apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Honestly I think the white chair idea just makes them look plastic next to the undid table... maybe if the table was painted a fun color or even black it would look nicer... it might just be the picture though.

the second one was a waste of beautiful wood. the after looks rather cheap and not very special.

the last one is a good example of when it is, in fact, a good idea to paint.

I love that red one so much; it looked fine but boring beforehand, but it's so sleek and modern-looking now.

the pink/red one is very fun, good job :)

Darn.
I was waiting to see what they did with the cat.

The white desk turned out beautifully!

Great post! I've got an awesome mid-century modern dresser that used to be aunt's. Several years ago I painted it bright red with an antiqued black finish. I've outgrown the red and was planning to just paint it all black, but I may take inspiration from this post and paint it a great blue to bring out the cool angles.

I agree about the second piece. Not sure why it needed to be matte white. It looks cheaper now. I also think a couple of the pieces shown would've been better served if they'd been stained rather than painted a bright color.

I'm bothered a bit by the blue dresser. The original wood had a lot of variation in the wood tones. The blue is ok, but I miss the depth of color that the wood variations gave -- maybe if the blue had some subtle antiquing at the edges in a darker tone or something and didn't look so flat, it would seem richer. Or if it had been stained rather than painted, maybe...

The white asian desk looks so lovely white! It looked kinda cheap before.

My favorite is the pink- but what is that big black thing in the middle of it? They chose a weird shade of blue for the first thing- not pigmented enough or something...the asian desk would have looked better in red, and the last one, the nightstand, is way too big for that space, and the top could definitely be "re-styled"...also, as for the dining room chairs, they should have left them alone and painted that table!

I dont like to paint wooden funiture...ike to leave them the "wood" color..makes them more classy that way...paint makes them look like cheap plastic :(

The second paint over piece is the worst, such a waste of detail! Totally agree with the white matte makes it look cheap comments. It went from an interesting oriental piece to a cheap looking desk that emphasizes the bland nature of everything around it. Downgrade.

I agree with others about the desk--looks much better before than after.

I have questions about each effort but the last. I think the last piece was something that was crying out for care, and came out looking like a beloved old chest. I would have used a more creamy-looking paint to acknowledge the piece was time-worn.

I wasn't too enthusiastic about the fourth effort. I'm not sure what I would have done, but it wouldn't have been fuschia with black and white scallops on the recessed parts of the piece. It might have been better if they really wanted to go with the fuschia, they still could have used the glossy black on the wide bottom shelf, but painted the recessed area a slightly less infused color of the fuschia and relied on the contents of the shelves to add interest.