Furniture {reincarnated} : Filigree Armoire

As an industrial designer and new mom, I am constantly looking for projects that will serve as my creative outlet in the time between diapering and nursing. My latest endeavor is an ambitious one...I am taking an armoire from dusty to dazzling (and blogging about it). Follow me as we refurbish an old classic into a fresh new attention grabber! I have never taken on a project of this complexity so wish me luck!

The inspiration: Anthropologie's Bird Cut Armoire. They no longer sell it online (which brings a tear to my eye, as I have been drooling over it for years). This piece retails for $1898...
I love the elegant lines of the bonnet top and the delicacy of the infill panels. It has so much personality! The inside of the panels are lined with fabric which adds another layer of dimension and softness to the piece. Further, the varying tones in the finish add even more depth. Perfection!

SO, I have done my homework and come across this lovely little piece to work with... for only $150!!The lines are very similar to that of our inspiration piece and (of course) it is solid wood. Our to-do list is long but I am confident that with the right tools and some elbow grease, we will create a fabulous piece of furniture!

To get started, I searched through pages and pages of lace patterns, and quilting panto patterns, and filigree patterns to find my inspiration for the infill panels. I started sketching and ended up with this:

It is modern and feminine and intricate, while remaining fun and whimsical. So, once I created my vector file in Illustrator (above), I sent it to the CNC machine to do a test cut. Lookin' good!! There are few little tweaks to be made to the design in order to eliminate some stress points but other than that, we are all set to go!


We went to Home Depot and picked our paint colors. We chose Behr "Pebbled Courtyard" as the base/primer and "Pot of Cream" as the top coat.
After removing the doors and the hardware, we painted our base coat. It is amazing how much this one step transformed the look of the piece. While we are painting, our infill panels are being cut.


I am SO excited!!! Here is a sample of what the (pre-painted) doors look like.... Just as I had envisioned! Next we will knock down the rough edges with sand paper, prime and paint.


Slowly but surely! Painting the inside edge of all of those swirls and curls was quite a job! Jeff was a major help in this effort and without him it would have taken me until next month to get that done. Anyway, I think it looks great! We have many more little finishing touches to make before we are totally done but it is so much fun to see it coming together!


The fabric behind the filigree helps keep it from looking messy. Here it is just sandwiched in the closed door and will have a much cleaner look when it is all said and done. You get the idea :)

Final Product! Here she is in all her glory! Grace Anne LOVES it.... and it is almost big enough to house all of her books and stuffed animals.

We simply finished the edge of the fabric and tacked it around the inside of the panels. Very nice touch! We have a sheet of wainscoating for the backing and may attach it later. For now, I like the open feel.



Before and After.

Thanks for looking. What do you think?! Feel free to share your comments below :)