I think it would be gorgeous painted white - and maybe distressed on the edges just ever-so-slightly.

What a beautiful CL find!

I think it would look beautiful painted a creamy white with a stained top.

Did it come with hardware that you're using or are you buying new?

I think it has a lot of style, quite a find!

Personally, I'd be unable to hide the beautiful patterns in the wood, so maybe a white wash glaze?

I would stain it dark - a walnut color.

Thanks for the great comments. I am excited about it too. It just has so many possibilities.

I got a couple more pictures together so everyone can see what I have to work with. First for Daisy, the hardware.

This will go somewhere in my room too. It is a frame I found in the roof of our barn. I couldn't throw it out so I repaired, painted, added a sage ribbon, and inserted a cork board.

I love that piece and think that it would look fabulous in white. But, have you ever thought of a light blue (as in french)? Oh, I think you said your walls were going to be green.

But don't you love furniture painted white or that lovely blue color?

I would love that piece in my house.

....Jane

Madrid, my favorite glass bowl!

What a fantastic find. I think it would be wonderful painted white.

It would look wonderful in white!

Or perhaps a soft powdery French gray?

Jan

The chest is gorgeous; the hardware is gorgeous; the frame is gorgeous!

What size is the frame?

Someday I'm going to find a CL's treasure. (This is my daily chant!)

I can't wait to see your finished project, and room.

I appreciate everyone's suggestions. If I do paint it white, should the top be white too? Should I distress the woodwork with sandpaper like Jen suggested? So worried I am going to screw it up and have to spend another 4 days stripping it.

NewDawn, I did think about painting it a color, a darker sagey green. I saw a handpainted chest on Horchow that had greens and creams, but I am not sure I have the skills to pull off something that complicated.

Bodica- Thanks for IDing the bowl. I never knew what it was. It was laying around the house as a kid so I used to put my pencil shavings into so I wouldn't have to run to the trash can all the time LOL. Now I put candy in it. : D

White with a piece of marble on top.

Oh that piece is lovely. There is no way in the world I'd paint over that gorgeous wood.

The wood looks like a nice grain in your pic so I'd tend toward stained even though I know how much work it will be to get all of the paint out of the crevices.

Country Curtains has a sage green botanical toile curtain you might be interested in for your room.

Here is a link that might be useful: Botanical Toile

The hardware is lovely, very dainty and feminine.

I recognized because it is one of my most favorite glass dinnerware sets! Collectable, and love the blue, most seen in amber.
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You should at least try staining it first. Especially since you went to so much work removing paint. That is walnut burl, a stain will bring out the patterns and luster beautifully. Chances are good that if you use several coats of stain the grain will fill and the paint embedded in it will be masked. The paint may be porous enough (especially if itÂs latexÂwas it flat or gloss before you removed it?) to absorb some stain.

You can get stain samples of Varathane stain at most home centers. If regular stain does not work, test a gel stain; it might have more body to fill up the grain. There is a product that comes in a bottle that has both gel stain and finish combined (NOT Polyshades. Hate Polyshades). IÂm blanking on the name right now. Normally I donÂt like any combination products, but I have used this several times now to "glaze" over a piece. You are supposed to wipe it off after applying, or apply with a cloth and gradually it builds up a coating. But I have better luck just applying several thin coats and allowing it to dry thoroughly between each, like a day between.

I bought an elaborately carved oak mirror in a small town resale shop, an impulse purchase. It was obviously refinished, the owner said she had done it herself. Stained and varnished a honey color. When I took a good hard look at it in the sun, I saw there were minute traces of white paint embedded deep in the grain. I did not want to strip it all over again. Having now noticed the paint traces I knew I would never be happy with it the way it was. I tried this gel product and it filled up the grain and now, no paint!

That's a great tip linnea56!

I've seen some beautiful painted pieces where there's one color painted first and then white or black over top and then the other color is distressed to show through.

I think a green under the white or a wedgewood blue under the white would be beautiful.

If you take your time, you can get the paint out of the crevices.
The wood grain is so beautiful.
I hate to see it painted over.
I would try to stain it first or let me buy it from you.;)

Please do not paint over it. I love to see it as naked wood.
I'll buy it from you first. :->

Will you consider staining first and if you do not like the look, then paint? The wood is so very beautiful? Is there a specific reason youre first thought was of white paint? Maybe you don't like the wood? Wish I could find a piece like that to rebirth. It looks so wonderful and I particularly love when the pattern is butterfly cut like that. Of course it is yours to dao as you wish, I'm just so jelous!

Linnea, I had no idea it was burl walnut. To be honest, it didn't impress me much when I started to uncover it. To answer your question, there was 2 layers of paint over some orangey varnish.

Paint was my first impulse because it is huge, 49 wide and 34 deep. The floors will be wood and because it is a craft room, a rug will not be practical (needs to be sweepable). That just seems like a lot of wood for a small (11x12)room.

