A fabulous makeover of a French Provincial dresser!
The one piece of furniture in our home that gets the most attention and comments has to be the blue French Provincial dresser in our kitchen/breakfast room.
When it was featured in the French Magazine, Shabby Style, the writer described it as a “Louis XV commode”, which made me smile.
It just proves that you can add french style to your home without spending hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars to get it.
Our “Louis XV Commode” is a piece of furniture that was salvaged from a 1950’s french provincial bedroom set.
When we were renovating the kitchen/breakfast room area, we took down a wall to open up the kitchen, which resulted in one long wall between the family room and the formal dining room.
I had envisioned a long, french style buffet there, and knew that a french provincial dresser would work perfectly. Unfortunately, all the dressers that I found were too short for this long wall.
Fortunately, patience paid off when I found the perfect piece at an estate sale.
It had beautiful curved legs with lots of drawers for extra storage. Plus it was 72″ long, making it the perfect size for the wall.
This was a dresser that originally belonged to a french provincial bedroom set. It dated to the 1950’s and had a “golden oak” finish.
I knew I would be painting it, so I didn’t care what kind of finish it had.
We ended up buying it for $79.00 and hauled it home, storing it in the garage for the eight months that it took us to renovate the kitchen.
I knew that I wanted it to be finished in a “frenchy” blue color with lots of depth to the paint.
If you want to achieve depth to your painted furniture, you can’t just slap one coat of paint on and that be it.
You need to layer colors, using some for shadowing, others for highlighting, giving the end result of a deeper, aged over time look.
I ended up layering five colors on this buffet, starting with the base color of Annie Sloan chalk paint in Aubusson Blue.
Once it was dry, I gave it a wash of ASCP Provence.
To make a wash, just add some water to the paint to make it a bit thinner. You still want to see the base color through it. I usually brush a wash on, working in sections, and then wipe some of it back off with a soft cloth.
After the wash of Provence dried, I then added a wash of ASCP Duck Egg, again taking a dry soft cloth and wiping back some of the paint as I went.
After the Duck Egg was dry, I dry brushed a coat of ASCP French Linen for some shadowing, especially in the recessed areas.
The final coat was dry brushing ASCP Paris Gray over the details of the wood as a highlight.
To do a dry brush coat, just slightly dip your brush in the paint, and wipe off the excess so there’s not much paint on the brush.
Be prepared for the “ugly stage” while you’re doing all of this. Hubby walked by as I was into the second wash and said, “Are you leaving it like that?” Um…..no.
Once the dresser was completely dry, I lightly distressed.
You can use a fine grit sanding block, but my favorite way to distress furniture is just get an old “nubby” wash cloth, make sure it’s wet, but well wrung out, and use it to remove the paint where you want it.
It’s a lot less messy than sanding.
Because the original finish had a golden finish, it added some wonderful highlights.
My final application is applying my homemade glaze into the nooks and crannies and anyplace that I want a bit of antiquing or shadowing.
The final step is waxing with a clear wax. I apply the clear wax with a soft cloth, like an old t-shirt, and “massage” it into the wood.
After waxing, I let the dresser cure for 24 hours and then I buffed it with a soft cloth.
I put the original hardware back on it, because the old brass had some wonderful patina.
I love the way our “Louis XV” commode turned out, and it fits perfectly on the large wall.
It’s turned into the centerpiece when you walk into our kitchen door.
This is the one piece of furniture that always gets decorated for different seasons and holidays.
The French Provincial bedroom dresser has a new life…as a French Louis XV Commode!
Cheers, Cindy
Have always loved this French piece and your kitchen remodel! I have been looking for a vintage stone statue for on top of an old French dresser & have looked & looked! Any suggestions? Thank you
Hi Lynn! My go to places for statues are always antique markets, estate sales, and thrift stores. I would also check out Facebook Marketplace, many times you can find exactly what you’re looking for there.
Your French commode is lovely – great job with the paints! Regarding your dough bowl: did you stain, varnish, wax or treat it in any way? Mine is very pale and dry looking. Also, could you feature some ideas to decorate dough bowls?
Hi Nancy! I always use Wise Owl furniture salve on my dough bowls. It works perfectly and smells so good! I love the idea of a post on decorating dough bowls! I’ll see what I can do!
Gorgeous!! I love to paint furniture and have learned so much from you. I found a post of yours and used it for inspection for painting my bed! I love it!!! I posted a picture of it on my IG .
Fabulous, Beth! I’ll go check it out!
Such a beautiful piece – style and the colors you used to get to the finished product!! I have a dresser that style that I inherited from my mom that is very precious to me!! Have thought of refinishing it. Would like to ask on old pieces like this, what do you use to clean them before painting them?? Seems like they need more than just a dusting ?? Thanks!
