Updating Pine Furniture

I remember when pine furniture was all the rage. I would look at my white melamine faced chipboard drawers in my childhood bedroom and only dream of something so extravagant as pine furniture. 

I think it is safe to say that times have changed, and after a massive influx of affordable pine furniture swamped the market, our tastes have evolved and quite frankly pine furniture is not what it was.

In our master bedroom we have some older good quality pine drawers and bedside tables, and some really quite flimsy and brand new pine wardrobes. They looked a mismatch together, and the orangey colour dominated the room - not great.

Above: Before - orangey pine drawers and boring handles - bleugh

(whoop for Ugly Betty though!)

The solution? Well, we decided to give them a new lease of life with a coat of F&B's Lamp Room Grey, which is a mid toned grey/blue colour, which also really compliments the strong grey blue of F&B's Downpipe which we used on our feature wall.

And, and, my favourite design feature of the whole master bedroom has to be the drawer handles I sourced. We needed 48 of them in the end, and I requested all different styles but all blue and white in colour - who knew we had so many knobs!

 

Above: I HEART THESE KNOBS!

And so I did cheat a little, I brought undercoat but thought I'd just see if I could get away without using it, and I only flipping did :)



Above: old pine drawers painted and with new 'mismatched' porcelain knobs!

And here it is up against the Downpipe, the colours really compliment each other, and the drawer knobs add a touch of femininity and originality in an otherwise masculine coloured room.

Above: After - the two colours working together

And the brand new flimsy wardrobes didn't come up too bad either, again no undercoat (don't tell my Dad), and they have come up lovely, and look much more expensive than they previously did.

Above and below: After - the painted wardrobe suddenly looks more expensive!

 Hurrah for wood paint :)

My little secrets:
Old pine drawers: ours were inherited, but try an auction house or a secondhand furniture shop such as a charity shop
New pine Wardrobes: Argos, cheap as chips really, a 4 door wardrobe with drawers underneath was £150 (Scandinavian range), but they are probably not best for high usage, as they are a bit flimsy
Paint: Furniture: Farrow and Ball, Estate Eggshell in Lamp Room Grey, Wall: Downpipe in Modern Emulsion
Knobs: from a lovely lady, worked out at about £70 for all 48 http://www.macandmehome.co.uk/
Knitted heart: christmas decoration that just stayed up!
Mirror: TK Maxx (chipped corner you can't really see - so £15)
Crystal based lamp: Home Sense about £29 (the lamp shade is going I have just decided!)