aibu to want to paint antique mahogany furniture?

[biggles50]

Have inherited over time huge great hunks of furniture. Including a mahogany dresser and display cupboard. Don't want to be hoardy and hold onto them but they are so dark and seem to suck in the light. I used to love them but think I might paint them. Dh thinks this a terrible thing because they're antique they're mahogany they're fine as they are. To me they're huge blocks of dark nearly ceiling high. Aibu to give them a lick of paint?

I'd consider trying to sell them for £££££££ as some people would love them as they are.
Then you should go on holiday with the money to celebrate your non-hoardiness.

If they don't sell then maim them ;)

Yanbu

But really, what makes them 'antique'? People see 'old' and seem to think 'ooh that's worth something, it's an antique'.... Proper antiques are rare

if they are true antique as in victorian put them in a local auction they will sell well but if you paint them they will just be large pieces of ruined white furniture with no value whatsoever

I'd paint them. Have a look on Pinterest. But use something matt like Annie Sloan chalk paint and wax.

If they are properly valuable antiques like Chippendale then sell dont paint - if big standard buy for a fiver at auction mahogany then feel free to paint - it can always be stripped later.

Try and sell them first! If they are really antique you'll be able to sell them and buy new furniture.

IMO painted furniture can look worse though, esp once paint starts to chip etc

*bog standard

yes- it will destroy the value. unless you are an expert they will look crap. if they are a veneer it wot work well.

Im not sure how painting them makes you non hoardy?

If they are fugly, then their age will not make them beautiful. Painting will make them painted, nearly ceiling high, huge blocks.

If you want to stop hoarding, get rid of them.

Get them valued, then sell them if they're valuable. If not, paint them-any colour you like! Would second Annie Sloan. Great stuff.

What's contained in them? That's worse for being a hoarder.... Having hoarding space

Rust oleum products are great btw..... Good paints

Yabu. Im looking for antiques for our home. It sickens me to see decent antique furniture painted and sold as shabby chic. It's criminal!

As a separate issue, painting furniture properly isn't very easy.

Painting furniture is fashionable now but what about in 5 or 10 years time?
Think of all the Victorian fireplaces that were ripped out of houses years ago that people pay a fortune for now. At the time thst was fashionable too.
I shudder everytime I see an old dresser slathered in Annie fucking Sloane caulk paint.
If you must paint something, get it from Ikea or Furniture Land or something.

I shudder everytime I see an old dresser slathered in Annie fucking Sloane caulk paint.

Sometimes they are absolutely knackered underneath though. I've got a big Georgian chest of drawers that was cracked, dried out, dented and had tons of wood filler on it. It has been at least saved for a few more years by painting it.

if they are actual antiques don't you dare paint them (and god no don't shitty chic them - with bunting and such shit) sell them and buy yourself some new stuff which you can distress to your hearts content

YABVVVVVU and a vandal.

If they're real antiques ie about 150 years old, not 1930s copies, and you don't like them, give them away to someone with taste.

I shudder everytime I see an old dresser slathered in Annie fucking Sloane caulk paint

Yes, indeed.

If people have no taste and can't see quality and wonderful patina on real, living timber, then they should just buy rubbish pine furniture and sell to other philistines.

We have painted old furniture but nothing antique or rare.
I disagree about it selling for lots unless it is rare or victorian, because people don't want it now, for the reasons you don't like it.
It isn't popular now as people like airy and pretty bland pale stuff and of course it doesn't suit modern houses.
either paint it or leave it as it is.
Does it have any manufacturer or markings to identify period, style etc.

I second trying to sell them first. Mahogany isn't an easy wood to paint & doing any sort of sanding / stripping before painting is likely to ruin it anyway.
I also think the shabby chic look is really on its way out. And real antique furniture is getting harder and harder to find as so much has been ruined/painted or even shipped over to the states or Asia.

Yabu. Don't ruin them!

If it's mahogany don't paint it. The fashion for mahogany has lead to the loss of some beautiful old trees in our rainforests.

Sell it to somebody who will appreciate the natural wood and use the funds to buy something you prefer - don't destroy it!

They're your cupboards, paint them! Unless they are old AND rare, not just old, then if they really are huge and heavy you will get comparatively little for them at auction, (especially once you take into account fees and so on) and you may as well enjoy them how you want them. If they are very ornate with a lot of carving work then you might be able to get them valued but if they're just big and old, do what you like.

And if shabby chic, colours and even bunting makes you smile then good for you, enjoy it. Slavishly replicating the past in your living room doesn't make you a better person.

Slavishly replicating the past in your living room doesn't make you a better person

Having antiques isn't "slavishly replicating the past". Those of us with a modicum of taste manage to mix good bits of furniture from all periods.

But know your materials. A lot of mahogany furniture is veneer on mahagony: veneer won't take the shabby chic (yeuch) treatment.