furniture

I've once again picked up the hobby of furniture restoration. In the past I've spruced up cheap or distressed furniture out of a need to fill empty rooms economically. In a similar way I am seeking furniture from both thrift stores and out of alleys surrounding my house. The most I've paid for a piece is $65. That's the most recent one I'm working on and it was purchased at the St. Vincent DePaul. I'm probably going to put these pieces in my Coffeehouse/Craft Brewery when it opens. The colors and era fit in with the palette and theme of the place. Here are some examples of my recent pieces.

This was a 10 year old file cabinet that I spray painted. My original intention was to layer the stencils until it looked more like a texture than individual letters and numbers. I got too impatient and left it as is. I love it now. Life is all about happy accidents.

I bought this at a thrift store on Gravois. It had a big gouge in the top that made it impossible to refinish naturally so I slapped some paint on it. I wanted to go a little more modern and less traditional with it. I'm now using this color palette on several pieces.



This is a Goodwill piece I picked up for $35. It's my favorite so far. I feel like there is a lot I can do with this kind of graphic pattern on furniture.



This one was done for my wife. She always wants to infuse more red into our decor. I fight it for some unknown reason and decided to give in as a gift to her. I went with a rich red and a high gloss lacquer to give it a Chinese look. I found this in the alley directly behind my house. I think someone moving out left it there. Thanks unknown neighbor!



Not too easy to see in this picture, but this hi-fi system was found in a nearby alley. I stripped the finish and put a Danish oil rub on it and use it as a credenza in the dining room. It was a bitch getting the stereo guts out of it. They made the thing heavy as hell too.