English Wardrobe redone in Old Ochre

I was so excited to find this beautiful English Wardrobe. And even more excited to fix it up and paint it. It’s a 1930 – 1940’s wardrobe that still had the sticker on it from before it was shipped to the United States. I looked it up and Swainbanks in Liverpool, England ships antiques to the United States. Not sure how long it has been in the US but no one has ever taken the sticker off. Can you blame them! 😉

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When I picked this up it needed quite a bit of work. The wood was warped to the point that the opening for the door was about 1 1/2 inches too big. There were several cracks in the wood from the warping and the hings for the door had ripped out of the wood. There were several screws and nails and some kind of glue that had been used over the years to try to fix it. This also caused several of the cracks in the wood.

The mirror was thankfully in near perfect condition but it was going to need some handy man work overall. So I got the hubby to help! 😉 He’s much better at figuring this stuff out. It took some time and lots of nails and screws to fix much of the warping and get the shape back to where is was suppose to be. Well for the most part.  But even after that, the door had about a 1 inch gap when it was placed in the opening. So we added a piece of molding to one side. This solved 2 problems because the holes for the hinge screws were stripped.

All the original hardware was there (except the key) so we used it to hang the door where the new molding was. Once the wood putty was sanded and smooth it was time for paint. I choose Annie Sloan Old Ochre because I feel like this color fits with the time period of this piece.

Once it had 2 coats of paint on it I lightly distressed it, put a layer of clear wax and then added lots of dark wax to age it. Old Ochre is a great paint color for dark wax and I love the look of it. One fun thing about this wardrobe is it still has the original clothing rod and hooks.

The previous owner made 2 shelves so they also went back in. This will be one of those pieces I will be heart broken to see go. It is such a beautiful piece with amazing lines.

As you can see in the picture I left the sticker on the mirror so whoever buys it will know it came from Liverpool, England! 😉 I also was able to find a key that fit so the door locks. If it sits in my booth too long I may bring it back and find a place for it in my home! haha That’s the problem with buying furniture you love to paint and sell.

Let me know what you think of this amazing wardrobe. Where would you put it in your home? A bedroom, a living room? Maybe an entryway? I would love to hear your idea’s!

Thanks for taking a look

Cindy

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