This lovely wardrobe I salvaged at the dump, and it wore a tape tag "Kendall," ostensibly denoting the piece to a girl named Kendall. The piece sported significant damage, as you might note in the "before" image, particularly to the veneer on both the doors and the carcass.
As I considered the piece and developed a restoration plan, I attempted to keep as much beautiful wood as possible (those book page veneers, though!) and used the paint to highlight, rather than cover, the wood. Doing so meant liberal Bondo application to fill the swaths of missing veneer, and staining and shellacing the sides and door fronts. In developing the color scheme, I was ultimately inspired by a floral patterned paper from Spoonflower, which I applied to the door fronts inside the wardrobe, and echoed the colors on the body. All colors, inside and outside the piece, I custom mixed--again drawing the inspiration from the Spoonflower element. The biggest creative addition, aside from the paper on the drawer fronts, was the thin decorative trim applied 2 1/4 inches from the door edge. The addition served to further highlight the book page veneers, while covering the Bondo applications. It works, I think, and is a wardobe any girl, Kendall included, could love!
