Settee – Restoring Wood Finish

Restoring A Wood Finish

In my first installation on the $20 Settee, I showed  you how to DeUpholster a piece of furniture.  If you missed the first tutorial, click the picture to learn how to DeUpholster. Be sure to read the comments, because I answer readers questions on their upholstery issues.

Hubs was opposed to my painting the wood on the settee and I agreed to try to restore it. I’m often at war between the purist in me that wants things to be restored to their natural splendor, and the creative genius that lives inside of me that wants to paint and try a new color. In this case, it’s a hand-carved settee. It’s old and it’s in good shape. Despite the very personalized fabric I’m going to put on this, I will increase the value of the piece by restoring it.

Once you’ve removed the upholstery and have reinforced any of the straps/pads/or fillings, you’re ready to strip the wood. If you’re going to replace all the padding, you’ll want to refinish the wood BEFORE you put on the new padding.

It might just be me, but as soon as I say/hear/see the word “strip,” the soundtrack in my head starts playing David Rose and his orchestra’s classic striptease song, The Stripper. That’s not just me, right? Anyone?…Okay, it might just be me.

If you would like to want to play along, however, feel free to press start on this YouTube video so you can hear the soundtrack as you learn how to strip off an old wood finish.

Go ahead. Press Play. You know you wanna. (the video is totally G-rated. It’s just the record spinning around). The dance moves that follow are a lot more fun with the music playing. First, you have to listen to some dude introduce the song……Ready now? And. Here. We. Go.

To strip the old finish from the settee, I used a product from Zinsser called StripFast that I bought from Menards.

ehijh BA-nuh Nuh, Buh-Nah Nuh Nuh  kqwxy

Step-Bump, Step-Bump.

According to the not-very-helpful, friendly young man at Rustoleum, they make products especially for Menards that have different names than their regular products. However, Rustoleum lists a product called Furniture Refinisher that has identical label wording as the StripFast, despite the Rep’s insistence that these are different products because they have different product code numbers. Whatevs. They are both one-step refinishing products made for antiques, so if  you don’t have a Menard's, look for the Zinsser Furniture Refinisher.

If you are removing paint, I would use a product formulated specifically for paint removal. The StripFast is intended for removing old shellac and varnish. It did a good job at lifting the old color off, but I wouldn’t recommend it for painted surfaces.

Put your right arm out and sloooooowly peeeeeel that glove on. Tug-snap, Tug-snap. Left arm, but with a hip roll this time.

Use Protection

Rubber gloves meant for chemical processes are a Must! Eye protection, too, if you’ve got it. And for the love of your olfactory neurons, wear a face mask, people. It’s gonna get stinky up in here.

Caution: I highly recommend this process be done in a well-ventilated area. I also highly recommend stripping in the bedroom under the right circumstances. That said, refinishing a piece of furniture in your bedroom with the door closed so as to not smell up the rest of the house is not the kind of stripping that should go in your bedroom. Ever. Even if you open all the windows to let in the frigid winter air and run the bathroom vent and the ceiling fan, it really isn’t the optimal setting. Not that I know that from personal experience, or a 2-day, fume-induced headache or anything. I’m just saying that might not be a good idea.

ehijh Waaaaaaa Nuh-Nuh Nah. Waaaaaaa Nuh-Nuh Nah kqwxy

Here are some before shots so you can see just how dark the finish was on the settee.

 

Remember how I told you this little bumper thing was hard to get off? I didn’t lie. You can see the sad remains of our battle.

It was me or the bumper. I didn’t care how much sanding I’d have to do to fix these scrapes and gouges. The bumper was going down!

I fully intended to sand this area after I used the refinisher, but check out the after shot. You can see that many of these scratches were surface-scratches in the varnish. Most of them disappeared during the refinishing process. Those that didn’t are getting covered up by the new bumper.

Notice the wood grain? You really couldn’t see it before. Here are some more before and after shots.

 

Step-ball-change, Step-ball-change

Pour the stripper in to a glass bowl. Using a piece of steel wool (super fine wool breaks down too fast. Use fine wool and I broke each piece into 3 smaller pieces), dip the wool into the stripper and apply in circular motions to the wood. I didn’t have a lot of exposed wood for circles, but where there was enough area, the circle motion works best to break through the old varnish.

