Empire Elegance

I love a big bold piece of Empire furniture. There's something so gutsy yet refined about that period of American furniture design. About a month ago I purchased two gigantic Empire mahogany chests. Both probably date to about 1860-1880. I started this one first simply because it was already in my workshop, while the other is in my basement storage space. I've honestly never seen a better pair of feet than on this tall chest. I wanted to keep the surface fairly straight forward to really allow the structure and form to take center stage. I custom mixed a rich French blue chalk paint, liberally distressed the entire thing, and then finished it with a dark wax.

*Before*

*After*