THE FRENCH DREXEL SHELL CABINET BEFORE AND AFTER

Jun 8

I am busy moving my posts from my original site (thepainteddrawer.com) to my new site. My old site has many issues and I am trying to save my best posts to share. I hope you enjoy!

My neighbor had this old 1970’s cabinet in his garage and gave it to me. It is a piece made by Drexel, and was worth saving. That old 70’s green had to go.

I decided to go with a first coat of Annie Sloan Aubusson Blue. It is a greeny blue and didn’t fight the original finish. I painted the interior in the blue and added a coat of Annie Sloan Florence before applying one more coat of the blue on top. For the outside and base, I used washes of Aubusson, Florence and Provence. I then sanded back to reveal the beautiful painted details on the drawers. This gave the interior a deeper hue than the outside.

The whole piece was waxed in Annie Sloan clear wax and after it cured, I added Provence into the clear wax and applied it over sections. I also added touches of gold using Gold decorative paint.

Here are a LOT of pics to share. I hope they show the many layers and details of the piece. Each layer builds upon the last to create an aged patina.

Before and after below!