LiveIn|LiveOut

When looking for the perfect piece of furniture to complement any room and decor in your home consider purchasing a well-crafted and durable oak chest of drawers. Deciding to purchase this type of furniture can be an expensive investment, but the price is well worth it. Since these chests come in a variety of sizes, wood colors, and shapes how do you know which will fit the best in your home. Generally, there are five factors to consider before you buy an oak chest of drawers.

Available Space

First, consider the space that the chest of drawers will be occupying in your home. Since they are available is styles that are tall and short, wide and slim it is crucial that you have proper measurements before you head out to shop. It would be a shame to fall in love with a certain chest and then find out it will not fit in your room. The next factor to consider is the color. While all the chest of drawers may be made of oak they can be painted, have a sleek lacquered finish or be stained many different shades which shows off the natural beautiful grain of the wood. Oak can also be found in light colored, dark colored, as well as medium colored wood. Since each oak set will most likely have a different look, it is extremely difficult to match a piece to already existing set. Try going with a piece that is lighter or darker than what you already have to show off your new piece and make it pop. If the look of hardwood natural finish is not what you are trying to achieve, consider some other options.

Price

Price is the second factor to consider. Perhaps true solid oak is a bit too expensive for your budget. Check out the oak veneer options available at most stores. Veneer simply mean that the main material of the chest of drawers is something else covered with a thin layer of real oak; when applied properly the piece will still have the oak look without the oak price. While oak furniture is designed and built to provide solid, long lasting, heirloom quality pieces, there are cheaper options available, you just have to do your homework and continue looking until you find something to match your style and well as your budget.

What do you want to Store?

The next important factor to consider is what you are going to be storing in the chest of drawers; clothing, books, toys, art and crafts supplies, whatever you cannot find another space for. When thinking of storing stuff in your home, drawers are a better use of space and afford you the option of hiding things in a neat space. Before heading out to purchase your chest of drawers remember what you will be storing and make sure that the dimensions of the drawers as well as the drawer depth will work for your designated purpose.

Dividers?

If you are going to use your drawers to store lingerie type items such as socks, underwear, stocking, etc, then try locating a chest that has a top drawer with many sections in it. The final factor would be the style of the chest of drawers. You have the option of four, five, or six drawers; waist high  which usually has bigger wider drawers or chest high which usually has smaller drawers but more of them; you can have drawers all the same width or the top one or two sets can be two smaller storage drawers, but equal width drawers. Whatever you decide, there is something out there for you.

Smooth Runners

The chest of drawers dates back to medieval Europe and was simply a hinged box that sat on the floor; at some point furniture makers began adding one small drawer at the bottom. Some early pieces from France, made of oak and walnut, have survived for hundreds of years, reinforcing the fact that oak furniture is strong, durable, and long lasting; when properly cared for these piece are meant to be handed down from generation to generation. These early models have evolved into what we know today as the modern chest of drawers with smooth runners for easy glide drawers with something to suit all interiors.

Therefore, whether you are looking for an oak piece, a white chest of drawers for a little girl’s room or a piece that resembles an antique chest of drawers, set out with you important information and you will be able to find the right chest to compliment your home.

If you go to a specialist furniture shop looking for shabby chic furniture you can expect to spend a fortune. If you’re on a budget you may be pleased to hear that with a bit of hunting round and some hard work you can easily make your own piece of shabby chic furniture that will be unique to you. Let’s take a look at how you can create you own shabby chic white chest of drawers:

