DUSTY PINK ANTIQUE CABINET

This Weeks Project

For Sale on: www.lepetitbijou.co.uk/showroom



Before

After


This dresser came from a house clearance of a French farm house, it was in a particularly sorry state, but even so I couldn't resist its charm.  However after getting started with the restoration I started to get doubts in my mind as to whether it was actually salvageable.  The base was completely eaten through by termites, woodworm, and wood rot, it just crumbled off in the hand.  There were numerous wood worm holes on the main structure, and after two hours of filling holes I was quickly loosing the will to transform this piece.

As always my faithful partner stepped in to give me that boost of motivation, and after rebuilding the base for me with new wood, I was feeling much more positive, and my inspiration had returned.

So now the dresser had been thoroughly treated against termites, woodworm and other nastiness, a new base fitted, all holes filled and sanded, and the old varnish sanded back to the bare wood, which revealed a beautiful natural colour.

 

This is where I step back, take a look at the blank canvas and decide what is going to happen next.  The wood was such a lovely colour, but there were far too many holes filled to leave it natural, It would just end up a bizarre spotted effect.  However the top surface did not have many markings, and after giving it a good polish with furniture wax it came up with a beautiful finish.  Now I just needed to find a colour to complement the wood finished top.

 

 

 

I find it very strange that in France they are not as keen as we are on painted furniture, and so we don't have the fabulous array of vintage and antique inspired paints that you can get in the UK.  So since restoring furniture in France I have acquired quite a knack for mixing the colour I imagine in my head.  This mix of rust red and ivory white paint gave me the deep pink magenta colour I was hoping for. All I had to do now was to give it that soft sheen wax finish that I love.  I mixed clear and dark wax to create a darker effect on the paint to give it a little aged look but keeping the modern chic feel.

 



...And so to give it that last finishing touch, my lovely assistant lined the inside with wall gold wallpaper that just so happened to have flowers of the exact matching colour I created for the exterior.  Wonderful!  I hope you like it as much as we do,

See more on www.lepetitbijou.co.uk