A Sendipitous Acquisition!

This little vanity desk is just one piece of a bedroom suite.
Hi Everyone! In a past several months, I had the privilege to refinish all the suite's pieces except a headboard and a footboard. My customer reported how he acquired the pieces from a distant family member who initially purchased them second-hand, used them for a while, and then gave them to him.




attractive little vanity desk

I was first introduced to these in my customer's garage--each waiting for some needed attention. I could see he had some keepers (click here)! It was clear to me these were good quality pieces of furniture, but that's a kind of observation my customers can't necessarily  make. They don't get to see the variety in styles and construction I routinely work with in the WoodTalkin shop. So, it was my privilege to help him make some observations about each item, and those ramped up his appreciation for what he had serendipitously acquired.

nasty stain

A two-drawer bedside table (with a nasty stain in the top), a dresser, a vanity chair, and a small desk chair. For the most part all of these pieces were in reasonably good condition, considering their age. They had no structural problems, warps, or veneer losses. The bedside table had a broken toe on a back leg and the vanity had a similar toe insult. All the pieces were original finish, except the vanity. It had been painted white, so trying to get all the paint out of the vanity, replacing the veneer on the side table's top, and fabricating two new toes were probably the biggest challenges.

refabricated ear

My customer planned to self-replace the upholstered back on the vanity's chair. So, my goal with that piece was to support her effort. I refinished the chair and replaced its broken right "ear" (see pic, right) on the back of the chair so she could expertly upholster up to and around it.  

So, here are a few pics of the finished items--all happily ready to go home.


front to back: vanity chair, desk chair, and bedside table



seven-drawer dresser



The pieces are finished in a Matt luster and in a stain chosen by my customer. As mentioned above, they plan to reupholster the vanity's chair and also the seat cover on the desk chair. 

pretty little vanity and a new toe

The vanity has really pretty original antique brass pulls--but they are not shown in this pic. (I forgot to get that pic.) If you look really carefully you can see the back left foot of the vanity--it's no longer missing. So, there you go, a really fun project that reinvigorates this little bedroom suite for another generation. (Don't you wish we could all do that for one another!)

That's Wood Talkin for today. Furniture has a story to tell--so let's pay attention. Call me or text me for free in-home estimates, trouble-shooting, or some fun discussion.

Dick Brandow

720-3450-2992 cell/text

 

 



 

A Return from Ebony

Here's a fun one. As it turned out this little beauty didn't present any huge challenges. But it did offer at least a fun surprise. What you see is the way it looked the first time my customer contacted me. They texted me this pic, below. It's a darkly refinished White Oak Sideboard, probably @1910. He purchased it several years ago from an antique dealer. I suspect the dealer refinished the piece adding several contemporary touches, including the ebony patina and some hardware well outside the sensibilities of its historical character.

A natural wood look is more in keeping with my customer's present tastes, so that discussion and its mental picture guided the restoration effort. Considering the wear and tear of years, my customers also wanted what would have been the period hardware replaced on the piece. Some period brasses that were still on the piece offered us the direction we needed in purchasing replica replacement pieces, so that's what we did.


Below you see the finished product. Is that fun or what!

And as I suggested above, there were no huge surprises with this effort. However, there was this one fun little caveat.


During the restoration process the mirror was removed and stored away to permit the removal and restoration of the mirror frame. As I pulled the screw fasteners and removed the mirror I observed that a screw was missing from the hole on the back left (non-facing) side of the mirror frame. Hmmm. The question of it's removal, and for what reason, became abundantly clear later, when I replaced the mirror back into the refinished frame and then re-mounted the frame to the back of the sideboard.

Do you see those little shelves on either side of the mirror?

Those little shelves are largely supported by a single screw that extends from the back of the mirror frame and into each little shelf. When the screw from the back side of the mirror is placed appropriately to support the shelf on the left (facing side) of the mirror, the shelf tilts slightly and awkwardly up! Why? Because when the hole was initially drilled at the factory, 100 years ago, the installer--having his own BAD DAY--drilled the hole slightly high--too high for the shelf to be level with the mirror! Is that cool or what. I think that's kinda fun. We all do that stuff...it's a human sort of thing. I've provided a bigger and a little more frontal pic of the sideboard too, so you can see it as it was in the shop before the final work was completed. You can see the left shelf, yup, it's just a tad high. I think it's a feel-good observation that reminds us we're all family members of the larger human condition. So, let's cut ourselves & each other just a little slack.


