As winter swirls around us and snow again falls we continue to find projects to occupy our time and keep us busy. During Spring, summer and fall I garden with a passion but during the cold months of winter I keep myself busy with needlework and projects inside the house.
My first project was this little oak night stand. Years ago I stopped buying modern furniture and started buying antique furniture. You would be hard pressed to find anything not built before World War 2 in the house. My preference was solid wood and sturdy enough to stand up to a lifetime of children and grandchildren. Many of these pieces have done just that. Many have been passed on as we age to our children for their own homes. This little table I bought mid 80's at an antique auction in Florida along with a matching dresser and highboy. The night stand has been used rarely but because O Wise One wanted to use it to hold his CPAP machine beside the bed which holds water I wanted it to have a more modern and waterproof finish. So I stripped, sanded and refinished the oak. It turned out wonderfully for a piece that I would probably date to the 1940's atleast.
This piece started out life as an old treadle machine. O Wise One rescued the remainder of it but the machine and top were not salvageable. So he stripped the metal stand and restored it. Disengaged the wheel and I stripped and refinished the small oak side drawers. For the top he rescued a slab of oak out of the back of a friends pickup. It has a blemish and was headed to the wood stove. He left a live edge or bark edge on it and I sanded, stained and finished the top. I plan to use it as a plant stand. I want to find some small white porcelain drawer pulls for the drawers.
Late last winter I stripped, sanded and refinished all my upper cabinets. They are solid oak, 40 years old and original to the house. Once stripped I stained the oak with a golden pecan stain. We also added new brushed nickel hardware. Once done we added tongue and groove wood above the cabinets and painted bright white. A new kitchen window also.
Last month we stripped, sanded and refinished the bottoms to match. Now I am not going to lie to you. Those cabinets were quite a job even for the both of us. But we are so happy with the outcome and how they turned out. Most people would have pulled them out or just painted them white but we wanted to salvage all that beautiful oak. Next step is a new counter and backsplash. Not really quite sure what yet but we will let ya know.
And those are our woodworking adventures thus far for this winter.
Everyone stay safe and warm.
Blessings from The Holler
The Canned Quilter
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I've been checking daily to see what you've been up to! Love your kitchen -- looks gorgeous. We have similar cabinets that I'd like to refinish or even paint someday. Our house has oak trim throughout, as well as oak doors, and we're trying to decide if we can even paint over them.
ReplyDeleteYeah Covid is rampant around the area right now so we have been staying pretty close to home. Three snow storms in a row also. SO life is pretty quiet and not much going on to blog about.
DeleteI love the pecan finish! I had white painted cabinets in my last home. 14 years of trying to keep those cabinets clean broke me from ever wanting a white kitchen again.
ReplyDeleteI hear that! I had painted cabinets in one home years ago and I just do not care for them.
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