Mid Century Modern furniture is a classification of furniture that was popular from about 1935 to about 1965 (middle of the century). It managed to spread across the world but Scandinavia and the States were definitely the leaders in this movement. Houses in the U.S, mainly suburban, were constructed while furniture and ceramics were being produced in Finland and Denmark.
I see a lot of this style of furniture in Poland. I love it. And I have actually been buying more of it so I can prove that it is possible to paint all styles of furniture with this amazing paint!
This is what I started with:
Over the summer we were traveling to the north of Poland when I became inspired by the trucks on the highway. On the back of a transport truck is a fluorescent strip and I thought this would be something that would work really well on a MCM piece like this. But…..I wanted the strip to be in the wood.
So I taped off exactly where I wanted the wood to be.
I ran out of blue tape! Anyway, this is what is on the back of a transport truck. So I taped this off then painted the whole thing in Aubusson blue.
When painting modern furniture–colour is extremely important. Not all colours will work with all styles of furniture. For example, you could never paint a Rococo style piece in orange or red. It doesn’t work. Similarly, you can’t paint an Asian piece in pink or light blue. So if you want to paint an MCM piece, in order for it to work, you need to paint it in the colours that were popular at that time. They were bright and bold. Yellows, oranges, teals and other similar colours. Because the original wood from this piece is slightly yellowy- I went will Aubusson to slightly dull the yellowness.
So I taped off the rectangle, painted, then removed the tape and then waxed. And this is the result!
I love this piece. If I had room in my house I would definitely keep it. The handles are original- I just cleaned them up. The wood looks great in the rectangle- which is lucky because there was some damage, particularly on the top. (It looks a little patchy on the front because it is freshly waxed)
Don’t be afraid to paint different styles- with Chalk Paint™ there is a colour for every style.
design disorder 