Lately I’ve been having project withdraw. Derek has been busy with work, I’ve been busy with work–which feels very weird, since winter is usually my “slow” season. We’ve started slowly moving on the basement. Emphasis on slowly. But, like I said–Derek is busy at the moment. And I, unfortunately, am still unable to undertake a large project on my own {still having a few back issues.} So, like I said, I’ve been going through a little withdraw. A little I-wish-I-had-something-to-work-on. A little I’m-dying-for-a-B&A.
Since I’m not one to sit around wishing for a project, I’ve decided to take on something I’ve been wanting to do for quite some time. Nearly six years, actually. It’s just never been a priority. I never really sat down and decided how I wanted to tackle it. Until now.
This is my coffee table.
It’s beautiful. I love it. It belonged to my grandparents–as did it’s two companion end tables. They are lovely too.
The pieces feature sturdy, interesting legs, good structure and a solid marble top. It’s not the nicest wood in the world, but it’s not that compressed saw dust a lot of today’s furniture is made of…and it’s a heck of a lot nicer than anything we could have picked up at Target or Ikea. I am incredibly lucky to have inherited such nice things.
I tell you this, because I want to stress that it’s not the piece I’m unhappy with. It’s the finish. You see, my grandparents were smokers for most of their lives, and the furniture has suffered the effects of second hand smoke. {I’m sure the age of the finish isn’t helping much either.} There is a gummy film on it’s surface. It’s been there as long as I can remember. In six years I haven’t been able to properly clean it. It just gets worse with every move…the packing blankets and straps dig in to the gummy surface and leave a textured impression on the finish. After four moves, the finish is really looking like it’s seen better days. Since it’s a little tacky–just a little–it also collects dust and cat hair. It’s hard to capture in photos, but I did my best.
When I’ve tried to clean it {using every product under the sun} I’ve only a) not improved it at all -or- b) rubbed the finish off completely.
So, in the next week or so, I’m going to try my hand at giving these puppies new life. I love them too much to paint them–so I’m going to first simply try to strip them down and salvage the wood. If that doesn’t work…I’ll make a plan B. I’ll be starting by using some left over products from the cabinet redo. You may remember me raving about the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations kit. They make a similar product for furniture–but since I had some left over {thanks to my tiny kitchen} I’m going to start by removing the finish on the tables with the cabinet stripper.
Wish me luck. I’ll show you how things progress!
