Sunday 16 May 2010

From Garage to Fine Dining

My dining room is decorated with various bits of furniture that I have collected along the way.
This beautiful dresser is my pride and joy. I found it in an old friend’s garage (one day I will tell you the story about this friend). Her husband was a car mechanic and he was using the dresser as a work surface and as a store cupboard for his tools and car bits and pieces. It was black, imbedded in dirt grease and grime. The lovely insert on the door could not be seen because of the dirt and grease embedded into it. I loved it instantly and fortunately for me they were about to burn it as they said it was taking up space and it was ugly, can you imagine that, sacrilege. I got the husband to deliver the dresser to my home and set to work cleaning the dresser to bring it back to life.
To remove the dirt grease and old wax, I cleaned with an antique cleaner restorer, you can imagine the sludgy mess that developed, once all the old wax and grease was removed I cleaned the surface with white spirit and to bring back the colour I then rubbed it down with burnishing cream and applied wood reviver, which I made using a mixture of malt vinegar, methylated spirit and linseed. How did I know all of this, I bought a book on restoring old furniture? The inside of the dresser I cleaned with bleach and mild soapy water. I placed new handles, shame as the old ones were long gone and there you see the finished result
The chair to the right is a part of a three piece carved bergere cane chairs I bought from the local auction, after cleaning and applying wood reviver, I recovered the seat and cushions. The tiffany lamp is part of a pair again bought from auction and my dining table which can’t be seen is from a local second hand shop or thrift shop as it is now in USA. I love this room.

I am linking up with a party at debbiedoos livin in the carolinas:/> take a look at all the wonderful projects from other bloggers and add your own

11 comments:

Debbiedoos said...

That is an awesome piece! I chuckled at the sludgy mess, been there done that with these old pieces...well you certainly made it your own, and what a fun picture that it of you sitting on it! Thanks for linking up to my first party!~I look forward to seeing you again participate...I was out all day yesterday finding some new stuff to redo...spent a whopping 9 bucks!

The Decorative Dreamer said...

Wow! Your hard work has resulted in some beautiful pieces! Great job!

Michelle said...

Beautiful! You did such a great job restoring that dresser! The chair is beautiful, too! :o)

Bonnie@Creative Decorating said...

Hard to believe that people can't "see" what character a piece can have!!! I just can't imagine that dresser being used that way!! Glad you saved it!

Saw your post over at Debbiedoos!

Emily {Frilly Details} said...

What a beautiful piece of furniture! Wow!

Thanks for stopping by :)

XmasDolly said...

No one can ever explain the heart in a person's eye! Thanks for stopping by too! Couldn't ride the bike. Got a bad back, but I would've loved too!

Ann @ makethebestofthings said...

Love your sense of style and adventure. Taking on the redo of that piece was a leap of faith but you had the "knack." Just wonderful.

Sandy said...

Beautiful work on that dresser...
linking up from debbiedoos this monday!

Sandy
http://thewondersofdoing.blogspot.com/

Lynne's Somewhat Invented Life said...

I am SO amazed. And what a darling photo with cute legs hanging down, all shapely like. I was going to ask, "How do you know all this?" and then you answered. Even if I had a book it would intimidate me. Good job!

Order and Chaos said...

That dresser is just beautiful - can't believe anyone was going to burn it. What a fabulous job you made of cleaning it up too.

Kitty said...

You do take great photos! I love the close up of the dresser with the fabrics. The colors are wonderfully compatible. I love this dresser, too. Great choice on the hardware!!

Seriously, I feel if you are an aesthetic person, it extends to all parts of what you do. What a great find this dresser is. I am utterly envious!