Design Fixation: Metallic Finishes on Furniture
February 1, 2010
I go through these phases where I obsess over certain design elements and can’t get them out of my head until I incorporate them into my own home in some way.
Lately, I’m fixated on metallic finishes on furniture. Whether it’s silver leaf, gold leaf, gilded, antiqued, painted or pearlescent, honey if it shimmers and shines and has great lines, I am drawn to it.
German Silver Bowfront Chest , Wisteria
Silver Leaf chair transformation, Tara Dennis
Silver painted chair, Lord & Lama
Antique Silver Paint & Mirrored Borghese Buffet, Z Gallerie
Taupe and silver painted nightstand, local antique fair
Silver Leaf dresser, Decorpad
Silver spray painted side table, Craftynest
Painted silver nightstand, source unknown
Lucy Willow Bombe Chest
Dorothy Draper lacquer and silver leaf cabinet, 1st Dibs
Ambella Silver Finish Chest, Horchow
Mirrored & silver finished dresser, Anthropologie
Aluminum Hourglass Side table, Horchow
Silver Chelsea Dresser Bratt Decor, Layla Grace
Antique Finish Silver Cradle, Bratt Decor
Gold Gilt Library Chair, NotOnHighStreet
Gold Leaf Chairs, Neuvo Estilo
Trina Turk Boutique, design by Kelly Wearstler
Design by Kelly Wearstler
Distressed Silver Finish Dresser, Fabulous Pieces on Etsy
Then there is this incredible pair of nightstands thanks to Jenny over at Little Green Notebook. You MUST see this tutorial – it’s my absolute favorite transformation that I’ve seen in the past year.
Silver Leafed Nightstand, Little Green Notebook
What are your thoughts on metallic sheens in furniture and accessories ? Gloriously glamorous, shamelessly shiny, or terribly tacky ?
I happen to think in just the right space, one shimmery piece can be absolutely fabulous ! Do share your thoughts too.
Tags: metallics
I love the green notebook one….and a few of the others….but don’t have the fever…..yet!
I love them!… As is evident by all the spray painting I’ve been doing on our hand-me-down pieces. I looooove “satin nickel” spray paint right now but MAN would I love to do something myself like the first photo you featured – soSo glamorous!
Great post! I can’t wait to see what you end up doing. I totally LOVED the feature of the green notebook piece. I’m loving the idea and the look. I might have to try it out myself.
Everything in moderation!! I think, for my home, I like the pieces that are more gray with a touch of silver than silver with a touch of gray. But that is just me!
Oh, I’m with you on the shimmer, silver, reflective — whether it be furniture, chandeliers, vases or I’m even considering my kitchen cabinet uppers! Good post for eye candy!
Love the green notebook one also ! I would not want a room full of it , but love the look !
I suppose it could be tacky if not done right, but that’s not the case with any of these! Love the examples you’ve shown and would love to have a metallic finished piece in my own home. The Little Green Notebook’s nightstands are fabulous!
Love love and have always loved metallic shiny pieces. The Little Green Notebook tutorial has my wheels turning.
i love that first wisteria dresser, but sheesh, that price tag!! I can’t wait to see your project!
Love, love, LOVE! I think they are fabulous and would love any of these in my house (if I had a house)!!
I think one piece could be perfection, but a roomful would start to look like Donald Trump’s apartment.
I liked the side table and a few of the nightstands. They wouldn’t fit in with the whole “look” (or lack of look) in my house right now, but I sure do like ‘em!
I absolutley love the mirrored look, i have shopped around for a bedroom set and they are usually pricier than most furniture. Not tacky at all- love it!!
Me too, I have been all over silver finnishes lately. I love that you can take a victorian chair, silver leaf it and turn it into a fabulous modern yet warm addition to your decor!
Absolutely stunning! I’ve never thought that I’d be brave enough, but seeing these pictures has made me gain enough courage to attempt something similar. Thanks for the inspiration!
I too loved that makeover that Little Green Notebook did. So inventive, and the result is fabulous! I am trying to decide where I could fit something that shiny in my house… they are captivating little pieces.
I painted accent walls in my home with the Raulph Lauren Regent Metallics Paint. Love it! Also I’ve been drooling over the Borghese line from Z Gallerie for two years now!
In the right home and the right piece I think they can be stunning. I love the beautiful pieces shown in the tutorial. Gorgeous. Hugs, Marty
Love, love, love! I cannot stop thinking about mirrored nightstands in our bedroom.
Jenny did such an amazing job on those nightstands. Im totally in awe of that b/c silver leafing is not easy nor could I even get a square inch to be so silky and smooth as she did over the entire piece.
Her version is my favorite ever.
yes I am loving these finishes. I really want to redo my china cabinet with a pewter finish. Its like another neutral but with a pow! I want to silver leaf(or maybe paint metallic, not sure yet how lazy I will end up feeling) a large wooden framed mirror that I have… i will post the transformation when its done on my blog. thanks for gathering all these great inspiration photos!
Gorgeous pieces ! I have been lusting after the Z Gallerie one for so long…….
I think if done tastefully it can really be a show stopper. My girlfriend painted one piece of furniture with silver leafing. She incorporated the leafing on the stencil on one wall. Very lightly going over certain parts of the stencil with the leafing. It looks increadible just like wallpaper!
