Painted Furniture--Vintage Secretary Major Makeover!

by Frankieb

$75.00

2 Weeks

Medium

I inherited from my mother an old secretary that she dearly loved. Not my taste but certainly had great sentimental value. However, it was too short to look proportionately correct in our home so I did a rebuild and finish change.

painted furniture vintage secretary major makeover , painted furniture

The piece was in three sections that were easily unscrewed so that was my first step. I wish that I had taken progress shots along the way but hopefully you can get the vision.

Second step was to design two new sections to increase the height which are the little drawers section just below doors and the bonnet just above the doors. I removed the split pediment and replaced it with the new section. I also removed the fretwork and glass from the doors and installed solid panels. I painted the entire piece in a water based gray green and finished with satin acrylic with a little steel wooling along the way.

This is a detail of the door with the decoupaged and aged paintings that I just laser printed and aged myself. I hand painted the swags and the gold wheat trim around the image. I applied some crackle medium and then water base acrylic clear finish over the whole door. I mixed a water based glaze and wiped over the the crackled clear finish and it collected in the cracks and gave it a translucent antiqued quality.

I found some decorative motifs in one of my books and handprinted the gold decoration on the slant top and drawer fronts.

detail pic of the drawers. I also replaced and aged the hardware.

This is a detail of the top section I built. The ornate crown moulding is actually a composite material trim I bought from a seconds store. The the appliqué I bought on the internet. Not crazy about that choice and would do some different if I had to do over.