Reader Robert has just acquired two vintage blond dressers for the bedroom at his new house. He’s basically starting from scratch and wants to know — should he keep the blonde finish, or refinish these two bedroom dressers in a teak stain. Read on for Robert’s dilemma and our decorating ideas…
Robert writes:
I recently found these ultra cool dressers — marked United Furniture Corporation – Lexington NC. The drawers are dovetailed. The exposed wood is veneer. They are very heavy and well built. My question is, do you feel that if I redo these dressers in a teakish/fruitwoodish tone, that it would ruin them? Should I leave them this blond color or proceed with teak?
I like the 60’s era for furniture the best. Perhaps late 50’s and a tad of 70’s. I just like it all blended together via my finds and redoing them to blend. My hobby is to go to thrift stores and find things and play with them. For example get a mirror in a 1970’s era yellow fake/plastic wicker frame and redo it to look neat in my home today. Or take a cheap plastic brass candle sconce and redo that to look like pewter with black in the crevices. I like to have new modern day timeless things mixed in with finds that I can blend together. I generally do not like the Haywood Wakefield Blonde and their furniture.
For these dressers, they are going into a blank slate bedroom so I either blond or teakish/fruitwoodish, I will just decorate around them.
I am just concerned about the integrity of the dressers.
Kate’s advice: Have a fling with these blondes!
Well, Robert, I think you know what Pam and I are going to say — if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. From what I can see from the pictures, the finish on both dressers seems to be in great shape. I think it would be a shame to refinish them — plus I can imagine refinishing the tambour (rolling slot) doors would be tedious! Instead of refinishing the dressers, I think you should work with them — they are fantastic! Hey, have some fun with these blondes! You mentioned that you weren’t generally a fan of Heywood-Wakefield blond furniture, but these are very different in style and with a few creative decorating ideas, you can make a very 60s-70s/modern looking bedroom room with this blond finished furniture.
If you’re into a 1950s Heywood-Wakefield look, then light pastel wall colors work really well with blonde furniture — however, Robert is a fan of 60s and 70s style — which is why he needs to take a different approach to choosing a wall color for his blonde dressers. To make the light blonde dressers feel a bit more punchy, contrast is key. Placing a light blonde dresser on a mid to dark wall color will make them really stand out in the room. Highly saturated colors — like the two I chose for Robert — will make the room feel lively and modern.
For Robert’s consideration, I made two mood boards — one orange, one blue…
1. These white curtains from IKEA really pop off the dark wall. The silver pattern on them coordinates with the grey floor and the curved shapes found in the dresser pulls, hairpin table and headboard detail.
2. Robert’s ultra cool long and low vintage dresser!
3. I’d put something eye catching on the wall — possibly this metallic starburst mirror from Crate and Barrel — or since Robert likes to come up with creative projects to transform his thrifty finds, he could find a cool mirror and repaint/refinish the frame if necessary.
4. A bright orange wall color for the bedroom is not everyone’s cup of tea, but I think it works well with the grey rug and really makes the blond dressers pop off the wall. Personally, I’ve had two orange bedrooms — waking up in one is like having a glass of orange juice before you even get out of bed!
5. This vintage lamp from Etsy seller AustinMetroRetro (link now gone) is a lovely shape and would also work well with the orange and grey color scheme of the room. (Blue and orange are complementary colors.)
6. This mid century inspired bedding (now discontinued) from Crate and Barrel really caught my eye. Not only are the shapes colorful, but they also add a playful aspect to the space.
7. I went looking for non-Heywood-Wakefield style blond bed frames to fit in Robert’s bedroom and found this lovely vintage bed frame (now sold) from ebay seller buckscounty. Even though this retro bed frame has a blond finish, the style of it is very 60s & 70s — right up Robert’s alley.
8. With all of the thick wood furniture going on in the space, I thought it would be nice to inject a lighter-legged nightstand into the space, such as this hairpin leg stepped end table (now sold) from ebay seller pjzredskins13. The shape of the hairpin legs echos the pulls on the dresser drawers and the iron detail in the headboard nicely.
9. Robert’s tall vintage blond dresser!
10. I love this retro alarm clock made by Newgate (link gone) and found on Amazon.com. The shape is fun, and it fits right in to Robert’s room — which is sprinkled with little bits of black and white.
11. I’m not sure what type of flooring Robert will have in his new bedroom, but he could either do an area rug with this silvery grey FLOR carpet tile in Fog (discontinued) (if his floors are wood), or even wall to wall if needed to replace any flooring that doesn’t go well with his style.
Now I realize that not everyone loves orange as much as Pam and I do, which is why I made a slightly tweaked alternate plan for Robert.
The idea board above uses many of the same components as the orange version, with a few changes:
4. Using a dark blue — similar to Pam’s 2012 Color of the Year, Bitossi Blue — for the wall will make Robert’s bedroom feel cozy and act as a striking backdrop to the blond furniture in the room.
5. This white and orange and mustard mid century lamp (now sold) from Etsy seller lavintagefurnishings will also pop off the dark wall and coordinates well with the blond furniture while also adding more color to the space.
6. If Robert is not a fan of patterned bed linens, this simple and silvery quilt (no longer online) from Crate and Barrel is simple and sophisticated while coordinating with Robert’s room.
So there you have it Robert, two ways to design a room around your retro blond dressers without refinishing them. Of course we’ll be interested to see what you decide and as always, would love to see pictures of the final results!
Readers — what’s your 2 cents?
