When you’re searching for antique French appliques to implement to existing furniture or scouring shops for bare appliques to enhance crown molding or picture molding, the light, airy, scrolled wood relief layouts, visit retail, bargain and internet venues. The first consideration in deciding where to shop is whether you will need the finished appearance of a real, French antique applique. Shopping options expand when you hand-paint unfinished appliques, using antiquing tactics to create a timeworn appearance.
Unfinished Appliques in Craft Stores
Make the rounds of local craft stores, perusing the woodcraft aisle for unfinished wood appliques in French styles, such as crests, rosettes, fleurs-de-lis along with other contrasting layouts. Before you embark on the shopping excursion, measure the area of furniture or crown molding where you will set the applique, taking under consideration the space you have to leave on either side to middle the applique. Take a measuring tape with you to the craft store to help in buying a proportional applique. Craft stores also sell paint, antiquing glaze and contact cement for completing purposes.
Genuine Antique Wood Appliques
Antique stores offer another source for French wood appliques, and you don’t have to buy an whole piece of furniture to secure an applique. Look in the tiny accessories parts for a French applique with a worn patina that formed over time. If you discover an isolated applique but need other appliques to match, use the antique applique on a middle drawer, adding unfinished appliques in organizing fashions to alternative drawers, then completing them to match the antique.
Yard Sales Thrift and Consignment Appliques
Other sources for French appliques comprise yard sales and thrift stores. Even if yard-sale furniture is damaged, then you can remove the appliques, adding them to existing furniture. Consignment stores offer an avenue for French applique hunting, with many French Provincial dressers from kids’ rooms positioned in consignment stores when children leave home.
Online Applique Sources
Online auction sites, such as ebay, provide a means to search for pre-finished appliques at bargain prices, or even search for inexpensive French appliques in among the retail places, such as Amazon. Or search independent millwork websites for French appliques. Scour individual Etsy stores to find a craftsman who’ll antique French appliques to your specifications. You may be able to send the vendor a picture of your measurements and furniture to ensure a precise match.