A Vintage Hutch Turned Media Console

I purchased this solid rock maple hutch base from the goodwill a couple months ago. I almost always buy these when I come across them since they make such versatile refinishing projects. I've turned them into islands, sideboards, sink vanities, and like this one, media consoles.

         In order to update the piece for its new use I removed the three center drawers and replaced them with shelves to hold various cable boxes and gaming consoles. I painted the exterior in a custom mixed medium antique green called 'East Haddam Trim'. The interior of the cupboard portion is painted in another, paler, custom mixed green called 'Cucumber Sandwich'.

         I sanded, stained, and sealed the glorious top, maple is such a wonderful wood with which to work. Finally I replaced the boring old Chippendale pulls with custom colored burnished copper pulls and knobs.

A Vintage Farm Table Dining Set

Ooooooo I love this set. Love it to bits! I got the table from Carl the Furniture Guy. It's wonderful, easily the best I've ever had, with bold cyma curves to the sides and nice deep molding across the stretcher. It's also sturdy as a rock with a massive flawless slab of solid pine across the top. I held on to it for a few weeks waiting for the perfect chair set to do the table justice. Last week I scored a spectacular matched set of six solid maple Heywood Wakefield bamboo turned Windsor chairs. They match the table perfectly. I painted the chairs and the table base in a warm custom mixed cream and sanded, stained, and sealed the table top and the two leaves in a rich honey tone, layering polyurethane coats until it was smooth as glass.

An Antique Hutch from the Goodwill

Friday I delivered a hutch down to a client in Bridgeport. She doesn't actually live in Bridgeport, but had taken the ferry over from Long Island to meet me on the Connecticut side. It was fun, we got to have a shady transaction in an empty parking lot next to the train trestle.
        On the way down to the delivery I zipped into the goodwill to see if they hand any furniture that merit refinishing. I spotted this handsome antique Art Deco walnut hutch straight away and snapped it right up. Or well, paid for it. I had to actually deliver the nearly identical hutch down to the client before I had room in my truck for the new one. It's been raining hutches lately.
         I painted this piece in a bright custom mixed blue with a custom mixed cream interior. I liked the original brass drawer pulls but felt they were just a hair diminutive for the gutsy oversized drawer, so I replaced them with second period oval Federal brasses colored in white. I distressed the case lightly and sealed with dark wax.

An Antique Dresser in Gray

Oh I do adore this piece. I love it so much that even though I was losing the light, and my camera battery died, and then as I was editing the photos and realized I didn't take a picture of the newly refinished top, which is possibly the best part, I'm still posting it tonight. Because the hell with it, I'm too excited to wait any longer to show you this dresser!! I'll add another picture of the top tomorrow when my camera is recharged and the sun comes back. On a side note, I'm three days into daylight savings time and already disgusted with the short days. It'll be a miracle if I make it to March with sanity intact.

So I bought this dresser on Sunday and set to work on it as soon as I got home. I refinished the top, which was dark and thick with yucky shellac and I patched a few places the veneer was starting to get disagreeable. Otherwise the dresser was in surprisingly nice condition considering it's age, I'd say right around 100 years. The drawers work beautifully, the case is nice and sturdy, and the mirror has its original glass. Also, those carvings on the top drawer and the mirror crest! And the original cast brass basket of flower drop ring pulls!! This dresser is the cat's pajamas and then some. I painted it in the palest shade of gray and highlighted the pulls and the carvings with just a hint of gold, distressed, and sealed with dark wax.

The Controversial Drop Leaf Table

You know when you ask someone a question and they wince a bit and say 'Well it's a funny story, actually'. And you know it's not actually a funny story, it's just a long boring convoluted story?
Well buckle up.

So I purchased this darling solid cherry six leg drop leaf dining table from a gorgeous estate in Haddam a few weeks ago. The place had the most incredible view of the Connecticut river, it was so good it was a bit distracting. I had been lured there by an adorable vintage (c.1930) mahogany highboy, and ended up buying this drop leaf table and a pair of one drawer stands as well. I spent a little more than I like to but I could tell at first blush that this stuff was all top shelf.

           The one drawer stands were clearly first period c.1820-1835 with delightfully long straight tapered legs and boldly figured crotch mahogany drawer fronts, teetering at the perfect tipping point between Federal and American Empire. I'm giving them to my mother for Christmas.

           The highboy, which you can see here, was without question second period, Colonial Revival
c. 1930, but beautifully built of solid mahogany in an amusingly diminutive take on the Massachussetts Queen Anne highboy of the 1760s. It sold this past weekend to a favorite client of mine- Hi Colleen!

            So then there was the drop leaf table. I was in two minds about it, the furniture refinisher and the antiques dealer, for as you may know, I lead a bit of a double life. The furniture refinisher in me saw water stains and a very tired finish on the top holding back a table of the most spectacular form and the highest quality material. The antiques dealer in me saw a Federal six leg solid cherry drop leaf table c.1790-1815 in the original finish. So I put it to a poll. I asked all my antiques dealer friends on my personal Facebook page, and all the blog followers on the Heir and Space page. The resounding agreement of all parties was to leave the piece as it was.

           And so, here it is refinished. wait WAIT! Here's the funny part of the story. After all that drama (a couple of the blog people said some rather harsh and choice things about painted furniture as a whole), I tucked my tail between my legs and carried the table into my workshop to be stored until gods know when. As I was carrying it, upside down for the first time, what do I behold but the label of the maker... The maker of this fine vintage reproduction. Yes, that's right. It's an excellent, really really excellent, trust me excellent, reproduction solid cherry table made around 1980. And with that in mind I happily restored the top to its original glory. I left the base in the nice old surface since it needed no work and I feared the wrath of the wood defense brigade if I brought brush to it.

And there's the long story, which I'm guessing only about 7% of you read. For the rest of you, here are some pretty pictures.