Friday, June 17, 2011

~ The Decorated House - Blue French Provincial Nightstands - Makeover

Revisting the French Nightstand Makeover ~
I
t all began before Sweet Daughter even purchased her home. We shopped a little here and there for at least a year, or two, ahead of time. Setting up a new nest can be expensive and this certainly helped. For Christmas or birthdays she would often ask for things for her one day home and she kept a list of things she would need. When we found a pretty blue and brown comforter set and put it away. That is one of her pillows and the pillow sham in the first picture.

Although blues are beautiful, Sweet Daughter was not that excited about my painting her nightstands blue. She thought black would be just fine. And I'm sure I'll paint them black or white ..... one day. Of course the obvious thing was to paint them white. The bedding has been in her room for a little over a year, so she might want to change things out in another year, and of course since she purchased her home, her rescue lab puppy has arrived in the meantime. But you know he is not allowed on the bed, right? I think Saturday & Sunday's are days of clemency. Sssshhh.... he's not supposed to know.

{Edit: 2011. Cody Puppy is a bit calmer, and now has his own coverlet and is allowed on the bed at his other house. And although he's worth it, he still doesn't get on the Nana's bed. :) }

You've seen this type of nightstand so many times at garage sales, consignment shops and flea markets I'm sure. I did too, unless I was looking for them. Then it seemed they were much harder to find. It was especially difficult to find ones that someone had not already sprayed white including the drawer pulls and marked up quite a bit.


This worked out great! I bought a set that had the nightstands, a headboard & footboard, and 2 different sizes of dressers. Both of the dressers are smaller ones which is perfect for what I needed. She got the nightstands and headboard, and I took the dressers. One of which will be the same Tiffany blue as the other painted one.

The tops looked more like a formica surface than just wood, and was a bit slick. So I sanded them lightly and painted with a white primer so the paint would adhere, and last longer.

(Edit: 2011 These were painted before the blogworld explosion of chalk paint use on furniture. I have not tried it on this type of shiny top surface, but would have been happy if I had that paint when these were painted.)


The only problem I had with this project was the fact that Sweet Daughter's light is quite different in her bedroom than it was in my living room where I painted the nightstands. I don't recall ever having furniture "change" colors on me as much as this blue did. But this was the first time I was so sure of the color and then found it was different at another location.

They appear more blue at her house. Even though they look so good, I used to think I would sneak over there one day and add a touch more green to the blue. But not yet. She might want something else entirely one day anyway.

The drawer pulls were a more simple design than the last ones, and she asked for them to be in a similar finish as her curtain rod. So they were painted with a dull dark pewter metal spray paint and then gold Treasure Gold (rub n buff type product) was added to the top.

It seems like there was a period when we saw more of the French Provincial furniture painted blue. But I haven't seen any in a long time. So this seems kind of new and fresh. I think my daughter is just happy to have something to put the clock on! (Edit: 2011, sure seems like a lot more blue going on since the chalk paint arrived!)

  1. Sand lightly as needed.
  2. Prime if any surface is slick or you need to cover up old paint.
  3. Paint in color of your choice. Slate Blue in this case.
  4. I repainted the gold to a softer, more aged gold. (Looks a lot brighter in that last photo than it is in real life. It is a very aged looking gold.)
  5. Add as much aging as you wish. I kept this very light handed, and just added a bit of burnt sienna brown to the top and wiped it off. Leaving more at the edges.
  6. Topcoated just the very top with a wipe-on polyurethane.
  7. Added one coat of paste wax on top and buffed.
Happy Weekend!
See Y'All Soon
Donna

See lots of painted makeover treasures for this week at
Miss Mustard Seed's blog.

28 comments:

  1. I NEED those night stands ~ they are beautiful!

    Jo

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  2. Great post and you did a wonderful job on those nightstands. Just beautiful!

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  3. Oh, I think they are wonderful and the color is gorgeous. What a great find and I really like the gold detail that you gave the furniture. Just so pretty. Hugs, Marty

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  4. Oh, Donna, those turned out fabulous! I think they are perfecto just the way they are. You are such an artist and your daughter must be thrilled with them. I always love looking at your creations. :)

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  5. Well, I am not disappointed, Donna! These are even more beautiful than I imagined. Yes, you used to see that furniture everywhere. Love them! Any time you might be visiting my area you are welcome to come by and paint my furniture!

