No More Furniture

We recently won two items in an auction at Crowning Touch.  One was a painting for the bedroom of our B&B.  The other was a small dresser we intended for the closet.

When we designed the closet, we wanted to have a blanket cabinet of some sort.  We also wanted to have  a surface to place items for charging batteries, so we Lee installed a tall plug in that corner.

 

We have been looking for the right piece for a long time.  It had to have large drawers for spare blankets, in case a guest was cold.  It had to be short enough that you could place a tablet or laptop for recharging and still have the outlet exposed.  The niche in which it needed to be placed was narrow so we couldn't have a long piece.

And most important, it had to be cheap affordable.

 

We won this decent walnut dresser.  It's not glorious, but it was around $100 and I liked the look.  The drawers weren't as big as I wanted but they would do.  It needed a bit of work.  One of the side pieces was loose and came off during transporting it home.  That required some wood glue and clamping.

 

I found an old shirt and pair of underpants behind the drawers.  Yuck!  That space also had a large amount of sawdust from years of the drawers moving in and out. 

 

I vacuumed everything out.  I used Murphy's Oil Soap to wash all the surfaces, inside and out.  Then I wiped all the finished areas with a good quality furniture oil.

 

It is now installed in the closet and ready for our next guests.

 

Now I don't have any more excuses to go to any more auctions or estate sales.  We have all the furniture we need.  I had thought at one time that I might buy a Hoosier cabinet or a corner cabinet.  But I certainly don't need anything else. 

 

My father once had a rule.  If my mother bought any new piece of furniture, she would have to find a new home for an old piece.  My mother had an aversion to getting rid of anything and my father had a minimalist idea of decorating.  Unless it was something he liked and then all bets were off.

If I follow this edict, then I can get nothing else.  But I don't really need anything else, so that should be easy to do.  After all we probably won't live here forever and when we move, it will be to a smaller place that would be more conducive to old people.

Unless I find a really good deal on a corner cabinet, because they are pretty cool and don't take up a lot of space. And I have wanted  Hoosier cabinet for a long time.  They have all those fun cupboards and drawers.

Bedroom, DONE

Our B&B has been up and running for quite some time.  But the bedroom wasn't finished.  I wanted a painting over the bed, but never found one I liked.

 

We recently visited one of our favorite auction places in Roanoke, Crowning Touch.  Lee noticed a large paining on one wall.  He thought it looked like a home in the Cotswolds. 

We bid on it and won the auction.

 

It is big and kind of heavy, so we placed two picture hangers in the studs.  You wouldn't want a painting to fall on your head when sleeping would you?

 

All the artwork in the bedroom have some blue in them, so this picture fits with my decorating scheme.

Hah!  Did you fall for that one?  I have no scheme, decorating or otherwise.  But we do have a preponderance of blue in the room and this picture has blue and I like it.  That is the limit of my decorating gene.

 

The room is now complete.  No more lists of things I want to finish it.  It is finished.  We get a lot of compliments on the room and I hope this will add just an extra touch to make it that much more warm and inviting.

New Stuff

I am finally getting around to doing something about our last guest room.  We have a guest room that I consider finished and then Tara's old room.  She took a lot of furniture with her when she moved out, but we still have her desk.  It is huge, so we may have it for a while.  In the meantime, there was an auction at Crowning Touch http://www.crowningtouchusa.com/  They have an auction once a month and we bought quite a few things there for the B&B.

 

It has gotten so that I can't make myself pay retail for furniture.  Well, I don't buy used beds, but other than that I am open!

 

We bought two small pictures for about what a good frame would cost. 

 
 
One is an original pastel (I think) of Fall and I really like it.  Does anyone know John Westcott?  Tell him I really like his work!

 

We bought a bedside table for the other side of the bed.  You have to have a lamp and a spot to place your book at the end of the night.  At least I do.  My sister-in-law gave me a couple of lamps and so now I have a spot to put them.

 

There was a wing back chair we got for a reasonable price and a piecrust table.  We also got a mahogany game table.

 

None of them were in great condition.  But they are nice and now I don't have to worry if someone dings one up.  They came pre-dinged!

   

A little wood oil, upholstery cleaner and Windex and they all look better than nice.

And all for less than I would spend in a furniture store for just one piece.

Score!  And a good start.

