Meet Antoinette

A friend of my brother’s was generous enough to donate this piece of furniture she was no longer using to the LCH Interiors cause.

It had some water marks on the top and the dark lacquer finish was seriously dating this otherwise perfectly nice and functional vanity. Upon further investigation, I discovered that it is a Drexel Heritage piece made from solid Mahogany. Oh jackpot. I think I heard the angels singing. I knew with some elbow grease and paint, I could update the piece to give it a timeless, classic feel that would work in any room.

I started by completely stripping the top with 80 grit sandpaper, followed by 120 then 400.

The natural mahogany was GORGEOUS. I don’t think I’d ever worked with anything this nice. As much as I’m going to get some flack for painting the rest of this piece, I would have needed a sandblaster room to strip the finish completely off the whole thing. So I decided to paint the bottom half and refinish the top. Besides being a more practical choice, the paint also lends itself to the more modern feel I was going for.

I painted the drawers in SW Worldly Gray and the rest of the piece in SW Dovetail Gray. Yes, I’m recycling colors (also seen on Beatrice and William). Those quarts go far! It took 3 coats to cover the old red stain completely. Oh, and I didn’t prime- in fact, I almost never prime anymore. Light sanding, 3 thin coats, and wax hold up very well on their own. I applied Teak Oil to the top to bring out the natural hues.

After letting the Teak Oil cure for 48 hours, I applied 3 coats of Minwax Natural Paste Wax. On the bottom half, I sanded the edges of the drawers to bring out the detail. I was careful to not take it over the edge- think Pottery Barn rather than Shabby Chic.

The original hardware (although not my usual taste) was a perfect fit for the new color and style. All I did was wash it with soap and water and re-install it. I didn’t use any glaze on this piece, wax was enough to bring out the beautiful tone of the mahogany on the edges.