A French Desk Worth Waiting For

Have you ever been blessed with an opportunity beyond your wildest dreams?  I was fortunate to spend the last week studying at Harvard! Yes, THE Harvard.  And yes, it was awesome.

While I was gone I sold a couple of pieces in the shop so I needed to finish up this desk and get it ready to sell.

I found this A.MAZ.ING desk at an auction.  

It had issues.

But it had character.

So I set out to give it a fresh look.

Inspired by a photo of a French chair in Annie Sloan's "Color Recipes for Painted Furniture," I painted it in Duck Egg.

I used a craft brush to get into the nooks and crannies around the ormolu, the brass trim on the legs.

I used some Brasso to brighten up the metal.

I sanded lightly and it was time to apply the wax.  

That's where I had some odd "issues."

Here's what the end of the desk looked like before I applied the wax.

 I used a wax brush to apply Briwax.  As I applied it, the wax seemed to remove the paint!  And here's the after. 

I kinda liked the effect so I went with it, but was wondering why it happened.  So I tried applying the wax with a cloth instead of the brush.  

Before:

After:

Same effect.  

But it seemed rather authentic.  I like it.

In the end, it's a show stopper!

She even looks good from the back!

I'm curious, though.

Have you ever had issues with the wax removing your paint?