Antique Sheet Music Flourishes

Friday 31 December 2010

A Story of 
Restoration  
My Dining Room Project


Decision made,  I simply could not live with the hideous wallpaper and carpet any longer, which was on show for all to see in my dining room, time for a revamp.  

Little did I know what lurked beneath the wallpaper and plaster and what work lie ahead.  Not to be deterred I forged ahead, after all it was my decision to live in a Victorian town house.  Off came the wallpaper and some of the old plaster too so there was no other option than to remove the plaster completely.  It was a difficult task just lifting the hammer drill to remove the plaster from the walls but thanks to my neighbours this was achieved.

What remained was not a pretty sight but I knew that the builder would be able to give me the desired finish.  With new electric sockets, switch and light fitting in place and all walls plaster-boarded and skimmed I set to preparing the floorboards for sanding.  I worked hard to bring the floorboards back to a desirable standard, filling all the gaps between and coating them with layers of coloured varnish.

The time had come to relocate my furniture including my refurbished bookcase, which now stands where there once would have been a fireplace and  I added a few personal touches.  The fruits of my labour can be seen in the pictures to follow. 

Before
After


Thursday 30 December 2010

A Story of Restoration    
My Bookcase


My bookcase, a lovingly restored piece of furniture now stands proudly in the dining room of my Victorian home.  Once doomed for demolition and the landfill, it was in a former life a fine piece of furniture in a Georgian Drawing Room.  This once beautiful period home was now home to a firm of Solicitors and so the bookcase was utilised for storage of  case files and reference books, until one day it became surplus to requirements and  was destined for the scrap heap.


Having a passion and flare for design and restoration I could not bare the thought of this fine piece being dismantled and discarded to landfill and so I came to it’s rescue with the intention of restoring it to former glory.


Now dismantled into 3 separate pieces in my small flat I set to work on my restoration project.  Layers of white paint and stain which resembled treacle were painstakingly removed, a time consuming but rewarding piece of work.  Not only was I saving something from  landfill but also breathing life into something that had long been forgotten.  It was taking up valuable office space where there would be room for a modern desk.  But what many people out there see as a space-consuming relic from the past, I see a possibility.


Refinishing or taking off an old finish to create a new one is physically demanding, messy and cumbersome work but the final result is very rewarding as can be seen.  Because I was undertaking the project at home I used chemical stripper and lots of sandpaper.  I determined that the beautiful colour of the wood did not warrant re-staining and so I finished it with bri-wax in antique brown.


I am now the proud owner of a fine piece of furniture that has stood the test of time and is admired by all visitors to my home.