Be horrified with me.

[stephm0188]

[house]

Is that.. is that really a painted Duncan Phyfe??

[TBM]

:?

[stephm0188]

Drexel. New Travis Court, I assume.

[purrbox]

So sad.

[house]

My MIL has a beautiful dresser she had bought from an estate sale which were painted white. She had it restored back to it's original beauty. I will remember to take a pic next time I am there.

[stephm0188]

My grandmother's dining room set was this line, so I have sentimental attachment to it anyhow. We converted our dining room to a bar, so I have no need for this set.

I want it, though. I want to fix it.

[house]

And soon as you fix it up some one else will buy and repaint. LOL!

[munkii]

At least it wasn't painted with sharpie paint marker in a faux-roccan pattern. 

This is pretty terrible. 

[mrs.jacinthe]

Every once in a while I accidentally wander into a shabby chic shop masquerading as an antique shop and spend about 5 minutes wandering around exclaiming how horrible it is to ruin perfectly good furniture with intentially stupidly chippy paint. FURNITURE DOES NOT GET THAT DISTRESSED. STAHP.

That said, that set makes me sad.

[house]

Local Drexel gem: "Beautiful piece! We purchased at an estate auction an completely refinished it. Early 19th Century. Lighted, beveled glass shelving, cabinets with shelving, 3 drawers. Appraised at $2700. Asking $1100 obo."

[BAMFMrsB]

Mar 18, 2014 13:30:53 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

Every once in a while I accidentally wander into a shabby chic shop masquerading as an antique shop and spend about 5 minutes wandering around exclaiming how horrible it is to ruin perfectly good furniture with intentially stupidly chippy paint. FURNITURE DOES NOT GET THAT DISTRESSED. STAHP.

That said, that set makes me sad.

I am on the hunt for a good "vanity" for my MBR. We have the wall space, and my master Bath is so teeny that DH and I cannot be in there at the same time. Whatevs. It's a 2nd toilet, and a stall shower so wheeeeeeeeeeeeee for us, right? We're so FWP with that noise, I KNOWWWWWWWW.

Anyways, I took this pic last week while looking for something that will work for me. (not the seat, just the dresser)  It was painted in a pale, silvery grey and those drawer pulls are like faux tin. :-#  The white top was an odd paint choice. Almost chalky. But it was only $160ish. I figured I could fix it but DH was very "meh" on it, so I passed. It would have been a lot of elbow grease.


Attachment Deleted

FYI - I am tall and a tiny, classic vanity really won't work for my monster legs. So I'm hunting for a smaller desk and I'll add a mirror. Walla. Vanity.

[munkii]

Mar 18, 2014 13:43:55 GMT -5 house said:

Local Drexel gem: "Beautiful piece! We purchased at an estate auction an completely refinished it. Early 19th Century. Lighted, beveled glass shelving, cabinets with shelving, 3 drawers. Appraised at $2700. Asking $1100 obo."

I wish CL had the option of public comments and questions within a listing. That would be sooooo much better than emailing people; plus, you could call out crap like this.

"Um, I'm pretty sure it was appraised at $2700 BEFORE you ruined it with paint."

[auntie]

Mar 18, 2014 13:43:55 GMT -5 house said:

Local Drexel gem: "Beautiful piece! We purchased at an estate auction an completely refinished it. Early 19th Century. Lighted, beveled glass shelving, cabinets with shelving, 3 drawers. Appraised at $2700. Asking $1100 obo."

Sold to the idiot who believes there were electrically lit breakfronts in the early 1800's. 

[house]

munkii LOL! And auntie, isn't that piece more like from 1970s?

[auntie]

house

My aunt and uncle had that breakfront in their Italian provincial days in the early 70's. They also had a family room that had black wrought iron maces and swords on the wall. 

[house]

Mar 18, 2014 14:04:46 GMT -5 auntie said:

house

My aunt and uncle had that breakfront in their Italian provincial days in the early 70's. They also had a family room that had black wrought iron maces and swords on the wall. 

Haha.. well my older brother brought home a black wrought iron mace home from a garage sale. You should've seen my mom's face!

[bunnies]

I gotta admit, I like the painted furniture look, but only when it's on old beat up pieces where the wood is no longer nice. And I don't like the chalky paint distressed look I keep seeing everywhere, I like it solid in satin or semi gloss. Recently, I got two 1970s beat up nighstands on Craigslist that look awful, but once they're painted, I think will look great! ;-)

[sawyerthedestroyer]

Every time I see something like this on CL I just want to email them: "STAHP!"