Hi Nancy! Usually, the best thing I’ve found to clean furniture before refinishing, is Dawn dishwashing liquid (the blue kind) diluted with water. I just clean with a soft damp cloth. If the piece is heavily coated with grime or old wax, I will also use TSP cleaner to cut through all of it. I hope this helps!
This is absolutely beautiful. I follow a lot of furniture artist but i have not seen your work until i clicked on a Pin. Do you still paint? Are you on Instagram of Facebook? Can we be best friends? I’m just kidding. I just love your style. Again, thank you for describing exactly how you accomplished this look. Hopefully someday i will have the courage to try this.
Hi Cheryl! Yes, I’m on Instagram (@edithandevelynvintage), and Facebook (@edithandevelyn)! Thank you so much for your comment!
beautiful result! I have only one doubt , you paint these five colours?
OMG…that is beautiful. You did a splendid job. Where could I find a crate like yours. I absolutely love it. If you ever carry one similar; please email me.
Thankyou & stay well.
Patricia, we’ve had a couple of the French crates become available in our online shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/edithandevelyn. Unfortunately, we are currently sold out but we get them in periodically from our french picker. Keep an eye on the shop…they don’t last long.
I have enjoyed looking at this piece before! Love it so much! So I was so happy today to see the steps you took to get it to the beautiful swan that it is today.
It’s exactly the look I want, if I can find the right piece!
I was thinking a wonderful blog would be tips that you have learned over the years about going to estate sales and flea markets.
What you look for, what you avoid…what tells you it will be a good estate sale or not worth your time…even the best times to go, etc. Any little tidbits you can think of will be greatly appreciated! ❤️
Thank you,Laura
This piece is just gorgeous! I wish that I had room for a piece like that. I’ve done a couple of pieces over & they’ve turned out well, but nothing as beautiful as yours!
I love what you did. The shading is marvelous.
Oh Cindy, I don’t know how you “let go” some of the beautiful pieces you find!! I would have a very hard time letting the new piece go, it’s stunning!
Love the dresser! I did the same thing but in a charcoal color with painted plate rack above. Displays all my blue and white. There are photos on my Instagram page, katrinalouise9056. I will be using your piece as my inspiration for guest BR furniture.
Thank you so much for your generosity sharing your story and techniques. This Incredibly beautiful piece inspired me so strong. And by luck at a recycle center I found a similar piece, for $50! I am now painting the furniture, and enjoying every steps of the project. So thank you for the great inspiration!
Hello there! I love your blog! You made such a beautiful dresser. I’m planning on painting my dresser this color and are wondering what is the brand and color of paints you used? Thank you so much.
Hi Alexandra! I used Annie Sloan chalk Paint in colors Aubusson Blue, Provence, Duck Egg, French Linen and Paris Gray.
Hi Cindy! I found you blog on Pinterest and I am so happy i did. Layering is very intimidating to me but i absolutly love the look. The way you explain it makes me believe i can do this!! I love your French Provincial “Coomode” it is a statement piece for sure. I pinned it so i can try this later. thank you so much!
Thank you, Cindy, for sharing this story about how you refinished your French Provincial dresser-turned-commode! It turned out beautifully!!! Ever since I first started reading your blog and saw this piece, I have love it… sigh! I saved your recipe to my Perfect Paint board and your commode to my Fabulous Furniture board for your readers and mine to find the recipe when they need it. Actually, since my French commode {now I know it is Provincial, thank you!} will probably be in need of refinishing when we get it out of storage, I may borrow your recipe.
We were back at our storage units in January and I snapped a photo of it then to share. It has hand-carving so I’m pretty sure it’s a bit older. My mother had a dresser, ever since she and my father married,in a different style but with the same golden stain that yours originally had. It’s interesting that we can date furniture from just the stains.
Thank you for sharing this post at French Country Fridays! I am really enjoying your new series with Courtney and the other ladies,
Hugs,
Barb <3
Thank you so much, Barb! I’m so glad you’re enjoying this new series, and I can’t wait to hear about your French commode when it’s finished!!
This makes me wish I’d kept my French Provincial dresser from my teenage years! I am, however, refinishing what was once my baby dresser (and then my daughter’s baby dresser) for my she shed to store fabrics for quilting. I’ve stripped, sanded, and primed it but you’ve inspired me to do more than just paint it white! Time to find some Annie Sloan paints to layer up!
That’s wonderful, Robin! Thank you so much for commenting!
My French Provencial dresser from when I was a child is sitting in the garage waiting for a home with a space for it. Your piece has been the inspiration for it since I first saw it. So lovely and I love all the large pieces you have to decorate it.
Oh what a sweet piece, Rebecca! I love having pieces that are so special to us. Thank you for commenting!
