Because it was crappy out and I couldn’t work outside, I spent the morning restoring some chairs, a table, and a cedar chest. They didn’t need to be sanded and re-finished, just spruced up a bit, so I used this Howard Restor-a-Finish stuff that my dad told me to use.
I have no idea what the active ingredient in this stuff is, but I suspect Satan. Nothing in life is this easy, especially when it comes to old wood furniture. You just rub it in with a sponge, wipe it up with a towel, and your pieces look like new. The stuff is amazing.
Unfortunately, the chairs need new fabric (just spent too much time in the basement and in closets), but I’m not going to deal with that until I figure out what color to pain the corner cabinet and the color of the drapes. But the wood looks amazing now.
The Main Gauche of Mild Reason
The guy at the hardware store you bought it from–his last name wasn’t Mephistopheles, was it?
cathaireverywhere
That Restor-a-finish is awesome stuff. I used it on my great-grandmother’s vanity after it had spent some hard time with my cousin, my cousin’s friend and a hot garage. The wood was incredibly dry, and it was covered with water marks. I just wiped it on and the vanity looks like brand new- no water marks or anything. The whole family came over to see this miracle- their reaction was kind of funny, actually.
RichJ
It’s possible you may be a gay man, John (NTTAWWT)
licensed to kill time
__
You! make-a me laugh! Thank you!
The Stuff of Satan would be a great name for a band.
SiubhanDuinne
The colours on the table runner are lovely. If you found a fabric in an allover print but in the same family it would look great on the chairs. Pick up the deep coral for the outside of the cabinet and maybe a nice creamy celery for the interior.
Well, that’s what I’d do anyhow.
PeakVT
I’m going to come by and steal that dresser. Would you mind emptying the drawers?
demo woman
@SiubhanDuinne: lol.. A decorator in house. My thought would be to strip it and stain it but a decorator I’m not. Your ideas were great!
YellowJournalism
“Active Ingredient: Satan” should be a new tagline.
jeffreyw
Any clashing color is a pain, so don’t let any grudges against the cabinet color your choice. Heh “color your choice”–I just kill myself.
Aunt Moe
“The colours on the table runner are lovely.”
I quite agree, but would caution against choosing a color to match something that serves as decor.
The furniture is classic and rich. Make it jump our by using a brilliant contemporary color on the corner cabinet – or two colors as suggested.
Violet
I like the various signs of Lord Tunch all over the room. Three cat toys strategically placed in key spots, bowl on the cedar chest, and…what is that in the lower left corner? Mini litter box?
The wood looks lovely. I’m going to get some of that magic refinishing stuff. I have some wood pieces that need some perking up.
J.W. Hamner
Love the drop leaf table.
Citizen_X
NOW with more SATAN! would be a great ad slogan.
Anyway, if nobody has mentioned this already, here’s some good news: the school with the “controversial” mural in Prescott, AZ has backed off on “lightening” the students depicted.
The video there, showing a boisterous rally of Prescott citizens, is worth watching. The principal and school superintendent announce that they’re leaving the mural and artists alone, and the crowd erupts with cheers.
Take that, haters.
demo woman
John, I just looked at the picture again and SD @ 5 does have a good point. A deep coral would draw your eye to the back and your over all room would appear bigger. The furniture is gorgeous.
John Cole
@J.W. Hamner: Bought it yesterday at a yard sale for… $40.00. All it needed was to be restored a little.
me
@RichJ: It’s all so clean and tidy and tasteful.
JCT
I use Restor-a Finish on old LF cameras when I am too either to lazy to do the entire, dismantle, sand, blah, blah approach or when I am worried that a full restore may make the camera look too modern.
It’s great stuff! But Satan?
demo woman
@Citizen_X: They apologized also which was appropriate considering their initial reaction.
FreeAtLast
Far from a decorator myself – but I would not try to outshine the beautiful wooden furniture with a pop-out color. I would paint the cabinet an outdoorsy color like sage or thyme green. Also2, I believe there is a way to give painted furniture an antiqued patina that would look good with the rest of furniture in the room.
asiangrrlMN
@Violet: It’s a horizontal scratch post. I have three of them. My boys LOVE them.-
Looks nice, Cole. Except, the door. I don’t like the blue. Hey, if everyone else is gonna offer their opinions….
