Red is not an easy color of paint to work with. But by priming it with a primer tinted dark gray, that helped. Still it takes several coats to get a good finished red color. I chose Russian Red made by the brand of paint called, "Paint Couture!". Website: http://paintcouture.com/
I found it at a store in Raleigh, North Carolina, South of France Creative Furniture shop: http://www.southoffrancefurniture.com/

tuned out cute. nice job.

Wow. Thanks for showing us - I've been thinking about painting some furniture for awhile.
It's beautiful, the hardware looks better too. You must be exhausted.=0

I painted a chest red a few years back, it was tedious and time consuming. Something of this age looks better painted than in the original wood (of course my opinion!). Also makes it easier to work with the other woods in your home. You did a GREAT job!

splagna- yes, I agree it did show off the silver hardware very nicely. It was an easy project to do. I could have 'glazed' it also, using a dark glaze and wiping it off, it would have shown up the contours of the legs and brought out the grain lines of the wood.
Dytecture - the original had quite a few nicks and scratches through out the wood, and this painting hid them all. Thanks for your comments!

I do like the red! Thanks for sharing . . .

Totally cute for totally cheap! Really like this. :0)

Beautiful...love red furniture !

Luv the red!

Thanks, underedenx - I purchased the Paint Couture, Russian Red at this shop in Cary, NC: www.southoffrancefurniture.com

Sarabeth... I use and carry the entire Paint Couture!™ collection and have this suggestion for the future. As you already know, red is a tough color to get a good opaque coverage with. Using a grey or tinted primer does help reduce coats, but I've found that using a yellow tone (such as our color Spanish sunrise) as a base coat under our Russian red it will cover much easier and with fewer coats.
The desk looks fabulous, by the way!!!

Great color! Wonderful new look!

I do see a lot of nicks in the before. Very nice red, a lovely transformation.

Really nice.

It has a new lease on life! The piece is nice, but it looked very dated before. Good job! Nice colour choice as well!

Really nice & Love the color.

Really attractive. How did you apply the paint.

Changing the legs on this piece would have given it a really updated look there is a disconnect between the new pulls and the style of the legs, but very nice job.

I'd have thrown away the "before" piece as painting it wouldn't have crossed my mind. I consider it an almost impossible job to do. The new look is fantastic, it's like a completely different desk and I kindly disagree with the previous comment of changing the legs. Good job!

What work did the desk require before you painted it for the paint to bond?

That looks awesome! Good job ;-)

Nice job but I have had great success with chalk paint!! It did not take me 8 coats of paint wow a lot of layers, my opinion but sure is less work my way!!!

Love it! Turned out great! This inspires me to paint a tired-looking table.

How many quarts of paint to do this with 3 coats?

Beautiful and a great inspirational piece for figuring out how to fit a functional sewing station in a very small space.

Really? That was the best you could do?

I have a desk similar I was thinking of getting rid of or transforming. Right now it is painted black. That's a lot of paint layers. It looks great though.

Love that you opted for the simple and sophisticated solution. Yes, you could have glazed it. There are dozens of things you could have done, but here, using restraint shows that sometimes that cleanest path is the most effective. Love the color choice.

Transformed? I don't think so...

@janzupko I'm sure she barely used 1/4 of a quart.

Can't say it enough times. Transformation doesn't mean it has to be glazed, embossed, gilded, foiled, aged or distressed. Transformation can be subtle and sophisticated.

Love the red, very nice !

I believe it is Ethan Allen furniture. The handles have been changed too.