SO, for now and until we buy our next house, we're stuck with this lovely bedroom suite. It was the first 'grown-up' furniture I bought for my first apartment after college. It was cheap and it is horrible.
And here are upclose shots of the brass accents.
But, oh no, they are not brass at all, but a plastic paper stuff that can be pulled off revealing a purple grayish piece of plastic. UGH...UHHGLY.
And here is the carve out where the plastic thingy can pull right out.
I've recently been thinking how in the world can I refinish this stuff to make it look updated. Afterall, it wouldn't be a complete waste of time if I made it look somewhat presentable as we could use it in a guest bedroom in our next house.
I've done google searches hoping to stumble onto a blog that has done this exact exercise, but have had no luck. I do have a couple of ideas, but I thought if I pushed it out there I bet I could get some of you really creative types to come up with something far better than I could ever come up with on my own.
SO, any suggestions? Any experience updating old cheap laquered furniture? I just can not bear to look at this stuff for much longer! You'll get street cred of course when the project is done!
Okay, this one's a challenge. You change the metal color of the "brass" strips, or did I understand right and they pull out? If they do, you have several options, like painting the whole white and detailing the furrows in another color, or running twine or cording in them as an accent.
ReplyDeleteThey have vaguely art deco lines, you could play that up. If they're still solid, they can be saved.
Hi Sunny, They do pull out. I like the ideas! Thanks for the suggestions. I've been thinking about things I could put in the furrows. And I think the hardware should definitely be changed out. My mom suggested veneers in a wood that matches our bed. Don't have a clue how to work with that stuff.
ReplyDeleteVeneer is easy! Depending on the thickness, you can cut it with scissors, so just make a pattern with newspaper first. There must be a TON of tutorials on the net.
ReplyDeleteI would just use BIN primer (it sticks to anything!) all over and paint it all with regular paint. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteHm. This one is a toughy. I would probably go with Sara's idea. The veneer would be cool, but it could take a lot of work with all those round areas. I think they could look pretty cool if you leave the brass inlays and paint the black areas white. Or, if you don't like the brass, you could paint those silver - which would also look great.
ReplyDeleteI was looking at these pieces last night and thinking how hard it may be to put veneer on all those rounded pieces. Other than the paint route (which I'd have to idea what color to go with since I'm positive we'll use these in a guest room at some point), the only other work around to make the veneer easier would be to first paint it to match the veneer and then do veneer panels on the larger flat surfaces. Thanks for the suggestions!! I'm still contemplating.
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