@Citizen_X: Thank you thank you thank you! I am heartened to hear the principal say, “We made a mistake.” Yes!
Amir_Khalid
A biography of an American President caught my eye at the bookstore today. But before I actually decide to buy it, can anyone here vouch for the historical accuracy of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter?
licensed to kill time
@asiangrrlMN:
I think that blue door is actually a corner cabinet. Yes, I spent time scrutinizing Cole’s room. How weird is that.
asiangrrlMN
@Amir_Khalid: 100%. Heh. That’s funny.
tim
As a gay man, I am so happy to know that you are one of my own, John.
That said, lose the horrid runner on that beautiful table.
I am most intrigued by the huge cedar chest under the window. Looks very cool.
I would love to come to WV and spend a week decorating with you.
Josie
@Violet: I suspect that is a scratching box. I can’t imagine John Cole putting a litter box in the dining room.
As for the corner cabinet, I vote for a color similar to and just a tad darker than the walls, so that it seems almost to be a built-in. I wouldn’t want anything to take away from the gorgeous wood. That could be, however, because my Dad and my son are both woodworkers.
Edit: Oops, I see that Asiangrrl beat me to it.
asiangrrlMN
@licensed to kill time: I believe you are correct. I shoulda embiggened the pic. Still don’t like the color, though.
demo woman
@tim: If it were my home, I would probably rip out the corner cabinet because it detracts from the rest of the furniture. What would you do?
Beeb
Restor-a-Finish works even better applied with #0000 steel wool. Use sort of it like the sponge; no need to scrub, just dunk and apply. And after you wipe it off with a clean cloth or paper towel, try the Howard Feed ‘N Wax for even more Satan-y goodness. Amazing stuff.
licensed to kill time
@asiangrrlMN:
I like the color, but I’m a color freak. This reminds me of when a friend brought his Filipina mom down to my beach house once, and asked her what she thought of it. She looked around grimly and said in a flat tone, “Very colorful”.
John Cole
I like the runner.
And yes. The corner cabinet will be painted. No reason to rip it out, though, because it is free standing. I could just move it.
asiangrrlMN
@licensed to kill time: I like color, too–just not pastels. I would prefer something like this blue. I like my hues vivid, deep, and intense. Funny story, though.
@John Cole: Can you just strip it? I’m assuming there’s real wood under the paint.
Dead Ernest
The whole place looks really very nice – except for the blue cabinet. There is a theme through-out of red-ish, brown, cream and beige. Taking the built-in to a color that is similar to the baseboard would tie everything nicely. Stripped and stained would be ideal but even paint would do.
Tim, I think the coral would do nicely if it was the darker version… especially on the chairs. the celery, umm, I don’t see it unless it was the most pale of the palette – but then I like the runner so I reckon our tastes differ for somethings.
…can you get different color lids for the plastic bins too… just kidding.
chuck
*Active Ingredients:* Polyurethane, Distilled Essence of the Prince of Darkness, Methyl Methacrylate …
there’s your answer fishbulb
Dead Ernest
@demo woman: ‘rip out the corner cabinet’ so that’s what the ‘demo’ in demo woman stands for.
RedKitten
My advice:
Lose the runner.
Paint the bottom half of the cabinet dark brown, and the top half cream.
Line the inside walls of the cabinet with something like this, and do your chairs and runner in the same fabric.
Olive Oyl
How about stripping the blue paint and putting glass panes on the door of the cabinet? It’s a pain-in-the-neck job but I’m sure it would look nice.
curious
@Beeb: just used that combo a few weeks ago for a bunch of furniture that years of pledge had sullied and everything looks awesome. don’t know how i never knew about either product until like a month ago.
henqiguai
@jeffreyw (#9): Yeah, but
my first thought was that the carpet seemed to be quite a pained color already, why add to the misery ?
