Showing posts with label Touraine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Touraine. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Gilded Grey Touraine Dresser

It's not a big secret
that my favorite colors to paint together are
Paris Grey and White...
add some gilding, and I'm over the moon

 Add to that the fact that the piece
being painted is
Touraine by Drexel...
yeah, I'm a happy girl!

 see all that gilding?
here's the story....
I patiently taped of all around the trim 
on the drawers after painting them...
gilded them, and removed the tape.
Along with the tape, off came the paint!
BOOO!
so I touched up the paint, after sanding it smooth
only to decide I really wanted to wax or glaze the piece
The problem, of course, is that once you apply wax or glaze over the gilding paste,
the paste comes right off...GRRRR

 Talk about a big production!
I ended up touching up all the gold trim by hand,
sealing just the gilded area before applying glaze
then sealing the gilded areas again once the glaze was dry

 On the top, we stripped off the hideous yellow paint
and refinished it with a gorgeous grey glaze

 I knew I wanted some interest to settle into the textured paint
but didn't want to go the usual route, with dark wax

 I used a dark grey glaze to add some interest
and I'm really pleased with the outcome!


I mean, really...would you just LOOK 
at that Serpentine body and curvy legs???  

You can purchase this dresser in our Etsy shop

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Gilded Touraine

We recently scored not one, but TWO 
Drexel Touranie pieces

They were bought from different sellers
for dramatically different prices
(these are seller's photos, not mine!)

This chest is dated 1946...and it has it's original mirror!

the dresser is equally fabulous...

Touraine is my favorite style of French Provincial reproduction furniture
I love the sleekness, 
the delicately curved legs,
 the serpentine front,
 the simple hardware

it's recognizable in an instant!
In fact, neither piece was listed as "Drexel Touraine"
Can you believe that chest was listed for weeks with no takers???

Anyway, I wanted to keep it pretty classic on these pieces,
so I went with one of our favorite combos
Paris Grey and Old White
with rich gold accents

The pieces aren't done yet, but here is a sneak preview!






Yes, yes I did hand paint that gilding!
No, no I did not enjoy it very much!

Hoping to get both pieces completed tomorrow...
we'll see how that goes! 
Wish us luck!