Welcome to the blog detailing my adventures in furniture repair and refinishing.  While I have a little formal training in furniture refinishing and repair, I have many more years of experience dragging home hopeless-looking “projects” (often from the side of the road on trash-day) and experimenting on them to improve their utility and aesthetics.  Between free finds, garage sales and estate sales, I have furnished many homes along the way and learned a great deal about what works and what doesn’t.

Along the way, our family has been affected by some significant, life-changing events, we’ve purchased a workshop, and rented a retail space.  The blog posts that follow focus on one of two area – restoring and rehabbing furniture, or restoring and rehabbing our space for the furniture business.  Feel free to skip over the business stuff if you just want to see furniture and vice-versa.  Just keep scrolling, there’s lots to see here!

I have photographed the progress of a few projects to share, however I also get too impatient at times, so all I have to show is the finished project.  The photo of the desk above, for instance.  I kick myself for not having any “before” photos of the names and other graffiti carved through the finish and into the thin desktop and drawer-front veneer.

The woman I purchased this from told me this had belonged to her grandmother and that her cousin, Joy, had inscribed her name in the top many years ago.  This beauty had definitely seen some hard use over the years, but after some stripping, careful sanding, staining, and lots of protective sealer, she turned out nicely.  Its one of my favorite pieces.  My daughter decided she wanted it for her room, and after all the work she witnessed going into it, I’m sure she won’t be inscribing it with graffiti … ever!

Don’t you love learning the stories behind how a piece of furniture earned it’s character?