I started making a slipcover pattern for one of my old chairs out of muslin. I don’t know how complicated this is going to get or how much I’m going to enjoy this so I reserve the right to throw up my hands and throw the chair out the door at any point in the process.
Posted in Before & After, Furniture, I Need a Nap, Maintenance, Tools on December 14, 2010|
After I realized that the wood filler wasn’t going to take stain in the refinished sideboard, I had to dig as much of the filler out as I could. Then I rubbed a couple of coats of wax into the wood, attached some knobs that I got from Lee Valley Tools, leaving on two original brass pulls for the bottom doors, and voila! A finished sideboard.
The Before (the basic style, not the actual piece. Mine’s a bit wider and had some more decorative work, but the same idea with the mirror, two top drawers, one middle drawer, and two doors at the bottom):
The During (I mostly worked on this in October and November, when it was warmer):
The stain:
The polish:
The After, now without mirror, and without the decorative scrolls. It’s not a perfect piece, but I like to believe imperfection adds character:
Posted in Before & After, Current Affairs, Furniture on October 29, 2010|
Posted in Current Affairs, Furniture, Plans on October 20, 2010|
My old sideboard was found down in the basement when my grandmother bought her house. When she passed on, it went to live with my uncle, and when he passed on, it came to stay with me. It looks almost exactly like this (in terms of style – it looks a lot worse than this in terms of condition):
I’ve had it for years already and have always meant to refinish it. I know that refinishing old furniture often decreases its value instead of increasing it, but it’s old and sad and needs some sprucing up. The last move to 963 also wasn’t too kind to it; it’s starting to fall apart at the seams. I want it to look beautiful, even if it won’t be worth as much.
At 963, I finally have room to do big projects like this one (hard to drag an old oak sideboard out onto your condo balcony and get to work). It’s sitting in the outside room already, hardware removed, ready for some care.
I’ll keep you posted on the progress.
Posted in Current Affairs, Furniture, Television on January 13, 2010|
For a few weeks after we first moved in, we watched TV and movies on the floor. We were waiting to find the right furniture for this space downstairs, that looks out into the backyard:
Well, we found it – something comfy, something you can sprawl on, a place to nap, or read, or sit and look out the window. And yes, a place to watch movies.
963 