This is a photo montage of my Great Aunt Carrie's buffet before I re-finished it. The white color is from 50,000 tons of water hitting it when the fireman axed through the window in the dining room that it was resting under. The red color is the wood stain that it was before the fire. It's beautiful cherry wood, Duncan Phyfe style. I love it. Partly 'cause I loved Aunt Carrie. She was my Grandpa's little sister and she was kind and good and a lovely person. I remember this buffet sitting in her bright pink stucco (think flamingo birds!) northern Indiana home, heralding the entrance to the Blueberry Farm she and Uncle Gay ran for years. My sisters and I picked what seemed like gallons of blueberries there every summer. Good memories I'm not in a hurry to let go of.
The buffet was still in pretty good shape after 1 1/2 years of drying out. There wasn't a lot of warping from the water damage, though it did still smell. I sanded, primed, painted, sanded, re-thought the paint color, painted, sanded, painted. Then I sanded and added a coat of polyurethane. I sprayed the hardware a silver nickel color and added the 2 remaining pulls from our kitchen cabinetry.
And here she is:
I also primed the inside of the cupboards. They still smelled like thick, black, nauseating smoke.
No more! Kilz to the rescue yet again.
They are bright and white and smell just fine!
The black does a great job of hiding the few pieces of missing trim.
2 comments:
I think it's absolutely beautiful and a true survivor, more precious because of all it's been through. I imagine that it's a piece that will bring you joy and satisfaction every time you see it.
BEAUTIFUL redo, and how blessed you are to have such a meaningful piece of your family history in your home!
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