Right hand on left shoulder, Left hand on right shoulder, Right hand on right hip, Left hand on left hip and circle hips. Wait. Isn’t that the Macarena?

I applied some stripper onto a section of wood and let it sit for a few minutes. Then come back and rework the area. If you don’t have a lot of room for circle motions, be sure to follow the grain of the wood.

In the above Before photo, I’d sanded some of the wood prior to using the stripper. I didn’t have to go over this section as many times. You can see the color difference between the sanded and non-sanded areas. When I used the stripper, it’s almost like it redistributes the stain color that you’re breaking down. You can see in the After picture that the color is uniform.

 

Bend aaaaaaaand Snap. Bend aaaaaaaaaand Snap.

You may need to go over it multiple times. I had to do about 3-4 passes to really get it to the color I liked. For detail areas like this scroll work, use an old toothbrush to get into all the nooks and crannies.

I LOVE the detail work on this. It’s so pretty and smooth now.

Jump down, turn around pick a bale of cotton. I’m running out of moves.. I think I need to work on my stripper moves.

Did I just give you a glimpse of the fabric to come? I did, didn’t I? Someone made the comment on the earlier post that I teased you with the fabric and then didn’t show any pictures. As long as were stripping, I just flashed you with what’s to come.

 Awkward hand jive. Grapevine. Take it to the back. Grapevine Right. How’s your heart rate?

Oh my gosh, I did it again! I flashed you again. I’m such a fabric tease. Once you have all the old finish removed, go back over everything with a clean piece of wool and a clean amount of stripper. When it’s dry, apply a protective coat to it. I use Minwax Paste Finishing Wax. Rub it on. Let it dry for 10 minutes and then go back and buff it all off.

It gives the furniture a beautiful hand-rubbed look. Yum!

Okay, Big Finish now.

Step-bump. Step-bump-bump. Pull Mask off and toss.

Turn around. Look over your shoulder. Pull Eye protection off and toss.

Turn back around and Shimmy. And Shimmy. And Shimmy like you mean it, baby!

Pull Gloves off. Circle above head and toss (in the trash, of course, except don’t. Clean them up with Mineral spirits and save).

Jazz Hands above head and take a bow.

Phew! Wasn’t that fun?

Cost Breakdown:

• Settee - $20
• DeUpholstering Supplies - $49.33
• StripFast - $5.95/quart
• Steel Wool - $3.47
• Chemical Gloves - $5.97
• Eye Protection/Face Mask – stock on hand

Total Project Cost (To Date) - $84.72

Suesan

If you missed the other posts in the series, here they are:

1. Settee - De-Upholstering and Reinforcing

2. Settee – Restoring the Wood Finish

3. Painting on a Drop Cloth – On Purpose

4. Settee – The Big Finish

Settee – DeUpholstering & Reinforcing

Last summer I went to my neighbor’s garage sale and picked up a cute little settee for $20.

 

She told me her mom gave it to her and it was an antique but she didn’t have a place for it. Having been in her house, I could see that this little love seat was to curvy for her modern tastes. When we went back over on day 2 to look at some other things I had my eye on, her mom was at the sale and she told our mom we’d bought the settee. I guess Mom was. NOT. happy. that her daughter sold it to us for only $20. Hubs heard Mom rip my poor, sweet neighbor a new one over that little boo boo.

I put the settee in the house knowing that this would be a winter project for me. I’ve been working on her off and on for a few months now. I read on a post by Miss Mustard Seed that she can recover a chair in this same style in about 5 hours, tops. I’m thinking that woman must have reupholstering super powers because I’m pretty sure it took me that long to pull out the 3 bajillion staples in this puppy. It didn’t help that I’ve been suffering from the plague during this project, but between reoccurring bouts of sickness, here’s what I’ve accomplished.

Removing the Upholstery

Start by removing the welting or gimp off the settee. You can see the indentations in the welting from the staples they used to attach the welting. I found a join in the welting and started there and just pulled it off.

 

You can sort of see the long staples in the welting here. Be sure to wear leather gloves when doing this step. Those long staples scratch and you can grip the stapled welting to pull it off without injuring yourself.

