Antique Secretary Desk

I purchased this antique secretary desk 5 months ago, for myself. I was SO excited to get started! That excitement quickly turned to discouragement when I realized how much work it really needed, but months later. I am happy.

This piece had been sprayed (poorly) with a thick white lacquer that was chipping and peeling all over. The desk piece had nail polish stuck all over, and pieces that had been eaten by acetone. The top piece was broken off, and some pieces were in disrepair. It HAD to be stripped. We discovered layer, after layer of old paint. The stripping took a couple months. No lie. We stripped, and stripped, and stripped some more. What a nightmare!!!

After the all the many pieces (because there are many), were finally stripped it was time to paint. That's when we started having bleed through issues... Anyway, you get that this piece was a monster. All I can say is that it's a good thing it was for us, because I could never sell it for enough to make my time worth it. I am 40 hours in. I am not quite done, but I couldn't wait to share. I'll update the finishes when I get there. I just need to do another coat of stain on the desk top, and get the cubby insert done.

P.S. Here is the current state of the cubby... I don't even know for sure how to handle it!