[adhdfashion]

It's just so wrong. I don't understand why anyone cover up beautiful wood like that.

[house]

Another heart breaker </3 (wilted)

[pitterwoo]

Mar 18, 2014 20:23:43 GMT -5 house said:

Another heart breaker </3 (wilted)

Woah, that is baaaad!  That look terrible.  I feel a sense of pity for this piece.  As if it has been on a bender and needs to go to rehab.

[house]

They want $289 for it!

[peach]

Remind me never to show you guys what I do for a side job because I guess you would all hate me.

In my defense I take furniture that is badly damaged or already had a bad paint job and rescue it, but I love painted furniture and while I know not every thing needs to be painted and I certainly don't paint pieces with real value or that are beautiful as is - I like the look of painted furniture. And my clients like it too.

[heliocentric]

Meh. I had that same DR set. It was not a real Duncan Phyfe, but one of the numerous knockoffs. While it was fairly decent wood, it wasn't really that great. I didn't paint it, but I did consider painting the chairs and the legs of the table because it wasn't my style and we couldn't afford new furniture at the time. I eventually sold it and barely got anything for it because those sets are a dime a dozen in my area.

I guess I'm saying, it's not like that is some rare, super high quality piece. Why shouldn't people make it to their liking? (Unless it is a real Duncan Phyfe.)

But, I also painted some MCM dressers, too, that I'm sure the board would clutch their pearls over. (They were cheap and jacked up. Think of it as the IKEA of MCM.) I just don't think everything old & made of wood is necessarily nice.

I do agre that the paint job on that set looks terrible, though.

[auntie]

Mar 18, 2014 20:23:43 GMT -5 house said:

Another heart breaker </3 (wilted)

Just ghastly.

That doesn't even make sense.

I can totally embrace the patina of wear on a painted piece- like where years of sitting has worn the paint on my Hitchcock chairs along the edges. This is like the furniture version of acid washed and pre-torn jeans from Walmart vs a pair of 501s that has been loved for a decade- the wear isn't even in the places you would expect or make sense. To say nothing of the detail that furniture of that vintage was never painted.

[TBM]

Mar 19, 2014 0:36:20 GMT -5 peach said:

Remind me never to show you guys what I do for a side job because I guess you would all hate me.

In my defense I take furniture that is badly damaged or already had a bad paint job and rescue it, but I love painted furniture and while I know not every thing needs to be painted and I certainly don't paint pieces with real value or that are beautiful as is - I like the look of painted furniture. And my clients like it too.

You did show us some of your work, and it was very pretty.  I think even non painted furniture fans felt that you did a nice job and hadn't committed any mortal sins.


I love nice wood, I respect good craftsmanship and good design, but I do think some pieces look good painted.  Some pieces were meant to be painted.  It is the ones that weren't that make me sad.

I am tired of seeing pieces painted in a manor that does nothing to celebrate the piece, or that alternately holds no celebration of artistic expression.  I am just kind of over all of the 'paint everything white', or people who think that badly painted work is the same as 'aged', 'vintage' 'warmth' or 'shabby chic'.  I am tired of YHL and other bloggers leading the 'everything must be covered in paint' movement.  The painted pieces that I see that make me cringe seem like they have had the life and soul painted out of them.  On the other hand, the ones that I think look right still have that feeling of history and life, and seem to have been painted with respect....or even better, lovingly given a new finish.  I don't know how else to explain it.

 Do I think painting the table in OP was wrong?...yes.  Would I have felt as sad seeing it painted if it had been a black, red, another color  lacquer, or even a different white/sheen?...probably not.  That dresser on the other hand.....painting hardware white was an even worse decision than painting the furniture white.

[house]

peach I wouldn't hate you. Some pieces look good painted and some don't. This is a prime example and I love that the seller painted these and did an awesome job!

[msmerymac]

Did they paint over the hardware?!

I'm currently on a murderous rampage towards people who paint over hardware. May have something to do with trying to pry/unscrew a lot of painted-over curtain rod brackets from my dining room and living room trim last weekend.

[stephm0188]

Yes, the hardware was painted.

And I love painted furniture. Most of my stuff is painted vs stained. When done well, it's nice.

This was not done well.