This little pillowed bumper in the center back of the settee was a bear to get off. They used a combination of staples and nails. The settee has been refinished at least once. The color and style of this fabric tells me it was probably done in the early 80’s when powder blue ruled the decorating roost. What I don’t get is why, when they redid this bumper thing, they didn’t make it the same size as the original one. There were nail marks around the bumper from the original bumper. Weird.

How to Remove Upholstery Staples

I thought I took pictures of the fabric after the welting removal and before taking it off the settee. False. In my haste, I skipped that step. But here are the tools I used for that process.

At one point, I was going to do a video for you to see what happens, but let me do this instead.

It’s all in the twisting. You can strong arm them out of there, but your hands will tire very quickly. You can also push down/lift up on the tack remover tool to remove the staples. I was more likely to damage the wood when I did it that way. I didn’t want to try to hold a piece of cardboard between the tool and the wood to protect it for every single staple. Remember, there were a BAJILLION of them.

I used the tack tool to lift about ten staples at a time. Then I came back with the pliers and removed them. The rolling motion will save your hands! Since my staples were rusty, many of them broke during the removal process and the pliers were good for pulling the pieces out. Again, grab the staple leg and roll the pliers to the left or right. The rolling motion will pull the staple leg out of the wood.

Salvaging the Padding

Once you remove the upholstery fabric, you have to assess the condition of your padding and springs. Since this is an antique settee, the back of the settee was filled with wood wool (excelsior). Although it is messy and I was tempted to go “ewww…” it' was still in good shape. It didn’t smell and I knew it could be reused.

Here’s where you need to be thinking about cost. I could have pulled this out, but I would have needed a lot of foam to replace it. Behind the excelsior, is some black fabric. The fabric is covering another layer of padding that is sewn to the burlap webbing you see below. Padding and foam doesn’t run cheap so you have to assess how much you want to invest if you plan to replace all of that.

If you can reuse what’s inside, do it. It’s much cheaper to add to what’s already there than to replace everything. Of course, if it smells or there’s a chance of mold or moisture, you definitely want to replace it.

Since I planned on refinishing the wood, I didn’t want to have the excelsior exposed while I worked, so I cut an old sheet to fit and covered it up.

Use the old fabric as a pattern. Be sure to cut any notches at the bottom to go around posts. Start by tucking the fabric in between the seat and the back. Stretch it around to fit and staple it into place. I have a pneumatic gun which I highly recommend. Electric staplers don’t have the oomph to get into the hard wood like you need.

I didn’t actually own an 18-inch stapler for my air compressor. When I priced them out at Lowe’s, they were around $100 bucks, which was more than I wanted to pay.

I was keeping my eye open on Craigslist for one when I read a post by Allison at House of Hepworth’s on a clock she’d purchased from Harbor Freight. I’d completely forgotten about Harbor Freight, which has very low prices on tools. I ran up to our local store and sure enough, they had the gun I needed for $25. Sold! Thanks, Allison.

Once you get the fabric stapled into place on the front, pull it tightly from the back and staple it onto the back frame, not the seat frame. Look at this diagram to see where I stapled it.

This is important because if you staple it to the bottom frame section, you won’t be able to pull your upholstery fabric through the back. It’d be like short-sheeting the bed and then you’d have more staples to pull.

Never a fun job!

Take a look at the webbing. You can see that some of it is sketchy.

I bought some burlap webbing and stapled it into place to reinforce the original webbing.

The webbing with the blue stripe must have been added to reinforce the back during the last reupholstering job. After I got all the red webbing into place, the blue piece was too loose. I pulled the staples out of one side, pulled it tight again and restapled it.

Voilà!

The brown fabric on the seat was already in place. There was a layer of cotton batting over it and then the upholstery fabric. In looking at it from the bottom, I can see the springs through the burlap webbing. The springs are intact and everything is pretty tight and firm. I will reinforce the webbing on the bottom like I did on the back, though. I think that will push the springs up higher and give it a little more bounce.

Supplement the padding

Antique furniture is not generally known for an overstuffed, cushy feel that we are used to today. Which isn’t to say it can’t be made to have some more coosh. Since foam padding is expensive, I bought a foam mattress cover (twin) from the Dollar store to layer over the seat and back. I will cover that with some bonded poly batting and it’ll be ready for the final fabric.

