A few years ago, I purchased a chest of drawers at a local junkyard. While this wasn’t cheap (what is in London?!), I bought it with the idea of up-cycling and giving it a new lease of life in a romantic style. And, recently, I finally got round to doing it.
©2024 Cher Tavernier-Nicholas
What is romantic style?
The Romanticism movement originated in Europe during the 18th century, continuing into the 19th century. A response to the Enlightenment, which encouraged reason and order as science dominated, Romanticism – especially Romantic art – looked to nature, with its unpredictability and wild beauty.
Romantic home decor is similar to Regency in style, often featuring floral prints, lace and generally has a femininity to it. It often has a nostalgic vintage edge, featuring mostly warm tones or pastel colours.
How to include romantic style in your home
As I’m fortunate enough to have outdoor space, on a particularly dry (but cold!) day, I brought the chest of drawers out onto my patio balcony and got to work. The hardest part was the prep work, in particular stripping off the lacquer varnish to get down to the raw wood. This is a necessary step in the process as it will ensure that the paint goes on easily and, most importantly, stays on. If you just paint over the varnish without stripping it, whatever is underneath will eventually show through.
©2024 Cher Tavernier-Nicholas
In order to do this as quickly and efficiently as possible, I bought a liquid stripper. I was told sanding it down with sandpaper would be sufficient, but it was time consuming. With the liquid stripper, you pour some onto the wood, leave for a while to soak in before using a scrapper to remove the varnish, and you’ll find it will just peel right off with ease.
©2024 Cher Tavernier-Nicholas
Following this step, I waited a day for the raw wood to dry. Finally, the chest of drawers were ready to be painted.
©2024 Cher Tavernier-Nicholas
Using furniture paint, I chose to paint most of the chest white. However, I decided to try my hand at decoupage (something I’d never done before) with the front of the drawers. Using unused romantic style wrapping paper I’d bought a year ago, I smoothed the paper over with decoupage glue.
©2024 Cher Tavernier-Nicholas
I initially wanted to salvage the original draw handles, but they were too damaged to save, so I decided to replace them with new ones that went better with the romantic style I was trying to achieve. The crystal handles I used were bought in a box of 6 from Amazon, just what I needed for less than £8. They were surprisingly easy to apply onto the drawers and have added that extra glamour to give my chest of drawers the new lease of life they were after
Now, the chest of drawers add another element of romantic style to my bedroom decor.
©2024 Cher Tavernier-Nicholas
Step-by-Step guide to up cycling
1. Choose your piece of furniture and clean it up, removing any dust and debris.
2. Find a good workspace. Outside is best, but if you don’t have outdoor space a well-ventilated room will suffice.
3. If your piece of furniture has varnish or paint on it, you need to strip it. Using either sandpaper or liquid stripper (the latter I found easier), apply it to your work piece, making sure to wear gloves and a mask even when you are working in a well-ventilated area.
4. If using liquid stripper, allow the liquid to soak into the wood. Leave for roughly half an hour. Then, using a scrapper, gently start lifting the varnish off. Once completed, allow to dry, usually roughly one day.
5. After stripping, wipe your piece down with a damp cloth.
6. Using your chosen furniture paint, start painting your piece of furniture.
7. If decoupaging, you need to decide if you want to do the whole piece or some of it, as I did. If you are decoupaging the whole piece of furniture, there is no need to paint first.
8. Using your chosen paper, cut to the size of what you need.
9. Mix PVA glue with water: one part PVA to two parts water.
10. Coat the paper with the mixed PVA glue. Carefully attach it to your piece of furniture, taking the time to apply it smoothly. Use a soft rag to smooth out any air bubbles. Leave to dry.
11. Apply clear varnish to the entire decoupage paper. Leave to dry.
12. And you’re good to go.
