece?

It looks like basic IKEA pine. Don’t hesitate to paint it.

I'll be painting most of the table but re-staining the table top with a grey-white wash. Unfortunately, I don't know what kind of wood this is so it's harder for me to give more info about the kind of finish that could work. Is anyone able to recognize this wood looking at the picture? Could it be pine?

I have heard polycrylic, polyurethane and tung oil being suggested for the top coat of heavily used surfaces. Polycrylic also works on paint, but I wanted to get you all's thoughts on the natural wood table top.

Ah, just saw all the latest comments. So helpful. Thank you, all :)

I'm a novice at painting and staining, so I am gravitating towards painting the table top as well, after reading your suggestions!

it's pine. do not do a gray or whitewash. just go over it w/a walnut stain color to deepen it and remove some of the yellow. put on one of the finishes I mentioned. And the top will hold up better than this 'white wash'. just leave the top wood, and paint the rest.

or try what this person did here:

http://ninered.blogspot.com/2012/07/school-of-restoration-color-wash.html

Thanks, Beth for SO many wonderful suggestions! I appreciate them all. One thing that I have come to realize after using a dark colored desk for some time now, is that I don't like to work on dark colored desks! Somehow they give off a sense of foreboding to me, so I was hoping to get something lighter in color. So, the idea for the lighter stained wood table top appealed to me.

sure I get that. if you want the white wash look, do not use a wood stain. use a paint or a chalk paint to get the look. I posted one link for you above, others can be found on Pinterest. "how to white wash a pine desk".

Dulux Fossil grey

Enough grey, IMO. Since you have expresso and white, how about white with a color...do you have any color in the room? Or dark eggplant and white, or dark blue and white. And by the way if you are looking for a chalk type look, my painter told me that any latex paint can be made "chalky" by adding plaster. Haven't tried it, but it makes sense.

I painted some furniture flat, flat black and then waxed it and it came out really well.

And being a novice painter myself, I painted the furniture with Rustoleum (spelling?) spray and where it dripped I just wiped the drip off with a latex-gloved hand. Easy!!

i've made my own plenty of times. the best one is Behr (just get the little sample pot of whatever color you like) and Plaster of Paris (PP). the ratio to mix is 2 parts paint to 1 part PP. get a separate container and pour your paint in it. (tupperware or an old cottage cheese container is fine) then take your 1 part of PP powder and mix w/hot water until it's like pancake batter. pour the batter into the paint slowly while mixing. that's it. if you want it more chalky, add a bit more batter. apply one coat, let dry and lightly sand w/220 grit. wipe. apply 2nd coat, dry, lightly sand. coat w/clear wax or a poly.

Positron,,,this dresser I did was painted w/my own chalk paint.

1 sample pot of behr will be plenty to do that entire desk. HomeDepot also sells their own chalk paint, it's about 16-$20 or so. I haven't tried it. a sample pot is about $2.50 and a large bar of PP is about $9 you can make about 10-15 sample pots of chalk paint out of one PP box.

or, this also works well. order off Amazon. about $20 for the small size

Thanks, northface99! And oh my, Beth, that dresser is beautiful! While I wasn't necessarily going for the distressed look (I somehow feel I'll ruin it), that is a wonderful color combination. Everything else in the room is either espresso or white, with a beige carpet. Do you think the warm natural wood top would go along with everything?

you don't have to distress it. just paint with it and lightly sand. and yes,,,a warm wood top compliments everything. pick the same white you have elsewhere and use that. or, do you have any colors in the room? blue, green, yellow,,,etc? you could paint the base w/that one. Since pine is splotchy sometimes taking a stain, wipe it down w/a damp rag first,,,,then wipe on your stain. do a dark walnut color. Pine won't get super dark, so it's ok to pick a darker shade. or leave it natural. up to you.

No other color really. It's a pretty neutral room. I love the antique white and warm wood color combination. I'll go with that ( I will be making my own chalk paint using your suggestions, thank you so much!) and then post the pics once I have it ready. I'll be picking up the desk this weekend, and can't wait to get started on it :)

Go for it! I think white and wood will be great. Best not to have everything exactly match in any event. And have fun!

Hello everyone! I got the desk over the weekend and have lightly sanded it and filled the holes and other defects with wood filler. I also sealed the knots with Deft lacquer spray (since that was what the Home Depot guy recommended to seal the pine knots with). The problem is that there is some spray outside the knots as well that I tried to wipe away but still left some residue. The seal has dried now. Would this be a problem when I stain it? I've read that sealed wood doesn't take stain too well, and pine in general might take stain in blotches without prior wood conditioning. Is that correct? What would you suggest I do to address this? Will sanding the knots remove the lacquer (so I could stain it and then seal it), or should I use something else? Thanks so much!

lacquer spray? no. Shellac is what you need to seal the knots. sorry, but the salespeople at Home Depot don't know squat about finishing wood. Sand it down to bare wood, get the shellac or use the oil base primer from Zinsser (this is white so use it on the part you're painting)

and btw,,you stain first, then seal. once the wood is sealed, how will it accept stain? sand off whatever you put on, stain it, shellac it. don't listen to HD people. I gave you the steps above and showed you my work. You doubt me? lol

