Crimes Against Furniture

Thursday, 23 February 2012

This next piece was bought of Craigs List in early January from a nice couple (Hi Dan and Kita!) who'd been storing it for friends. The friends finally decided they didn't want it anymore and told them to "take an ax to it and use it for firewood". Luckily for me Kita had the good sense to put it on Craig as "make an offer". I thought there was no way they'd accept $40, but they did...so my dad and I went to pick it up the next day.

Upon seeing the piece in person, I knew I was in for a challenge. Though sturdy, this buffet had been severely abused.

Exhibit 1: Can you tell what that is on top of the buffet? It's a thick piece of plywood NAILED into the top with over 12 nails.

Exhibit 2: Horrid contact paper put on the plywood. Also, a drawer front inside the buffet because ...well, I'm still not sure what happened to the drawer.

Exhibit 3: Another huge piece of plywood nailed to the back...over the original back.

Now, I assumed that the plywood was nailed to the top because of some horrific stain, scar or problem with the original top. So I pried it off and found nearly perfect veneer....that now had 12 nail holes in it. I nearly cried. I cannot understand why someone would do this to a perfectly good antique piece. But not everyone is obsessed with this hobby as I am....so onward!

I found this as my inspiration. This piece was done by European Paint Finishes and I love it!

After taking off the plywood and assessing the top, I talked my father-in-law into stripping it for me to see if the top could be re-stained. It came pretty clean and you can barely see the nail holes except for one nail that remains...but that adds character. The doors were also stripped and then I stained both with Dark Walnut stain.

The drawer front that came with the piece was screwed in permanently. I don't have the skills to build a drawer and I wasn't sure this piece was worth my father in law taking the time to build one. Also, the ball feet on 2 of the legs had been pretty damaged so that instead of looking like balls, they were square. My FIL (as I call him) rebuilt these also. He's amazing.

Once all of the above was completed, I got to painting. I mixed and mixed until I got the color I had thought up in my head. I glazed it with walnut stain and here it is today.