That's Wood Talkin for today. Hope you have a fun week too.


Dick









 

Ebony Over Red Oak with Reveals

Hi Everybody...This was a lot of work....and a lot of fun! 

My customer asked me to take a look at an oak bedroom suite he had acquired a decade and one-half ago--nine separate pieces. He explained how he was tired of the Red Oak motif and that he wanted to change it out for something darker. I looked at it and we discussed a couple alternatives. But because I know a finished sample is often helpful to visualize how the outcome might look, I suggested I could take a drawer, finish it, and return it for his consideration.

And that's what we did.



His oak set is indeed beautiful and very well made (i.e., Oak Interiors, www.fineoak.com). His pieces' corners, trim, and floor plates were punctuated with beautiful carvings--all of which would be covered up--muted--if I just stained these pieces black. So, I suggested that we "reveal" the carvings so that instead of muting them they were actually highlighted. And that's another reason why I thought it might

Hope Chest

be important--even necessary in this case--for him to see a sample  to whet his visual appetite. So I finished the face of a drawer that included some carvings and took it back to him a few days later. He really liked it. I recognized a fresh enthusiasm about what this effort might promise. So, we were off and running--or sort of.

Footboard

Those of you who may have been to my shop know I don't have room for a nine-piece bedroom suite. So, this effort became something of a game of "furniture tag," getting and finishing a couple pieces at a time, then carefully delivering them back and taking a few more back to the shop. Similarly, you've got to know that a dresser, for example, is not just "a dresser." In this case it was twelve drawer fronts, twelve drawer

Armoire Top

boxes, and a large structural box frame--26 separate pieces taking up space in the shop. Then, too, there were virtually stacks of brass hardware to be catalogued and stored during the finishing for each piece! The work took a

Armoire Base

little over a month--and all nine pieces were happily delivered home. See how the reveals turned out? You're not seeing all the pieces, but I think you can get the idea. Yes, there were a few surprises along the way, but all-in-all the project ended with happiness on both ends: I was happily able to make him happy... and his bedroom suite is black and beautiful!! Check out the pics of some of his pieces and let me know what you think.

That's Wood Talkin for today....are you listening?

Dick

French Provincial Styled Antique Writing Desk

Here's a really memorable repair.

My customer brought this fantastic hand-made French Provincial styled writing desk to the shop. Her family history goes back at least four generations in the Denver area. In this case we're talking about a gentleman who owned a store in lower downtown Denver in the 1860-1880 time frame. Cool stuff. This was his desk!


It belongs to my customer now...a great, great granddaughter? She explained how that when she occasionally needed to move it, the back left leg complained a lot, then...it fell off. That's memorable in and of itself, but upon close inspection of the broken area it was obvious to me that the top bulbus flare of the leg had long been the tasty dinner for some now long gone worms. Many years ago they had eaten themselves out of the wood and disappeared "into the night." (see pic below)

This beautiful piece is the handiwork of a fine craftsman similarly swallowed up into that long night. But his workmanship still sings loud and clear in the glory of this beautiful piece. So, in a response to the challenge he has introduced, and for my customer's sake--to repair his work and to save this beautiful desk--the question at hand is about what to do now?

I began the project pragmatically. I carefully removed the entire leg from the desk. Then, I carefully cut away the spongy portion of the worm eaten bulb from that leg. The picture (left below) shows this spongy cut-out. Below, I'm holding it in front of (juxtaposed on) the newly finished leg so you can see where it fit.
Freeing the leg from the desk offered me a lot more flexibility. I was able to utilize several machines in the shop, and it enhanced the gluing, clamping, and final finishing processes.







 I carefully fabricated a new piece from raw Ash wood stock and glued it into the original leg. I also had to fabricate the hip portion, as a separate piece in this case. (It had apparently dropped off and was lost from the leg years ago as the worms did their tunneling throughout the upper portion of that leg...see pic below.)

