I would suggest your first coat to be in flat, as it will stick better to the surface than any other sheen. You cannot find a primer in black, and I have tried priming the surface in a gray and it hasn’t worked out well for me.

What I would suggest using as your first coat is Rust-Oleum’s Flat Black Rust Preventive Paint

After it is dry, you can paint the entire dresser in Rust-Oleum Black Satin Finish.

Many people do not like to work with oil paint, but I prefer it because it is very durable compared to water based paints. I know when I send people home with a painted piece of furniture, it will last longer than water based finishes.

When you work with oil paint be sure to buy paint thinner, as oil is hard to clean from your brushes without using some type of solvent. Do wear gloves. If you find you get paint on your skin, try Goof Off to get it off.

I tend to get a very nice finish by painting on the oil first with a chip brush that has natural fibers. You can buy chip brushes for $1.25 at any hardware store, and then my secret to nice even finishes are to use foam paint brushes which then even out your paint strokes.

This technique has worked on many french provincial dressers quite nicely*

Love your blog! Fun, informational, will look forward to more posts!

I stumbled on your blog page while looking to find this French Provincial set that I recently picked up for my sister at an auction. Turns out, the set will be too big for the guest room she wanted to use it in. I was wondering if you had any ideas as to it’s value, and where a good place might be to sell it .. if other than eBay or Craigslist.

BTW.. that tip you posted on your blog about how to search all of craigslist for this stuff is great.!.. I always wondered how do do a craigslist wide search! THANKS!

This furniture set is made by Johnson/ Carper. That’s what it says inside one of the drawers.

Thanks so much for your help

George Gregorian
Cranston, RI

Answer:

Hi George,

Thank you for contacting me. I have sold my share of french provincial sets over the few years, but to be honest, I am not a dealer of furniture, so I wouldn’t be in the position to appraise your set.

The craigslist search is great, isn’t it? I stumbled upon it myself, and posted it as a way of finding the value of your set based on what others are asking.

In my opinion, its not necessarily what different sets are worth, but what they are able to sell for. I have seen overblown prices up to 1K for some of these sets in antique malls, and online, but I often think to myself that pricing furniture high is just another way to sit on it. French Provincial furniture is vintage, not antique, so they can be located easily.

Ebay and craigslist are great places to gather price points. I really don’t have any other suggestions for other sites. You will have to research your own location to see how many people use other online classifieds, and if it worth your time to post. I have also noticed that a persons location makes a tremendous difference. Having the perspective of living on the east coast in Virginia, and then living currently on the west coast in Seattle, you cannot get away with the high prices out west as you can in the east. Cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC tend to be areas where the nicer things always find a high end buyer, but that is not the case in small town America.

I would recommend, starting off pricing your set reasonably on the higher end, and advertise a lot. Post your furniture on craigslist every day.

Include words like shabby chic, cottage, to attract the right people.

If it doesn’t sell at the price point you want, lower it, and start the process again.

Don’t be discouraged, as there are weeks of slow times, and then weeks where everyone wants a bite of your sale.

With craigslist, the key to selling is posting often, and posting when everyone is looking. Post your ad between 10 and 2pm.

Sign up for a free photo bucket account, which gives the option of adding the HTML into your add, which blows up the picture that appears on the craigslist add. This gives the customer a better look at the furniture you are selling.

If you still have not sold your set, break up the set into pieces. Your most valuable pieces are the bed, and the dressers. Most dressers depending on the style can sell between 160- and 480. Sometimes higher, or lower depending on the quality. Women especially need to buy dressers for new nurseries, but don’t need the queen sized bed which come with the sets. Sometimes breaking up sets brings in more money than keeping them together.

French provincial is always one style many people looking to decorate in shabby,cottage, and nautical costal styles specifically for. Painting these sets always sells these particular styles. Leaving it in its natural wood is another plus for people looking for a pretty set in natural wood. I hope that helps.

Being a buyer of French provincial furniture, I know I still have to really dig to find a set for sale. Many others who refinish and paint furniture seek out these sets, so I hope you get a good price for your set, because they are still sought after.