Dead Ernest
@licensed to kill time: Yeah, or to keep the alliteration going ‘Suspected Stuff of Satan’. Add a little mystery to the band. Or, a song title for a Christian rock group.
Jesus, it really just seems to work great for everything.
Just plain ‘Stuff of Satan’ sounds like a great ingredient for most everything from gasoline to lactose free milk.
You might want to copyright that phrase John.
Bill Murray
MSDS (http://www.howardproducts.com/msds/Restor-A-Finish.pdf) says
Isobutyl acetate 5 – 10%
Isopropanol 5 – 10%
Acetone 3 – 7%
Methyl ethyl ketone 3 – 7%
Propanoic acid, 2-methyl-, 2-methylpropyl ester 3 – 7%
Toluene 1 – 5%
Xylene 1 – 5%
Ethyl benzene 0.1 – 1%
that covers 20-50% and is mostly solvents
Bad Horse's Filly
“Balloon-Juice, come for the political insights, stay for the decorating advice.”
We should all be able to post pictures of our decorating challenges and solicit advice from the BJ commentariat (did I use that correctly?).
My favorite:
Bad Horse's Filly
@YellowJournalism: Total win.
Also2, I love the wood furniture, JC.
debit
Adding Satan makes everything better. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA9ImkF4Yjc
Bad Horse's Filly
@asiangrrlMN: I stripped a thrice painted handmade bookshelf I got at a garage sale to find it was a beautiful pecan underneath. One of my favorite pieces I ever refinished. And whoever painted it in the first place should be flogged.
lamh31
Best way to get back at an ex…LOOKING BETTER THAN EVAH!!!
Check out Sandra Bullock from an awards show yesterday ya’ll:
http://www.popsugar.com/Pictures-Sandra-Bullock-Spike-Guys-Choice-Awards-8687018?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+popsugar+%28PopSugar%29
Olive Oyl
@Bad Horse’s Filly:
HGTV.com has something like this called Rate My Space. I posted my living and dining room pics once and got good feedback.
j
As for that corner cabinet, strip it and stain it to match the other furniture. Then move those tray tables out and put a chair on each side if the dresser. Painting the back wall an accent color (like a gold hue) would draw the eye to the entire collection of furniture (including the newly stained corner cabinet) and really make the room pop.
demo woman
@Dead Ernest: I’ve been refinishing a house for the past two years. Recently I painted the outside and just as luck would have it, a water pipe burst inside and ruined my floating wood floors that I installed two years ago. Pffffftt!
I’m anal about balance though and if I had the money, I’d ripped out part of the kitchen cabinets because the lower cabinets don’t line up properly with the upper cabinets.
SiubhanDuinne
@Demo Woman: I am most definitely *not* a decorator! I just liked the colours in the runner and thought the room and all the beautiful wood would be enhanced with a bit more of the same, toned down a bit with some kind of mild green (celery, sage). I agree with asiangrrlMN, I’m not crazy about the blue the corner cabinet is currently painted. But it’s John’s house and he will let us know what he decides, with pictures :-)
tim
@demo woman:
I’d probably keep it (the corner cabinet) and paint it off white or an unobtrusive color. I like the look of a simple-lined corner cabinet. I’d also have it built in so it doesn’t look like it’s just standing there temporarily; John says it’s free standing. Then I’d paint the woodwork in the room the same color as the corner, now built in, cabinet. People will think the cabinet was built in at the time the house was made.
But now that I look at the pic again, I see that the cabinet matches the color of the lids on the platic storage containers stacked in the corner, so that’s a nice look and maybe one wouldn’t want to mess with that. :D
I’ll call my good friend Candice Olson real quick and see what she says.
schrodinger's cat
What this room is missing is Tunch. What is the great white beast up to? Time for a weekly Tunch update.
Dee Loralei
Does anyone know how that would work on a very old hand carved Japanese chest that used to be my great-grandmothers? It’s very intricate and ornate and has some really deep crevises that are imposible to clean, even with a toothbrush.
