Matte Finish on a Buffet Server

This is a situation where we needed to strip just the top for our customer.  There were some dents and dings along the edge of the top surface, and they wanted  to switch to a different sheen.  Something less shiny.  So we carefully masked off the rest of this buffet with paper, and then again with plastic.   Hand stripping is not ideal, but since this is a simple surface, without any intricate carving, it made the job a bit easier for us.   After stripping, the top surface was very clean and was ready for us to sand and paint.

When painting a wooden surface it can be necessary to do something called a 'pore fill'.  This is a special material which will make the wood surface smooth and eliminate the little dents created by the wood grain.  This is especially important with open pored woods like Oak, Mahogany and Walnut.  If you have a more closed grained wood such as Cherry or Maple you may be able to skip this 'pore fill' step.

You can see in the third picture our new 'Matte Finish' painted surface.  Having 'pore filling' done on a matte finish is very advantageous as those pores would disrupt that perfect surface.  Keep in mind, matte finishes are very hard to maintain, a little rubbing and the finish starts turning to satin.  Our client was very happy with the finished look of  their buffet,  that is just the result we are always looking for!

Secret Finish On An Old Rocking Chair

The owner of this rocker came in with the intention of having it stripped and refinished. This is an example of one of the rare instances where we do our best to persuade the customer to take a different approach. The alligatored finish on the seat of this chair is not a worn out aged finish, but a very intentional decorative design. She was easily persuaded  to save the original, and we simply cleaned waxed, and polished the chair.

While the chair looks beautiful, and we were clearly able to preserve the finish,  the customer really just didn't feel happy with the black.  So she brought it back to us to see if there was anything else we could do to keep the chair's historic quality, but not have the chair black anymore.   

We could see a little bit of a greenish color under the black, and where the black was more worn, we could see little areas of green.  So we decided to try and remove just the black by scrubbing by hand, without having to put it through the stripping system, which would have removed everything!  Once we got below the black layer, we could see a beautiful old green painted finish appear, and a very cool red 'alligator' painted finish on the seat.   What also emerged was some striping over the green paint, and what looks to be an old decal on the center of the back.   Once we successfully removed all of the black coating, we cleaned the rocking chair and then proceeded to wax and polish it.    Waxing and polishing is very labor intensive work, especially on a piece such as this with all those spindles and stretchers.  But, it really is the best way to make an old finish look beautiful again, while still preserving the historical value of the piece. 

The chair really looks beautiful now, and we have succeeded in making our customer happy.  We retained the original historical value of the rocking chair, while getting rid of the black she so disliked.  Of course,  this chair's own unique history helped us achieve that aim.  Without that beautiful green and red layer hiding under the black coating, we would not have been able to accomplish our goal. 

A Choice Between Two Finishes

One of the best things about having a furniture restoration business is the artistry and creativity that is involved.  These two doors belong to a TV cabinet that is being re-vamped. The owners of  this cabinet wanted something unique, not just paint, not just stain.  The plan they came up with, which we are happy to implement for them, is to use both paint and stain!

We started out by finishing this cabinet in a deep red color, which is very similar to the color it was prior to stripping.  Our customers then brought us a custom made paint they had created to match some items already in their house.  We then applied the paint to their doors in two different methods so that they could decide which  better appealed to their sense of style.  The top door is done with a 'Glaze', the bottom door is done with a 'Wash'.

Which one do you like better?

Beautiful Cedar hiding under Paint

At first I did not recognize this beautiful cedar chest.  I was walking through the shop the other day, and saw this trunk and thought to myself 'huh, I wonder where that 3rd cedar chest came from',  Then all of a sudden it hit me,  This beautiful chest, with the wonderful smelling cedar and the many knots in the wood had once been covered in paint! I am so excited now to see the look on the owner of this chest's face when she sees it, all stripped and sanded and pretty.  Looking at the 'before' picture below, I wonder why anyone paints such beautiful wood.  I know there is a time and place for painted wood,  such as, when there has been burn damage, or when the wood itself in completely unremarkable and boring.  But with beautiful wood like this, I think it should  never be covered in paint.  Of course, that is just my opinion.  You are entitled to think whatever you want.  Perhaps you should tell me in the comments below, just what you think of painted wood like this.

Old Steamer Trunk After Complete Restoration

This old trunk came to us partially dis-assembled by it's good intentioned owner. They had wanted to fix it up themselves, but realized it was way to big of a project for them.  It still had a little bit of the green painted canvas and a few strips of metal left on the box, but other then that, it was in pieces.  They had been able to salvage almost all of the original hardware. The tin strips were rusted so they would need some work, but the cast brass edge and corner pieces were still looking gorgeous. We treated all the tin sheeting that went on the trunk with a rust arrestor. This would keep any rust damage from spreading. All the tin was then painted a shiny black.  All of the wooden slats that decorate the trunk had been marked for us so that we would know where they went once the trunk was re-assembled. This was a big help, and saved us from needing to solve many puzzles. We re-glued any cracks and breaks. Then the slats were stripped, sanded and given a beautiful new water based finish.