Cindy, this is a wonderful piece. I admire it every time it’s shown. I am on the hunt for a dough bowl. My dining room table is 98″ long with candleholders on each end. The ones listed on your shop I think may be too big. If you find one that would work I’d be doing a happy dance.
Have a great trip.
Cindy
Cindy, I can ship you a dough bowl in any size that you’re looking for……just let me know what size you need!
Hi! Beautiful piece, well done… Do you strip or otherwise treat the wood before painting? If so, how do you do it?
Sali, when I use chalk based paint, I don’t strip the wood. All I do is clean the wood really well before I paint.
What is the name of blue paint used? AND the gold accent is what name? Thank you
Reta, we layered the colors for this piece. As stated in the post, we started with Annie Sloan Aubusson Blue, then layered Provence, Duck Egg, French Linen, and Paris Gray. We didn’t use any kind of gold accent. The “gold” that you are seeing in this piece is the original “golden oak” finish coming through the areas that we distressed. Hope that helps!
Cindy, this project was astonishing! I wanted to let you know I used it for inspiration on a DIY project: http://blog.enreverie.com/diy-chalk-paint-project/. This was my first chalk paint project, so I ended up backing down to 2 colors instead of 5…but seeing your dresser inspired me! Thank you for sharing!
That’s wonderful Kyle! Your hutch turned out beautifully!
Thank you Cindy!
Where did you find the vintage crate? I love it!! You have amazing taste 🙂 Love everything!
Thank you Angela! We found the crate at an antique market!
Hi! I just stumbled upon your blog while looking for lamps. What great inspiration! Where did you find the matching lamps that you are using on your Louis XV?
Thank you!
Jessica
Thank you Jessica, and Welcome! The lamps were actually an estate sale find!
You are amazing! The tutorial was the best! This is a gorgeous piece, you turned an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan! I love seeing it decorated for the seasons too!
It’s absolutely gorgeous, and a perfect fit for that space!
Thank you so much Sylvia!
I am not usually a fan of painted furniture and I am not a blue person but this is fantastic. I can see the numerous steps you took to create the patina really make a difference. What a lot of effort…but it really paid off.
Thank you so much Teddee!
Simply stunning! What a masterpiece! Great job.
Patricia.
Thank you Patricia!
Cindy your gorgeous French dresser is droolworthy and is my pick this week over at Friday’s Furniture Fix http://www.patinaparadise.com/2016/02/fridays-furniture-fix-28.html Enjoy your weekend!
Blessings!
Awesome, Lucy! Thank you so much!
I have crazy love for this fabulous dresser and all of your designs.
I’ve pinned one of your lovely images here:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/191332684147940943/
Cheers!
Cindy,
I have only one word. Breathtaking.
The color layering is genius.
Thanks for linking to Friday’s Furniture Fix
Susie
Just breathtaking. Beautiful transformation, and thank you so much for explaining the steps you took to achieve it. Take care, Cynthia
Hi, Cindy–I’m a little late catching up on your blog because I was under the weather for a few days, so I apologize for the lateness of my comment. Just like everything else in your lovely home, this piece turned out beautifully…it’s a real eye-catcher, and the attention the magazine gave it is well-deserved! Thank you so much for the detailed tutorial with a board displaying the colors and finishes used in the order applied. Very helpful!
Thank you Marie!
Your whole house is beautiful and I love your posts. I was so glad to see this. You are an inspiration to me in the decorating of my home. Thank you for the detailed tutorial on the dresser. I hope to be using it soon. Keep sending us all of your wonderful ideas!
Thank you Susan!
Cindy, this piece is absolutely stunning. I always admire it in your photos. Thank you so much for explaining the process of achieving the beautiful look and aged patina with paint.
Hi Cindy,
Thank you for the information on how you painted your “Louis XV Commode” aka French Provincial dresser. I have always admired that piece in your blogs but it was interesting to know just how you painted it. It also made me smile when you said it was called a “Louis XV Commode” in the Italian publication.
Years and years ago when I was in my 20’s back in the 1960’s Standard Oil Gas stations were giving out china as a premium gift. At that time I had my whole family collecting china pieces for me from the gas station. I eventually collected service for 12 along with serving pieces.
Shortly thereafter, I had a home demonstration and I used my cups and saucers and some of the serving pieces and the woman who was the demonstrator complimented me on my “Noritake China.” I didn’t dare tell her otherwise. Your story reminded me of my story and I couldn’t not tell it to you. I hope you got a kick out of it. Just goes to show you that we see things for what we want them to be.
Carol Paulus-Kalis
Addison, IL
Oh, Carol, I love that story! Thank you so much for sharing it with me!
