Bedroom Set Gets Updated with Paint

High Boy Dresser
After Paint

High Boy Dresser
Before Paint

This was a well-made high boy dresser which was about fifty years old. It was one of three pieces of furniture in this bedroom set (four if you include the mirror, which is not pictured). This was the high boy, there was also a low dresser and a nightstand. 

My customer had wanted an updated look, so I recommended painting as opposed to refinishing it with stain. After showing her several paint samples, she did her own research and found a lovely neutral creamy beige color, which complemented the design of the furniture, bringing out the details.

Both dressers had plenty of drawers, which each had to be painted individually, thus removed from the dressers so they can be masked off and primed, then ultimately painted. We use a high quality paint that holds up well to daily usage. It’s on the costly side, but is well worth it. Painting requires a lot of prep work, so it’s better to use high quality paint. 

Low Dresser After
Painting

Low Dresser Before
Painting

All in all there were fifteen drawers to mask off. The reason for this masking is so that the non-painted portions of the drawers remain unpainted. 

Our customer had the foresight to label each drawer so that they are easily reinstalled into their proper places in the dressers. You’d think that you could put drawers anywhere within the same dresser, but that’s not always the case. There are times when the drawers only fit in one spot, so marking them ahead of time is a great idea. Just one of those little trick you pick up along the way. A couple of the drawers had lost their bottom tracking, so Jim reinstalled them so they once again worked properly.

Nightstand After

Nightstand Before

Since my customer had opted to use the same hardware, we cleaned them up on the polishing wheel. Since they were made of brass, they polished up nicely and looked great with the newly painted furniture. Brass polishes up great, but if it’s brass plated, using the wheel exposes only the steel, not the brass.

The finished bedroom set looked terrific once it was painted. As refinishers, we love working with “real” wood, because it refinishes much better than some of the newer products which are made nowadays. The wood made a half a century ago was made really well and if preserved properly, will last another half century or more. Antique furniture is by its nature made to last as generations of these special pieces have survived many decades of everyday use with minimum wear. But when they require refinishing or updating, we make it lovely again.

Waterfall Nightstand

Waterfall Nightstand Before

This adorable nightstand was the last piece of the waterfall collection of furniture which completed the bedroom set we refinished and restored. Unlike the art deco nightstand, this one was lightweight, with gorgeous woodgrain hiding beneath the watermarks and rings on the top and a few minor scratches on the sides. But it had great bones, so to do it justice, needed carefully detailed stripping. Because of the curved edge in the waterfall furniture style, refinishing is time consuming work, but well

Waterfall Nightstand After

worth it.

The grooves on the outer edges of this piece was where the old stain accumulated once stripper was applied so I used a wood carving tool and carefully scraped out all the extra gunk (that's what I call it!) This made it easier to sand and ultimately stain with the golden pecan stain I selected to match the other furniture in this set, which was a set of dressers a headboard and footboard.

This nightstand was my favorite piece because it was cute and tiny, thus easier to handle than the larger furniture items. I could pick it up and place it on my work table (saving my back in the process) so I could get a better look at the work that it required.

Mid Century End Table and Nightstands

Mid-Century Modern End Table Before

The desire for restoring mid-century modern furniture is quickly

Mid-Century Modern End Table After

on the rise with for people who enjoy quality furniture with the craftsmanship style popular 1940's and 1950's. This table had great form, was very sturdy and well structured,

Nightstand Gets Painted Eggshell

Nightstand After

Nightstand Before

This little nightstand was a job for a customer who wanted it to match her dressers, however, the end result didn't match so I suggested painting it. As a traditionalist, I normally lean toward refinishing wood, as opposed to painting it, but sometimes painting is a great solution. This was a great example of paint vs. stain, as the wood didn't accept the stain very well, thus making the wood a great deal darker and no longer matching the dressers. This is caused by absorption, which determines the wood's ability to take on the proper color. When I suggested painting the piece, my customer agreed and purchased an eggshell white that matched her bed. The bottom line was a great little table that received a coat of paint and a brand new look! Be open to your finishes, because you never know how great something will look until you try it!

Here's another nightstand we've painted: http://finalefurniture.blogspot.com/2013/11/nightstand-gets-facelift.html

Side Table Painted Yellow

Table Before

I'm always on the lookout for small tables. I find them to be universal and highly desirable, so when I came across this small cherry table at an estate sale, I knew I found a treasure. I overlooked its shabby facade and saw the potential beauty underneath. I especially liked the "webbed" shelving, which I thought was a great design feature. That it had a shallow drawer made it even more appealing, so I snatched it before someone else discovered it hidden in hidden in a corner of a bedroom.

Table After

All in all, it was in great shape, but the wood was not in the best condition, so I hand-sanded it smooth, then painted it a with Sherwin-Williams "Glisten Yellow" to match the dresser I'd recently finished. It proved to be a great color choice, because the soft butter yellow changed this table from shabby to chic. The brushed nickel knob completes this table's transformation...perfect table for a small room.

Table Before