Your pieces look gorgeous and got me adding more to my to-do list. Damn you all to hell you and your Satan’s stuff stuff. (G)
debit
@Dee Loralei: For something that old, I’d consult a professional. I’d hate to see something damage the finish.
Cain
I’m not big on the carpets matching with the furniture. I’d go with either wooden flooring (maple or bamboo?) or maybe a berber carpet. Of course I’m not a home decorator nor do I play one on tv. It depends on what look you’re going for.
On the other hand, the pieces themselves look wonderful. :)
cain
Fern
I think the space needs some contrast for all the warm colours. If it was my place, I’d start by painting the walls a celery-ish green, or maybe a little darker/yellower. But then I am seriously allergic to the wall (and carpet colour in there), so it might be just me.
Cain
It would have been nice if there was a before/after picture. I want to see what it looked like before.
cain
YellowJournalism
Do not stain that cabinet the same color as the other furniture. There’s nothing worse than “matchy-matchy” in a room. You will overwhelm the room with the wood and ultimately blend the beautiful furniture into the room too much by having too many pieces the same color. Please make sure to pick a color that “pops” off your chairs. (For some reason, I’m thinking “eggplant” or a really neat deep but not dark blueish color, but that’s just me.)
I vote with RedKitten and others who say to get rid of the runner. It has nice colors in it, but it’s too close to the color in your wood. Maybe use it somewhere else?
The next to last samurai
Liberals are admirably industrious folk. You do not see threads like this on free republic.
fraught
I used to drink with the drag queens at the Stonewall in the sixties before the riots and this thread is too gay for me.
debit
I like the idea of both eggplant and sage, so I went looking and found this. I would say tone down the green a little and it would be a very pretty color combination.
grumpy realist
Just because it’s wood doesn’t mean that stripping it will produce something that can stand on its own. I salvaged a ratty painted bedside table from the neighbors when they moved and stripped it, thinking Oh Joy, Wood Table! Quickly discovered most of it was plywood….
(Plan B was to paint it glossy black. Am still using it 7 years later.)
SIA
SiubhanDiunne is right about the wall color – celery or similar. Just make sure it’s a “grayed out” green or it will look minty. Keep the runner if you like it, that’s what makes the room yours. Paint the walls a warm khaki and the woodwork and corner cabinet a warm gloss white ie Sherwin Williams Dover white. You don’t need any more wood in the room. Would love to change the rug to a seagrass, adds texture but still neutral. Use a coral red solid or small geometric for the chairs.find some red and/or green colorful plates for the cabinet IMHO. :)
Betsy
@Dee Loralei:
I agree with debit – safer to go with a pro restorer on something that has that much value (whether monetary or purely sentimental).
That said, as a piece of general advice, I’ve found that q-tip works wonders for attacking tiny, hard-to-clean crevices.
RedKitten
@tim: Are you even serious about being friends with Candice Olson? I adore her — she’s such a hoot! And she does beautiful, beautiful design. I’d give my eyeteeth to have her do my whole house.
debbie
I’d paint the corner cabinet the same color as the walls — let the wood pieces stand out and keep the room from looking too busy. I’d also have the chairs flank the dresser.
Anne Laurie
John, if you like the runner that much, match the new upholstery & curtains to it. No color picture will be as good as a match-by-eye, so you can bring the runner to the fabric store and make them show you fabrics that will look good with it. If your photo here is reasonably true-to-life, coral is the general color you are looking for, possibly with terra cotta, sienna or even barn red as near neighbors on the color wheel.
Don’t ditch the corner cabinet, you’ll need the storage. Paint it to match the walls, and leave the inside display area blue, which will show off most china tones nicely. Unless your “good” platters & such are plain white / ivory, in which case, paint the inside of the cabinet to match the medium stripe on your favorite runner.
These shades all look good with your preference for “earth tones”, the beige rug & cream walls. But they are strong tones — if you use too much of them, they will crowd the lovely tones of the wood furniture. Stick with a coral/sienna/barn red stripe or small pattern on cream. Or, if you like the blue shade of the cabinet & your plant pot, find a pattern that combines that blue & the coral tones. Or use the blue for the curtains, with a coral-striped valance (or even striped shades under blue drapes) to go with the runner.
