Suzanne Bagheri @The Painted Drawer

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THE FRENCH DREXEL SHELL CABINET BEFORE AND AFTER

I am busy moving my posts from my original site (thepainteddrawer.com) to my new site. My old site has many issues and I am trying to save my best posts to share. I hope you enjoy!

My neighbor had this old 1970’s cabinet in his garage and gave it to me. It is a piece made by Drexel, and was worth saving. That old 70’s green had to go.

I decided to go with a first coat of Annie Sloan Aubusson Blue.  It is a greeny blue and didn’t fight the original finish.  I painted the interior in the blue and added a coat of Annie Sloan Florence before applying one more coat of the blue on top. For the outside and base, I used washes of Aubusson, Florence and Provence.  I then sanded back to reveal the beautiful painted details on the drawers.  This gave the interior a deeper hue than the outside.

The whole piece was waxed in Annie Sloan clear wax and after it cured, I added Provence into the clear wax and applied it over sections.  I also added touches of gold using Gold decorative paint.

Here are a LOT of pics to share.  I hope they show the many layers and details of the piece.  Each layer builds upon the last to create an aged patina.

Before and after below!

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