Did some tests! Pictures aren't too hot. It is night and our sun porch isn't well lit. Little sample spots with white, lightly sanded:

The frame is a really odd size. Cork board is 25 X 29 with a 3 inch frame so 31 X 35 exterior dimension.

Keep looking and I am sure your will find something perfect. I was about to give up on Craigslist almost everything is junk. The few good things were all sold before I got there. Look for a diamond in the rough. My husband thought I was crazy when I told him it was covered in glow in the dark stars :)
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Rose, thanks for the curtain link. Great inspiration there. I sew so I have been itchy to make my own : )
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BTW- Bodica, that is my dish, the second pic LOL. Never even knew it had a lid somewhere.

Hi Paintchips, no, no, no you shouldn't paint it white. How boring would that be? I just did a bunch of work and added a bunch of new photos to my painted furniture and household objects thread in the Decorative Painting Gallery just for you. I think you could maybe find some furniture painting inspiration there?

Here is a link that might be useful: My picture gallery thread on the Decorative Painting Board

Here it is tested with stain. Drawer fronts would be nice, but the sides are not as exciting. Top doesn't shimmer like the wood on the front does.

The big problem seems to be the wood applique on the drawer fronts. It isn't really taking stain. Stain just tinted it a bit golden. Gee, now I don't know! The front looks so nice, but the appliques look odd.

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The wood is gorgeous and that's the first thing I noticed. So I was going to say stain it... but then you said it couldn't be stained. If it can be, that's what I'd do because you're not going to find anything like that beautiful cut of wood in your average furniture store.

But if you want to paint it, click my link above for inspiration.

should be a light brown

"I just did a bunch of work and added a bunch of new photos to my painted furniture and household objects thread in the Decorative Painting Gallery just for you."

OMGoodness, wow, thank you! That is incredibly sweet of you.

LOL, Look how late you have me up looking at the gallery. I had no idea you were so talented. I am afraid that the more complexity I add to the project, the more apt I am to screw it up. : \

I just don't know about staining. For some reason I am not onboard with the idea. Sure it is great wood, but with wood floors that is a lot of wood!

The last time we talked, I mentioned trying to find a Craigslist dining table to serve as a workspace, something I could paint green. But I didn't mention that I am considering a paint technique on it. If I don't chicken out, I will really need your advice when the time comes. I saved several pictures so hopefully they will give me some courage!

You're very welcome! You've certainly put yourself out to help me before, so I was happy to do it. I didn't paint all those things, you know -- wish I had! Just did the ones I said I did in that thread. I just painted out all my flower border up and down my staircases, btw. Redoing that area (right now it seems like perpetually).

If I can ever help any of you figure out how to do a bit of decorative painting on anything, I'll be happy to help. There are also some extremely talented gals over on that board who are very sweet. Anyhoo, just let me know. We have our artist tricks, you know. There are lots of ways to get a job done.

I love the painted furniture because it's a place where we can get really creative and a bit zany. Some of those are just amazing, aren't they?

I understand that you really aren't liking all the wood, though, and have added a pic of ttodd's old? bedroom so you can see how a painted finish would look with green walls.

Pretty nice!

Oh .. after seeing the picture that Parma posted .. white, definitely white! Love that white with the green, and that touch of black, fantastic!

I can't picture painting that nice piece of wood furniture white. The wood patterns look like they could be very beautiful as a stained piece, even though it doesn't look to be butterflied wood pieces. The detailing might recede a bit with stain. The light paint is making them stand out more right now. A stone top would be nice, but I'd be afraid to take it apart.

Here is a link that might be useful: French Burled Walnut Chest

Okay - I had to peek.

Now this is my honest and practical opinion: I'd paint it white, distress it a bit and then age w/ an aging medium. Or keep it white - whatever you'd prefer. As soon as I saw the piece I said 'WHITE'!

Now I know DH's eyes are probably stuck in the back of his head from rolling them at the thought but here's why: How much money would you want to invest if your had it professionally refinished? Or if you were to do it yourself how much time would it take you to get the bits of paint out of the carving? And then after all of that do you think you might still wonder "What if I had painted it white?". Personally I'd weigh the cost of what I paid against all of that. Bonus side? You can always repaint it at your whim. I like at least one piece of painted furniture in a house.

NOW HEAR THIS! I am NOT an advocate for slapping paint on furniture as my main thing - I only do it when I weigh the cost of what I got it for and what would my perfect 'ideal' be for the piece and space. Most of my furniture is it's natural wood but I am lucky enough to have a DH that does it for a living.

One of my other favorite pieces is an old bureau w/ wonderful curved sides that I picked up for $10 slapped some wood appliques on the drawers, painted it glossy white and added crystal knobs. It's served as a dresser/ baby changing table for 3 kids now and is still so perfect. Everybody fought me on it tooth and nail until they saw the finished product. Darn family woodworkers!

