Strip the top and refinish it using a lighter color stain. Scuff sand, prime, and paint the base the color of your choice and update the hardware to something more contemporary. There are tons of how to videos on YouTube for this. Have fun!

New hardware that is not as ornate, but still compliments the furniture style. You may need to do some gentle refinishing after removing current hardware.

I usually do not like all matching furniture in a bedroom. Do you hav e awalkin closet ? I often put the lingerie chest in there then either keep the night stand or the dresser but not both. For me I would not try changing the hardware since you will need a very picky refinish behind what yu have now. I think I would do new night stands since from what I can see the style is edging to modern .

Beautiful furniture and I would not mess with it. Maybe paint the bedroom a "real" colour for an updated look, and add wall art and decor items to complement the wood colour. The grayish beige wall paint is not doing it any favors, and on my screen doesn't look quite right with the carpet.

depending on your personal design style...

I personally would remove the drawers. Prime and paint the rest of the piece(s) Leaving the tops to match the drawer fronts. Any color you like. Put the drawers back and Measure/Match the holes in the hardware and find something in a style you like, these are a bit fussy. Have fun!

Beautiful matched set with lovely wood. Are you the original owner or have you just acquired it?

I suggest redoing the bedroom with modern colors or with traditional wallpaper in a modern colorway. Add airy curtains with rings on a visible rod.

This is a modern colorway with traditional furniture and perfectly made curtains that stackback compactly.

Belleair Whole-House Remodel and Addition · More Info

My parents gave me their set, that looked just like that, back in 2000. I used it for several years and finally donated it around 2012. At that point they had been in the family 35 years and I was happy to let them go.

I’ve removed similar Georgian style brass pulls on two bedroom sets to update. In the primary, I used simpler pulls on the tall and lower dressers, but had to take all the drawers to a furniture refinisher to make the new pulls work. A little light refinishing wasn’t going to work! The feet on mine were a simpler scroll than yours, and the finish was dark. In our son’s bedroom, the furniture was simpler, and modular - a 35 yr old Ethan Allen set, including a corner desk. In that room, I was able to use cup pulls to cover where the backplate had been on the original Georgian pulls. I would not use cup pulls on your furniture, though, the style and finish is just too formal. You can look into the cost of refinishing drawer fronts, but it might be worth it to just get new furniture?

I have similar solid cherry set - dresser dresser/mirror/nightstand/highboy/four poster rice bed - and have been trying to decide what to do with it.

I’ve finally determined that I need to sell it - it’s actually a limited edition set and would be shame to paint it. I’ve watched someone strip/sand a dresser - it looked nice but it was a lot of work!

Can we see the WHOLE room please? From all the angles?

Then can you post an inspo of a few bedrooms you love?

Other questions:

Do you have other bedrooms, where if separated, THIS furniture could go? Why........because unfairly or not, the only way you are getting rid of it is Facebook Marketplace for low dollars, or a donation. Are you up to painting some, replacing some?

Diverge for a moment if I may?

I have a man client for whom I have done a lot of work over the past 18 months. Widower.

The master bedroom: Lets just say despite being very much quality, it was/is a sea of matched Stickley, mahogany, THREE side chests, a four poster king. UGH. A lot of dark.

When it came to painting the room? I finally convinced him to let me "swallow up" that furniture, and go deep and elegant, rich.....

It is 100% smashing traditional, now. New lamps, his art, that furniture, beautiful bedding, the trim/ white set aglow. I don't have a before after, just wish I did.

I'm not saying you should or should not keep yours. I'm just saying it doesn't look ready for a landfill: ) I AM asking what your idea of heaven would be, and assuming that? Where else for this stuff in your own home, or is it in fact......out. Do you need it all, are you up to painting all or some.

I’m not an “all furniture must be kept in the exact pristine condition in which it was made or a pit will open and swallow a village of children” type of person but you’ve got what looks like a pretty adaptable (meaning it’s very neutral, can go with a lot of things) solid set of pieces and updating the items that sit on and around those pieces would go a long way.

LMAO TO ABOVE : )

Consider what you have. The set is top quality. How much do you think you would pay for a top quality replacement? A lot. Then get a quote from a professional furniture refinisher and compare costs. Here are photos of before and after for a cherry piece.

Go Scandinavian. Cherry is a wood used. Add in decor; paint the walls light blue....

https://www.housebeautiful.com/uk/decorate/bedroom/g39200189/scandi-bedroom-furniture/

I would strip them and give them more of an Enlish pine look. You can even use the same pulls like the photo I attached. It is not terribly difficult to do.