Purchase in Haste, Repent at Leisure

You know it and I know it.  Don't buy something when you are in a rush.  And never buy covered furniture.  I remember my mom telling me a story about her brother who bought a horse at auction with the saddle on.  When he got it home there was something terrible wrong with the horse's back.  So he took it back to auction and sold it to some other sucker.  This time I am the sucker.

 

I popped into a local antique shop and saw a little table.  It was just the right size and I liked the legs.  They were not the usual thing.  It had a bunch of things on top and the lady in the store assured me there were no cracks or anything hidden under the lamp and other bits and pieces.  The store was crowded and I was on my way somewhere else, so I paid for the table and arranged to pick it up later.

 

The  table was knotty pine and someone had fixed the top issues by sanding divots into it.  The worse part was the table was not level.  At all.  Not even close.  That alone was a table killer.  I wanted it for a lamp.  I'm not fond of shabby chic, so I didn't want to leave it terrible and just prop up a leg...or two.

 

First I sanded like crazy and filled the worst of the divots. 

 

Then I realized there was a major crack going on.  I had to glue and clamp the crack.  Then I had to glue and clamp the legs.  A few of the legs were no longer glued in and they were pulling away from the table. I hoped to fix the level issue by fixing the legs.  Oh. There is the problem.  The holes for the dowels that held the legs were drilled every which way and there was no way to level this table.

 

At this point I wanted to throw this horrible little table in the burn pile.  It was not even cheap.  Just cheaply made!

I don't seem to be able to give up and stop throwing good money after bad.  I might as well invest even MORE money and time before I burn this piece of cra  junk.  I'm wanting an axe or a sledgehammer right about now.

 

But, no.  More sanding and now I go buy some spray paint.  I am not going to try and stain or brush on paint for this table.

 

I try to address the uneven table top and start using this wedges of wood from wood shims to cut and glue to the bottom of various legs.  In order to get the top level and keep it from wobbling, I had to cut three different thicknesses of wood and glue them on three different legs.  One was so thick I had to sand and paint it to make it a part of the leg and keep it from being too noticeable.

WHY am I spending this time on a table I hate?  I don't know.  I'm asking YOU.  There must be some deep psychological reason for this insanity.

While this was going on an auction came up at a local consignment and auction house, Crowning Touch. I was able to get what they called a Duncan Phyfe Mahogany Drum Table.  I know it is a drum table, but with my current luck in furniture purchasing, who knows about the rest.

 

I got it for 1/3 less than the junk table.  It did have about one quarter of the top that had the finish burned off and a few scratches.  Lesson to furniture owners out there.  Don't put them in the full sun and then never oil  your nice pieces!

I bought some lacquer thinner and did a quick strip.  I got tired of buying Homer Formsby and spending day on refinishing a piece.  This did take quite a bit of color off and I used some of the dark cherry stain I had left over from another project.  I bought a can of spray lacquer and gave it two coats.  On the third coat the spray started spitting and the lacquer came out uneven.  Back to the store for one more can.

 

All that and it was still way less of a chore than the stupid pine table.  Look how pretty and it took maybe three hours or stripping, sanding and painting, not counting driving!

 

After all the expenses I bet the pine table cost twice what the drum table ended up costing.  I refuse to put it in the basement for the B&B.  I ended up putting it in our bonus room to set a lamp on. 

 

Which one would you prefer?  No question, right?

Here is my biggest fear.  When we die the kids will fight over this piece of junk table because if I spent so much time working on it, it must mean something to me.  And the beautiful drum table will go back to the auction.

Just A Few More Pieces

We are getting closer to having furnished the whole basement.  Many pieces were bought at antique stores.  We love to go and browse and now we get to actually purchase a few things.

Some pieces we got at Estate Sales, here and near Alexandria, where my brother lives.

 

Today we picked up few things from a Crowning Touch auction.  We have been looking for and pricing electric fireplaces.  We have a spot we tiled and thought to put one.  We even have the English Hunt print ready for over the mantel. 

 

We saw two at Crowning Touch and when the online auction happened over the weekend, we bid on the oak one.  We also bid on a few other pieces.  By the end of the auction, we had a side table, an oak chair and two lamps.  All for less than the cost of a new fireplace.

 

Sure it has a few minor scratches.  But that means we don't have to kill a cat or two if they scratch it.  NOT that they are allowed down there, but things happen.  It works and gives off quite a bit of heat.  So we are happy.

A couch, a few more pieces and we will be ready for business.