Classic French Style Vanity Makeover

by Alchemy Home

This vintage writing desk/vanity was a Craigslist find! I very rarely paint furniture white, but this piece has such an elegant look that I really wanted to give it a classic, and neutral, new design. I failed on taking any real "before" pictures, but here's how it started:

classic vanity makeover, painted furniture

I began by painting the base in a shade of antique cream. Originally I was going to paint the entire piece, the top had a lot of discoloration, water rings, and two holes in the back where there used to be a mirror (you can see where I'd filled them in with some wood putty). However, as soon as I put the first two brush strokes on the top, I stopped and regrouped. The top of the piece has, what I believe to be, "curly maple" veneer, which is a type of wood that I don't find often (I actually had to google it to make sure that was the type!), and other than the cosmetic issues was in good shape- meaning the veneer was not peeling or chipped. So curiosity got the best of me, and I decided that I would strip it down and re-stain the top a little bit darker.

After some serious, and careful, sanding; I stained the top and it turned out gorgeous! I finished painting the base of the piece, then added some distressing around the edges, and a light touch of glaze to highlight some of the detailing.

Here's how she turned out! I also painted the inside of the drawers in a slightly darker shade of cream. Originally, I was taping off the drawers to do a cream stripe on the inside, but when I messed up the first piece of tape and pulled it off, it also pulled off a lot of the paint with it, giving it a gorgeous chippy finish! I actually liked the character it added, so I went ahead and did all of the drawers the same way and by happy accident they came out beautifully weathered.

As a final touch, I added some mint green bird silhouette stenciling on the inside of the top drawer:-)

This gorgeous piece is available for purchase in my Etsy shop... even though I keep thinking how nicely it would fit in our bedroom:-)

https://www.etsy.com/listing/186592561/french-country-vintage-desk-or-vanity?ref=shop_home_feat_2

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2 of 35 comments

Laurette on May 07, 2014
Really lovely!

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Gretchen Mercer on Feb 17, 2015
It is beautiful as a desk or a really nice vanity. Love it.

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