EDIT: Okay, so I spent some time reading on the web, and it seems like it's generally frowned upon to paint antique furniture with its finish in good condition. Which it is, on my Eastlake pieces, except for parts of the bed that were replaced with cheap modern wood and restained. We do know the value of the furniture and it's fairly significant, so I think I'm going to leave it alone. In light of that, what can I do to spruce up this room? In particular, can you point me to a modern desk that wouldn't totally clash with this style?
My sister-in-law and her husband recently bought their first house. Over the past few months, they've put a lot of elbow grease into transforming it from an over-wallpapered monstrosity to a beautiful, modern, calm space in which to raise their family and entertain.
It's been inspiring to witness (and occasionally take part in) their renovations. While we don't have the resources right now to do anything major - or minor, for that matter - the process has made me look critically at my own home and bookmark a few ideas to refresh our space.
In particular, our guest room is a mishmash of different styles and ideas, but not in a fun, eclectic way. No, the guest room has more of a "here's a bunch of stuff, ta-da" feel to it. I really like the colors we chose for the room - a deep teal and chocolate brown with white accents - and I love the antique Eastlake bed and dresser passed down through Nathan's family.
But I don't love the mint-green rickety farm table serving as a dumping ground for technology. The guest room is an out of the way place for our printer and all that jazz, but I hate how random and unfinished it makes the room appear. For ages, I've been trying to find an Eastlake desk on Craigslist, to no avail. I couldn't come up with a way to tie the room together.
I flipped through some of my old Domino magazines recently, though, and was reminded that it's okay to mix design eras, wood finishes, IKEA and Eastlake even, if you do it in an intentional fashion. So now I'm okay with putting a more utilitarian, modern desk in there. However, that usually requires updating the antique elements of your room.
As a result, I've been thinking about sanding and painting our Eastlake furniture, which is currently kind of an outdated (but very beautiful) honey oak. Sort of like this, only without the mind-blowing lemon. Maybe a muted white and chocolate?
Here's the furniture, for reference:
I'm not really worried about ruining the value of the furniture by altering it; since they're family heirlooms, we'll probably never get rid of them, and I'd rather transform them into interesting showpieces that fit our home. What do you think? Color suggestions? Dire don't-you-dare warnings?
hey kate! i just jumped on our old computer and was glimpsing some of our bookmarked blogs, then stumbled on yours. we are living in the middle of a wallpaper nightmare trying to make the most of it and i've adopted the mindset that our room just looks "shabby-chic" instead of extremely clashy and trashy. however, since you have the power to change your situation and we do not (its in the lease that we can't touch the wallpaper)i'm on board with your desire to update while intentionally mixing old and new. i don't have any images of desks, but when i saw that bed, the large flat spaces on the headboard and foot board jumped out at me. i don't know exactly how it could work, but you could do an insert using a thin piece of wood or even cardboard covered in an interesting fabric, painted, or decoupaged (i know - sounds cheezy) vintage photos, newsprint or something else in brown and white tones). If you did fabric or paint it could be any color and any print that might modernize without altering the furniture permanently. You could do the same thing to the top surface of the dresser by putting something under glass. no regrets then. or you could just paint it. you probably wouldn't regret that either and it's probably what the next people who inherit it will do. sorry this is really long and probably a bad idea. or too late. either way - hope you are well!!
Erica, I'm so glad I saw your comment before I did anything to this furniture! I love the idea of filling in those "blank" spaces on the headboard & footboard with something interesting. After all, they're just plywood. (Makes me wonder if there was something else there once upon a time that the plywood is filling in?)
I've also been puzzling over how to modernize the top of the dresser, as I'm not a huge fan of the marble and there's a big crack in it anyway. Your idea of something under a piece of glass is so clever. Totally doing that.
Thanks for the brain waves, and hope you guys are well, too! Joanna's given me updates from time to time, so I know you have a toddler - and just saw on your blog that you're expecting, and that you live in France! Congrats, and let me know if you're ever visiting in the Philly area. :)