An elegant French piece

I love the combination of grey and white, particularly when used with an antique piece that has lots of mouldings to pick out.

So this French chiffonier, with its chipped veneers, was the ideal project to paint in these contrasting colours. First, I filled the veneers, before giving the whole piece a light sanding.

Then, after removing the, backboard, doors and drawer, I painted the whole piece in Annie Sloan Paris Grey. Two coats of this were sufficient to cover. I then masked up all the mouldings and dry brushed the carved mouldings at the sides and to the backboard with Annie Sloan Pure. Finally, I painted the moulded edges to the door panels, and drawer front in Pure.

Being unable to resist a blank space inviting a stencil, I added a music themed stencil to the backboard panel simply because I liked this particular script.

The dry-brushed carvings allowed the grey beneath to show through and enhanced the beauty and skill of the carving.

I decided to add crystal handles to the frieze drawer and to the doors to facilitate opening, while fitting a replacement lock to the doors below, complete with working key.

And voila, another piece finished ready to go into our shop in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. Please comment if you are interested in this piece.