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?
Daniel says
I like the blonde colored furniture – I definitely wouldn’t want to change the finish, especially since it looks like it’s in great shape. I like the two colors suggested by Kate, although personally, I would use a lighter color – maybe light/mint/jade green – since I would rather wake up or go to sleep with a more mellow/calming type of color, and I think that green would go pretty well with the blonde furniture. I also really like the retro alarm clock! I’d definitely incorporate that in a room design. I wasn’t aware that they made clocks like that, although I’m not surprised since retro is becoming the “in” thing now-days. But it’s definitely nice!!!
pam kueber says
Hi Daniel, I agree: That blonde furniture is very versatile in terms of colors it can coordinate with. I bet there are many greens that it would look great with!
Michael says
I second the idea of combining with green (although the blue and orange also look great). My house came with a few blondish Harmony House dressers, which I’ve put in my light/mint/jade green bedroom. The effect is very mellow.
Dulcie says
I picked up a blonde dresser for $5 (!!!!) at an auction this spring and put it in my daughter’s purple bedroom. Awesomeness! I like Kate’s blue scheme as well. I’m all about bright, vibrant colors, so would would definitely play up the blonde wood with eye popping wall colors.
pam kueber says
Yes, midcentury blonde furniture is not “trendy” right now — so you can get it CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP. And it’s quite often, fantastic quality!
Rebecca@MidcenturyModernRemodel says
Good tip. I will keep my eyes peeled.
Lydia says
I say, if you not happy with them, change em! They are your pieces and you’ll love em for years to come Im sure if you get over the fear of “ruining” them. I have my parents 1957 blonde dresser set.. over the years they yellowed.. but my dad refinished them a BEAUTIFUL cherry and wow.. they are a million times more amazing now!! The hardware JUMPS off the darker color and I wouldn’t change it for the world!!
Do what YOU feel is right, you bought em, you own em. =)
A Modern Line says
I’d leave them blonde as well having personally refinished some of these blonde pieces to a darker set, I can tell you that this is more than likely to turn into a long term train wreck. I love H/W but these veneered blonde pieces are a real challenge to refinish!
Katie says
I agree with everyone else, leave the blonde finish alone, its gorgeous.
I think that blue is the way to go, but I think that a lighter, more aqua shade would be the best. it would really make the wood ‘pop’, and it would also make the room feel bright and open.
Jane / MulchMaid says
Fantastic! These are no bottle blondes, so keep them original, please, and use some of Kate’s great ideas for working with them. You have a couple of sweet pieces here, and although I’m not a Hey-Wake color of blonde fan, I would love these gorgeous originals in my home! Those tambour doors are amazing!
A question for Kate: what app or software do you use to make your mood boards? They are so useful for planning, and fun to look at, too!
pam kueber says
I am obsessed with tambour doors right now…
Jane / MulchMaid says
I see why: they’re so elegant and functional when they are well-made and great space-savers, too.
Janet in CT says
Jane, I have to ask, is that your kitty? I love kitties and mine looks alot like yours does! Does she have little smudges of color by her nose and mouth? Mine has the same and although her name is Rascal, we call her Dirty Face! She looks like a little kid who is eating oatmeal! I know this is way way off-topic but just had to comment on your precious little kitty!
Jane / MulchMaid says
Janet, that IS our kitty. His name is Elvis and he’s a sweetheart. I think he looks like he just finished drinking a cup of cafe creme!
Kate B says
Thanks Jane! I’m a trained graphic designer so my favorite tool to use for mood boards is Adobe Photoshop.
It is fun to make mood boards and “try on” a look before committing to changing the room! 🙂
Jane / MulchMaid says
Thanks, Kate! I hoped you had a line on a cool new app or software and that it *wasn’t* PS, because it costs so much. I guess Adobe will get their chunk of change out of me someday!!
Heidi E. says
Try GIMP. It’s an open source knock off of Photoshop and IMO feels more intuitive ( though I have a reputation for being really weird in my tastes that way—grew up with Commodore Amiga and never quite got the hang of non-Unix-based systems)
Shelly says
Keep the blonde, you may find after working it into your home decor that you find an affinity to it. Variation makes a house interesting. My guideline in decorating/redesign is that if the finish isn’t compromised, work with it. The creative challenge brings inspiration in so many other ways.. Jump even further out of the box.. there is are a million and more ways to make it work! Have fun with it…
Denise says
I can see that the style of the dressers would take well to the teak look. Plus teak is so uber-hip now.
On the other hand, why take on such a big project when there is so much else to do in life? I admit to being a Heywood Champagne addict so my opinion is quite slanted but agree that blonds do have more fun.
Janet says
Denise, I totally agree with you on the Heywood-Wakefield champagne finish. I never cared for the wheat finish – too yellow for me. Those of you who dislike Heywood Wakefield have maybe never seen the champagne up close and personal. It is almost a pinkish hue like on true red oak. Most pieces are stamped on the back with the finish so when you see a piece that looks different from wheat, check the back – it is probably the champagne, which I believe is harder to find and was maybe less popular back in the day.
Carla says
How many blondes dye their hair brown? Save the Blonde Furniture!
I have a blonde Johnson-Carper set (a.k.a the “I Love Lucy” bedroom furniture) — bookcase headboard, long dresser with mirror, highboy and nightstand. I like girly, so my walls are a muted retro pink. Bedspread is vintage pink quilted satin which slides off all the time, but it’s a small price to pay for yum!
Love the blue walls with the blonde!
The Atomic Mom says
If the finish is still in tact, I say keep it as is. The funny thing is, I aquired a blond wood dresser this week from a friend before she freecycled it. It reeked of smoke, and I mean the Marlbourogh Man was living in there. I’ve spent the last few days un-smoking this dresser, which has ruined the finish …. but I’m sure I will find a retro enough solution to the problem.