Thanks, Beth. No, I completely trust your advice. HD didn't have a clear shellac (they only had a gold-toned one) in stock so I guess they were trying to sell me something, and I was so excited to get started that I bought it... and now I have way more work than I had hoped for :/

Home depot has this. spray is easier. return the other one, tell them they screwed up and this is what you want. (try a different store or see if they have this spray. if not, amazon sell it)

pine knots will bleed through very easily. shellac and primer will usually seal them off. you may need a few coats. this stuff dries pretty fast. if you use the stuff in the can, it might take longer. thin it w/a bit of denatured alcohol if you use the canned shellac.

once dry, run you hand over it. if rough, give a fine once over w/320 grit.

Got the shellac spray in clear! I've sanded the lacquer down with a 100g sandpaper and then smoothed the entire surface with a 220g. I believe the wood is bare now. However, now there are white blotches around the knots where I ran the 100g. Will those be addressed when I stain the wood?

it looks like you just sprayed the stuff on the knots? why? it should have been stained first. now you've sanded only the spots and have removed the original stain from around the edges.

you will have to sand the entire thing to match the lighter parts of the wood. otherwise, the stain will take differently in those spots. do you have an orbital sander? use a 100, then 150 then a 220 grit. get it down to bare wood. now stain. let dry. if you are just staining the top, there is no need for the shellac. (it won't hurt it if you do use it, but it's not necessary) after staining you can apply your poly coat. anywhere you paint, with knots, will need shellac. the knots bleed through light colored paint

(BTW, when you apply the shellac, spray the entire top. not just the knots)

if you've already gotten that lacquer spray over those knots, it might not take any stain in the knot itself, unless you can sand all of it out of there.

pine is difficult to stain, so don't worry about it too much. sand it down so the bare spots blend in w/the wood around it. wipe it down with a damp rag (unless you have a wood pre-conditioner). the damp rag will wet the wood and prepare it for the stain. use a rag to wipe in the stain in direction w/the wood grain. wipe off excess within a minute or two. let dry

Thanks, I'll give it a try. I only sealed the knots because I wasn't sure if any other part of the surface would also leak sap. Clearly I'm new to all this.. :(

Alright. Sanded the tops down to bare wood and smoothed them out with 150 and 220g's. Didn't have an orbital sander so I (and hubby) had to use some elbow grease. Next step: paint or stain first?

Thinking of painting first.. probably that will be easier to clean up than once the tops are stained. Also, once the rest of the desk is painted, I could play around with the stain color to see the combination I like best. Thoughts?

Following. I’m so sick of my dark wood desk! Can’t wait to see how it turns out

looks great! nice job on sanding. I stain first. don't worry about paint getting on it because you'll put something over it to protect it. as the stain is drying completely, you can paint.

go ahead and do a pre conditioner before staining. pine can get blotchy.

if you don't have the conditioner, use a damp rag to slightly moisten the top (it will darken) . wait about 15 mins for the pre-stain to work.

After that time, run you hand over it. did it raise the grain? if so, do a very light quick sand w/a 220 or 320 to get the nubs down smooth again. wipe w/the damp cloth. now stain. I like to dip a rag in the stain and wipe in the direction of the grain. don't soak it,,,just put on a decent amount and wipe it in as you go. try to be consistent w/the entire top area. remember, pine gets blotchy. it can look like this picture if a proper 'pre-stain' isn't done. Pine is notorious for this.

You should only need one coat, so pick a color stain that you think is dark enough.

what stain brand are you using? and of the walnut shades, provincial, early american would look good. I don't care for Minwax, so use varathane or GenFinishes if poss.

Will you be doing the very top and inner cubbies too?

Thanks, Beth! I have the Minwax pre-stain conditioner. I'm using the Varathane wood stain in Natural. I'm thinking of keeping it light. And the cubbies will be painted Behr Antique White.

cool! if, after applying the Natural, you think it's too light, you can do a darker stain over the top of it.

The behr paint,,,,suggestion,,,I wouldn't use that if you don't have too. or are you using the 100% enamel meant for wood trim? Their regular paint is mostly meant for drywall and such. you want an acrylic paint for wood.

you can buy these in pint size. very nice to paint with and is perfect for your wood.

this is what their Antique White looks like on oak cabinets

Lol.. I think I got the wall paint! I mixed it with the plaster of Paris batter as you had suggested. Two coats done after light sanding. I was planning on applying a top coat on both the chalk paint and the stain.

oh,,,that's right! I forgot you were doing the chalk paint. that's fine. you're cool! my bad. that paint is fine once you mix w/the PP.

This is how it turned out to be. I used a hint of antique white stain blended with the natural stain to neutralize the yellow of the pine. Then finally used three coats of polycrylic on the paint and the stain.

came out so good! very nice job.