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?

A Window With a Mistaken Identity

A strange thing happened this week in our stripping tanks.  We have some old woodwork for a house that we have been stripping the paint off of.  Two of the items were these windows, which looked like ordinary glass in a painted wood frame.   What we found out, was that one was in fact Plexi-Glass!  Coulda fooled us.

The door to the left has the real glass the way it came to us, the door to the right has the plexi-glass after it was put through our tanks and we discovered it was in fact NOT glass.    After putting it in our Methylene Chloride tank the 'glass' became discolored, stretched out, and flexible.   It has been a few days and it is still flexible in fact!  It feels like something at a creepy playhouse for kids where you have to avoid flying green gooo.

Of  course the window that was real glass went through the process just fine.

So I guess this post is another one of my cautionary tales.  You probably assume that your windows are made out of real glass, but if you have any suspicion that it might be something else, let us know so that we can handle your piece accordingly.

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.