White board desk resurface

Before shots

Here are some before shots of the desk. I had already begun to lift up some of the laminate at this point.

Water damage and mold

Some of the mold from the water damage. I bought the desk like this so I figured why not fix it!

The mold runs up the entire side of the desk

The rounded edge of the desk was cut up and slightly raised when I bought it as well.

Some white paint that looks like it spilled on the inside of the desk as well. Again, there when I bought it.

Peeling off the laminate

This stuff came right off with a little pull.

Sanding the desk

I used a palm sander to take down the surface a bit. I used 40 grit to really take some of the top away, and then used 100 grit to give the surface a nice smooth finish for later.

Lining up the white board paneling

I lined up the paneling with the desk and traced underneath while someone held it for me.

Trace

Used Sharpie to trace the outside edges of the desk.

First cut

I thought the curve might be a little tricky, but I used a jigsaw and it turned out pretty well.

More cuts

Rough place on the top to see how it lines up. Looks decent!

The white board panel ending up chipping a decent amount, as you can see, off of the edges that I cut. I solved this by just going in a little tighter with my edge sanding later on.

Painting! First coat

I decided that I might as well make the whole desk look better, so I decided to paint it black!

I decided to use flat black spray paint.

Some runs!

Unfortunately I painted outside on a windy day and had to get really close to not waste too much. This resulted in a decent amount of runs.

Meh paint

Again, I had to get close a leave some iffy paint spots. I dealt with these with a sponge or by letting it dry and sanding off and reapplying in the garage, which worked fairly well.

Whiteboard is on!

After doing my second coat of paint in the garage, I used Liquid Nails to adhere the panel to the desk. Being a student, I also used the multitude of textbooks that my roommates and I have to evenly distribute weight so there would not be raised edges or bubbles.

Edge turned out well!

After some initial sanding, the edge wound up lining up great.

More desk feat. T-molding

The T-molding was the tough part of this desk, as I did not know how to finish the side edges. I decided to use the existing T-molding and repaint it using the same black paint. It initially turned out very runny sloppy, but similar to the desk, I sanded and reapplied in the garage and it turned out far better.

Finished shots

I really sanded down the edges to compensate for the chipping, but it turned out well in the end. I varied between 40 grit hand sanding and 100 grit palm and hand sanding.

I decided that having the paneling sit up from the existing edge/T-molding would be fine. Although I would have liked to cover the paneling, I think it looks great.

Back in the room!

Put the desk back in the room and it looks great! I've got some more white board on side of my desk for even more write-ability!

/r/battlestations?

Using the desk for its (new) purpose

Writing on the desk works great and is easily erasable as well.