Saturday, April 20, 2013

A Two-Tone Furniture Craze.

I'm going to hell. The special place reserved for people who willingly take away the natural beauty of a {nearly} pristine piece of antique furniture. I painted a dresser that didn't need paint. Here is what I keep telling myself to justify my sins:  "It was just sitting there, all lonely in the store, with no one to take it home and love it.  You were just helping it find a home."

It's true. And perhaps I feel slightly less guilty because this painted piece looks absolutely incredible. Different from some of the other styles we've done, it's a little chippier, a little more distressed, and a lot more full of character!

We're on a two-tone craze with our furniture these days. Chad picked out the colors/design on this guy - it's similar coloring to the primitive piece we use at home as our TV stand. The lines were so different than our own piece though, that I wasn't sold on the color choices. But, because I love him, and I realize that sometimes my ideas aren't the ONLY good ideas, I went with it. Aaaaaaand, I love it. We love it. It's perfect, and amazing, and beautiful, and I want to keep it. We need a bigger house.

I didn't take any before shots. Trust me, you don't want to see them. Just know this:  There was some slight veneer chipping all around. One of the drawer fronts had a crack through the veneer, and at one point, the entire side of this guy was repaired, and the innards of the bottom drawer replaced. Yes, I'm still justifying....

Without further ado, here he is:







He's painted in our own specially-created version of turquoise {color matched to a clock we bought to match our favorite custom-made curtain panels}, a creamy grayish-white on the drawers, and all finished with clear and dark wax to seal it up and make it buttery soft and smooth.

Do you love the two-tone look as much as we do? What color combos would you like to see on an old empire-style dresser in the future?

4 comments:

  1. Please tell me more about the wax.

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    1. Hi Virgina! We use a clear wax, and a dark wax by Annie Sloan. There are a few places in Minneapolis that sell it, or you can order it online. It's not cheap, but lasts a long time. After it's applied to a furniture piece over a chalk paint, it dries, is buffed, and creates a really solid, smooth surface - similar to putting a matte-finish polyurethane over paint, but works best with chalk paint.

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  2. You fixed it? Still looks like garbage.

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    1. Thanks for the feedback! {and the reminder not to allow Anonymous comments!} We always welcome constructive {not to be confused with destructive} feedback, but find that the most helpful constructive feedback comes from those confident enough to stand behind it with a name.

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