Very Versailles

The French know how to make anything look expensive and sound expensive.

So voila, here are some good examples of how to make your furniture look rich. White is a great color to choice for any piece of furniture that is being re-finished. It's the gold detail that makes the difference of whether it looks expensive and impressive... or just "shabby chic".

Don't get me wrong, "shabby chic" is good, but screams "my kid's can just jump all over the furniture and all I have to do is wipe it down." The gold detail on these pieces say" I went to flea market in Paris to get these heirloom pieces". Tres chic.

My headboard right after I finished

Close up of one of the posts

My first "Versailles" piece. I looked for three months on Craigslist to find a four poster king size bedframe for me to refinish. We have a large bedroom so any other size looked like a twin bed in there. Finding a four poster king size is not the easiest thing in the world, but I scored on this one. The lady I bought it from paid $1100 for it at Eddie Bauer. It was maple when I got my hands on it. Guess how much I paid for it? Would you believe $50?! True story. I had the pictures for inspiration ( above and below ) in my archives from an old Country Living magazine. This house is gorgeous and if I had a chateau style house in New Orleans, It would look exactly like hers.

I used left over Ralph lauren semi gloss in in "Picket Fence" ( Two good coats ) and then layered it with a crackle medium ( Behr makes a good one ), then another layer of Picket Fence white. After that dried I used "walnut" colored stain ( that too was left over and I haven't been able to find a good eco friendly stain yet ), and rubbed it very lightly in areas to give the illusion of age.

The final steps included light sanding ( also to create age ) , then adding a decorative wood accent ( they have them at Home Depot or most home improvement centers ) on the headboard and adding the gold touches in the appropriate areas. I used Ceramacoat water based craft paint in "Antique gold".

Now I have to find the rest of my "bedroom suite", dressers as side tables ( the bed is too high for anything else ), a vanity etc... They will all get the "treatment" so it looks like we purchased them all together like in the picture at the top. Lot's of work, but these are now heirlooms.

Not to mention, it makes you feel like you have a little piece of Versailles...

Au revoir!