Hi Guys! Today I’m bringing you a post on this awesome vintage Art Deco Dresser I found on a local garage sale page. I don’t have any before photos to share with you, but if you have ever seen original Art Deco furniture, you pretty much have the idea. It was all covered in this weird paper laminate made to look like dark wood.
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One of my favorite things about Deco furniture is that it has it’s own fancy flair. It’s very reminiscent of the 40’s when people were trying to modernize their furniture style but it hadn’t quite evolved into Mid Century Modern style furniture. In some ways, Deco furniture reminds me of the mobster Cadillacs in those black and white movies. Awesome curves, straight lines where it counts and a touch of beautiful trim.
I went through many visions trying to figure out how I wanted to paint this. But ultimately I settled on General Finishes “Antique White” for the base, and their “Antique Walnut” Gel Stain for the drawers. I also sealed everything with about 4 coats of High Performance Top Coat in “Satin” making sure to wait 72 hours before applying the poly to the drawers.
Although the drawers were covered in that weird paper veneer, we were able to sand it off to reveal a soft wood underneath. I personally do not like staining soft wood, just because it’s unpredictable in how it will absorb and if you are using a really dark stain, it could just absorb it completely adding blotchy spots like you see in the drawers. At this point, I still wanted stained drawers and decided to go with it. I was going for an “old world” theme, so it works out in adding a little age and character to the drawers. As for the hardware, the dingy black pulls just needed some gold paint to make them look good.
I’d found this cute world map wrapping paper that I had been saving for the right piece about a year back. What better way than to go “old world” than by being literal? đ Hope you guys enjoyed this post!
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