To Do List:

• Restore Wood
• Reinforce Seat Webbing
• Finish Fabric Design
• Upholster Settee
• Apply Gimp

I’ll be using a drop cloth for my fabric, but I’m painting a design onto the fabric. I got inspired by the new Pottery Barn catalog. It’s taken me awhile to get the design right, but it’s coming together nicely. Stay tuned to see how I restored the wood finish.

Cost Breakdown:

Settee	$20.00
Tack Remover	$2.90
Webbing	$4.74
Pneumatic Gun	$24.99
Staples	$16.70
Sheet	On hand

Total Project Cost (to date)

$69.33

Suesan

If you missed the other posts in the series, here they are:

1. Settee - De-Upholstering and Reinforcing

2. Settee – Restoring the Wood Finish

3. Painting on a Drop Cloth – On Purpose

4. Settee – The Big Finish

A Plague on My House

Pity Party? Table for One. Right this way.

I’m not sure if I’m really having a pity party so much as a seriously worn out party.

Feel free to grab some cheese while you read this post because it will go well with my whine.

For those of us that don’t imbibe, that there is a  glass full of unfermented wine, aka, grape juice. Here’s the dealio. Since November, the 11th to be exact, I have had sick people in my house, or have been sick myself. Fourteen weeks. 98 days, give or take one or two days when we all felt okay. I feel like our house has been hit by a plague. It’s unreal.

One of the boys got sick first. I don’t even remember which one it was. A few days later, the next one got it. Then the first one got better. Then I came down with it. Then I got better. Then Hubs got it, but kept saying, “It’s not the flu. I can’t have the flu. I got a flu shot!”

I’m pretty sure he didn’t have the flu. I strongly suspect he had pneumonia! We’ll never know because we didn’t go to the doctor. I’m sure that appalls some of you, but here’s the thing. When we moved here a year ago, I never got around to getting us a regular doctor. Try finding a doctor when you’re actually sick but not a patient anywhere. Add to that the fact that we have a $2,500/person deductible and you can see why we try to avoid the doctor.

So Hubs spent ALL of December coughing and sweating and blowing his nose and having trouble breathing. If you’re like me, when your bed partner is not sleeping well, neither do you. My sleep has been disturbed for weeks and weeks. Hubs slowly got better, but most of January was spent with him recovering. Then the boys got sick again and so did I. For almost all of January. We’d each get better and then a few days later it’d come back. Which meant more sleep deprivation.

This week we are dealing with the stomach flu. Seriously, I have a plague on my house. As if dealing with the plague wasn’t enough, I have been trying to get off the juice.

When I get tired, I crave caffeine and sugar like nobody’s business. I usually drink one of these a day. Which explains my obesity. I’ve gotten weary of the lack of sleep/drink caffeine-eat too much sugar/too awake to sleep at a reasonable hour routine. I am trying to make positive changes this year. I’m more aware of the cravings and why I want them. I try to shut those voices up with smarter choices. Like taking a nap. Or eating protein or a piece of fruit. If I’ve tried that route and the voices are still yammering away, I will shut them up with a poor woman’s peanut butter cup.

    

One Spoonful + One Promise = Quiet Voices

Sadly, I was out of my medicinal chocolate and peanut butter by itself doesn’t cut it. With only one car in the family, I don’t have the liberty of running to the stores to replenish my emergency chocolate stash. Sugar and caffeine withdrawals are not pretty people. Sick, tired and Jonesing makes for a very cranky Gal.

Okay, you can put the cheese down now. I’m done whining. All this is to say that I haven’t felt much like creating. Well, that’s not true. I have done a lot of creating, I just haven’t felt like writing about it.

I’ll give you a sneak peak, though.

I’ve been working on my settee. If you recall, I bought it this summer from a garage sale for $20. It started out looking like this:

 

The wood is scuffed with paint and the old finish on it is so aged and dark that it was impossible to see the wood grain. I’ve pulled off the old upholstery and have stripped the wood. Hubs refused to let me paint it, which I think would have looked awesome, but I have to say he’s right in this case. The wood is simply too beautiful to cover up with paint.

 

 

This is a hand-carved piece. The lines do not have the perfection of machine work.

