Winner! The Barn Rescue

By John Suteu, Owner at Splendid Seconds in Apex, NC.

Winning Category

I found this beautiful antique pie safe buried in a 150 year old barn and knew I had to rescue it and bring it back to life. It took me over 2 hours to dig it out, and find all the parts possible to put it back together. After getting it home, I layed all the pieces out on the driveway to see what I had and didn't have, and to my amazement I had eveything. As you can see from the before picture, the main body frame was warped and leaning to the left so after disassembly I had to straighten the main supports by soaking in water for a couple of days and then placing them on the bench and slowly with clamps straighten them out. This process took two week to accomplish. All the 1/4" inserts were warped badly and could not be used, so those inserts that you see in the second picture are new. Those were only items I had to replace, everything else is original. I spent 4 days sanding and reassembling the pie safe back to it's original glory. I applied 3 coats of General Finishes Georgian Cherry Gel Stain to the outside and top, and then sprayed 3 coats of General Finishes High Performance Satin Clear to the outside and inside. The original door tins were lightly cleaned and left as is, and the hardware was given the same cleaning and reinstalled. I was laughed at by many when I brought this home, but I could see the potential in this beautiful piece, and it needed to be brought back to life. Those that were laughing, are now praising me after seeing the final product. I do my best in trying to preserve the past.....   

Project Category

Upcycling Merit CategoriesJava Jive

Products Used

  • General Finishes Georgian Cherry Gel Stain
  • General Finishes High Performance Satin Clear