Fixing Paint Chips, Cracks, Scratches or Finishes on Furniture

Princess Three wanted this black and grey computer corner desk for a jewelry holder. I thought that would be great so we posted yesterday about how we did that. Here is a link to that post.  

I went to cover a few marks on the desk top and shelves with a black Sharpie and Princess Three told me not to do that as it shows up darker and a purple color. 

I was a bit unsure what she meant and asked to show her how I do it and have her show me what she didn't like about it. 

I found a scratch or ding as you can see in the second photo. I used the black Sharpie to put some ink over the hole as you can see in the third photo. I then take my finger and rub the spot quickly after using the Sharpie on it and wipe away the excess off the sides of the ding and you can see me doing that in the fourth picture. 


In the fifth photo, you can't see the Sharpie mark, the ding or any white mark. 

She was impressed with that and allowed me to continue with what I was doing by filling in the lighter spots on the desk top and other areas needing some fill. 

You can see in the next picture, that there was some water damage and there was a larger area that had little spots of black missing and lighter wood was showing through. 

Rather than filling in each dot, I just scribbled the area with the black Sharpie and rubbed with my finger and blended it in. You can see where it did a spot in the center of the lighter area. 

I left the darker picture up so you could see that when there is normal light, you really can't see the Sharpie markings. The picture where it is all filled in, you can see some of the markings but that is with bright light. In her room, without the flash, you can't see that it was filled in with markers. It looks great. The edges also needed it as they get bumped and dinged regularly. 

I also found this great waste basket or garbage can that I thought would be great upside down to hang necklaces off and with the small holes, it would hold a TON of little earrings. She didn't want it at first and I told her I could spray paint it darker and she decided she liked it green and wanted to keep it that way. 

If she didn't use it, we were going to thread some black ribbon through the little silver holes and hang it down to hang the little earrings off as they would be small and fall through the holes so any type of ribbon that is wide would work. 
 
Just push it through one of the holes and tie a knot in the back and hang the little earrings off the ribbon. Or, if you don't want the ribbon to show. Tape it to the back side of the little metal holes and pin the earrings through the holes into the ribbon and it would hold. It would make it look a bit neater than having the ribbon hanging. Either way would work. 


As for Princess Three, she wanted to use the bin right side up so she could throw odds and ends into the center of the basket.Such as large bangles or bracelets etc. 

I showed it upside down so you could see how it could work by hanging the necklaces off the ribs at the bottom. Fun either way! 


Totally Awesome Cleaner from the dollar store or Walmart took the Black Sharpie right off my finger with little residue but I wanted to mention that this works on any color of furniture or clothes that may have a scratch or bleach spot. The other day, I used a rust colored Sharpie to fill in a little bleached spot on Princess Four's pants. It worked well. I have used this trick since high school myself and it has worked for me. Here is a link to where I used it on my trailer. 


Sharpies are one of my favorite things. Just ask my children. I have more Sharpies than anyone I know. I make sure my kids have them when they go to college and Princess Five has several in her room and one in her back pack. It is one of life's necessities!

Oh, I also wanted to mention that you can screw cup hooks into the holes that are already there or you can screw them in wherever you want them to hang scarves, more jewelry etc off the sides and back. you can actually hang more pegs from the back and hang your larger hats, scarves, wigs or anything else you want to "hide" there in the back. It can do double duty that way. Have fun designing!