Adding Gold Accents to a French Farmhouse Dresser

Today, we’re sharing how we added gold accents to the French Farmhouse style dressers for Week 5 of the One Room Challenge!

If you’re not familiar with this event, the One Room Challenge is currently in its fifteenth season and to date, more than 3,000 rooms have been transformed by featured designers, guest participants, and design influencers.

The entire process is documented over a six-week period as each participant shares inspiration, diy ideas, favorite tips and tricks, shopping resources, as well as a behind the scenes look at how everything is coming together along the way. It’s fun to follow because you never know what is going to happen during the 6 weeks!

As always, a big shout out to Linda of Calling it Home who created The One Room Challenge and to Better Homes and Gardens for being the official media partner of the ORC.

There are very few pieces of furniture at my house that are on the non-negotiable list.  I’m definitely one of those people that is totally ok with “trading up and out,” if I fall in love with something else that would be a better fit.

It probably won’t surprise you that most of the pieces of furniture on the non-negotiable list are pieces that my Dad made or those pieces that have been passed down to me by someone in my family.  So, when I started planning the One Room Challenge bedroom makeover, I knew immediately the dressers that belonged to my Mom would be included in the space.

I can’t find a picture of the original dressers, but the finish was a similar finish to this one…

About four years ago, I sanded the dressers down

and added a color wash

which gave them the appearance of the worn over time, country brocante style I love.

Given the bedroom makeover was inspired by a French Farmhouse retreat space, I knew I didn’t want to paint or alter the body of the dressers in any way. But the minute we decided to pair the antique mirror

with the long dresser, it just felt like something was missing.

Ultimately, we realized what was missing was the gold accents on the original dresser I had sanded down four years ago.  Ironic, right?

You can see a bit of the original gold accent under the top of the lip of the dresser in this picture.

I knew adding gold accents to the French farmhouse dresser would be an easy fix with Rub n’ Buff in Antique Gold, so I got out my art detail brush and got to work.

If you’ve never used Rub n’ Buff before, a little really does go a long way. Since I just wanted to highlight the lines of the dresser, I only applied the Antique Gold at the very top

and along the curves of the drawers.

Adding gold accents to only those areas was a subtle change, but I knew it would help to tie in the antique mirror and the dresser.

At this point, I really thought I was finished until I stepped back and realized the dresser and mirror looked old and the gold accents looked new.  In an effort to “age” the Antique Gold, I added a small amount of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Dark Furniture Paste Wax to an old wax cloth,

and layerd it directly over the Antique Gold Rub n’ Buff.

Again, it’s a subtle change but it did help to knock the newness off the Antique Gold to give a more aged feel to the dressers.

You can also see here how the dark wax settled into the nooks and crannies that had been previously sanded down too.

Unfortunately, I can’t show you the entire dresser with the gold mirror because it reflects too much of the bedroom makeover and we gotta have a little mystery for the final reveal next week, right? So, this is how the dresser looked after the gold accents had been added to the curves in the drawers and on the top.

It’s definitely one of those understated transformations that makes all the difference when you’re trying to wrap up all the last-minute details.

I honestly can’t believe this 6-week One Room Challenge is almost over!

If you’re new here or need to catch up here’s a look at what we’ve be up to so far…

Week 1: ORC Design Board and Inspiration

Week 2: French Country Desk Makeover

Week 3: ORC Mid Challenge Update

Week 4: French Country DIY Bed Crown

Make sure to stop by and see what the other fabulous participants are sharing this week over on the ORC Blog Challenge.  We’re all pretty tired but we’re ready to finish strong next week!

Until next time, I’ll see you on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

Many blessings,

CoCo