Are you ready for a sad story? I saw this online and loved it (it has a mirror that goes with it). The lady who was selling it said she had stripped it which is why I assumed it looked the way it did. That was fine-less work for me, right? So, I had Craig pick it up for me. It was late when he got home, so we put it in the garage and I didn't look too closely at it. The next day we took it to his shop and I realized, in the light of day, how rough it was. I mean it was REALLY rough! I thought surely stripping it wouldn't do that to it. After working on it for a few days I realized they had stripped it by sand blasting it!! I usually don't give advice because I stink at it, but here's some advice--DON"T STRIP AN ANTIQUE BY SAND BLASTING IT!!! please :)
Before
After
I call this French Blue --yes, I made it up ;). It's hard to tell if it's blue or gray and that's what I like about it!
So, even after some serious sanding the drawers were still pretty rough (you can see the grooves in the wood)--but I think they tell part of her story now. Check out the keyholes--love that!
The top was just as bad as the rest of it. Sanding just wasn't going to do the job and I knew I wanted to stain it so it had to look good. Bless Craig's heart--he took the grinder to it. DIY'ers: this is not recommended! It took some heavy sanding after that, but I think it turned out great. I also love that you can see where they nailed the top down. That's old school! :)
Just goes to show something beat up and worn out can still be made beautiful!
SOLD
Side note: I still have the mirror, but it was really rough and because it was so ornate could not be sanded. I painted it, but didn't like the way it turned out, so now I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. :(
I really like how the grain of the wood pops out, not that I would ever suggest sand blasting to get this effect... lol. gorgeous!
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