Would you keep the dressers as-is — or refinish them?
jmb says
Great find and so nice that you sought second opinions before putting these pieces under the sander! I would not refinish these pieces, since the finish seems to be original and these pieces are very complex, making it hard to achieve a professional looking end product. Even professionally redone can be trumped by authentic. Once the original finish is gone there is no going back.
If you don’t love them “as is” perhaps you can sell them to someone else, but the mock-ups shown are quite striking, especially the blue one and maybe some additional color, on the walls or fabrics, will make these pieces more appealing to you.
jmb says
and thank you, Pam and Katie for sharing!
RosemaryMartin says
I vote for blonde. I grew up with blonde furniture and wish I had some now. I think ChrisH made an excellent point in that if you don’t care for the blonde, let someone else have it and get some darker pieces.
As for the wall color, I vote turquoise!
Brian T says
I like both of Kate’s color suggestions, but if Robert wants something more relaxing, with less contrast, may I suggest Behr’s “Eucalyptus Leaf”? I put it up in the main hallway of my house. It’s grayed-out enough to be restful, and it functions practically as a neutral in my house, with just enough color to keep from being blah. I think it would be a sophisticated and calm take on ’60s aqua to go with those dressers (which should stay blond, in my opinion).
My parents had a Heywood Wakefield bedroom suite when they first got married, and I would be kicking myself for not snagging it when my mom died 8 years ago, except it would clash horribly with the 8-foot-tall Gothic German bed I got from my aunt. The other posters are correct in noting that a lot of the Heywood stuff looks almost pinkish gray instead of having a yellow undertone. When I was 6, my parents banished the Heywood stuff to a guest room in favor of their new bedroom suite: a very heavy, thoroughly Mediterranean, highly carved look that has never come back into style.
Susie Q. says
I would try living with them as they are. You can always decide to change them on down the road, whereas if you changed the finish immediately, you wouldn’t be giving them a chance to “grow on” you.
I’m sure in the (near?) future you’ll find another piece that’s in bad condition that will truly require a bold, creative solution on your part–save your ideas for something that really needs a facelift.
I vote for the blue wall, though green sounds good too. Look for some cool prints that have that blond color + other colors for inspiration.
Carole says
I’m afraid that I have to agree with those who say ‘leave them alone’.
There are some lovely greens that the blonde wood would coordinate with very well (as well as other colors). Go out and bring home those paint chip samples!
Assuming that those pieces are as fabulous looking as they appear in the pictures, I would live with them and love them exactly the way they are. I’d love to find a piece like that upright you’ve got!
My reasons are personal.
Years ago, in my early twenties, I was given my mothers Cavalier cedar chest (given to her by my father in the late 1940s), blonde wood, veneer finish, and I couldn’t wait to strip the piece and stain it a dark color. It simply did not fit in with my decor at the time.
First off, the finish was extremely difficult to remove. It does not come off evenly, or well, and took a lot of time and work. Secondly, the dark stain that I replaced it with never has looked quite ‘right’. I don’t know if that’s because I remember the piece as it was, or if I truly did ruin it (as my dad told me I had).
All I know is that I wish I had never touched it. Now that I’m older and wiser I can appreciate it for what it was, but it’s too late to go back now. To top it off, I’ve ruined any value that the piece may have had (Cavalier was considered the Cadillac of cedar chests at one time).
That said, they are your pieces, it’s your house, and you have to do what works for you, but if you’re going to change them, I would suggest having them professionally refinished.
Good luck with your decision.
Janet in CT says
I vote with Carole and the others not to attempt to darken the blond finish on this lovely set and to leave it as is. And my father who was in the furniture business for fifty-five years would totally agree with her father, that it would ruin the piece. Those old veneers, for the most part, just were not made to be refinished. Repairs on them were difficult too. My husband totally refinished a forties Hoosier cabinet with a tambour roll-up and he said he would NEVER attempt that again! They have to be removed and disassembled and done each slat at a time, and reinstalled. And it wasn’t easy to get them all to match stain-wise. I would suggest keeping it as is, and reselling or swapping for what you really want rather than going to all that work when someone else would want it all original.
RetroSandie says
KEEP!!!! I have a gorgeous early 60’s bedroom set that I bought to replace the blond bedroom set I had as a child. It’s so beautiful, and I love it!!!! Even with bumps, bruises, and a few scratches, I wouldn’t put one drop of paint on blond furniture for the world!! 🙂
Jenny says
Blue is so soothing. We used Behr “Underwater” which is a beautiful deep teal and could totally work with the blonde furniture.
Vanessa says
I would leave them as they are, I think with the right color scheme they will really shine and if after a while you really aren’t in love with them keep an eye out for some in the color you want and when you find them sell what you’ve got now, or vice versa. Refinishing furniture is no easy task, and I can only imagine the “fun” it would NOT be to refinish the rolling portions of that set. I think original is best unless it’s in really bad shape, so if it were wrecked already I’d say do whatever strikes your fancy, but in this case love it as it is or find another. Nice set btw, I think it’s going to look lovely with a room designed around it.
Hillary says
Blonde furniture in good shape seems harder to find than darker finishes and it also seems way harder to restore, so I definitely wouldn’t change a piece that’s great! As someone said above, if you really don’t like them, sell them and get something you do like. I love blonde, but I’ve never seen a mint bedroom set.
lisa says
How about more of a teal shade of blue — there are some beautiful pictures on Pinterest of the Behr shade “Hallowed Hush” that seem to me would look great with these pieces.