Ask any woman what the one item is that every woman needs in her wardrobe. What’s the number one answer? A classic black dress. I’ve looked for the perfect black dress for my own wardrobe for months. Black is elegant but with the right accessories, it can be fun and fresh. A black dress flatters almost every figure, every skin tone, every height. It looks great with every accent color… from pale pink to bright teal to sage green. The perfect black dress lets a beautiful woman standout in a room.
By now, you might be asking yourself what the classic black dress is doing on a furniture blog? What does the perfect black dress have to do furniture? Well…I think that the effect that the perfect black dress has on a woman is quite similar to the effect the perfect black paint has on a piece of furniture.
The perfect black furniture paint.
A client recently brought me a beautiful server and attached hutch. It was a great English style piece with warm pine and chunky wooden knobs. The piece sits in their kitchen and the kitchen was in the middle of a major renovation. There was nothing wrong with the piece in its current state, but my client felt that with the changes being made in the kitchen, that the piece would fit into her renovated home a little more dressed up. The piece needed its perfect black dress.
The perfect black paint can make a piece of furniture look elegant, but still friendly and accessible in a room. If used properly, black is every bit as versatile and flexible as white or off-white.
I chose my favorite black paint, General Finishes Milk Paint in Lamp Black for the piece. It took 2 solid coats to cover the piece. We liberally distressed the hutch and server and finished it with a hand rubbed wax finish.
A simple hutch and server has the perfect “dress” to wear in its brand new room. A simple change, but a huge transformation!
That is gorgeous! That’s so true that the paint was its little black dress – dressed that piece right up! So beautiful.
I absolutely love this. You did an amazing job on it. I’d love to see it styled – it’ll look gorgeous Makes me question painting over my black hutch!!! (Of course everything makes me question my deco choices! lol)
General Finishes has the best paint—and the black is amazing! Also love their water-based polyurethane High Performance topcoat for a super durable finish. I used to sell it in a store I owned but have a hard time finding it in my area now. Your piece looks great!
I love it, it turned out wonderful….I too have a large Pine furnuture piece that I’ve been meaning to paint a different color, Black would definately be an option. Although I have never painted a large project like this and would be terrified to mess it up….
Beautiful job, as always! I love black painted furniture. It never goes out of style! Just like a LBD!