We also applied a new canvas cover over the box and painted it a green, very similar to the original green color.  We then put the shiny black tin strips on,  and all the renewed wooden slats.  The brass hardware looks amazing now on this trunk. We don't often get to restore a trunk from it's base, we usually try and make it look as good as possible, without taking the entire thing apart.  We are so please with how this trunk turned out though, that hopefully we will get to do more trunks in such a thorough way!

Progress On Our Latest Faux Finish Project

Our latest Faux Finish project is coming along very well.  As with all of these projects, there is a point where I look at the piece and go, 'Um.....really? How is that going to look not weird?'  But then the work progresses and I start seeing the vision of our Faux Finish Visionaire start to come come alive.

We began by mixing our own custom creamy yellow base color, which we applied to the side panels on this cabinet, and to the frame sections on it's doors.  We also applied this color to 4 sections of a coffee table that is going to co-ordinate.  After applying the base,  The doors and the coffee table also received a coating in select areas of a Bayberry green color which you can see very well in the doors above.   The side panels have had a Red Pepper color rubbed into the cracks and crevices, followed by a Van Dyke glaze.  It looks very cool.  The coffee table and doors also have had a Van Dyke glaze overall, which give them such a neat aged look.

I have gotten past the 'that looks weird' stage, to the 'wow, that looks cool' stage and am looking forward to seeing these completed!  What do you think of these color effects?

Our Color Wizard Strikes Again

Often, items come to us that are not broken, do not need to be refinished, or some other major work.  They simply have a dent, gouge, scrape or ding on their beautiful surface.  Fortunately we have the man for the job.  He is a color wizard and can make imperfections disappear.  After smoothing the dent with various fillers, the color touchup began.  Three different colors were used to achieve that red you see on the table.  Our Color Wizard used  red, a canary yellow and a white, it is amazing to me how people can see in their mind what colors make up another color.  I always end up with a whole bunch of dud colors before finding the right one.  I suppose that is what makes our Wizard so good!   Once that red is dry a rich gold will be applied over it.  You will still be able to see some red underneath, which is part of what makes the effect on this table so cool.

Do you have something with a dent that you have been wishing you could get fixed?  Well now you know where to take it.  Bring it in, we will be waiting for you!

Another Interesting Faux Finish In The Works

 We are getting more and more 'faux finish'  projects in, here at the shop.  This latest one is quite a bit of fun, and took some creative thinking to come up with the design.  The couple who owns this piece has decided they are tired of the dark, heavy quality of their current decorating scheme and has brought a cabinet and coffee table to us to 'lighten' in some way.  After discussing the customer's vision for their home, we came up with an idea which made them happy.

We are beginning with a creamy color,  almost a pale yellow, on certain sections of the pieces.  We will also be using green tones and a vibrant red pepper to accent.  I know in probably sounds a little crazy, but just wait until you see the finished product.  I have learned that faux finishes tend to look a little odd at some stage, but once the steps are completed,  the finish looks stunning. Check back in a bit to see the completed look!

Art Deco Chair gets a Unique Treatment

I am very excited about this project.  This chair is going to go in our office when it is completed, so there is a bit of a 'personal' investment I suppose.    Three matching chairs were dumped on us when the owners decided they didn't want them anymore.  We are finishing them each differently, and this is the last one.

We started out by painting it with a cream colored Milk Paint.  This Art Deco chair has interesting carving, so we are filling in all the little groves with red.  It is going to look so good.

Then once that step is completed we will do some glazing to add texture and a final coat of a Van Dyke Brown over the entire chair for an aged look.   I am sure I will post again as progress on this little chair continues.

I think the red is looking good!   What do you think?

Paper Trunk that Fooled Us

 This is quite a unique little trunk.  Smaller than your average steamer trunk, I can imagine it would fit men's clothes,

much better than the volumeous women's clothing worn generations ago.  This trunk has the look of aged painted leather, and our task was to clean it then restore it.  Unfortunately, right away when we began cleaning it, we discovered that it was not covered in leather after all, but Paper!

We stopped cleaning immediately and asked the customer to come in

and look at the trunk to decide what course of action to take next.  The customer does have several options at this point.  The top will need a coat of laquer to keep the paper from deteriorating further.  They could choose to laquer the entire trunk, and leave it's appearance as is,  or they could choose to paint it which would give a huge range of possibilities

for the trunk's appearance.  They could go with a simple, all one color paint, or it could be distressed to mimic age.  Or the Leather look that is currently on the trunk could be re created.  I am looking forward to finding out what they choose. And I will be sure to let you know.

Tricky Faux Finish Color Match

We got this very unique loveseat in  recently with a giant hole in the woven seat.  The back is still in great shape, and even has a double caned back, which makes this such a nice piece for the owner.  We were able to replace the seat  easily enough, and now it is time for the tricky part.  Color Matching!   This chair has a very nice artistic finish which makes the color matching an interesting challenge for us.

We began by applying a white base to the cane. As you can see in the picture above, there is white showing through in the crevices where the cane overlaps.   Once this white is completely dry, we will rub on a darker Umber color.  This will create the uneven 'antiqued' look that you can see on the loveseat back.  Pretty neat right?