Finally, when you’ve got the ‘soft furnishings’ looking good, start looking for an accent rug / runner that you can use under your lovely new drop-leaf table to “perk up” the wall-to-wall carpet.
I like the Country Curtains stuff for coordinating a whole room, but if you (or your parents) have a good local source that’s always the best option!
P.S. Link: http://www.countrycurtains.com/
demo woman
John needs Candice Olson. The other comments about her are accurate. The comments about color do make me want to add a little more pizazz to my house.
Tattoosydney
God, what a bunch of pansies.
frosty
@Bill Murray:
Methyl ethyl death!! Lovely!!
Josie
Somehow, I picture a toile fabric like this for the chairs and drapes. The color may not be exactly right and you might prefer different pictures on the fabric, but I think it would go with the feel of the room and with your table runner.
Anne Laurie
The runner doesn’t show well because it’s isolated. Put a similar stripe or related coral pattern on the chair cushions, a nice valance over a solid-colored shade, and it will make the room look warm & inviting. Extra bonus points, add a striped cushion on top of the cedar chest, which will also keep Tunch & Lily from scratching up the nice new finish when they jump up to reach the window. Or get three or four fat little “accent pillows” in shades of blue to match your plant pot, and line them up on the cedar chest, and the room will instantly look more pulled together. (The bigger plant, in the earth-toned pot, needs to be standing on the floor where the second chair gets moved to the other side of the dresser. The colors don’t look good with the runner and it’s visually overwhelming the smaller plant in the blue pot, which does.)
Betsy
@Tattoosydney:
That’s melodramatic fainting pansies to you.
ellaesther
I have no idea what the active ingredient in this stuff is, but I suspect Satan. – this made me snort, because I have said precisely the same thing about the Tide Stain Stick — because it erases fruit stains. That’s the Devil’s handiwork, right there.
Larkspur
I guess those solvents Bill Murray was
annoying enoughso helpful to provide (40) means that my plan to apply Restor-a-Finish to my face and décolletage is gonity gonity gone. It was a nice fantasy.I suggest you take Tunch to the paint store and the fabric store and let him make the final selections. I’m sure he’d be delighted to cooperate – it is his house, after all. At the very least you can have those paint mixologists mix up a shade that matches him exactly. ‘Course, it’d mean he could climb into the cabinet and you wouldn’t be able to find him.
All of this has made me curious about the colors in my own apartment. I’d better start dusting so I can find out.
Larkspur
@Betsy: God bless us melodramatic fainting pansy queens, every last one of us.
grumpy realist
John–don’t forget the possibility of painting the walls as well. My neighbors in the condo complex seem to have a tendency to “live with” the original decoration/color because “oh my god, we’re only going to be here for five years and then we’ll have to sell the place.” ??? Painting isn’t THAT difficult nor that expensive…the first time I walked in my immediate reaction was Get. Rid. Of. That. Beige. Probably at some point I’ll be willing to live back among neutral walls but for those of us who have spent umpteen years banging around in apartments, the ability to Paint The Walls Any Damn Colour I Like is a great incentive for condo living and going hog-wild with the paint-pot.
tim
@RedKitten:
No, unfortunately, Candice is not my friend; but I DO stalk her each Saturday night during her show on hgtv.
However, I’m sure if she had any clue who the hell I was, we would be best buds. :D
yes, she has great taste and does awesome rooms MOST of the time. I think she’s kind of hung up on crystal chandeliers and sconces, though. They show up every Saturday.
Larkspur
@tim:
Thank you for this. I just had a delightful image of tinkly, shiny, glittery chandeliers (and the sconces who love them) waiting perkily in a green room.
Steeplejack
How does the Restor-a-Finish smell? I have a wood credenza that I would like to treat, and it sounds ideal, but I’m in a small apartment and would not be able to get away from the smell while it was drying.
Steeplejack
@tim:
And she has Chico the electrician install recessed can lights in every damn project Not that there’s anything wrong with that.