Phoenix Furniture
Rescued - Reimagined - Reborn
The Dresser That Took "Phoenix" Literally!
I found this little cutie at a church rummage sale. The man who donated it guessed it to be roughly 100 years old. It was his grandma’s, and had been in his garage since her passing several years earlier. I was captivated by the gorgeous, carved wooden handles! The size made it very flexible in terms of where it could be used. It HAD to come home with me. I even paid the full asking price with no bargaining! Yep, I was truly smitten!
Step One: Getting the Lay of the Land
In doing the in-depth examination once it was safely home and awaiting transformation, I made an odd discovery. THIS little Phoenix project had actually been on FIRE at some point! The bottom drawer had scorching, areas of charcoal and missing wood in the left rear corner! There was NO evidence of fire anywhere else on the piece. Weird, right? My family and I had fun speculating on what scenarios could account for the odd discovery . . . Did Grandpa only THINK he had the pipe extinguished when he put it away in the drawer? Was a kid smoking and heard Mom coming down the hall? Or my personal favorite: Did DAD hear Mom coming down the hall, and SHE thinks he already quit smoking? LOL Regardless, we all found a great deal of humor in the fact that at some point someone had a serious “Oh Crud!” moment. Perhaps with more colorful metaphors. 😉
The rest of the drawer was very solid. Its flaming past gave it an “coolness factor” in my book! I chose to do the repair in a way that allowed any future owner to be able to see and appreciate the evidence of that hilarious ( to me many years later, at least ) chapter in its history. We all have those “funny only much later” stories in our lives. I have to believe that this is some family’s favorite. 🙂 Surely the “Mom can’t ever find out” statute of limitations is loooong expired!
The top was loose, but easily secured with a few screws, and the holes filled with wood putty. While one of the two broken handles could be glued, the other had pieces missing.
My old buddy Loctite Repair Putty was instrumental in making it look less obviously damaged. Stay tuned for a future blog about THAT miraculous compound. I don’t know how I ever lived without it! Since it cures white and definitely doesn’t accept stain, paint was going to be a necessity.
Given the age and the craftsmanship, there was a decent chance that this little lady was made of really nice wood. I knew it wasn’t oak. While heavy, it wasn’t NEARLY heavy enough for oak! But definitely worth stripping and seeing what I had to work with. The treasure I found was the reason I keep stripping furniture! It is made of absolutely GORGEOUS solid walnut!
Step Two: Finalizing the Vision
There were, in fact, some places where damage repairs were needed and/or had been done in the past, but for the most part it was a jewel. I decided that I would paint only what needed to be done to cover dings, scrapes, and other minor repairs, plus whatever would balance out the look. I can’t paint just the one side, after all!
When it came to the top, drawer fronts, and the inset panels I didn’t want to change a single thing. I just wanted to enhance and protect that amazing walnut.
Despite the need to do some repairs on them, I couldn’t give up the beautiful original handles that made me fall in love in the first place. When they were painted and back in place on the drawers, I found that I loved them even more because now they really POPPED!
Step THREE: Bringing the Vision to Life!
When I’m doing a project that involves using both paint and stain on a piece, I do the painted parts first. Why? Because when I accidentally get some of the stain or varnish on the adjacent painted section ( not IF I get stain or varnish on it, WHEN . . . 😉 ), it’s MUCH easier to recover from that than the other way around. Errant stain or poly can be lightly sanded and touched up very easily on a painted surface. Any paint that gets on the unstained wood can just be sanded off if wiping isn’t sufficient. But freshly stained and varnished wood? If it won’t wipe off, you either live with it, or strip it back down and start over. No thank you!
I chose the Behr paint color Shadow Mountain in a satin sheen, alkyd paint. Alkyd paint ROCKS! The durability of oil-based paint in a water-based product! I don’t know what magic this is, but I love it!
In addition to the body and drawer handles, I also painted the insides of the drawers in this gorgeous charcoal gray color. I love the effect when you open the drawer and there it is!
As I said earlier, I didn’t want to change a thing when it came to this amazing walnut! I applied Varathane Natural Stain, which doesn’t add any color. It just helps enhance and bring out the grain. This is my first experience with this particular product, but it won’t be my last! It was ready for the next step in just ONE hour! The stains I’ve used up until this point require 4 – 6 hours of drying time. I won’t be throwing my current supply of stains out, obviously, but when it comes time to buy new stuff, I’m checking this Varathane line FIRST to see if they have the color I want!
Before I could go on the final step, applying the polyurethane, I had one more thing I had to address. Remember those screws I put in to secure the top? Well, unfortunately I couldn’t put them in anywhere but right on top. I tried screwing up at an angle from the back, and then from the inside, but they just wouldn’t hold. To help them blend in, because “stainable wood filler” LIES, I pulled out my artist brush and 2 or 3 different gel stains I had from past projects. With some experimentation I came up with a blend that matched the wood color pretty nicely.
Last, but not least, is the polyurethane, which protects the wood and gives it a bit of shine, if you wish. It comes in matte, satin, semi-gloss, and gloss. I usually prefer satin, but that’s just me. Since my paint was a satin sheen, satin was definitely the way to go this time too. I hate, hate, hate brush marks, so I use wipe-on poly. I mix my own because pre-made stuff is so expensive! Check out the links below for how YOU can make YOUR own wipe-on poly, as well as other topics related to this particular Phoenix transformation. 🙂
Step Five: TADA!!
Here she is! I love her! I mean, really, can you BELIEVE that someone covered this up with that dark, dark stain? And one of the best things? She has a big sister! The same person who donated this gem to the rummage sale also donated another just like it, only about 10 inches wider and 6 inches taller. I can hardly wait to get started on her! Maybe the wood won’t be as pretty. Maybe it will be even more beautiful! There’s only one way to find out. 🙂
What about you? Do you have a potential treasure waiting for you to uncover what it could be? What are you waiting for? Start digging!