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?
Lisa Glaus says
or where i can info on this
Lisa Glaus says
Hi..been reading about all the blond furniture….mostly dressers….well I have a blond “bar” it locks and unlocks with a skeleton key…opens up and even has a small drawer in it for storage and when u open it…there are a few openings as to put your bottles of booze in there…then below are 2 shelves…but u have to unlock the top to open it up bar style then the 2 cabinets below to get at your storage…anybody have any idea how old this could be…no one else has ever seen one or heard of one around here..ty
Robert says
Thank you all for your comments. Looks like everyone decided on blonde.
I had to smile at the orange bedroom as I had orange shag carpet in my bedroom growing up. In my house I just sold I never got to redo the kitchen that the previous owners did in the 1970’s and it had burnt orange walls and linoleum. I can’t get away from orange LOL. I do happen to like it, as I was never too pressed to redo that kitchen.
I also loved that bedding from Crate and Barrel.
Sorry it took so long to get back, I just now this past Sunday got re-hooked up with Internet. In reading through the comments a few things were constant. One was that they were in relatively good shape. The cell phone camera’s do, do wonders. Maybe I am overly picky but there is a fair share of dings and gouges. On the tall dresser, on the left top side the finish is coming off and on the right top corner the veneer is gone. You do not have pictures of the tops, which are pretty rough. However for as old as they are, they would be considered in pretty good shape probably for the average populous.
One person mentioned they would like the upright one. I just love the height of that, as it is a shorter upright.
One person mentioned or asked what metal was the hardware as to get metal pieces around that. The hardware I think was a brass. It is rough and lots is rubbed off but I plan to keep that patina and not re-brass it.
No worries for all about redoing for now as winter is around the corner and I have to place to tackle that, so it will be put to use in my bedroom.
One person mentioned the difficulty in redoing the tambour. That is my worry too. The Tambour is basically in good stead but it does catch and need some stiffening to roll better or some sort of repair as you have to pull the direction you want to go (open or close) and then out towards you as if you just pull sideways, the first slat will immediately turn inward and “jamb” the track. If anyone has any ideas on how to repair this please let me know. Hopefully an easy repair.
Rebecca@MidcenturyModernRemodel says
Blue blue blue. And, DO NOT touch that furniture.
tammyCA says
Cool furniture…I echo the sentiment “if it ain’t broke” leave it blonde. Think of it as the cool blondes that Hitchcock favored, Grace Kelly, Tippi Hendren. Sounds like a great idea to saturate the walls with a deep blue, but I’d choose a rich turquoise…yep, think blue-eyed blondes.
And, I think it is a great idea to turn the cheap plastic, and beat up objects into something nice with paint and leave the fine furniture & objects with integrity alone.
midmodms says
Keep the Blonde!! My vote anyway.
Jordanna says
Well I think I would either keep them blond and keep them, or sell them and get something I liked more.
The Bitossi blue is appealing, but I’d like it more, I suspect, with green. I’m all about green though, and that’s a very predictable reaction for me. Could be pretty much any green – jadeite, chartruese, even avocado!
But the orange is kind of fun. I think I’d like a lighter shade, though. Or maybe just broken up with more white. The white bedspread of the second is nice. But I’d even consider a white bedframe, maybe one of the slim and relatively simple white four-post beds. Just because even a blond can use some highlights. 😉
Amy in Sacramento, CA says
I think they are gorgeous just the way they are, so I agree with those who say “don’t change it” and “sell it and buy what you love” if you just can’t live with it. Someday, your tastes may change, and if you still have the pieces (and went the refinishing route) you will kick yourself hard for changing the pieces.
I say, if you can’t live with them, then sell them to someone who will love them for what they already are — and with the money, buy something you love! 🙂 It’s a win-win that way!
And by the way, if you’d asked me this question 20 years ago, you’d get an entirely different answer. (Wisdom has, indeed, come with age.) 😉
Morgen says
I love the dark blue! I would have never considered having the lighter wood. Always been more of a dark wood person. But against the blue the light wood looks so yummy! Well done!
Megan says
Leave it blonde. I love blonde furniture. It is difficult to change the color, since most of it has some veneer on it. If you have several blonde pieces, you can make an attractive room. Blonde furniture gives a light, bright, retro feel.