With these processes complete, the last challenge was to securely replace the leg back into the desk's frame and supporting structures.

 




So, is this a beauty or what?! I've offered a few pics just to savor the lines and the patina of this special piece.



This is Wood Talkin for today. Wood talks---how often do you listen?


                                                           Dick

A Broken Leg.. A Marvelous Old Couch

Hi Everybody. In this situation my customer called me to look at a recently recovered couch. These older pieces are often very well built inside and outside. They often incorporate a quality of materials and workmanship that puts much of todays similarly priced items to shame. This one is a great case in point. The internal quality of this older couch is well worth the cost of a repair, and it will give the family another 20 years of flawless service.

What you see (left) are two pictures of the couch's right front leg socket. I've peeled back the upholstery and its foundation fabric in order to get to the joint area, and then I will try to see what has happened.

Here, in the picture (left) I've cleaned out all the shattered material in preparation to fabricate and place a solid new oak seat for the leg in that spot. The leg of the couch will then be secured--re-glued and multiply screwed--into this new oak seat. As you can see in the picture, two dowel tenons from the couch's arm structure will also secure into the new oak seat, AND I will be re-securing the dowels
--those 4-round circles that I had to cut--back into the new oak seat too (see the pic). As you can see, the new piece's placement, (I'm sorry it's not shown) will support the structural integrity (rigidity) of the corner at the floor and from the couch's arm above.

Yes, it was all very much worth the effort. My customer was very happy--and then so was I!

That's Wood Talkin. Take care of your pieces---cuz they all have some fun stories to tell!

Visiting the Past

I was thumbing through some old shop notes and ran across a really fun picture...this one. It's a pic a customer gave me several years ago upon my returning an antique rocking chair--fully restored. I remember they were delighted--so excited to get their storied piece back to sit prominently in their living room. I understand that at some point my customer's father used the rocker on the front porch of their country home, and that in the family's story it was one of only a few items rescued when their house caught fire! Anyway, they brought the piece to me in a old fruit-packing box. Yup, it was all in pieces, but all the pieces were there-- even though it, reportedly, it had waited for decades. It lay piecemeal and akimbo in that box anticipating redemption (if antiques can do that). It was treasure in a closet cubbyhole somewhere in the house.

If I remember correctly, the old rocker belonged initially to my customer's great grand mother. So in looking at the picture, and for historical perspective, I had to keep in mind that my customer was herself in her early 80's. The picture captures her mom, as an infant, propped in her mom's old rocker! So, of course that means that the rocker, already looking used in the pic, is at least the age of my customer, early 80"s, plus the age of her mom, plus the years that her mom's mom, her great grandmother, had it after she bought it brand new. We're probably talking 1860-1880. Fun thoughts.

I have posted several pics in this blog, the one above, then this one (right). Here you see the rocker as it looked in the shop stripped and fully re-assembled. The first time it's back on its mature rocker-runners for--as my customer explained it--perhaps thirty years! Then, after this  pic was taken it was uniformly stained, sealed, and finished in a couple coats of clear satin lacquer. Finally, a leather-look seat was fashioned and carefully tacked into place where you see the round seat opening begs for it. You see it here (left below), and wow, it's a handsome devil again for sure! (Don't you wish we could all get re-done like that!?)

Since this story was initially told in a post several years ago, my customer has passed away. I found myself wondering where the rocker is now? Do the new owners love it? Do they know any of the stories it can tell?  Hmmm. This is the fun stuff in my being able to play this role for people. People have stories to tell....and so does their furniture. Thanks for letting me play this role for you!

That's Wood Talkin for today. Keep listening...because wood always has a story to tell.

Dick

Late 1880's Oak Dresser Cabinet

Let me introduce you to this storied Old Gentleman. As we expect, he's got an interesting story to tell. My customer explained how he grew up with this piece. It was in his grandfather's home and later his own home. 

My customer explained how it once had a framed mirror. It sat atop the cabinet. It was integrated with a miniature and probably ornate little set of oak drawers. Given the hand carvings around the edges of the main dresser (see insert pic below), I suspect the little cabinet and drawers were similarly very attractive.

