Ice Cream Parlor Chair Painted and Re-Caned

Chair After

 

Chair Before

These chairs were once popular in ice cream parlors across the United States. The familiar shape is reminiscent of generations before ours sitting in an ice cream parlor, enjoying a cone of their favorite flavor. 

This chair was quite old, an antique, that had been painted a few times. It was likely part of a set but was a lone chair that needed new paint and a newly caned seat. Many caned seats either got painted with the chair, or stained, depending on the  manufacturer or whoever refinished it prior. My choice is to leave the caning natural and allow it to age which gives it a unique patina that only time can create.

Caning a round chair is a completely different process from caning a square or rectangle chair. This is because you have to go through the same hole many times and skip holes with the weaving process because of the round shape. It’s a bit tricky, but follows the same principles of basic caning in every other way. The white paint was a great choice for this little chair which matches the little table perfectly. It will eventually be used as a place for homework or other projects for a little one.

Chair with table, finished

 

Waterfall Dressers

Waterfall Dresser Before

One of my favorite furniture styles is from the 1940 era, such as this gorgeous waterfall style dresser. It's named waterfall because the top edge is curved, gently sloping downward in a graceful, flowing style unique to that era.

Many types of furniture featured the waterfall style; cedar chests, tall and low dressers, vanities and footboards. This dresser was one of two dressers in the second bedroom set I had restored. The tall dresser has five drawers, but identical handles, which were still in perfect condition.

But the same thing I love about this style makes it the most

Waterfall Dresser After

challenging to refinish because stripping and sanding that sloping curve so that you are able to expose the bare wood evenly takes patience, time and dedication. This is not something that can be rushed. It has to be done slow to do it right. It also has to be done by hand. It takes longer, but it's worth it as the finished results speak for themselves.

Tall Dresser Before

The tall dresser had a decorative top panel which was attached to the back. We removed this piece so it too could be stripped and refinished separately from the dresser.

The five drawers each had their own personality and

Tall Dresser After

looked different from one another because of the way the veneer was put on the front of the drawers. They were also tricky to put in the correct drawer slots, likely custom fit at the time the dresser was made.

Once the stripping and sanding was complete, we used golden pecan stain, which brought the natural beauty out for these lovely vintage dressers, adding a rich, deep tone in the wood that was hidden beneath years of oxidation and dust. Now these dresser can live on to be used for the next generation for many years to come.

1940's Hutch Makeover

Hutch Before

Hutch After

This 1940's hutch caught by eye at a local antique shop here in Marine City. I fell in love with the great lines and gentle curves of this unique piece of furniture. A plain glass door was functional enough, but I could envision something much more suited to this beauty, so I added a leaded glass panel with bevels and glue chip glass to enhance the hutch adding classic, timeless styling.

With relish, I peeled off hideously sticky contact paper circa 1965 from the interior and painted the shelves with serenity blue chalk paint to give it a modern flair and fresh appeal to today's contemporary styles. I replaced the broken back with a section of bead board, which added vertical lines and created additional texture. It looked great! The exterior was in overall terrific shape, but needed refinishing, no easy task. Section by section, I carefully detailed
and stripped, using my special set of tools to remove many years of old finish which hid the beautiful cherry beneath.

Danish Chair

Danish Chair Before

Danish Chair After

I love taking on projects that involved such a lovely piece of furniture as this Danish cherry chair. The chair was extremely well made, thus also quite heavy, but after removing the cushion, I realized the weight wasn't in the wood, but in the cushion. Once that was removed, the chair itself was fairly light and easy to handle.

On the back of the chair was a stain, as if someone had spilled a darker stain on top of it and it made its way down the rear left leg. Someone tried to cover up the damage by adding glaze over the legs, which

1944 and 1945 Lane Waterfall Cedar Chests

1945 Cedar Chest Before

1945 Cedar Chest After

I got an unexpected customer, a woman who lives in Kalamazoo (one of my favorite places!) who was in town visiting her parents who lived in St. Clair Shores. She had a cedar chest she wanted stripped, so her daughter could use it for a coffee table. She brought the chest over that same evening. It was a 1945 Lane Cedar chest. She had asked for a darker stain, so after I stripped and sanded it down, I applied walnut, which brought out the dark wood. I then added two coats of semi-gloss polyurethane and made some minor repairs.

Umbrella Stand Shines Again

Umbrella Stand Before

This is an unusual piece of furniture to be sure. We did work for a man who had bought two items of furniture from us and had already had us refinish a table for him. He had picked this up and wanted to see if we could do something to improve its looks. What is it? Well,

Umbrella Stand After

it's a very unusual Umbrella Stand, made out of about three different types of wood; maple, pine and mahogany. The front is a curved brass sheet which was badly marred and tarnished. The photo on the left shows the one spot Jim rubbed out the brass, revealing what promised to be a shiny metal buried underneath years of oxidation.