Progress on the tanker desk has been slow. Now that summer has wrapped up, I’m hoping to have more time to devote to getting it finished. Finding the right paint has been the hangup.
The original plan was to paint the desk with Rust-Oleum Hammered Verde Green, which embodies the mid-century modern industrial look. As it turns out, there were supply chain issues during the COVID pandemic and it was eventually discontinued.
I moved on to Rust-Oleum Hammered Grey, but after painting a test piece, it was way too silver for my liking.
Next, I tried Krylon Matte Pale Sage. I probably could’ve lived with the color, but the finish was awful. Painting large, flat surfaces with spray paint can be tricky. Spray cans often sputter, leaving behind variations in the finish that look patchy and uneven.
If I was going to do this right, I needed to change my approach. So, I bought a Wagner Flexio 3500 HVLP sprayer. I also took one of the drawers to Lowes and had them run it through their scanner to try and match the original paint color as closely as possible. Rather than having a custom color, I chose Sherwin-Williams Night Owl, which was identical.
Let There Be Light
I also found a Dazor Model 1000 desk lamp on Facebook Marketplace. I’ve been rewatching Mad Men, and this was the lamp on every desk in the secretary pool during the first couple of seasons, back when they were still at the original Sterling-Cooper office.
Because I was spending so much time in the paint aisle at big box stores, I picked up some Rust-Oleum Venetian Bronze Metallic, which was a perfect match.
Finding the right fluorescent bulbs was another story. But it’s running now, and it’ll look right at home on the desk once that’s finished.
I’ll also post some better pics of the finished lamp.
