French Provence Style Dresser Decor

Furniture in the Provence style always delights me and makes me want to watch a sweet French comedy 🥰

It's hard to believe, but such beauty was created from an old country house dresser with relatively little effort and expense. Here are a few scary 'before' photos to appreciate the scale of the disaster.

The surface of the dresser had not only a peeling layer of varnish but also deep gouges. The old handles also left behind unsightly holes.

All of this was removed with a sander. The remaining uneven spots had to be covered with wood filler and carefully sanded down. The sides and the top were the most damaged parts.

The back panel had warped from dampness. There was no point in saving it, so we removed the remains without regret and nailed on a new sheet of thick plywood. Restoring the chipped corner and the cracked lower support with legs was problematic, so we took the simplest route: we placed the dresser on a solid base, which we decorated with decorative wooden molding.

With that, the main 'rescue' work was finished. We began painting with acrylic, both inside and outside the dresser.

It turned out that a neutral milky shade is a perfect base for a rich floral motif. That's how the idea was born to use fabric decor on the top surface and drawer fronts.

A few coats of matte varnish over the fabric, and now it can be easily wiped clean of any dirt. We chose hardware in darkened bronze. Isn't it just like Provence? 😉