 

I’ve been working on the fabric for the settee, too. I’m using a drop cloth, but I’m putting a design on the fabric. It’s very unique and I want it just right. Here’s a peak of part of the still-in-progress design.

This is a compass rose off a map from 1570. I’m really excited about the design, but it’s taking me much longer to pull it together. I’d love to just slap it all together and call it done. I’ve learned that if I just try to push through without giving myself time to do it right, I will end up hating the finished project. I’m trying to curb my impatience and let this one come together the right way.

I’ve also whipped up a little something for those vintage hankies I have.

I call it hankie origami.

I also have finished a cheese dome cloche and will show you how to spiff it up with Rub ‘n Buff.

My goal is to do a post on each of these, but I thought I’d show you the things that are helping me hold it together.

 Creating and designing are my best coping tools.

Trying to figure out how to do something and bringing different elements together helps me find calm and chaos in a life that is often stressful and hectic.

I appreciate your indulging me tonight and on my last post. If you read my post about my nephew, you’ll know it wasn’t an easy post to read or to write. I’m excited to say that I’ve helped raise $289.78 towards the goal of $2,328 for MADD.  You gals ROCK!!!

If you want to contribute, I have a link on my sidebar or you can click the icon below. We are only asking for $2.30 from each person.

Stick with me. I’ll be better soon and back to fighting form. I know this winter has been hard on a lot of people. If your family is suffering from the plague, too, you have my deepest sympathies. The bright spot in this is that my people are bigger and can wipe their own noses and can “empty” their guts out in solitude. They just want Mom to love them and snuggle them and tell them they’ll get better. Fortunately, I still have the energy to do that much.

ps. I just had my daily dosage of Dove Chocolate and was informed that “You are exactly where you are supposed to be. Love, Dove” Thanks, Dove. Good to know you want me suffering from the plague.

Suesan

Aunts Against Drunk Drivers

This time last year, I was on my way to the store to pick up some groceries.  I will often use my driving time to call someone and that day, I called my sister, Nancy. She’s my sister just older than me and is the closest in age to me (there are 7 siblings in my family spread out over 28 years).

It was a Saturday evening and I was giving a talk in church the next day and I couldn’t get my thoughts to gel. I wanted her input and advice. We chatted and she gave me some insight into my topic and then we caught up on the lives of our kids. A

s is Nancy’s nature, she was happy and encouraging. Life has never been super easy for Nancy, but she has always had a positive outlook and has faced her trials with humor, strength and faith.

Later that night, I got the words that shattered my world. Kale, Nancy’s second son, had been killed in a car accident. Kale was 23 years old. He was a soldier in the Army. A “Specialist.” A ranking that I still don’t understand, but one I know he worked very hard to achieve. Kale was proud to be a soldier. He had served one tour of duty in Iraq and was preparing to go to Afghanistan at the time of his death.

You can see in some of the pictures below that Kale was overweight at one point. He worked very hard to lose the weight so he could become a soldier.

I could tell you all about the wonderful accomplishments of Kale’s life and the sacrifices he made in service to our country. Like the time his battle buddy had to go home for 29 days to care for his sick wife. Kale’s unit was moving to a new location. For those 29 days, Kale carried his buddy’s gear for him. That’s 80 – 100 lbs of EXTRA equipment he hauled around. He carried that same amount of his own gear. In Iraq. Where the average temperatures were 110 – 130 degrees.

He did that without complaint. when he was able to speak to his buddy, his only concern was for his buddy’s wife.

However, it’s not Kale’s life I want to talk about. It’s his death. I’ll spare you the gruesome photos of a car completely destroyed. When an Audi and a utility truck go head to head at high speeds, the Audi doesn’t win. Kale’s buddy, Jordan Peters, was driving the car.

Kale was sitting in the front, buckled up in the passenger seat. Another soldier, Pawel Serafin, was in the back. He was not buckled up. They’d all been out drinking. On the way home, Peters, who had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system, crossed the white line and hit the truck at full speed. After the accident, a car following them was unable to avoid the cars and hit them as well.

Kale was killed instantly and Serafin died a few minutes later. All the drivers survived. The driver of the utility truck was on his way to work. He’s still recovering, not just from the physical damage done to him, but to the emotional damage as well.

