French Nightstand Painted Provence

Furniture refinishing 24 comments

I found this nightstand and loved the shape, but especially the pulls! It obviously needed painting and the bottom drawer needed its stop reinstalled but other than that it was in good shape… but strangely heavy for its size!

BEFORE

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I hadn’t quite decided what I wanted to do with it yet, but I wanted to see if the top and drawer fronts were viable for stain… so I removed the old finish with 220 grit sandpaper, most of the original finish was already gone so this was a quick and easy process…

The top drawer has been sanded, the bottom drawer front stained in Dark Walnut Watco Oil.

Now onto the top… this is what it looked like before… not good right? Look closely at those two stains I’ve circled, they will come back to haunt me!

Look how beautiful it looks after sanding! It looks perfect doesn’t it? Can you still see those two stains, now in the top middle of the picture? They wouldn’t come out and darkened when I tried to stain the top. I’m pretty sure these are cigarette burns, but the piece doesn’t smell like smoke… any ideas?

So I had to move to option 2, paint the top, of course I should have primed it because even after 2 coats those stains kept showing through.. ARGH! So I had to sand down those little areas and apply a couple of coats of Kilz and then repaint to even up the finish… VERY frustrating!

Even though I was frustrated I love the end results! It is painted with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Provence…

AFTER

Blue painted French nightstand Provence chalk paint

I used some gold Rub-N-Buff on the highlights…

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I just cleaned up the hardware and used it as is… beautiful!

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I waxed the entire piece with Annie Sloan Clear wax, buffed it with 0000 steel wool and then shined it up with a soft cloth!

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I’m keeping this one and using it in my eldest daughter’s “new” room! I just love walking by her room and seeing it everyday!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time…

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Elizabeth & Co., Savvy Southern Style, Domestically Speaking, From My Front Porch to Yours, French Country Cottage, My Romantic Home, Redoux Interiors

24 comments

  2. I would look at that a lot too…it’s beautiful…..and perseverance won out…..i love the shine and the hardware and the contrast between the drawers and the case, & the gold touches really work. Well done. Did you find a key to fit the lock?

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  3. It looks beautiful! And I totally feel your pain. I went through the same thing today – stains that just wouldn’t quit!

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  4. I love this one!! and the top painted…looks even better. and love those handles. those crazy stains ugh. I’m dealing with a bad smell from my new little first painting job. a little chest with 5 drawers, I shellac’d all first then painted, waxed and buffed. after sitting for several days, omg it still smells that old smokey odor, so I painted all the drawers inside with kilz white. it still smells, yuck. no mood to everrr strip and start over. it may be
    in a garage sale soon. I remember one of your blogs, you had the same and all the extra work you did, ugh! I’m thinking patience..is the the key..and golly you have it! 🙂

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  8. I love your re-do. I have had a similar problem with
    stains. I also found that if I put Kilz on just the spots, it will
    show through ASCP. I once had to cover the whole surface then put
    on a few coats of chalk paint. I love Baroque Art gilding paste
    because it comes in so many different colours. Cathy

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  9. Oh Susan it turned out just beautiful – love how you highlighted the details!
    I’m working on a 80 year old mahogany dining room set – and the tannin stains are horrible on the chairs – 3 coats of shellac and they’re still bleeding through – shellac usually seals it up after one coat – now I’ve primed them with – we’ll see if that does the trick – really really frustrating!
    Hugs,
    Suzan

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    1. It seems like every piece I’m doing these days is bleeding! I have had to spray shellac everything! On one piece I used 2 coats of spray shellac and a coat of white primer… Finally no bleed through! I hope you can get yours to stop! Ugh…

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  10. visiting from Redoux. This is fabulous. My redoux was the same – started to do the final layer but no the stains showed through and had to do it all over again. I understand your frustration!!

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