Treasures

This week we wanted to post one of our recent restorations that we did.  It is always so fun to find an old piece and see it brought back to life.  

This desk is from the 1920's and was brought over from England by a family years ago.  It has since stayed in the same family until I got a hold of it.  It was in pretty rough condition when I got it but it was such a beautiful piece that I couldn't pass it up.  Everything on it was original and someone at some point started stripping the paint off of it.  

With a desk this old there are layers upon layers of paint from years of people wanting to 'freshen' it up.    I have never had a piece that was so hard to strip (and hope I never will again :)  The game plan for this desk was simple : 1. Remove paint  2. Sand tops down  3.  Repaint, stain and varnish  4.  Reassemble

I left a little bit of the old paint on the edge of the desk top because I really loved the look of it.  The top is stained in an 'early american' stain and given 2 coats of varnish.  The top was so dry that it soaked up the stain really quickly, so I had to be careful not to leave it on to long.  The whole base received 2 coats of paint that was tinted off white, to give it an antiqued look.  The casters for this desk are original porcelain.  The bottom 2 handles were missing on this desk so I took it to a friend who deals in antique and vintage hardware.  He found some handles that were similar but in the end I decided to leave it up to whoever would buy it.  

Sometimes I wish that I had a huge house to fill with all of the treasures that we find.  I also wish that I had lots of money so that I didn't have to sell the same treasures.  Maybe one day both will be true but until then we will keep on carrying on.  

Treasures.

(This piece is for sale, please contact if interested)

   

En-Sweet Vanity

Over the last couple months there have been some beautiful pieces that have come out of our shop that we have neglected to post.  Not because we didn't want to post but simply because we are not very punctual at it, sorry.  We will try and get it together with our blog posts to make sure you are not behind the times.  

This vanity is one of the jobs that was recently finished.  We designed and built the base of the vanity that will go into a newly finished ensuite bathroom.  The top of the vanity will be an under mount double sink counter top.  When designing and building a vanity there are always challenges because of the clearance needed underneath for the sinks and plumbing.  It always is a factor, especially when designing the drawers.  

To describe this beauty we have to start at the beginning.  This vanity is made totally of Walnut and all of the wood was purchased rough cut from a mill in Stouffville called 'Century Mill'.  The legs of the vanity were originally rough cut 4 x 8's that I planned down and cut into 4x4's.  Once they were the right size I took them to a wood turning company with the design and dimensions and within 4 days I was picking them up looking better then I expected.  The rest of the wood was all run through the shop planner until I had them all the same width and then they were squared up.  The time consuming process in building a piece like this is doing all of the joinery.  I used different joints throughout building this piece like mortise and tendon, lap, rabbet and dado.  Each joint serves there purpose and when done correctly will ensure the piece you are building will last for many years.  

The bottom shelf, the drawer fronts and the sides were all buiscut joined together, then planned, sanded and installed.  On this specific vanity the top two drawers were made to be tip drawers so that they would not interfere with the under mount sinks, yet still act as functioning drawers.  The lower drawers are full functioning drawers with center mount runners to allow room on the sides for plumbing.  This whole piece got a nice sand and 2 coats of satin finish varnish.  

All in all I was super happy with how this vanity turned out.  It was a pleasure building it and I hope that it will be enjoyed for many many years.  If you have a custom piece that you want designed and built, we would love to work with you to see your vision brought to life.  

Stumpy Twins

We would like to introduce you to the 'stumpy twins'.  These two beauty's are made out of maple and were originally meant to be matching for the customer but the order was changed and they only wanted 1 instead of 2.  So, we created 2 different styles of stump side tables so they could choose which one they wanted.  

Firstly, both tables were lifted off the ground, using wood, to allow them to air dry nicely.  This will prevent them from cracking during the temperature and humidity changes in canada.  The first table below is the table that the customer went with and it was given a more cottage rustic feel.  The folks who purchased this table were expecting their first child so they had it personalized with a 'J' for the babies name.  On the back of the table the year was carved in roman numerals.  This table got planned with an electric planner to get the top nice and flat and to round the edges.  Once it was planned it got a good sand.  The bark was removed from the sides prior to drying them out so it too got a nice sand.  Once it was ready for finishing we mixed up some epoxy and hit the tops of the tables with it.  After, the top got 3 coats of satin varnish while the sides got 2 coats.  

The second table followed the same routine but instead of rounding the edges we left them with more of a modern rustic feel with nice clean lines.  

It is always so nice when you can perceive the natural beauty around you and be able to preserve it in a fun and useful way.  These two tables have a unique beauty about them and are a lasting addition to any family home.

Stumply Beautiful :)