Two Tone Furniture: Barely Pink & Original Wood Finish

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This two tone furniture project combines the original wood finish and barely pink, almost white paint. The contrast is lovely. I wasn’t sure how  it would turn out but as I say, “You can always repaint”. This is a full project tutorial from cleaning to prepping to cleaning hardware to painting. Enjoy.

The chest of drawers has a slightly curved front, lovely details, and the original hardware.

This is how it looked before. I know a number of you wanted me to refinish the chest, no paint. There were too many issues with the finish so I decided to paint. Sorry.

The back of the chest was coming off and the staple gun didn’t do the trick so I had to pull out the drill and a few screws.

The chest was really stinky. There was a little bit of white mold in the drawers and the body of the chest. It must have been stored in a damp area. Some furniture odors I can deal with especially with these older pieces but not this odor. I vacuumed and cleaned with simple green but it still smelled. I placed all the pieces out in the sun for two days…and it still smelled.

Next I rubbed it down with vinegar. It still smelled only now it smelled like mold…..and vinegar.

My next option was to spray it with Febreze. I just started using this product recently with very good results as far as household odors. This isn’t a sponsored post for Febreze. I’m just sharing a product I love. I gets rid of odors in the air it doesn’t just cover them up.

So, “Why not try it on my furniture.” I had nothing to lose. I refused to paint the chest until I got rid of the odor. I sprayed the drawers and the body of the chest inside and out. Then I let it set for several days while I was out of town. It worked. The musty, moldy odor is gone.

Time to get to work. I primed the chest with Glidden Gripper Primer tinted gray. I thought the reddish wood finish might bleed through the paint but I didn’t notice any bleeding.

I filed several holes on the top with wood putty. One reason I didn’t consider refinishing the chest is because the top was laminated. Also someone had nailed the top down in places. That was the cause of most of the holes.

You guys know I’ve been trying to use the paint I have instead of buying new. I found the pink paint in my stash and it was a little too pinky pink. I added the off-white oops sample pot to the pink. The final paint finish is very, very, light pink or as I like to call it “Barely Pink”.

I applied one coat of primer and two coats of Barely Pink.

After painting it was time to work on the hardware. I pulled out the Bar Keepers Friend and the JTS (aka hubby, aka, Junktion Technical Specialist) cleaned the hardware. We tried Brasso first but that didn’t work at all.

I’m glad he did the job because it took a long while and a lot of patience. The hardware had aged well.

A toothbrush comes in handy for this job.

While he cleaned the brass hardware I shined the two top drawers with Howard’s Feed n Wax. The original finish on the small top drawers was basically scratch free. I wasn’t sure how the two tone furniture project would turn out but I could always paint the two drawers.

Next I distressed the paint by hand with 100 grit sandpaper. The distressing is very light and just on the raised details and edges of the drawers.

Once all the hardware was in place and all of the drawers I took a step back and smiled. Then I did the happy dance. I think the two tone furniture look works. At least for this piece.

The newly cleaned brass hardware is sooooo shiny! And the original wood finish pops against the barely pink paint.

It may be hard to see the pink tint of the paint in these photos. I should have held a bit of white paper up to the paint so you could see the contrast.

And that’s my project for today. What do you think? Should I have refinished it even with the laminated top and damaged areas or do you like the new look?

Let me know your thoughts and have a great day.

Click the links below to view products used in this project:
Bar Keepers Friend
Elmer’s Wood Filler
Sandpaper
Glidden Gripper Primer – Home Depot
Febreze – Linen
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