I think they are fabulous! I may just have to give the silver leafing a try. So beautiful! Thank you for the inspiration!
I adore the first image and then the last. Fabulous finishes! I now have to decide where to use them!
Karena
Love, love, love the creamy whites eith the glossy shimmer in them. I want to go right his minute and paint all my bedroom furniture in it.
I know, I swooned over that nightstand, too!! I have dreams of making one someday, it is so fabulous!! PLEASE do it so I can live vicariously through you!
Gorgeous!!
I love the metallic.. I think I would get sick of it quick though. It is so huge right now, I see metallic everything these days.
I’m seriously considering silver leafing my bathroom cabinet. So I can say that I definitely have the fever!
Awww! Thanks so much for the love!!
You should totally try silver leafing! It’s really not that hard once you are in a rhythm. And you are such an amazing DIYer, I’m sure you’ll put my night stands to shame!
Can’t wait to see what you come up with.
hugs,
jenny
ok! so I have totally been wanting to try this on a thrift store piece I bought a while back-but soooo afraid it will look “cheap”. Its in my dining room and I have a very large mirror above it that I silver antiqued a few months back. I may need to find a tutorial on this before I move forward. *eeek!*
I was drooling over Jenny’s transformation too. I have a little buffet in my dining room that would look fantastic with a similar finish, but the doors have caned insets and I’m not sure how they’ll accept paint, so I’m a little scared to try…
Love them all especially the baby crib – always wanted the metallic finish on furniture but never will to pay the price – will check out the tutorial.
Oh and love your blog, check out my blog for a Valentine GIVEAWAY.
Sylvia
I love this look. My boyfriend isn’t a big fan but I figured I could make my guest room look like this one day. I never thought about a baby nursery being this flashy but I love the image of the baby cradle. All of these are beautiful!
I love these, but I don’t know if I have the courage to go metallic in my house. The finish does add such a great note of elegance, though.
Well this coming from a ADOS person (Attention Deficit Oh SHINY) I love a metallic finish. I found 4 gorgeous Henredon dining chairs for $40 on Craiglist and they are currently black with gilt accents – I have determined they would be perfect done in pewter – so I love it and think it would work fabulously in your house – always in limited quantities but with eclat
Thanks for sharing the silver leaf tutorial… but the spray painted side table from Craftynest is pure genius – easy peasy!
I agree I LOVE little green notebooks nightstand re-do! It was perfect – I love ‘the silver leaf style’ i think they look best on cuvy furniture ala french style pieaces. I’ve been thiking about adding some shimmer and shine to some mirrors for my bedroom.
Not my thing. But, I’m very un-glamorous, which is probably why. I tend to lean towards more rustic/country. But, I think they’d look lovely in your home. =)
Hi,
I’m an interior deigner and I love to accent a room with a unique piece and love all the metals and mirrored furniture that is in right now. I have the “Silver Leaf dresser, Decorpad” in my bedroom. It’s actually the Soliloque Hall Chest from Thomasville. I love it and it’s the perfect compliment to the other wood pieces in our master bedroom!
I love your website and all your great ideas!
Catherine
I think this style requires some artistic talent when it comes to interior decorating (which you have in spades). You have to know how to place a piece of furniture like this into a room and not have it overpower the room or look out of place or tacky. In rooms like mine, where decorating is still in its infant stages, it would be very out of place until I got all the other components of the room put together. That’s probably why it’s so hard for most people to take the plunge and add this style (which they may truly like) into their living space. I’d love to do it, but wouldn’t even know where to begin… sad for me!
Definitely not tacky, but probably a bit too forward-thinking for the Struggler household.
I’m still trying to convince Beloved Husband to let go of his pine fixation. Sigh.
In all honesty, this is really the first time I’ve seen this type of thing…or at least paid attention to it. I actually like the silver pieces, although I can’t picture them working in my house. I’m sort of anti-gold and brass these days.
Sue
I love it-some rustoleum specialty metallic paint made it into my cart today – used it on old brass candletsticks- they are really pretty- plan to use it for some accent pieces- would not have thought to use it or leafing on a larger piece of furniture.
I LOVE metallics. In fact, they are an absolute necessity if you ask me!
Gloriously glamorous…love it!
Love them in just the right spot & only one, not a bunch of it. Absolutely adored Jenny’s nightstands & linked over to them too. They are FAB!!
Can’t wait til Thursday, when we ALL meet up at Blissdom! Talk about fab, it’s going to be so much fun.
I’m drooling on shiny metalic finishes too, but I love the shiny shimmer finish and the combination of intricate details on some the antique pieces, a perfect blend of vintage charm.
I’ve been drawn to silver metallic dressers or accent tables lately. Been re-decorating my two teenage daughters rooms & trying to get one of them to let me paint something in their room silver. Would go soooooo well with either room since my youngest daughters colors are grey walls with green & teal & my oldest daughters colors are grayish purple walls with black furniture & plum window treatments. I will show them this page & maybe they’ll relent!
I love the metallics! They are a neutral, but still with a lot of funk and character that black and brown just can’t do. I love seeing gold pieces done right (because gold can be super tacky or super decadent).
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