Before & After: A Painted Credenza Gets Some Drawer Drama
If you’ve ever come across a painted wood storage piece and wondered how you could restore it to the naturally beautiful look of wood and do something fresh and unique to it, you’ll find inspiration in this credenza Martha got creative with.
From Martha:
The original finish on this piece was a fading white with many scratches all over it. As I considered renovating this piece, I imagined a fluid asymmetrical design washing across this piece in analogous shades of muted reds and oranges. The plan changed when I sat in front of the piece, staring at its lines. A decision was made. Instead of contrasting its modular design with curvy fluid shapes, I embraced what was already there and simply emphasized the original design with three neutral colors.
From my experience with mid-century pieces, I knew the wood underneath the paint was beautiful so I resolved to work on a design that would highlight the beautiful natural wood veneers that are found on so many mid-century pieces.
The original idea was to balance dark and light stain in an asymmetrical design. I numbered the drawers and placed them on the floor for staining. After the piece was completed, I inserted them into the dresser only to find out that the middle left and right drawers were switched by mistake!
Mistakes are opportunities (I know… a cliche… but true). Instead of resanding and restaining those two drawers, I switched them and liked the modular feel of the finished piece.
Thank you Martha! See more on Martha’s blog.