Now that other bureau of mine that Parma posted was given to me spray painted the palest sky blue - you can barely tell in that pic. It's latest incarnation is cream w/ wide pale blue strips and black cut glass pulls in a cream and butter bedroom. I love the fact that I can just paint it on a moment's notice w/ leftover paint samples that I have.

I have just recently one a battle w/ DH to paint another bureau in our bedroom cream. The bureau is in perfect condition and is a tall bowfront made of quarter sawn oak. I pulled it out of someones trash. DH fought me tooth and nail - I even posted about it here. I finally forgot about it until one day he said since it was free why not? Now I'm not sure that I even want to!

Parma, thank you for posting Ttodd's dresser. I have always loved that picture. It really tipped it over the edge for me, although tgd's link made me swoon. Mine isn't near that nice of grain.

Ttodd, you are so creative. I think you are right about me always wondering what it would look like white. The walnut will be safely preserved and encased under a layer of paint : )

I hope that no one will be disappointed seeing it white, but after getting another look at Ttodd's dresser, I know it is the right decision.

I am about to get started on my work day. I'll be back with pictures. Thank you EVERYONE! I was feeling so crazy in the head with options and now I feel much more at peace after going through the options with you guys. :D

Another tip for getting the white paint specks out. Once you are done with the stripping that you are doing now, get a can of shellac and apply 1 coat. Then take mineral spirits and steel wool and remove the shellac. Something about this process removes paint specks in the grain. Try it in an inconspicuous place.

Re the stain not being absorbed in the decoration - have you thought about staining the body 1 color and then either painting the trim gold or staining it a darker color?

If the top and/or sides aren't so shiny with just stain, you could finish with a high gloss poly.

But you really sound like you want to paint this piece, anyway....

I thought white right away too, but read the posts. I still say white. It immediately sets it off as a vintage piece rather than a new one. If I found that it would be white with new glass knobs and I have the perfect spot for it! I will keep looking!

BTW I have several old carved frames I have found that need repair- did you make a mold of the undamaged carving and fill the mold with plaster and glue and then paint? or can you give me a better idea? Thanks Sue

Got three drawers done. Taking a break to clean house... look where I ended up!

That is an awesome tip to get flecks out. I have had that issue on a previous project. Great to know how to fix it.

Cooper, I cheated so terribly fixing the frame I am almost too embarrassed to say. First I used white glue to attach all of the flakey parts. In the areas where part was missing, I just built it up with layers of glue until it matched. It is a repeating pattern so it was easy to do. After painting over it, no one can tell, but still I know that I didn't get the result the proper way.

Its not the technique its the result! Sounds like a plan to me! I think you just solved how I will fix one frame! thanks!
I cant wait to see pics of the piece painted white! I may need to steal it from you( wherever the heck you live! LOL)

I'm glad you're happy with what you decided to do. I'm sure it's going to look really pretty against green walls. When do we get to see a picture?

Oh, I put more pics and a couple of little projects I did in that thread.

Just finished up putting the final stripes on my bureau yesterday afternoon when the electric went out. I still have a 2nd coat to put on and then I will post pics. It took 3 tries of different blues until I found the perfect one. I dug out a sample can of RH Silver Sage and it balanced the cream wonderfully. I hope you enjoy your end result as much as I've always enjoyed mine!

Here are a couple of painted pieces I have that were already painted. The armoire is from the 1850's (so they say) and the green dresser was new when I bought it.

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I know youÂve already decided to paint it, but I will say something in case some future person is looking for info. The "carved" detail did not take stain because it is resin or plastic, not wood. I thought this was likely as soon as I saw the closeups. DonÂt think modern cheap plastic, think Bakelite. I have an oak piece with resin details so learned a bit about it that way. It had been in my grandparents basement, painted for decades, and my Mom had it stripped for me. She remembered that it was oak underneath. When I first saw it stripped and went to stain it I realized the elaborate parts were not wood. I asked her about it and she explained that this was pretty common, that most pieces at that time were stained dark and then it was easy to mask that those parts were not wood. A certain class of furniture had these (~ first couple decades of 1900Âs) to imitate the wood carving that would price it out of the reach of the middle class. You could post your pic on the antiques forum and more people could tell you about it, IÂm sure.

To make a long story short(er), the resin does not take stain because it is not porous. There might be another approach, but what I did was to stain and varnish the whole piece first, then apply a glaze over just the resin details. Allow plenty of time to dry (again, not porous) then top coat with varnish.

paint chips, I know you have already decided to paint your commode - but another option would be to use liming wax on the piece. The wax would highlight the beautiful grain of the wood and give you a *white* look. You wouldn't have to fuss with the lingering paint specs embedded in the mouldings but you would have to open the grain with a wire brush or coarse paper.