When I saw this piece at Salvation Army, I knew that it would be a beauty when I finished with it. The body is solid maple, and the innerds are solid plywood ... this piece is HEAVY. It's from a great maker, and is well worth the effort needed to bring it back to life.
The first thing I did when I got it home was to pull out my heat gun and strip the dated lacquer finish off the top. Two coats of Rustoleum 'Kona' stain, and two coats of polyurethane, and the top was beautiful. I waited until this point to choose the color for the body ... because I wasn't exactly sure what color the maple top would end up. As I hoped, it was a perfect compliment for a coat of my favorite ASCP color ... Aubusson Blue!
Even though I stripped and sanded and refinished the top to make it practically pristine, I wanted to acknowledge and honor the age on rest of the buffet. In places, it had the most wonderful wear in the finish ... which I left in place and accentuated with some careful distressing.
Speaking of distressing, the rest of the buffet got quite a workout with my sandpaper and sanding block. As I was doing it, I was imagining all the hands that have touched the hardware, opening the drawers and doors, and all the feet and brooms and vacuums that have run into the skirt and feet.
Bottom drawer, before distressing and clear wax. Top drawer, after. (The color in this photo is off, way too yellow, and I couldn't fix it to my satisfaction.)
Up until now, I have always replaced these 'bat wing' colonial-style drawer pulls. In this case, the style is a little different and I loved the wear on them ... so I gave them a spritz of oil-rubbed bronze spray paint to update the color a bit. I think they're perfect.
This buffet is now ready for its new home. I wish that could be here, because I have the PERFECT spot for it in our dining room.
Unlike other pieces, this one is not heading for my shop. It's the first piece that I have finished specifically for the Lucketts Spring Market. I'm so excited to be a vendor there this year!!! It's unfortunate that this is happening during my busiest nursery season ... but I'm balancing things pretty well so far.
Can't rest on my laurels, though ... I have work to do.
As the magician said, "... and now for my next trick ..."
Wait till you see what I'm going to do with this one!