Painted Vintage Thomasville Chest in Fusion Ash

I had the pleasure of working on making over a vintage Thomasville gentleman’s chest recently.

Blogger 101 fail . . . I forgot to take a before picture of the chest, so this is the picture my client provided.

This chest had belonged to my client’s mom, and was now about to become a focal piece in her first nursery, isn’t that fun?

I can remember putting together the nursery for my first son and how fun it was to decorate and plan for his arrival.  Of course, that sweet, clean, orderly nursery turned into the scene of diaper blowouts, teething cry-sessions, and milk-soaked burp cloth piles pretty quickly, but let’s just remember the good times 🙂

So anyway, back to the chest–This was from the era when, for whatever reason, furniture was made out of concrete.  Not really, but it sure felt like it was!

Those doors alone weighed, like, 30 lbs each and were 2 inches thick! Why it was necessary to make furniture that could withstand a nuclear fallout, I have no idea. But I guess it made for a nice and sturdy piece for me to work on.

My client wanted this piece to provide some contrast to the rest of her mostly white, nursery furnishings, so she chose Fusion Mineral Paint in Ash–the darkest gray of the collection.

Ash is a great color to paint–the coverage is fantastic and the paint glides on smoothly.

The only issue I have with the color is that I feel it is still a little too matte and so tends to show fingerprints and dust easily. But that’s a problem easily solved with a little Wax Finish added on top on the final coat.

It’s amazing how a dark color like Ash can create such a luxe look.  A little bit of mild distressing–just along the detail points–and now the chest is ready for my client’s nursery.

What do you think?

There was some concern over whether or not the hardware would look right once the piece was painted, but I think it works really well with the new color.

I am always honored when someone entrusts one of their furniture pieces to me, but even more so in this case! Knowing that her first child was on the way and that this chest was going to be in my client’s nursery, I did my best to turn it into a fantastic, show-stopper.

She loved it, and I hope you do too!