Now this is Furniture baby..

So one of my last blogs I was pointing out how bad new furniture is. So today I thought I would pop a couple of examples of what a really nice antique piece can become with a little work.
So the picture on the left is a restored Victorian era Eastlake dresser.

On the lower right is how I found it. I picked this up at a house sale for something like 50 bucks. House sales are always a great way to pick old pieces up. Most people want or need to sell what they have so you can alway get something for cheap. I usually hit them on the last day to get a good price (or for free sometimes).

Anyway a couple of things to think about when looking at buying something like this. Make sure it has all the pieces, things like the molding, wooden drawer pulls etc. Metal pulls are easier to replace, but if your missing a wooden bit and you can't fabricate news one, you'll have to bring it to me then $$$.

This was a great score, because it had most of its pieces and its a good antique. The body is solid Walnut, not something you will find in anything new. Its an easy finish to remove so stripping is a brezze and the construction on these pieces is usually fantastic.

What I decided to do on this piece was a simple oil & wax finish, something you could do at home. Its a nice natural look and it only it takes minutes to do.

Instead of me rehashing the how to part, i suggest you go to one of my old blogs (the danish modren one) here is a link http://tinyurl.com/38ng69 it covers all the how to of an oil finish.

So I worked on this pieces for a total of 8 hrs over a couple of days. It cost 50-clams to buy and about 40 in supplies and now will sell in my shop for about 650.00. Its funny, so for about a 100 bucks and 8 to 12 hours of your timer you could have this. Or you could bring it to me and I will restore it for 850.00.

Or for 1800 bucks you could have this piece of pretty compressed paper! that will expand for you when you add a little water..

STOP don't buy that new furniture, get an antique !

Please stop buying new furniture. This will be a quick blog but i hope it makes you think.. I repair and restore furniture for a living right, so i see allot of things.

Here is quick look at a brand new "Lane" desk (1800.00 new). It was dropped off a moving truck landing on its leg. No the leg didn't break the side piece broke.

It cracked open like a pinyatta at a birthday, but instead of candy all that came out was paper.

Yes paper, its crazy but this brand new piece of "fine furniture" was nothing but mahogany veneer on Masonite or pressed paper.. Check out the picture, its sad.

So before you buy new consider buy a used piece of furniture and restoring it. Anything pre 1980 will be better then anything made today. Think about this; you will pay or can pay 2k and up for just a good quality dining room table. For 1000,00 you can buy a complete used dining room set you can restore it for less then a whole new dining room set and you will still have a better quality set for cheaper.

But If you do decide to buy new no worries the chairman can fix it..

“I want them to look like this”, she said!

“I want them to look like this”, she said! As she showed me a page she had yanked out of Better Homes & Garden.

Trends from magazines & doing requests… I love it all… bring it on. This was the other job this week, a trendy yet stylish number on an old set of plank seat chairs. It was romance from the get-go, a song & dance, a wine & diner. Phone calls, emails, drive bys. It never happens on the first time (getting the job). It’s hard for folks to change something, so sometimes you have to walk them through it, do a little hand holding.

These chairs have been in her family for years. They had two or three layers of paint of for each generation. When we stripped them we saw anything from that 1920’s green to the dark blues of the 1940’s/50’s to the 80’s greens of the 80’s & finally just black for the last 20 years... Needless to say they were a bear to strip. I won’t even go into striping them, it's still a little traumatic for me & more so for my Uumpa Llumpa.

Having to wine & dine a job is not usual. After seeing so many pieces of furniture transformed over the years. I forget that most folks can’t see beyond what a piece is right here & now. They can’t see its potential future or what it can could become. That’s why so many pieces are lost to the dumpster or landfill. It’s easy for someone to just toss it & buy a new one, god for bid they think about.

Here is a quick funny tail from the shop. I jumped in my truck one morning to run to the store. Its garbage pick up that day. I drive by a house & spot a small table. I stop and look, it’s a sexy little Victorian era side table, long turned legs with a turtle shaped top. It ends up one of the legs is broken, but all the pieces are there. It’s an easy fix, so I grab it. Being a good OCD’er I bring it back to my shop & fix it that day, I polished it up ( it looked beautiful). So I popped it in my shop for sale.

Not more then a 4 days later a guy stops into my shop. I realize this is the guy from the house that I got the table from (cross eyed). He says; I am looking for a small table to replace one that was broken!
Being a good wise ass, I say I think I may have one for you… We walked into my make shift show room and I show him the table. I say I think you threw this out on Tuesday and , Hhe’s says yeah I had broken it. I tell him I would be happy to give it to him for the repair cost (much less then the resale price). He gets all funny, I think really embarrassed that he didn’t get it fixed himself. He then goes I never liked that table… keep it. Then he departed with out the table...

BACK to the blue chairs we glued and & we stripped. Next, We sanded and filled. The nice thing about a repaint is you don’t have to do as much detail work, especially since it’s an “antiqued” look. Doing an antiqued/distressed finish, you want all the dents & dings and some of the rough edges all that equals character & that what we're looking for.

The color, this was funny. When she said we decided on spa blue I thought to myself, sweet baby hey-zues what did I get myself into. Then I saw the picture & it made sense. So spa blue it was !

I decided to do a rag it on & wipe it off, approach (karate kid style)to the staining/painting of the chairs; Oh and a little dry brushing to temp the blend (love saying that), It’s the perfect way to create all the different depths in that antiqued finish. When you “wipe off” I use a damp paper towel & work the areas that would have been worn over the years. The seat, center & edges and the back spindles & side edges and don’t forget the front spindle (pictured) That always has the best ware. After the paint dries I usually hit all the sharp edges with 320 wet/dry sand paper doing so that we can quickly expose the natural wood.

Finishing... On this kind of finish I think it’s very important to throw a clear coat or two to protect the antiqued finish, it also guarantee’s it will last for a good long time. I like to go with a quick coat of a shellac sanding sealer (best over paint), then a couple of coats of satin lacquer. Please do a quick sanding between coats (400grat wet/dry), the 10 minutes it takes will make all the difference in the look & feel of the piece.

After they’ve dried for about 12+ hours, we take superfine steel wool (0000) & a very soapy mix of water then rub the chairs down & dry them off. This smoothes the finish out & gets rid of any over spray.

~Chairman