Finished in the nick of time...

About 5 minutes ago

I finally finished refinishing the cedar chest I got when we moved in here.

Sadly, I never took any "before" pictures.

I hate it when I forget to do that!

But you will have to trust me...

It was in pretty rough shape.

It was really dirty

Missing a leg

the finish was cracking and old

the copper pieces were black

_____

When we were looking at this place to rent it, 

the garage and house still had a few things that needed to be removed

This beauty was in the garage in a corner, covered with bugs and cobwebs.

I told the realtor that if the owner didn't want it

I would take it.

She told me a few days later that it belonged to the owner's mother

and they wanted to keep it.

No problem.

But later when the owners came to clean out their stuff

she asked me if I still wanted it.

She said that none of her siblings wanted it and she didn't have space for it.

I was pretty excited.

_____

I seem to be drawn to furniture that has a lot of character

which is to say

that upon closer inspection

this piece of furniture was probably made by grandpa.

It was not made by a skilled furniture maker.

Things are pieced together in interesting ways.

There are obvious signs of the thing being "handmade"

and all of the copper pieces have been hand cut from a sheet of copper.

Interesting.

But that is part of what I love about it.

It's quirky and different.

It sat in the same sad condition for probably a year.

Frank was not impressed with my project.

Once winter ended this year I realized I needed to get going on this project.

So I started.

But I'm pretty slow.

Then we decided to move...

I knew I had to put it in gear and finish!

As I was working

Frank would wonder aloud if this was a good time for another project.

He had a point.

But I could not move this thing unfinished!

I will have enough to do once I arrive...I don't need this hanging over my head.

I carefully removed all of the copper pieces

I sanded it down to the bare wood

(with much help from my awesome friend Annavon)

re-stained it

cleaned all the copper pieces

Ordered new decorative tacks

(3 times...kept getting it wrong...but that's another story)

found the missing leg!

And put it all back together.

I know I came in just under the wire

since we are moving in only a couple of weeks.

The lighting in my basement is uneven

so you'll just have to believe me when I say the coloring is even...

In these pictures one side looks lighter.

I hope I did justice to grandpa's handiwork.

It's going to look good in my new family room.