Before & After: Say Hola to This Henredon Honey

published Oct 16, 2014
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(Image credit: Leslie Howard)

Leslie found this 1970’s Henredon Alvarado dresser at a thrift store. It was in perfect condition except for the “scraped, scratched, speckled yellow-brown sticky finish with the super-ugly, chunky pulls.” No problem, she could fix that.

(Image credit: Leslie Howard)

From Leslie:

It was a lot of work to update it, removing the gummy old finish, filling the old pull holes (18), and sanding carefully. I used an edgy eggplant color I mixed myself, with a satin topcoat. I spent weeks looking for the perfect hardware, which turned out to be these twisted pewter ring pulls. To enhance the Gothic trifoil motif, I had an online laser wood-cutting company make me quatrefoil medallions that I painted metallic pewter to go under the pulls for visual weight (they look like metal plates to me). Lastly, I painted the bottom strip under the molding the same metallic pewter as the quatrefoils.

I also took home and updated this dresser’s taller mate and gave it the same treatment! Double work, double reward. I think they are modern and dramatic. In the evenings, they appear almost black; when the room is sunny, the dark purple hue is warm and appealing.

See more at City Girl Arts.

Thank you Leslie!