Blessings! Meranda

Hello, I have a white set with dark wood tops. The white has yellowed. What can I do to make it less yellow? Is there a glaze or a recipe of chemicals to do this?
I purchased an antique mirror and want to remove the one that came with the set. I want to sell the mirror, what should I ask for it. It’s the one on your sight with the dresser and mirror attached.
Thank you,

Rose Marie

Answer:

Hi Rosemarie

Thank you for emailing me. Often times these white french provincial sets do turn yellow over time. I have noticed this especially true with the Dixie brand. It could be from the age of the oil paint they originally used, as well, as varnish will turn yellow over white paint. I have found that it is easier for me to just repaint the dresser to get the white finish back.

1. You could tape off the wood top and spray paint the bottom in white.

2. You could take a foam brush and just brush on the white paint, leaving the gold trim that is often found on French provincial furniture.

3. Another way of leaving the original finish is to get a hand foam sander with fine grit, and slightly sand the finish. Eventually you will get down to the beautiful white which was originally on the dresser. It would take a lot of work to do it this way, I have to warn you. You can seal it up with a water based polyacrylic.

Hoping that helps.

http://thewhitedresser.com/archives/distressed-white-dresser

Blessings!

Meranda

I will contact you* My contact info is michaelandmeranda at g m a i l .c o m (No spaces) Thank you for all the complements. I do sand in between coats, because oil paint is very thick. When I apply the oil, I also use a sponge paint brush to even out the oil, so there will not be any raised areas when the paint dries.

Alexis, North Bay, Ontario Canada

Greetings from Germany…

Hope this helps!
Shalissa

regards.
http://www.mayfairstationers.co.uk

Finding french provincial pulls in your local town or city is almost impossible. I use ebay for my french provincial furniture, and I am always finding the exact matches with little or no effort. Keep your eyes on ebay and you will find a match.

Meranda

I am so sorry I haven’t been able to respond back to you. We have many websites, and being back to painting and moving these last several months, I haven’t been able to check my personal blogs as much as I would like. My husband approves the comments, but I know he doesn’t have much interest in decorating, so he generally doesn’t answer the questions…LOL. Anyways, my appologies**

(If anyone has a question it is easier to contact me through michaelandmeranda at gmail .com)

French Provincial furniture is entirely speculative according to the eyes of the beholder. If your dresser is wood instead of white, or melamine, it is more valuable. Sites such as 1st dibs often feature antique hard to find furniture, and they have outrageous prices that skyrocket into the thousands because they are hard to find antiques. French Provincial furniture on the other hand is very easy to find. The style was was produced in the 50’s and 60s tend to be more common than furniture that was made in the 1900’s. Dresser sets are worth more money than individual pieces, but as a seller it is more profitable to break up the sets in this economy. Over years of selling provincial furniture on craigslist, I do know what each piece can normally fetch.

I have found that wood dressers, typically a 6 drawer dresser can comfortably sell for 180 to 280 very easily depending on the location and city. A 9 drawer dresser painted, or left in its natural wood can sell between 280 being the lowest I generally ask to 450. On occasion I see bedroom sets sell for 1500, but generally I see them sit on craigslist, because people don’t want to shell out those prices for “used” furniture. Not to say they are not worth that amount of money, as each set it different, but some people like myself LOVE LOVE LOVE the style, and others just pass by it, without giving it a second thought. So getting a reasonable price for each dresser for a seller is easier to sell than an entire set.

Tall french dressers are worth the same amount as the longer 6 or 9 drawer dressers. They are very popular as condos are getting smaller, and typically families are losing room in their homes. I usually ask 280 and up for these pieces.

Bombe or serpentine dressers are hard to find, but on occasion, I see french furniture that feature beautiful veneers for very reasonable prices. If you are looking for a french provincial dresser as a buyer, or are looking to SELL your french provincial set, one resource you can look into is the search option for craigslist under google.

Under google, type in Craigslist. There should be a box that appears under the craigslist listing on the front page of google. Type in “french provincial” What should appear is the listings of the entire craigslist community. You will get all the search words of “french provincial” in every city.

If for example this does not appear type this into google:

french provincial site:craigslist.org

This should bring up every french provincial set in the craigslist site.

You can get more specific such as Dixie French Provincial, or Bombe chest ect.

Even though most people are typically selling their sets, this search option will give you an idea of what other people have priced their furniture.

If you are selling a set, and need a second opinion, feel free to send me a picture and I will give you an idea of what I would sell it for. michaelandmeranda at gmail.com

Blessings!! Meranda