Faux furniture painting wasn’t just a 90’s thing. It started way before then. Who knew. I picked up a charming early 1900’s dresser at my favorite Goodwill a few weeks back. It had this really funky tiger oak finish on it that had definitely seen better days. I forgot to take a before shot (palm to head), but it looked very much like this one.
The finish on my dresser wasn’t in this good of shape and mine didn’t have any knobs. But, this gives you an idea of the look. I got her home and started to sand down the top. All of the tiger oak finish sanded completely off! (The wood underneath is actually quite lovely, thank goodness.) That’s when I knew I needed to do some research on this strange tiger oak finish.
Turns out, in the late 1800’s a man named Harry Sherwood from Grand Rapids, Michigan (shout out to GR!) invented a type of roller system to mechanically grain cheaper wood to look like the more expensive quarter sawn oak. The process became popular in the early 1900’s and unsuspecting customers purchased the furniture thinking they were getting a more expensive wood. Years later when the pieces needed refinishing, ole Mr. Sherwood and other furniture makers who were using this process had some explaining to do!
Now, back to my dresser – here is a photo of the inner corner of the dresser where some of the finish remains. You can see the faux tiger finish just above the white paint on the leg.
As you can see, I’m painting the body of this piece a beautiful creamy white. The wood top is getting stained with java and sealed with poly. Since the dresser didn’t have any knobs, I have picked out a couple different styles. Still haven’t made up my mind which I will use.
Stay turned for the faux tiger oak reveal.
Susan