Refinishing, Re-Doing, Remaking

We've been busy working on furniture while the weather has been so nasty. Washstand, chair, dressing table, and 2 dressers are all in some stage of restoration.

The washstand came out beautifully. Under its rough exterior it was hiding golden oak. I believe this stand was being used as a cabinet in a welder's shop before we bought it at a tool auction. I bought porcelain casters for it on eBay and those are on the way, and I am bidding on some brass drawer pulls; that will finish up this project--and the stand stays here at home. It serves as an end table in our log room.

It was difficult to get a good picture of it because Larry had put it back in place and it's a tight space. Here's a couple more, though, that might given an idea of the beauty of this wood.

Somewhere I had a "before" photo, but I believe it is on my big computer which is still in the shop, so I can't show you what an incredible transformation this is.

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The next photo is the dressing table we bought a month ago. It was in very, very bad shape. The frame holding the mirror was broken, the finish was ruined, and it had big wood knobs for handles. Larry repaired the frame, stripped, sanded and refinished the whole thing. My contribution was finding new glass knobs for it. It looks beautiful now, ready to put back together and deliver to my son's house for his daughter's bedroom.

I'll add a photo of the completed project when we get all the pieces put back together.

This next photo is another dresser Larry stripped, along with the mirror to the dressing table. The man gets to work on these things before I can take "before" photos, so I have none to show you. This one was painted an ugly brown, and in the process of stripping Larry found it had also been blue, green and black at various times in its life.

When he got it to this point, he stopped. 

We tried to figure out what kind of wood it might be made of and posted some pics on Facebook. After many suggestions, I have to agree with one person who said that he thought it was poplar that had been stained with a cherry-colored stain. The stain has seeped into the wood, leaving this remarkable coloring.

So all we did with it after much discussion was to wax it and leave it as is. I think it's gorgeous. It will probably go to our Marietta booth in the next week.

No pics of the chair he's been working on because that one, thank goodness, is up in his work building. My house right now is slowly coming back to order after a few day's of being cluttered up with these projects.

Another project this week was regrouting tile.

I like tile, but it's a lot of work at times. Larry did the entryway and the kitchen counter, along with some patching up in the bathroom. The entryway is finally dry and ready to clean up.

Every surface in this house is currently gritty or dusty, I swear, but all of this work is to a good end, and dust and grit will be cleaned up tomorrow, because today?

Today is storytelling! It will be just a short hop to WV Community College to share stories and thoughts about Appalachian storytelling   with a college class. It has finally stopped the rain/snow/sleet/yuck weather and looks to be pretty today and for the next few. Hurray for sunshine!


Linking today to A Vintage Green, Treasure Hunt Thursday, Show and Tell Friday and Open House Party. Have fun visiting these great sites to see what's going on in the world of country living, vintage, crafts, and cooking. All good things!



Copyright 2012 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.