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  6. They look beautiful! You did a wonderful job! I have this same furniture in my bedroom and I painted it cottage white. I didn't even think about blue and gold! It is beautiful!

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  7. I ADORE your blog. I LOVE to decorate, paint, sew, etc and I did a little happy dance when I found your blog. YAY!

    Found your blog on the 2009 One World One Heart Giveaway list. I'm "Bon Blogging", a self-guided search through the OWOH list of 911 blogs in 90 days--inspired by watching the Julia/Julie movie. Come visit my blog
    www.thehousemysteries.typepad.com.
    I write mysteries and make jewelry.
    My mystery features a Madame President and is available on Amazon.

    I'm going to add your blog to my blogs I follow list and will comment on it in my FACEBOOK posts tonight.

    Do come visit me!

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  8. Beautiful, just beautiful!

    XXDenise

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  9. I agree with Kathy. Past tense, I haven't seen those in a long time. Yours turned out wonderful...now that you have shown the world how great they can be, we will probably never get our hands on any. :)
    I look for that furniture all the time.
    I love your blog...I am putting you on my blog roll. Glad I found you.
    Lee from
    Inspired Comblogulations
    Le Shiloh Shabby Chateau and
    Beloved Paintings

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  10. They turned out just Gorgeous!! Wish they were coming to my home!
    Nancy
    www.coeurdalenegifts.com
    coeurdalenegifts.blogspot.com

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  11. Thank you for taking the time to comment! This was a fun project to share. Donna

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  12. Those are beautiful....hmmm..blue. You're giving me ideas.

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  13. Bellissima!!!
    (my new word)

    SO beautiful Donners - oh SO SO beautiful! Your sweet girl is very lucky to have such a talented mama!!!

    Love these and all of your tutorials that you have shared... now if only I had your talent AND patience!

    Love,
    Kim

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  14. THAT BLUE IS A FAVORITE COLOR OF MINE. YOU DID A WONDERFUL JOB, THEY ARE LOVELY!

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  15. Those turned out just beautiful! They look very hip and fresh! I'm sure your daughter is more than thrilled!

    Manuela

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  16. Beautiful, not sure how I found your blog but you have great taste. Is there a place where we can see larger pictures of your kitchen etc.. In your header.. Love it all.
    Blessings.

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  17. Katie,
    If you do a search on the blog for "kitchen" you will get more pictures.
    This is the link to the search.
    http://thedecoratedhouse.blogspot.com/search/label/1a.%20%20Kitchen

    Thank you again for all the comments on the nightstands. Sweet Daughter is so happy to have them. But I am still bugged by the slight difference in color. :)

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  18. Love the color! You did a wonderful job.

    These dixie dressers are so pretty. I bought one dresser and then hunted around to find the exact same dresser, because these old sets are usually sold with one nightstand a bed and a desk... I thought you might be interested to see what I did with the same exact dressers. I love what you did, it is a totally different take.

    Here is the link

    http://paintedfurnitureonline.com/archives/faux-burl-chest

    I will surely have to check back to your blog more often!

    Blessings!!

    Meranda

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  19. Wow, those turned out great! What kind of gold paint did you use? Must have a very steady hand, very nice!

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  20. I am desperately trying to find replacement drawer pulls (the simpler style) for a vintage Dixie dresser and am having no luck. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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  21. Christina I didn't have any way to send you a note so I hope you stop back by. Although I did not find any pulls that are exactly like the ones on my Dixie furniture, I did find a set of more simple pulls on Etsy. I was just lucky when I need one of the fancier ones and found 2 on Ebay.
    Good Luck, Donna

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  22. Found your post on Miss Mustard seed today. I too have seen lots of these French provencial furniture sets. I've been thinking of buying some for a makeover but my backlog of to-be-painted pieces is too large at the moment. Thanks for sharing!

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  23. Love what you did with these. I have a similar set that I have considered re-doing.

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  24. They look fabulous...great job!!

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  25. Gosh... you are so brave and talented. My daughter has a bedroom set almost the same style.. it was mine when I was growing up. I really think it looks much better with your color! :-)

    Debra

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  26. These have inspired me! I am painting furniture in my bedroom right now black...two of the pieces are candidates for the gold painted trim. What type of gold paint do you use? Where would the place to look, craft store? I will be searching also for hardware replacements on line, your work is lovely! Thank you so much for sharing your talent and inspiring. Blessings to you :)

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Donna