Upcycling is my middle name.

I found these adorable roughed up school desks on craigslist. The hubs saw them for what they were... I saw them for what they could be! 

First step was sanding. I have heard horror stories about sanding but I actually don't really mind it and I don't really do a good job at it either; since I was painting not staining, it didn't matter.  Just roughed it up a bit so the paint would stick. The only thing I know about sanding is go WITH the grain of the wood, so do that.  Once I sanded the top, poorly as you can tell, I liked the old, beat up, worn out look so much I decided to keep it.

Secondly, I painted three coats of both the white and the blue with a foam brush. I like foam better vs. bristle  because it doesn't leave as many brush strokes in the paint.

Once it was dry I measured the contact paper, simply by using regular printer paper taped together( to make it long enough to cover the area) and held it up to the piece to be covered and pressing/ folding the paper to leave the outline. I cut out the paper and used it as a template on the contact paper. Then it was just a matter of applying the contact paper and decals for the name-- as my 5 year old would say "easy, peasy, lemon squeezy".

With some paint leftover from another upcycle, cutesy alphabet decals and chevron contact paper from Amazon.com ( craigslist+upcycle+amazon = my heart is racing!) this little school desk looks pretty chipper if you ask me, even the hubs agrees --or maybe he is just happy to have his garage back....:)