I used to read this magazine called Jane that had a monthly feature I loved called ‘Makeunders.’ They would take someone like Pamela Anderson and show her looking fresh-faced and natural for a change.  And usually they looked pretty darn good.  (One time they asked Dolly Parton to do it, and she sent them a letter back saying she is not a natural beauty and would definitely not like to be photographed as one!  Ha!  I love Dolly).

Anyway, I think this Quaker cabinet is an example of a great makeunder.  When Better After reader Leah found it on Craigslist, it was sporting two different layers of wallpaper that had been painted over (ugh), plus a flock of freaky birds on all the cabinets.  She cleaned it up and simplified it down to the original white, and it looks better than ever.  Not as good as if it was wearing a red swimsuit and running down the beach, but … oh my gosh, I just imagined this hutch actually wearing a giant swimsuit and clunkering slow-mo down the beach, and I am laughing my brains out right now.

ANYWAY.  Not the case with this one. Suzan at Simply Vintageous needed to glam this hutch up hardcore, because there was nothing going on here other than the weirdest shade of wood veneer I’ve ever seen.  If you are unsure of how to do the glazing techniques that makes the details pop, try Suzan’s sneaky method, which doesn’t involve glaze at all.  Just paint the details black first (or whatever color you want to show through), then layer the next color on a little at a time until you get the results you want. Looks like a star!