Robert writes:

I recently found these ultra cool dressers — marked United Furniture Corporation – Lexington NC. The drawers are dovetailed. The exposed wood is veneer. They are very heavy and well built. My question is, do you feel that if I redo these dressers in a teakish/fruitwoodish tone, that it would ruin them? Should I leave them this blond color or proceed with teak?

I like the 60’s era for furniture the best. Perhaps late 50’s and a tad of 70’s. I just like it all blended together via my finds and redoing them to blend. My hobby is to go to thrift stores and find things and play with them. For example get a mirror in a 1970’s era yellow fake/plastic wicker frame and redo it to look neat in my home today. Or take a cheap plastic brass candle sconce and redo that to look like pewter with black in the crevices. I like to have new modern day timeless things mixed in with finds that I can blend together. I generally do not like the Haywood Wakefield Blonde and their furniture.

For these dressers, they are going into a blank slate bedroom so I either blond or teakish/fruitwoodish, I will just decorate around them.

I am just concerned about the integrity of the dressers.

Kate’s advice: Have a fling with these blondes!

Well, Robert, I think you know what Pam and I are going to say — if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. From what I can see from the pictures, the finish on both dressers seems to be in great shape. I think it would be a shame to refinish them — plus I can imagine refinishing the tambour (rolling slot) doors would be tedious! Instead of refinishing the dressers, I think you should work with them — they are fantastic! Hey, have some fun with these blondes! You mentioned that you weren’t generally a fan of Heywood-Wakefield blond furniture, but these are very different in style and with a few creative decorating ideas, you can make a very 60s-70s/modern looking bedroom room with this blond finished furniture.

If you’re into a 1950s Heywood-Wakefield look, then light pastel wall colors work really well with blonde furniture — however, Robert is a fan of 60s and 70s style — which is why he needs to take a different approach to choosing a wall color for his blonde dressers. To make the light blonde dressers feel a bit more punchy, contrast is key. Placing a light blonde dresser on a mid to dark wall color will make them really stand out in the room. Highly saturated colors — like the two I chose for Robert — will make the room feel lively and modern.