Resurrecting family heirlooms for clients has got to be one of the greatest honors I have in my little Furniture business.
150 years of life lived. At least 40 of those years were spent in and old wash house, my client’s grandmother’s wash house to be exact. The next 10 years were spent in a shed. The elements did a number on this piece of history. I was called in to see if there was any hope... my client wished to move the piece into her guest bedroom to serve as a wardrobe of sorts.
And so the journey began...
Rotten wood, broken hinges, bent and buried nails, sheer filth and rusted through tin doors were a few of the challenges facing me.
Once I made numerous repairs, trying hard not to alter the piece too much from its original state, a decision had to be made about the tin door insets. Should we replace with new? The damage was deep. My client asked me to try and save them. After gently removing any loose rust, the process began to give a faux weathered tin look. Layers of shades of gray paints and spots of metallics here and there, blending, highlighting and stippling away the years of rust were a success. We didn’t want the look of brand new tin, but we also didn’t want her guests to feel like they needed a tetanus shot after using the piece! Lol
The body of the piece was given a glaze coat of Driftwood milk paint followed with two coats of hand painted Linen Milk Paint by General Finishes. Purposeful distressing allowed to original character to peek through the new finish.
The interior was refreshed with a custom toner mix of GF Medium Brown Waterbased Stain and GF HPTC in Satin.
This was more than a custom job, I was bringing a piece of my client’s childhood and her grandmother back to her... it was a privilege to be trusted with this restoration.
