Out bargain hunting last week, I found a beautiful old writing bureau, which I knew would be perfect for my daughter's bedroom, it's solid oak, well made but a bit dark and old fashioned looking...it was crying out for a makeover.
Before photo: We took off the ugly bars which were stuck on the drawers as handles and we noticed the original holes made for the drawer knobs.
We sanded the whole piece, first with a small sander and then by hand in the difficult areas. Wiped down to get rid of excess dust. We then gave it a healthy coat of undercoat primer for wood. I had thought of painting it Farrow and Ball's French Grey but my daughter wanted something light and not as grown as up that! We chose Farrow and Ball All White, and gave the bureau two coats.
Once dry, I sanded the edges by hand to give it a distressed look, in the areas where it would normally wear. The motive came out really nicely. We wiped it over with a damp cloth once again, and took a lint free cloth and rubbed in some natural antique wax all over the bureau. I think it came out quite well.
After photo:
I managed to buy six small drawer knobs off ebay - you can vaguely see from the photograph, they are round and look like daisies with a ring pull.
