French Provincial Highboy

This is a continuation of my previous post, Eighteen Drawers of Misery, the French Provincial dresser/nightstand set. My client who purchased this set located a highboy that was an exact match to her set. When I quoted her the custom order paint job, she told me that the advertisement stated that it was in excellent condition.

She was so excited to bring me the dresser - but my face fell when I saw this piece and inspected it. Although it appears from this picture to be in good condition, upon closer inspection it was a mess! There were burns on the top and one side of the dresser had a huge gouge on the side, as if a door had opened and closed against it for twenty years.

 The drawers were a nightmare as well. Every one of the dovetail joints were loose - and the bottom drawer didn't even function. This was a good drawer!

I spent a full week on just the prep alone. Each drawer had to be glued and clamped to tighten the loose dovetails. The wooden track for the bottom drawer was cracked and had to be glued and tightened. I had to rebuild one side of the dresser with epoxy wood filler and sand that down. The entire surface was lightly sanded as well, with particular attention to the nicks on the feet and corners.

I learned an important lesson with sticky drawers from the long dresser and nightstands, so I took pictures with the drawers in so I would know where I needed to paint and how much of a gap there was between the openings. And most importantly, I numbered the drawers!

Once the prep was done, I could finally get to the good stuff! Two coats of water-based primer, sanding in between coats. And about three coats of General Finishes Snow White. I watered down the final coat slightly to minimize brush strokes.

This was definitely a labor of love - a lot of work but so worth it to see how appreciative and excited my sweet client was when she picked it up!

I've been really busy with some really new exciting pieces - a Mid Century Modern desk that I refinished and restained, a Campaign chest, a whole vintage bedroom suite and a French Provincial small chest! I need a bigger garage (and a nap)!

Have a wonderful week!

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