Cindy, what a great tutorial on how you refinished your Louis commode it turned out simply magnificent, I also enjoy when you dress her up for the the different season, Can’t wait to see how your going to decorate you Louie commode for Easter…..
Smiles~
Mari
Thank you Mari! As a matter of fact, I bought something for the Easter decor yesterday!
This is such a beautiful piece! Your tutorial is also helpful! I love the blues you chose to redo this piece in. Very nice job!
Thank you so much Angelina!
This dresser looks like an antique masterpiece that has aged and gained such patina over time…and to think that you created that wonderful patina! Always love seeing this beauty!
Thank you so much Shirley!
Cindy~
Yes, she sure is a beauty , and always steals the show !! Thank you for suggesting the small prayers books, and rosaries under the glass dome (I know there is a name) I do have a few of them, and that is perfect !!!! hug for that one !! 🙂
Paula IN
p.s. the wood pizza like paddle on the island, are those hard to find?? thanks
Paula, that is a french bread board….sometimes hard to find. I’ve actually been able to acquire quite a few lately, but they sell almost as soon as I list them in the online shop..as a matter of fact, I just sold the last one I had a few days ago. I’m on the hunt for more, so you might check the shop periodically!
Love that “Louis XV” piece….You did an amazing job on this French Provincial dresser. This piece is beautiful painted. It catches my eyes every time I see this room. I have a china cabinet like this that I would love to paint but just don’t want to try myself….afraid it will look worse. I have not painted any furniture. This piece has been sitting in my garage and would look great if you would paint…..too bad we live too far apart.
Thank you Nancy! You need to paint that china cabinet….if it’s sitting in the garage anyway, then give it a shot! Besides, I always look at it this way…it’s only paint, if you paint it and you don’t like, paint over it!
I was fortunate to buy a complete French Provincial bedroom set-queen bed, mirror, 2 end tables & a 62″ chest in early 1980s out of an estate sale. The drawers are lined in a beautiful wall paper. One of my daughters used it. I still have the set and plan to paint the chest like your beautiful chest. Thanks for your inspiration!
That’s wonderful Kathy!
My favorite color is blue……I love this so much. You have tremendous patience, I don’t know if I could do this. I think I’ll try it on something small! Haha. I’ll let you know how it works out! Stunning dresser! Your whole house is beautiful. Rebecca
Thank you Rebecca! When I first started out painting furniture, I started with a small inexpensive piece that I picked up at a flea market. So starting with a small piece is perfect! You will do fine!
I’ve got a dining room set with a beautiful sideboard and server that I’m itching to paint, but fearful! Thanks for the good tips. I pinned it for future days when I’m feeling bold!
Thank you Leslie Anne!
absolutely love this! I have a piece I am stripping, years of very old varnish. I may use the wash technique you mention here on it. thanks for sharing your journey with us!
Cindy,just a thank you for in depth instructions. Alway excited to see you in my inbox. Also , will you do the same ceiling treatment in your foyer as your kitchen and bedroom?
Thank you Sue! Fortunately, the ceiling in the foyer already has beautiful planks and wood beams that are original to the house, so we won’t have to do anything to the ceiling there!
I have been admiring this piece for some time now – it’s a showstopper! Thank you for sharing your tips and tricks with us – I found this to be extremely informative. x o
Hi Cindy, Your home is fabulous. It is my all time favorite. In several pictures of your kitchen there is a gorgeous oyster mirror. I have the exact mirror and love it!!! Do not see it in your kitchen any longer, where did it end up. Thanks for sharing your beautiful home.
Thank you so much Mary! I made the oyster mirror myself many years ago when we lived on the Gulf Coast. I usually only display it in the summer months, so I still have it, and you will probably see it again as soon as we start seeing warmer weather!
I love that piece! I used your colors a couple of years ago to paint a ‘patisserie’ sign from a footboard I found in an alley. It’s one of my favorites (although I haven’t found a place to hang it)! Great instructions Cindy!!
Celia
Oh, Celia, I bet that patisserie sign is gorgeous!
Beautiful Cindy! Keep the posts coming! My favorite…I always get so excited when I see you have something new for us! Have a blessed week!
Thank you so much Susan!
Beautiful, thanks for the tutorial on how you painted it. You do a great job explaining the steps.
Thank you Daphne!
This piece is gorgeous! Just discovered your blog and love your style.
Thank you so much Mary!
Oh Mary, You will enjoy Cindy’s blog soo much. She is very inspiring !!!!
Aw, thank you Kathy!
It’s a showcase piece Cindy! You did a beautiful job on recreating the commode using layers of paint. Haha when your hubby asked about it…
Thank you Amy!
It’s beautiful! I also love the color of your wall’s. Could you tell me the paint color? Thanks!
Thank you Kelly! Wall color is Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray!