- Brass Tacks
Brass Snacks - Bite Sized Restoration Stories
Mabel is the first buffet/piece we attempted this finish on after being seriously inspired by Finn and Bo out of Oshkosh Wisconsin. Step one to picking Mabel as the first piece to try this on was looking at her close in her original finish.
Even with this buffets delicate legs and fine details, the old finish managed to make it look almost heavy and bulky. The coloring is a bit dull and dark, but you can still see some of Mabel's amazing wood grain hiding under it.
Now it's time to uncover all the beauty. This step requires the use of a chemical stripper, citrus solvent, scrapers, wire brushes, steel wool, and good old fashioned elbow grease! For more details on our stripping process you can check out THIS blog.
Once the dirty work is done - you can start to taking in and appreciating all that beautiful wood grain you have uncovered.
Once we have the wood stripped and have taken a few moments to soak in the beauty of all the natural wood grain we have some decisions to make. Depending on the natural color of the wood (is it almost white it is so light) and our desired end look we may stain the piece with General Finishes Antique Oak Water Based Stain. It is a very light color that can add a little depth to pieces that have very light wood. Then its time for the white washing. Think lots of water, to very little paint. The goal is to create a slightly weathered look without covering up all the beautiful wood grain we just exposed. Start with less and remember that you can always add more, much easier than removing.
Check out all the pieces we have used this technique on
and how truly different they can look depending on the wood.
We'll go into more depth on some of these pieces on our Brass Snacks Blog Series were every month we will be bringing you a bite sized restoration story that looks into the behind the scenes of our custom and signature piece furniture reviving. Some stories will be about the history of the piece, some will be about out process, all will be beautiful transformations.
Until next time.......we leave you with Mabel's before and after collage.
Ok, BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE