My Upcycled Dressing Table

Hello there!  Hope you are safe and well.  I'm sharing another upcycled furniture project today...

This dressing table was part of a bedroom set my parents received as a wedding gift in 1953.  It has definitely seen some service and has been in constant daily use since 1953! I didn't get a before picture, but it had definitely seen better days!  It was dark brown and definitely looking tatty!

I took it apart to work on and made a start on the white paint before under-painting some of the corners with blue, ready for a second (or was it third?) coat.

I decided on the top two drawers being blue... there is a lot of blue going on with these furniture projects at the moment!

And I just sanded the bottom two drawers.  This was a really quick job, as the varnish was over 60 years old and quite brittle (and worn away in places).  

I also sanded the frame of the mirror and the rather fancy posts which hold the mirror in place.

I was quite pleased with the mix of blue, white and old wood (apparently walnut).

You may recall the dog in the above picture, especially if you used to read this blog years ago - Quentin was a guide dog puppy who failed his training on grounds of his dodgy kneecaps!  He has grown into a happy, kind, gentle but still quite excitable family dog although he is much calmer than he used to be!  He photobombed this picture!!

I sanded back some of the white finish so that some blue paint and some of the old wood showed through.

I waxed the two large wooden drawers after sanding, which gave them a lovely smooth finish and will protect them.  I also waxed the paintwork - not sure how necessary that was, but it does give a lovely finish and is likely to protect the finish.

I'm really pleased with this dressing table, which of course has sentimental value (my mum used it daily for several decades before giving it to me) but is also a really well-made and sturdy piece of furniture which will now have a new lease of life - and may well last longer than I will (now there's a cheery thought!).  We really can't wait to move house now.  

We decided against taking this back upstairs to the bedroom - so it's still downstairs for now, surrounded by boxes until moving day!