Updated Oct 11, 2025 8:37 PM EDT
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Domino Shopping: Worth-It Deals, Editor Picks, and Gift Guides
Domino Shopping: Worth-It Deals, Editor Picks, and Gift Guides
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Once upon a time, a secretary desk was the spot where you sat down to settle bills or dash off a letter by hand. Today the stout, formal piece—cousin to the escritoire and the bureau—can feel a touch outdated. But don’t be fooled by all those drawers and doors: this hybrid desk-and-storage staple is remarkably practical for compact home offices, and it takes surprisingly little to make a tired one feel brand new.
When the pandemic hit, Jen Watkins-Smith (a sales manager by day, artist by night) had to convert her home art studio into a proper work-from-home setup, leaving her urgently in need of a spot to stash her supplies. “I wanted to keep the two spaces totally separate,” she says. So she began hunting for a solution on Facebook Marketplace. It wasn’t long before she spotted a worn, battered secretary listed for £30 (about $40). “The woman I bought it from received it from her parents back when she was a teenager in the early ’80s, before she headed off to university,” Watkins-Smith recalls. With her husband’s help, she transformed the dated piece into a sleek craft station in just two days, spending only £50 (roughly $65) on supplies. Now, at the end of each painting session, she can literally close up shop. Here’s how they pulled off the makeover.
The Prep Work
To prep the chest for painting, the couple wiped the whole piece down with a rag and a standard surface cleaner. Next they went over it lightly with fine sandpaper. Wherever they spotted gaps or dents, they filled them with a quick-drying wood filler, then sanded the surface once more until everything felt smooth to the touch.
The Paint
Watkins-Smith picked an interior wood-and-metal paint from Valspar in a shade called Baby Blues to complete the makeover. Since the original veneer was a darker walnut tone and the paint was quite light, they wound up applying three coats to cover the piece fully—but they kept the original brass drawer hardware to build in a bit of contrast.
The trickiest part was coating the slick hinges, which also needed a light sanding so the paint would actually adhere. “It’s nearly impossible to stop peeling and cracking when it’s being opened and closed that often,” she says. Knowing the piece will inevitably get splattered with oil pastels over the years, she decided to skip applying a sealer altogether.
The Reveal
The beauty of these compact but mighty storage units is the endless little nooks for stashing supplies. Watkins-Smith sorted her brushes, palette knives, small sketchbooks, and canvases, and used colorful acrylic containers to hold pens and oil paints—though you could easily recreate the same setup with everyday office supplies. Her advice for organizing such a tight area? “Think about the things you use most often and how to make them the most accessible.” When your entire office lives inside your desk, you barely have to move to reach what you need.
Lydia Geisel
Home Editor
Lydia Geisel has been part of the editorial team at Domino since 2017. These days she writes and edits home and renovation stories—house tours, before-and-afters, and DIYs—and leads the brand’s design news coverage. She lives in New York City.
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