. . . sanded, cleaned, sanded

Isn't this just a beautiful piece of wood? It is one of two doors on the front of a rather large cabinet that "the boss" dropped off last week. If the rest of the piece was as gorgeous as the doors, I would rebel at painting it. Unfortunately, it's rather rough other places and just can't be fixed any other way than painting it. There's a piece that is attached to the back of the cabinet that has a matching carved element in the center of it. Above the two doors are two drawers with nice hardware that I will try to reclaim. Brainstorming with "the boss" yesterday when he dropped by even more stuff to paint, we decided to try to find a way to paint away the bad spots and unify the piece, while letting the grain of the wood show through. He thought about Minwax stain, but decided that probably wouldn't work. He thought perhaps a flat black color would be good, maybe with the edges roughed up to give it the look of age. Maybe I will try to dilute some black latex with water and apply washes. Anybody know if this will work? It's a good thing that I don't need or want anything in the way of furniture, or I'd be lusting after this piece. I will show the finished product.


There is something almost calming about sanding, especially when the finish isn't that tough to begin with. I sometimes can't stop until the piece is completely free of the old varnish. It's kind of instant gratification. I bought a new little "mouse" sander to replace the one I dropped too many times. I wanted to get an little orbital sander, but it was out of stock. When I was first married, we were the recipients of many pieces of family "heirlooms" (read junk that no one else wanted) and we used to refinish furniture the hard way, with toxic stripper and hand sanding. This little mouse is clever and easy to use and the deglosser I found takes care of the little nooks and crannies that the mouse can't get into.


The shop is set to open on September 1. "The boss" wants to feature the painted furniture. I have been looking in shelter magazines and catalogs for inspiration. I can't believe how popular the painted pieces are and how nice they all look. I hope that the store will be wildly successful, even though I don't want to do this for the rest of my life. "The boss" is a pretty hip old guy (oh, okay, just a few years older than me, so he's really not all that old) with tons of retail furniture and design experience. Plus he loves my art, so obviously he has class and style.