There are people who will say that Kale got what he deserved. He was out drinking. He knew the risks of getting into a car with his drunk buddy. He was a young soldier who thought he was invincible. I’ve seen all those comments from people on the stories of the accident.

Kale did make a mistake, but the price he paid for that mistake was far too high. We later learned that Kale had tried to find other ways home that night. He called for a cab that never came. He called a buddy who didn’t pick up the phone. He ended up leaving with Peters when all other options failed.

Whether or not Kale got what some think he “deserved,” those who didn’t get what they deserved are the family and friends left behind. Yes, my sister’s grief is real and strong, as would be the case for any mother who has lost a child. Less talked about is the grief of my brother-in-law, Mark. I think Brad Paisley must have somehow known Mark when he co-wrote the song, “He Didn’t Have to Be.”

 

When Mark met my sister married he became an instant dad to my niece, Tiffany, and my nephews Brian and Kale.

Mark and Nancy have a blended family of his, hers and ours. There are 8 kids. That’s seven times Mark, and Nancy--but mostly Mark--had to break the news to their children that they’d lost their brother. Mark has been a rock of strength throughout this whole ordeal, even though he lost his best friend. Kale and Mark were tight. They were friends and truly enjoyed whatever time they could spend together. Coupled with that loss, is the partial loss of my sister. She’s a different woman now. There is a layer of sadness that has yet to ease. Nancy is an utterly devoted mother to all her kids. Her sorrow is not going to go away any time soon and that’s an additional loss that Mark has to cope with.

I think of Kale’s brothers, Brian and Jordan, one older and one younger than him, but both of them looked up to Kale. They were friends as well as brothers.

Kale’s sisters have all had to come to terms with his loss. Tiffany, who struggles with health issues that makes life challenging enough, without the struggle of mourning her little brother.

Kassy, who got married and had a baby, without her brother to help her celebrate.

Becca, who also got married last year and missed having her big brother share in her joy.

Or, Jessica, who survived brain surgery a few months after Kale passed away, and misses her brother deeply.

And Megan, who just simply adored her big brother. He surprised her at school one day when he was home on leave. Those are her tears of joy at seeing him.

This is only Kale’s immediate family. He has grandparents, aunts and uncles and dozens of cousins who mourn his loss. He has an entire battalion of soldiers who have mourned for him. I’m certain there is an equal number of people mourning Pawel.

Cost of Drinking and Driving

The cost of drinking and driving goes far, far beyond the lives of those killed and their loved ones. Kale and Pawel’s unit had to scrap their mission after their death. Their loss was crucial to their unit and the morale and devastion to their unit was felt deeply.

Jordan Peters was tried and convicted in a military court. He will serve 10 years of his life in Leavenworth. I can’t help but hurt for him and his family as well. I know I’m going to have to forgive him some day. I’m working on it, but I’m not there yet. It still just hurts too much.

While I have absolute faith that there is a plan of salvation for each of us and that we will see Kale again in the next life, that faith and belief doesn’t stop us from missing Kale. Lives have been irrevocably changed.

I wish this were the first time my life has been touched by a drunk driver. When I was in high school, three friends of mine were all killed in separate drinking and driving accidents. All of their deaths happened over a one month period. The last one was my boyfriend, Rob. We were supposed to go out that night. I’ll never know why he didn’t call me. His friend and the driver of the car, was convicted of manslaughter and also served time behind bars.

How You Can Help

Those deaths got me involved with SAFTYE (Stop Auto Fatalities Through Youth Efforts) club. It was a fore-runner to the SADD (Students Against Drunk Drivers) organization.

My sister is working with the MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers). She is walking to raise money for awareness and in support of the MADD organization which works with victim’s families to help them through this time of crisis. Her goal is to raise $2,328 (23 for Kale’s age and 28 for Pawel’s).

Here’s how you can help. We’re asking for donations of either $2.30 or $2.80 in honor of Kale and Pawel, or more if you can spare the money. If this is a cause you can support, you can click on the button below. Click on the link to “Support Team Clay/Serafin” and enter the amount  you’re willing to donate. It’s pretty simple.

Let’s unite, not just as Mothers, but as Grandmas and Grandpas, Aunts and Uncles, Sisters and Brothers, Daughters and Sons, Cousins, and Friends Against Drunk Drivers to help prevent this tragedy for others.

Suesan