Sometimes pieces are tricky. A lot of times, they need a little extra love.

The two pieces I recently redesigned show that refinishing furniture takes some prep work, skill, care and a lot of love. But they also show how beautiful vintage, solid wood pieces can be when given a new life.

This mirror was dirty. And it had a lot of detail. I needed to use both a toothbrush and a Q-tip to clean into all the deep details. It was time consuming. It also started to bleed through the first coat of paint so I had to seal it with shellac. Then it took four coats of paint to cover the dark wood.

But in the end it turned out beautifully. The distressed details are gorgeous against the General Finishes Snow White milk paint. My photos don’t do it justice. My client, Cristina,  will be hanging this mirror in her powder room. (It was her husband’s grandmother’s mirror, by the way.)

The second tricky piece was this nightstand that goes with the dresser I painted this summer. It was in good condition but the top needed to be shellacked because some odd circles were coming thru the paint.

As always, the General Finishes Queenstown Gray is a beautiful deep grey that looks lovely against the distressed original wood.

The original brass hardware was slightly cleaned, keeping some of their original patina.

And the drawers were lined with Spoonflower paper. (*The photos above best represent the paint color. The photo below is a little too washed out.*)

Thank you to both Cristina and Paola for allowing me to update these pieces for you. And a sincere thanks to all of you that follow my work here on WordPress, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. I do hope you see how much love and care I put into each piece and that these antiques can be beautiful, unique additions to your home.

… Kristin