Finishing Furniture

I’ve been deeply embroiled in a semi artistic project the last few months. I’ve done a few projects adjacent in scope to this one in that I’ve worked with paint or worked with furniture but never both at the same time. Okay, I’m done being coy. I’ve been refinishing some furniture.

My husband’s family has a number of vintage (not antique) furniture passed down through several generations and the time has arrived for us to receive it. It’s pretty exciting to have a piece of history with us, and very nice that we’ve been recognized as adult enough to house the family furniture. There has been a pretty significant issue with the pieces though. The biggest obstacle is that they are in literal piss-poor condition. Beyond the pretty significantly damaged state the color of them is pretty dated (hey I did say vintage!) and clashes with the existing decor of my home and personal taste.

So I’ve been painting them black.

I know. I’m hearing the gasps and the rattle of your pearls being clutched. To some, what I’m doing is stripping the history from a piece of furniture. That’s a valid concern. If the furniture in question was different I might not be caring for it this way. I was being completely serious when I said the furniture was in poor condition. I had to sand down pretty deeply across both pieces. Realistically, people would have little interest in them in the state they were in. I figured if I had to break them down to the bare bones I may as well do it the way I’d like.

In regards to non-artistic painting there is something about me to bear in mind.

I’m awful at it.

A few years back a group of us got together to assist in giving my friends house a superficial face lift. Four people ended up tackling the living room walls and I was banished into the smaller dining room to paint the ceiling. The living room group did have more people in it, but they accomplished a whole rooms worth of paint while I had struggled to put the protective tape lining on the edges of the wall and just begun doing the actual painting.

It’s taken me multiple months and I’m still not done, but I’m going to keep working at it and eventually I’ll finish. Just like this furniture, I’m going to keep working at all the writing I’m doing. Some day, I hope that I’ll look at what I’ve worked on and be proud.