Yes that would be beautiful. What a lovely piece of furniture.

I agree with jbantick. The deco style has its own charm and is of a different era than the more traditional pieces that suit the shabby chick style. good luck wot eva u do!

You have a beautiful genuine Art Deco piece - why do you want to ruin it? If you want any of so-called 'French Provincial' style (a lot of 'French Provinicial' furniture has never been anywhere near France or its countryside) - well, you can buy yourself a Hemnes or Liatorp for a few hundred dollars from Ikea, or more expensive styles from Schot's or Provincial Home Living. I guarantee you, there will be people willing to turn up and buy your Art Deco piece for certainly the price of the Ikea sideboards.

I'm currently looking for Art Deco pieces on eBay and Gumtree - I have seen some pieces 'refreshed' or 'vandalised' (depends on one's perspective). They don't tend to sell quickly.

It is a genuine antique. Please don't paint over it! The veneer will be impossible to restore if someone in the future wishes to go back to the original. It would be better to polish it with a restoring polish like Howard's to bring out the lustre. Perhaps you could buy a piece of second hand furniture and do that up as a French Provincial look?

I know the trend these days is to do things up with chalk paint, but as one who does this for a part hobby/living, I would like people to be a bit more educated rather than going gung ho on lovely older furniture. Trends come and go, best to use a cheaper piece than overpaint a lovely old piece. Maybe get a 2nd hand piece as I said and do that up instead and keep this for the generations to come.

I am not an expert of restoring furniture, but whatever you use, use the most natural and easiest way to give the timber new life. I think I have seen people use just a tub of bees wax, but don't quote me on that, just google specialists for best way to do it. ALSO if you replace the handles, do not make new holes and do not throw the old handles away, I have seen on Antique Roadshow that these pieces are worth a lot more if they have their original handles. Good luck.

Maybe if you change what is in it and on it, you will find you get a whole new look?

Other than polishing the wood and the handles, I wouldn't change a thing. I agree with Susan66 - take off the cloth on top, put a few good pieces (nice glass vases, maybe a deco period decanter), and let the piece speak out.

I've heard Howards is a good polish for existing finishes. The handles are probably original so don't chuck them and reuse existing holes if you want different handles.....

Howard's have a product called Restor a finish. You can also get feed and wax. I have seen some lovely handles from Anthropologie online (they ship to Australia!) You could also use the keys and put large tassels on them as a display in the keyholes. This often looks lovely and very French! I'd take off and remove a lot of the ornaments you have on top and put French Provinical style things there. You could have a vignette of things that relate to that style you like.

Or why not try a vignette of older styling of the things you already have?

It might turn out a bit like my cupboard as it has similar lines? This was done using Porter's 'Milk Wash'...... The cupboard handles and hinges are original - the Drawer handles were new from a restoration hardware shop. Perhaps it is a shame to paint it, but who knows? Maybe it's better that someone loves it in whatever dress it's wearing rather than buying something new of inferior quality?

If you are thinking of sanding any old paintwork just me mindful that lead paint was used in that era and use protective gear.