Super hand carvings

When you look closely at these pic of the top, below, you can see the doweling holes that supported it, it's mirror, and the mirror's frame. I asked my customer where these items might be? He had no idea where they went. My suspicion: they sit handsomely, now albeit stand-alone, on someone's dresser--a very attractive little jewelry box, perhaps?

Ugly stain and missing cabinet' shadow & holes

 
At first I was hesitant to do a complete refinish on this special  antique (Charles Eastlake). (Remember the debate and discussion, "if you touch it, then it's no longer an antique." ) But then as I began the discovery process, starting with a more detailed inspection of the top. I realized this handsome gentleman boasts still other little secrets. Let's begin with the ugly stain we can see on top of the cabinet. 

Green stuff behind the removed pull

Then, notice the curious green stain behind the third-drawer's right pull. That tell-tale green was a reaction to a lubricant I used to  release the pull's attaching screw from the drawer face. It was rusted into the hole! A closer look at the case told me the screw had been corroded from a leak of some kind. The leak had happened on top of the dresser, then dripped down the font, right side of the dresser--including the frame, all the drawers, and the below-cabinet door below, too! It's a blue-gray stain. I've often seen it happen when wood tannin reacts to an oxidizing agent (like water borne acetates). Something, maybe wine(?), pooled on top and then dripped down the dresser to the floor below. It left a dark streak down the right front of the cabinet as it cascaded to the floor. 

Check-out the stripped cabinet pic (left). Note the circle around each of the drawer pull holes. These tell us the existing drawer pulls are not original. In fact, the originals were metal, probably solid brass or a brass overlay. They were BIG. The larger ones were 3" in diameter and the smaller ones were 2" in diameter and "pointed" around the perimeter. They left these these distinctive markings where the points lay against the drawers faces.  

Finally. I realized this handsome guy had experienced his own face-lift some fifty or sixty years ago. So, mine would not be the first. The cabinet was originally  completed (1880's-90's) in a classic clear varnish that yellowed as he matured. (Yup, we all do our own brand of "yellowing" with age, don't we!). Then, when this frustrating spill took place to stain the top and the front of this handsome guy, "Oh my, what to do now! 

See the crazing in the finish and the circles around the drawer pull hole also the green oxidation of the pull's fastener

The answer my customer's family member chose came in the form of a complete re-varnish of the cabinet.  A dark brown varnish was chosen to cover over the original finish. For whatever reason the ornate cabinet hardware was removed and discarded (?). Oak pulls were chosen and similarly finished, then they were placed where the brasses had been. The new brown varnish overlay helped obscure the cabinet's stains, and it somewhat covered the circular "points" where the brasses had been for the previous 70-80 years. In this enlarged pic, if you look closely, you can see a cosmetic cover-up was also used. The varnish didn't fill in the crazing marks of the older finish underneath, so it appeared as though the dark top finish was original. See the pic (above).


My customers chose a lighter finish color. It is darker than the original finish, but lighter than the previous re-cover. They were comfortable letting the piece tell its own story. I tightened up and re-glued some structural members inside the case, and then I gently (chemically) hand-stripped the cabinet to the bare wood. The stains and wear marks of the years were painful evidence of the years bumps and abuses, but the unfinished state merely promised a fun new future vitality. It'll proudly wear its history, albeit a little toned down. (Don't we all wish that, huh!) We looked for some LARGE reproductions of the Eastlake 3" brasses, but finally settled on what we suspect are smaller versions of the same "pointed" original circular brass pulls. I was able to bleach some of the dark stain out of the drawer and cabinet fronts, but the stain--and the stories--remain to those who know what and where to look for them. 

When the cabinet was re-varnished after the spill its color was darkened, the pulls were changed, and curiously all the keyholes were filled with a stain-matching dark resin! They were still there, buried, and they were no longer functional. So, one of my tasks was to carefully remove this fill material from each lock and then clean and lubricate each one. They all work now and we found a working key through an area antique dealer. Listen carefully and you can almost hear the cabinet's grateful sigh of pent-up r-e-l-i-e-f!

So, there it is. It's been gently restored to past glory and it happily offers some fun contemporary tales, too!

That's Wood Talkin for the New Year 2016. Happy New Year!