I Will Never Think Badly Of You Again...

...I'm talking to all of the French Provincial pieces of furniture I tend to just walk right past.  I am over it.  I will not snub you nor think that you are a horrible style of furniture.  I will not cringe every time I drive by a local business and picture that there is a room full of you looking so ugly in their lobby.  On second thought, I might still do that because if memory serves me correctly, the couches/chairs in that collection might have plastic on their cushions.  I'm getting the heebie jeebies just thinking of getting stopped at that light knowing you are behind that glass door.  Yes, French Provincial furniture, I will be kind to you and know that there is hope for what I perceived as your incurable ugliness.  For THAT, you can thank Sheila at Furniture Alchemy.

Sheila was asked by a client to find her a piece of furniture for her baby's nursery.  The client lives in a tiny townhouse in D.C. so she wanted something with legs for an airier feel and for it not to be too wide.  Sheila found this very well loved dresser at a thrift store.

Check that picture out!  Look at it.  It definitely needed some work.  

Sheila and her client took about a month to come up with the design.  The original idea was to strip the drawers, re-stain them, and then paint the rest.  Once Sheila stripped the drawers she realized only the top drawer was solid wood, the bottom two were a composite wood.  The next plan was to put a wood veneer on the bottom two drawers, but they had such a hard time matching the top drawer that idea was scrapped as well.

Back to square one they went.  They opted to paint it all.  Sheila used Annie Sloan  "Old White" and a custom shade of green achieved by mixing "English Yellow" with "Antibes Green".   She decided to make up for the yucky composite wood drawers not being what they thought*, by incorporating lots of detail.  She painted flowers on the original hardware in the green and did a chevron stencil on the side panels of all of the drawers.

(*See!  I think that's part of my problem with French Provincial style furniture.  It's trying to be something it's not!  Fake wood drawers and an uppity "look at my gold trim"  finish!  Most of it's not even MADE in France!  I'd venture a guess that 99% of the French Provincial furniture in the USA has NEVER EVEN HEARD of France let alone BEEN there!  I hate fake pretenses.) 

Done with my rant...onto the reveal...

 

And the inside...

 

You, my dear little dresser, are lovely.  I would scoop YOU up and take you home with me.  Isn't it awesome looking??  

You can visit with Sheila and see more of her work on her Furniture Alchemy Facebook Page.  Let her know you saw her on Furniture Flippin'.  You can also follow her on her Furniture Alchemy Blog.  To own a piece of her work yourself, please visit the Furniture Alchemy Etsy Store.

Thanks Sheila for sharing your spectacular furniture flip!  Now, please grab your brushes & paint and meet me at the corner of P--- and H------ Streets.  We've got a room full of French Provincial furniture to flip.  We just don't have the owners permission.  So, wear your runnin' shoes lady!  We're gonna have to be quick!