White Paint on Antique Furniture…
Regular readers are aware that I have dedicated the entire month of January to restoring antiques. I’m nearing the end of the Shady Lawn Antiques January Restore-athon and I’m trying to finish a couple more large pieces of furniture.
Late yesterday afternoon I pulled the next piece, an oak buffet, out of my pile of projects. The first strep in restoration is to look over each piece and make a mental plan of the work that needs to be done.
I wasn’t surprised when I noticed some white paint on the buffet. I have found that almost every piece of furniture that is in need of restoration has paint spots on it. Further these small paint spots are almost always white.
Tiny little spots and somewhat larger spots of white paint on the buffet...
My son, Nick, has hung around Shady Lawn and the work shop for fifteen years — well over half of his life. Years ago, I showed him some paint spots and discussed this white paint phenomenon with him.
Awhile back I was painting a room, at home, white. He asked me why I hadn’t moved or at least covered all of the (antique) furniture. Dad, didn’t you tell me that almost all of the furniture that you get has paint specks on it? I replied: that was because most people were careless painters but I’m a careful painter.
Then I loaded up the paint roller and started rolling white paint onto the ceiling. When rolling paint, especially on a ceiling, tiny little drops of paint flip off of the roller. The careful painter that I was, soon had little drops of white paint on a piece of furniture… just like the paint on the buffet.
I’m not sure if this buffet was owned by a good painter or a careless painter…
I plan to show the progress on this buffet so please check back.