I guess it depends if you are so very attached to the furniture that you would want to keep it. If not, you could sell it. If you are attached, as I was with my parents dressers ( solid mahogany with cedar lined drawers that they had from the 1940s and was the first furniture they had when they were married) then I would suggest that maybe you separate the pieces and use them in multiple rooms so it doesnt look "matchy-matchy". You may consider, as I did, stripping the varnish from them and painting them and updating the pulls. I like the photo of the dresser one person suggested with the black edges and top. I have also mixed ⅓ water, ⅓ latex acrylic wall paint, and ⅓ matte or semigloss sealer and painted them with that. It is easier and more forgiving than painting/staining and lightens up the look. Just a thought.

We've had this identical set nearly 40 years now. It is solid wood, manufactured by Mobel furniture in Indiana. I got a quote of $2500 to strip only (5 pieces); multiply that by three to have them sand, stain and finish = $7500. We haven't decided what we're going to do yet but do appreciate the ideas/suggestions here. One thing we're considering is replacing the kind of fussy bases with feet that are more streamlined to simplify the design vibe.

I’ve stripped furniture a few times and it’s not that hard. If interested, get good advice on what/how to use. Since it’s time consuming, you’ll save a lot of money. If not handy, ask around if anyone can recommend a retired person (for example) who does refinishing at home. They can advise on how to address handle replacemement, ie: wood filler might be an option. Before deciding what/if to do, look at all your options - selling/buying refurbished (try Marketplace), painting, only changing handles or my suggestions above.

There is a local person who posts on Marketplace her updated furniture and thought you might like the finishes.

Can you post a photo of a set that you would like it to look like?

Annie Sloan chalk paint?

Either strip to light wood, or paint white, off white, or pastel pink, pastel green, pastel blue or pastel yellow. Looks like 1980's reproduction of antique style, but looks like quality brand. Personally I prefer real antiques, but if these are good quality, which looks like they are, just paint. Behr makes a flat paint that is better than chalk paint and gives same look, but I prefer semi-gloss for furniture and feel these would be better in semi-gloss (it dulls a little in time anyway).

More important than the furniture, you need to remove the carpet - carpet should NEVER be in a bedroom! (or anywhere in a house) It traps dust and is bad for allergies and bad for your to breath dust while sleeping even you do not have allergies. use real wood, or even VCT is better - hard surfaces that can be kept clean. Carpet can never be really clean, and it off-gasses toxins for many years unless you buy VERY expensive wool organic carpet.

It can be very difficult and time consuming to strip a piece of furniture to refinish. Instead, I would use a chalk paint that can be applied right over the existing finish. Amy Howard is a brand I’ve used to repurpose furniture that I wanted to update. (Take a look at her website but there are many brands out there)
You could contrast the base and tops of each piece to give it a fun look. Replacing the hardware is a must.

I love using chalk paint and have done this on several furniture pieces…getting ready to chalk paint my nightstand’s. I was also reading about Fusion Mineral Paint, you may want to look at that as well

For inspiration you could check out the FB page Salvaged by K.Scott. I love what this lady does. Someone mentioned Fusion Mineral Paint, she uses that a lot. I think she has Youtube videos as well. Good luck with your project and hope to see some before and after pictures!

The op left the building a while ago.....: ) For all we know the room could have a huge improvement WITH the furniture but we don't have a total picture of the room.

Totally depends on what you’re hoping to achieve in the end. The esthetic you’re going for. We bought a Florida home last year that had similar furniture owners included in the sale. I love wood but it was much too dark for Florida and that sunny feel we wanted. I sanded the furniture. Then used chalk paint. Then distressed or sanded painted off the edges which reveals the ornamental details nicely. Then used chalk paint wax finishing. I even kept hardware as I was too cheap to buy new and felt the paint had sufficiently updated the pieces.

Sorry but I can’t figure out how to access my photos to show results of distressing the chalk painted furniture. You tube has plenty of diy help. Also I did a 7 drawer dresser and mirror, two nightstands, and a tallboy dresser all for under $100. I hired someone else to do a similar amount of furniture in 2019 for just under $1,000. Beautifully done but I said I’d never spend that again on someone else painting my furniture.

If you're really tired of the look of your furniture you can paint it. I've done it usin Anne Sloan Chalk Paint, no prep needed. If you paint the furniture, you'll be able to fill the existing holes and mark left by the pulls and replace them with new ones. Below are a few examples in blue paint but there's no limit to what you can do with colour...

Your furniture is beautiful, maybe just update your hardware. I refinished a worn Bassett dresser with Beyond Paint but found the process not meeting my expectations; it looks DIY and the paint does chip. Also found Beyond Paint sealer not working well either as the suggested second coat left a whitish color residue. A thrift store piece was done old school with stripper and paint, but I had trouble there too. Whatever you choose, I hope it makes you happy.

Change the hardware and have a piece of scrap granite cut to sit on top of it.

Simplist fix is to replace the hardware and get someone to cut a piece of scrap granite to fit the top. You can find scraps at local granite cutters places. Then your piece will step out of the early American look.