1. By looking around at second hand stores and charity shops you will be able to find some bargain pieces of furniture. You don’t want to buy furniture that is made from chipboard, to get a more authentic look you want a chest of drawers that is made from solid wood – oak chest of drawers are a great starting point. The shabby chic style is ornate looking so try and find something that fits this description.
2. Once you have found the piece of furniture and you have got it home its time for some hard work. Remove any fixtures and fittings that you can, this includes legs if applicable, corner protectors and drawer pulls – keep all of the fixings though for later.
3. Most of the older solid wood furniture that you will find in second hand stores will be lacquered or varnished and you need to remove this. Unless you have a shed or garage I would recommend this part of the process to be carried out outside as it will be dusty. You need to sand down the furniture so that you remove the layer of varnish or lacquer. You will only need to remove the varnish or lacquer that is visible on the outside of drawers – there is no point in removing more because as you will find out it is a lot of hard work! You can use power tools or a good old traditional block of wood and sand paper – if you do decide to use power tools be careful not to get to carried away and create uneven surfaces. This is an important step so make sure that you do a thorough job as the paint will not stick well to shinny glossy surfaces.
4. Once you have removed all of the lacquer give the chest of drawers a rub down with a finer grade of sand/glass paper so that you have a nice smooth surface.
5. Now for the exciting part – painting! White is a great color for shabby chic furniture as it is not too imposing in the room. I would recommend getting an acrylic based paint as it dries in a couple of hours so you can finish the painting stage in one day. You will need to give the chest of drawers a couple of coats so that you cannot see any variation in color.
6. It may be the case that the fixings that came with your drawers were suitable ornate and if this is the case you can move on to the next step. If the fixings you bought were not ornate though you will need to buy some. Take a look at any hardware store and you will be able to find ornate draw pulls and corner protectors. Don’t worry about the color of them as we address this in the next step.
7. Acrylic paint is also suitable for metal fixings, but for fixings that will be used regularly such as the drawer pulls I would recommend spray painting them with some car paint. Car spray paint is much harder wearing and will therefore last a lot longer.
8. Once you have all of your painting done you can reassemble the unit and you’re done you’ve made your self a white chest of drawers that it totally unique to you!

If you are looking to maintain a standard design theme or ‘look’ in your house rather than mixing and matching all of the seconds that you have been given over the years, then the best way is first to determine what type of furniture you have most of, or what you can get away with re-vamping. In order to keep your interior theme working it is imperative that you have some consistencies somewhere in the design. By having a few key pieces of furniture that match each other, it will help to marry the rooms together. Interestingly, this works almost everywhere in any sort of design, for example, you can use this theory out in your garden by placing many of the same plant or shrub in different positions around your design. By doing this, you will successfully be able to fill in the ‘gaps’ with different styles in order to add in your own personality.

Bearing this in mind, look around your house and determine what similar design trends you have. It is fine to have a myriad but it is good to have consistency to bind these together. If you live in a little and quaint country type cottage you may want to achieve a country type feel inside. By keeping the inside airy and fresh we would suggest white or pine furniture. These two types are ideal for a house in the country.

You may be decorating a bedroom for a new arrival and white furniture would be ideal for you to keep the room looking neutral. It is so difficult to design a room for a baby, especially if you do not know the sex. You can help yourself by sticking to neutral furniture and them you can make the room more personalized at a later date.

When looking for the right chest of drawers for your home, you will want to know if it has ample storage space for your needs as well looking aesthetically pleasing too. Deciding on the right type or style of furniture is important so we have compiled a list of different ideas that you may want to use to help you in your search for the right style for you. We have concentrated on white chest of drawers so that you can begin somewhere with your search.

How about going shabby chic?

Shabby chic is the new design trend. This style of furniture can be a more suitable less costly solution. You could either purchase white chests of drawers, or alternatively, if you are feeling a little more adventurous then you can give this style a go with an existing set of drawers that you may have. It is a great way of re-vamping some old furniture in order to make it match plus you can get creative too! An old oak chest of drawers is a great place to start if you are feeling adventurous.

Shabby chic is generally a paint effect that is applied to wood and sanded back to reveal the layers. It is, as the name suggests a contemporary way of adding a bit of personality into an otherwise boring piece of furniture by making it look worn and shabby. If you decide to do it yourself you may want to keep your eyes open at your local sale rooms for any antique drawers so that you can make them into an antique white chest of drawers yourself. This style looks great if executed correctly and you may want to check out another article on LiveIn|LiveOut to help you achieve this effect successfully.

In theory you can use any period styled piece of furniture for this or you can purchase a piece already with this effect.

White wicker chest of drawers

If you are on the look out for a wicker set to complete your conservatory then you may also want to consider rattan styles too. Wicker and rattan styles give a very oriental feel to any room and there are some really beautiful designs out there to give you inspiration.  This style is both affordable and stylish and would look great in any oriental styled home. Again, Amazon do some great inexpensive drawers – Their woven fiber rattan style chest of drawers either comes with 4 or 5 drawers plus they come in a choice of colours too.

White gloss chest of drawers

We have also found sets of drawers that have more of a designer feel to them if you are looking for a more modern approach of design whilst keeping the light and airy feel of a white set of furniture. White gloss effects give the impression of more space. The surface helps to reflect light around the room bouncing off the surfaces. White gloss is also a very contemporary finish, you can see this through massive furniture companies recent lines. Tema do a beautiful, sleek and simple design through Amazon in a high gloss finish – A float high gloss five drawer chest. Be sure to check this one out if you are looking for sophistication rather than a country feel.