the dresser that refused to be staged.

Published on by Quandie

andrea's dresser title

Normally I don’t do custom work, but if you’ve read my blog for long then you know that I like to break my own rules all the time.  And I’ve broken this one a few times.

A very nice woman named Andrea purchased the spoon carved dresser from me a while back.

Remember that one?

spoon carved title

It was so pretty.  And when Andrea bought it she asked me if I would be willing to paint another one to match.  Ironically, if you read back to the post about that first one I mentioned that I’d custom mixed the color because I ran out of MMS Marzipan and I had to stretch my paint out by adding some other whites.  So I explained to Andrea that I didn’t think I could match the color exactly, and that I don’t often do custom work.  But … all of that being said, I do love painting these spoon carved pieces and I was willing to give it a shot if she was OK with not getting an exact match.

So Andrea kept her eye out for another spoon carved dresser that she liked and when she found one she sent it over to be painted.  Here is how it turned out.

andrea's dresser 1

Although I used what I thought was close to the same mix of Marzipan, Linen and Ironstone, the color on this one is a bit lighter than the other.  Andrea had mentioned that if I couldn’t get the color quite the same, she’d prefer I went lighter rather than darker.

Andrea's dresser side view

I used the same straight up Ironstone to highlight the spoon carving.  It doesn’t stand out quite as much on this piece, I think partially because there isn’t quite as much contrast between the colors but also because the spoon carving details are smaller on this one.

andrea's dresser corner

I really struggled with staging this dresser for photos.  I didn’t necessarily want to cover up the spoon carving that is at the middle back, but I tried putting various objects on the hankie drawers and leaving the middle empty and that just always looked odd.  I tried using a really pretty transferware pitcher and some vintage books.  Nope.  I tried adding a suitcase into the mix.  Nope.  I tried using several ironstone casseroles.  Still, no dice.

So finally I just filled my large ironstone bowl with a floral arrangement and called it good.

floral arrangement

I just used flowers that were available in my yard; some Vanilla Strawberry hydrangea (they are just barely starting to show a hint of pink), some hosta flower stalks, some sedum flower clusters that haven’t opened yet and a sprig or two of variegated ivy.

Andrea picked up her dresser earlier this week and she loved how it turned out.  Phew!  I’m always a little bit relieved when custom jobs go well.

19 thoughts on “the dresser that refused to be staged.”

  3. This is really quite lovely. Pardon my stupidity but not being into antiques like you I have never heard of a spoon carved dresser. I am curious to know how it got its name. Glad you had such a wonderful holiday away with Mom. Regards from Betty in Ontario,Canada

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    1. You are not alone Betty! There were a few people who commented on that older post that had never heard the term “spoon carved” before. So Mr. Q asked his step-dad about that terminology because he’s a wood carver. He said that the term simply refers to the fact that the carvings look like they were ‘spooned out’ of the wood. Picture a brand new tub of ice cream and how it looks when you take that first scoop out with a spoon. Kind of looks like that, right?

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  5. I’m one of those people who don’t care about “staging”. I would rather see the dresser in its entirety rather than have the distraction of a piece of something. I say let the furniture stand on its own. Forced staging is even worse! With some folks, I can just picture them carrying a heavy piece of furniture all over the house, and when that doesn’t work, carrying it outside to find just the right place. Leave it alone…photograph it and be done with it.

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    1. I can’t speak for other bloggers, but for me staging and photographing a piece of furniture is half the fun. I only have one house to decorate, but I can come up with endless decorating ideas for photo shoots and I really enjoy that part of the process. You may as well picture me when you are picturing that person carrying heavy furniture all around! Guilty as charged!

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