Two Sheens for a Sophisticated look

Hello! Looking back at the year before is always a great time to see what was accomplished and what can be improved on. While 2024 was a year we were just trying to survive (for many reasons) it is still great to look back to see all the good in between the bad and be thankful for God for giving us the good memories, as well as the opportunity for learning how to grow.

So I’m going to look back on my very favorite bedroom set from 2024 and see what was learned. Here are the “Before’s” of the two dressers.

Kitchen Bestsellers

While we didn’t achieve all of our goals for 2024 and definitely didn’t refinish as many furniture pieces as we have in previous years, we learned that everything will always be Okay. It is Okay to not get everything done, especially when you need to be taking care of yourself or your family. There are certain things that always take precedence and it’s Okay for those things to take up all of your time. We also learned that if your creative self isn’t feeling very…well…creative, give yourself some grace and just let it be until you are feeling more inspired.

More than anything else, our motto of “Trust in HIM” (meaning Trust in God with all of our Heart) was more prevalent than ever. Sometimes you just need to “Let it go and give it to God”.

Back to furniture and after reflecting on the year, these three beautiful pieces that all came together as a bedroom set were my very favorites of 2024. They were nice solid wood, very good brands of furniture and we were able to customize them for a client and keep them all together for a fabulous cohesive end result.

Our client had an amazing vision of what she wanted and after sharing the inspiration photo with us we were excited to get to work.

On to the learning factors – I learned not to be afraid of stripping veneer surfaces! This is a two fold learning factor for me. Normally we just take a piece outside and sand away with our orbital sander. But with Veneer wood you have to be extremely careful with sanding too much or you can sand through the expensive part into the icky substrate – essentially ruining your chances of a good stained surface. So, first, don’t be afraid to strip veneer.

I also learned not to be afraid of chemical strippers. If you follow all of the directions very carefully from applying thickly, to wrapping in saran wrap to contain the moisture, allowing the full recommended time for the product to work, as well as cleaning up well, your chemical stripping process will go smoothly! (THIS is the stripper I used for these pieces)

(And if the stripping process does NOT work for some reason, don’t despair, you can always paint over it!)

But for these pieces, stripping the veneer worked out very well and we were able to beautifully re-stain the tops to coordinate with the color the client chose. The top was re-done in “Dark Walnut” and the bases were painted in a newly popular color by Fusion Mineral Paint called “Cast Iron”.

But here is where the fun came in! In the original photo our client shared with us I noticed the furniture piece had two different sheens to it! While the photo looked great, I had never even thought to do this before. It reminded me of a black tuxedo with satin lapels. Such a subtle contrast for maximum interest. Once identifying which areas needed to be satin in sheen and which should stay the painted matte, it was easy to finish these off with our favorite polyurethane product. (Find that HERE). We easily applied it with one of our applicator sponges (with a brush nearby in case of any drips in the corners).We used the same product and applicator over the stained top as well!

But just look at the richness that subtle difference in sheen made! Again, tuxedo with satin lapels.

In the photo below the sun was shining just perfectly to really highlight the difference in sheens over the curves of the pieces. While it almost looks like two different colors, in reality it isn’t and just looks that way by adding the depth from the satin polyurethane.

All of the hardware on these pieces were also original, great metal ornate handles, perfect for these French inspired pieces. We just cleaned them up and kept some of the beautiful aged patina for an aged brass look.

Here’s the little bedside table too – we can’t forget the after effect of this one!

Absolutely lovely. A beautiful warm colored light black paint complemented well with that rich dark wood stain over the veneer. While it wasn’t a completely over-the-top, out there look I am so entirely glad our client chose this one. The two different sheens – matte and satin just gave these pieces an extra sophisticated look!

TIP: As you can see on these I ended up re-staining JUST the very top layer of pieces that are the veneer. I have stripped and re-stained the edges of the tops before but typically you can tell the difference in the cheaper wood vs the more expensive wood veneer. We also decided to do it this way because the tall chest of drawers had a very large gash on the edge of the top. We decided to fill that gash in and paint over it. It is personal preference on what is right for you, but for these pieces we decided to stain just the very thin top layer.

And for those wondering how we painted that edge – the answer is very VERY carefully! With a very small paint brush and a steady hand!

I hope you enjoyed this bedroom set and the look back at 2024. Here is to a fun, more creative, and successful 2025!