French Provincial Dresser Makeover in Fusion’s Inglenook

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Hey friends!

It’s been awhile since I had a Fusion makeover to share with you! I’ve been on a milk paint kick lately, so my bottles of Fusion have spent some time resting on the shelf.

But when I came across this 60’s french provincial dresser awhile back I knew it was time to break out the Fusion again!

These pieces are still pretty popular in my area and hard to find for a good price.  So when I saw this one for under $100 I snatched it up.

A lot of times the dressers from this area have laminate tops, which require a bit of extra prep.  The rest of the body though is usually wood, and that was the case with this piece.

I gave it my usual cleaning with Simple Green to get off any grease and grime, and then a light sanding with 220 grit sandpaper–just enough to open up the pores of the finish.

To prep the top, after cleaning I painted on a base coat of Fusion’s Ultra Grip.

This is the product you want to use when you’re painting tricky surfaces–like laminate, glass, metal, or plastic. 

It’s super easy–just paint on a thin basecoat (it goes on milky white), allow it to dry overnight (it dries clear), then paint over it.  It will help your Fusion adhere to those surfaces, and one bottle will last you for quite some time.

In the past, I’ve mostly painted these pieces white (you can see those french provincial pieces here and here), so I wanted to try something new for this one.

I decided on a base color of Inglenook, Fusion’s soft blue with a touch of green, with some accents added using 2 other contrasting colors.

In their original state, these pieces have a lot of visual interest and depth of finish . . . Just with an icky, out-of-date cream and gold color scheme.

When I paint these style pieces then I try to keep that interest and depth by not just painting them one solid color.

Also, I added some age to it at the end by using a topcoat of Espresso Wax, which is another way to help create that antique frenchy look.

So here is the piece all finished!

Much better, don’t you think?

That horrible cream and gold is gone, updated now with a more modern color scheme but one that still has an elegant look.

You can see how the extra color accents and espresso wax helped keep the new finish from being so flat and one-dimensional.

And you gotta love that smooth Fusion finish!

START-TO-FINISH VIDEO TUTORIAL NOW AVAILABLE

I made a video of the entire process of making over this piece, and it’s now available in my online shop as a 1-hour video tutorial! It’s like hanging out with me in my living room while we paint together 🙂 You can find that tutorial here.

Thanks for joining me here today!

You can see Inglenook on some other pieces I’ve painted as well:

Inglenook and Driftwood Nightstand

Inglenook Drop-Leaf Table

Happy Painting!